Actors On Their Work

[The backstory of “Brief But Spectacular,” a weekly series that premièred on NewsHour in 2015, begins with creator Steve Goldbloom, the creator and host of the original comedy news show for PBS, “Everything But the News,” and his longtime producing partner Zach Land-Miller who conduct every interview off-camera and off-screen.  (The segments are all two to four minutes long and there are no cutaways to reporters or interjections of questions.)  Each Thursday, “Brief But Spectacular” introduces NewsHour viewers to original profiles; these short segments feature some of the most original contemporary figures, offering passionate takes on topics they know well.  These have included household names like actors Alec Baldwin and Carl Reiner, artist Marina Abramović,  and activist Bryan Stevenson.  Topics have included comedian, writer, and director Jill Soloway (Amazon’s original series Transparent) on gatekeepers in Hollywood, journalist Ta-Nehisi Coates on police reform in America, Abramović on the art of performance, author Michael Lewis on finding disruptive characters, performers Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer on the rise of their hit Comedy Central series Broad City, engineer Jason Dunn on creating the first 3-D printer in space, and many more.]

“BRYAN CRANSTON ON BEING READY FOR LUCK”
by Bryan Cranston

[Actor Bryan Cranston delivered this “Brief But Spectacular” essay on the PBS NewsHour on 1 November 2018.]

Oscar-nominated actor Bryan Cranston, best known for his role as Walter White in “Breaking Bad” [2008-13 on American Movie Classics (AMC)], didn’t get his big break until age 40, when he was cast in the family TV sitcom “Malcolm in the Middle” [2000-06 on the Fox Network] Now, he’ll be playing the role of Howard Beale in the upcoming Broadway production of “Network” [Belasco Theatre, 6 December 2018-8 June 2019, for a limited run; 2019 Tony Award for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play]. He shares his brief but spectacular take on an unusual career trajectory and the role of luck.

Judy Woodruff: Oscar-nominated [2016, for playing Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo] actor Bryan Cranston is best known for his Emmy-winning role as Walter White in the TV series “Breaking Bad.”

But, as he explains in tonight’s Brief But Spectacular episode, it took him some luck to get there.

Starting next Saturday, Cranston will be playing the role of Howard Beale in the Broadway production of “Network,” based on the famous [1976] film.

Bryan Cranston: The first thing I look for when I read a script is, does the story move me?

What I truly love about this, and when I talk to audiences about anything I have done or any other movie or stage piece, is that the audience is always right. However you felt, however you reacted to something is always right. That’s how you felt.

And it’s remarkable how you can sit next to someone and watch a movie. I could be weeping, and they’re like, eh. It’s like, really? They say, yes, it missed me.

The only failure is if you move an audience to nothing, to boredom. If they are indifferent about what they just experienced, whether it’s a painting or a recital or a singer or a dancer or a play, if they are, I feel nothing throughout, then we failed. Then we failed.

Actors come to town, to New York or Los Angeles or London, and they say, you know, I’m going to give it a shot. I’m going to give it a year and see if I can become successful.

And to those, I want to say, I can save you a year of your time. If you think that this is something that you can carve out some arbitrary amount of time to achieve certain things, this is not for you. This is a lifetime.

When you first start out as an actor, your answer to any question is yes. Do you want to? Yes, I want to do that.

I started out in 1979 doing background work as an extra. Angry mob. Drunken frat boy. Reckless driver. And then, when you first get that break where you actually have a name, Steve, wow, I actually have a name, I’m Steve, you feel like you have progressed to some degree.

There’s no career that has ever been achieved in entertainment — I truly believe this — without a healthy dose of luck. Someone said, OK, kid, I will read your script, or, all right, you want to audition? Come in. Do it right now.

And then you got to be ready. Celebrity is a byproduct of what I do and what I like to do. It’s not what I was after. I was a working actor. Things were fine. I was paying my bills, leading a very middle-class economic life. And then I got a lucky break at age 40 and was cast in “Malcolm in the Middle.”

At 50, I got an even bigger break when I was cast as Walter White on “Breaking Bad.”

That was my trajectory. It came when it was supposed to come. And that’s the interesting thing about luck. It doesn’t work on your timetable. It works on its own.

