How did you approach Season 2?
Gilligan: “As writers, we busted our butts to make it as good as we could make it and avoid that sophomore slump. But considering we only had about seven episodes in our first season [due to the writers’ strike], it could be argued that this second season was more like Season 1.5. So far we feel very lucky in the sense that we’re hitting on all cylinders, but a huge part of that is how great the actors are. Our wonderful ensemble.”
What does Bryan Cranston, who was best known before this as the dad on Malcolm in the Middle
, bring to the show?
Gilligan: “I think the smartest thing I ever did was cast him. Especially when you have a show about a protagonist who cooks crystal meth—I mean, what’s more reprehensible than that? But if you have Bryan Cranston, not only is he an amazing actor, but the other aspect or quality that this actor needs is a sort of innate sympathy and likeability so that the audience never loses sight of the character’s humanity. There are great actors out there that don’t radiate that component, and if Bryan were every bit the fine actor he is but didn’t have that warmth or humanity, this show would be off the air. When you’re watching
Breaking Bad, you have to understand why he’s doing this, even if you don’t agree with it.”
Cranston won the Emmy last year for Lead Actor and is nominated again, and now Aaron Paul is nominated for Supporting for playing Walt’s partner-in-meth, Jesse. But didn’t you want to kill off Paul’s character at the end of the first season?
Gilligan: “Yeah, it was a good thing I didn’t do that [laughs]. But that was before we cast Aaron Paul. Once he came into the picture and I saw how good he was and what he brought to the show, there was no way in hell I was going to kill him off. I guess you could say he rose to the occasion [in Season 2] but the truth is, the writing of his character rose to his level. That’s a weird way to put it, but he didn’t become a better actor in Season 2, the audience just finally got a taste of how good he is. He and Bryan are so good together, and as the season progressed and we delved deeper into Jesse’s character, Aaron just got to flex his muscles more and more.”
What was your favorite scene of the season?
Gilligan: “In our ninth episode, we played homage to [the 1965 film]
The Flight of the Phoenix, where there’s a plane crash in the desert and they have to build a smaller plane out of bigger parts of the plane to fly out, otherwise they’d die of dehydration. This was our version of that: the RV won’t get started after a big [meth] cookout in the desert. Toward the end, Jesse is trying to boost Mr. White’s spirit and he’s saying, “Come on, you’re scientific, build a robot or something.” Finally, Walt gets the idea that could save their lives, and says, ‘You said it yourself…’ Jesse goes, ‘A robot?!’ It’s the single funniest moment of Season 2, and I’d like to say we the writers thought of it, but that’s not the case. It was our assistant camera operator, Nick Shuster. Originally the line was ‘You said it yourself: a battery,’ but after we wrapped, Nick said, ‘What if he said ‘A robot?!’ It’s such a great line, and somebody on our staff was farting around on the Internet recently and they actually found a
company that makes a T-shirt now that says, ‘A robot?!’ I just love that story.”
Without giving it away, that teddy bear image ultimately led us to a season finale that got a wide range of reactions from viewers—many loved it, some hated it, and I don’t think anybody predicted it. What’s your reaction to the viewers’ polarized reaction?
Gilligan: “I think it comes down to some people like being fooled and some people don’t. At first blush, [the ending] may seem completely unrelated but it was in fact intricately linked to Walt and his decision-making. I’m just glad people are watching the show and having powerful reactions positively or negatively. I don’t fault anyone that has a negative reaction, because it’s a hard show to take sometimes, but if you watch our show regularly you see that a good part of what we do, week in and week out, is try very hard to be surprising to the audience. We don’t want to be predictable. That was one of the best things about
The Sopranos. As a viewer, I’d sit there and guess what happens next and I don’t think I was right once. We’re trying to do that, too, so as for the ending, the fact that nobody saw it coming—or very few people did—tells me we were successful.
Looking ahead to the Emmys, Bryan Cranston’s win last year was considered by many to be the biggest upset of the night. How big was that in terms of giving this new show some credibility?
Gilligan: “It was so huge, and it was like the greatest moment in I don’t know how many years for me personally, because I didn’t think he was going to win it. This little show had had only seven episodes to that point, and he deserved to win it but I thought, “This’ll never happen.” I was in the Nokia Theatre on the other side of the audience from him, and I just jumped out of my skin and yelled something that, well, I’m just glad I wasn’t miked. For a lot of years, you don’t pay much attention to the Emmys or the Oscars, and then when you have a horse in the running it suddenly becomes important to you.”
Your sister show on AMC, Mad Men
got a fairly astounding 16 Emmy nominations this year and is up against Bad
in several categories. What’s the dynamic between the shows?
Gilligan: I know [
Mad Men creator] Matt Weiner personally, and actually, the whole cast on that show—they’re great people and so much fun to be at parties with. I love all those guys. When not rooting for us, I’m rooting for them.
Mad Men and
Breaking Bad could not be more different as TV shows. I suppose if
Breaking Bad was a show about some other business concern in the 1960s and close to that thematically and visually, I’d probably be feeling some sense of competition and I’d be on the losing end of that, because that show is a critical and cultural phenomenon. But I don’t feel that competitive toward them because the two shows couldn’t be more different. I’m just amazed
Breaking Bad is on the air, period, and the fact that we’re getting any kind of acclaim—like the Peabody Award this year—is always astounding to me. And as I understand it, it’s kind of the same with
Mad Men—we were both shows that were pitched everywhere in town and denied until AMC came into play.”
And are you looking forward to the big Emmy dance?
Gilligan: “I actually am looking forward to it, to be honest, because I don’t think for a minute that we’re going to win. If not
Mad Men, there are several other shows that would probably get it before us, and that honestly takes a load off. I’d love to win—I’m not going to lie; I’d love to win every Emmy there is—but I don’t think that’s going to happen this year, and therefore I’m greeting it like a party. I’m going to have a good time and my girlfriend and I are going to drink as much free liquor as we can.”