My name is Bryan Cranston, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on being an actor.

[After appearing in this “Brief But Spectacular” segment, Bryan Cranston starred in the TV miniseries Your Honor in 2020-21 on the Showtime cable network.  For his performance, he received a 2021 Golden Globes nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Limited Series, Anthology Series or a Motion Picture Made for Television.  Cranston also starred as President Lyndon Johnson in All The Way on Broadway from 6 March to 29 June 2014.  He later performed the play on HBO as a TV movie in 2016.]

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“ADRIENNE C. MOORE’S BRIEF BUT SPECTACULAR TAKE ON THE CHARACTERS IN HER LIFE”
by Adrienne C. Moore 

[Actress Adrienne C. Moore’s “Brief But Spectacular” appearance on the PBS NewsHour was on 27 November 2019.] 

Adrienne C. Moore is an actress best known for her role in the Netflix TV series “Orange is the New Black.” [The series streamed on Netflix from 2013 to 2019.] During her first theater performance, she immediately noticed the way the show affected the audience emotionally. Moore opens up about drawing inspiration from her upbringing in Atlanta, the impact her father had on her and her Brief But Spectacular take on the characters of her life.

Judy Woodruff:  Tonight’s Brief But Spectacular features performer Adrienne C. Moore, an actress best known for her role in “Orange Is the New Black.”

She opens up here about pulling characters from her upbringing in Atlanta and the impact her father had on her.

This is part of Canvas, our continuing covering of arts and culture.

Adrienne C. Moore:  What I love about acting and being in front of people is, honestly, seeing their expressions.

My first production that I can remember was “The Best Christmas Pageant Ever” in Nashville, Tennessee. [Moore is referring to a stage adaption by the author of Barbara Robinson’s 1971 novel of the same title.  Moore was six when she appeared in the production.]  I had no lines, just the little chorus parts. But that gave me a chance to look at every single person in the audience during the show and seeing them smile, and laugh, and have feelings and emotions.

And from that moment on, I said, I want to do this for the rest of my life.

“Orange Is the New Black” came about just like any other audition. They called me in for Black Cindy. Immediately, when I read it, I said, oh, my gosh, I know this girl. To me, she represented a lot of girls that I had run across when I’d moved to Atlanta, just very fiery and speak their minds, and pop their fingers, and roll their eyes, and roll their heads, and just tell their truth.

And so, when I read her, I said, I think I could embody her pretty well.

[A scene from the show:] Of course she ain’t smiling. She got screwed by me, by — by everybody. Suzanne, everything is broken and life is unfair. When are you going to learn that?

The play that I did in Shakespeare in the Park was called “Taming of the Shrew.” [The Public Theater production, in which Moore played Tranio, was in June-July 2016.] I got to work with Phyllida Lloyd, who is a phenomenal director. And I was always afraid of Shakespeare, iambic pentameter, and just going up on a line and all that kind of stuff.

But she really taught me how to own the language and, in that ownership, how to own the character. And once I got past that fear, I had the most amazing time.

What was so revolutionary about that experience was that I lost my dad literally in the same time that I was doing that show. And so I was experiencing incredible highs and incredible lows at the same time.

But one of the things that my dad taught me and told me before he passed was happiness. And so that’s the thing that I always try to embody in my work and in my life and in who I am.

I feel like, when I’m in the pocket with something, I will sometimes hear this little chime or this a little ding somewhere off in the distance, and I feel like it’s my dad being like, you got it. You’re on the point, girl.

My dad was very proud of me, of his children, because one of the things he always said was, do what makes you happy. And a lot of times, when I get in very confusing places in my life, and I don’t know what choice to make, I always think about what he said, which is, do what makes you happy.

And so that’s how I make my decisions. I don’t question. I just go inside of myself. And I say, well, what will make me happy in this moment? Because that’s what my dad taught me.

My name is Adrienne C. Moore, and this is my Brief But Spectacular take on all the characters of my life.

Judy Woodruff:  And you can watch additional Brief But Spectacular episodes on our Web site, https://www.pbs.org/newshour/brief/.

[Adrienne C. Moore appeared in Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf at the Public Theater in October-December 2019, which won the 2020 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival, Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play, and Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Revival of a Play.]