The internet has insisted for years that John Cusack turned down the role of Walter White. The 60-year-old actor heard it so often that he started to wonder whether it was true. “There was this whole riff that I had turned down Walter White,” he said on Josh Horowitz’s ‘Happy Sad Confused’ podcast, according to mxdwn Television. “And I never ever remembered that, and I was like, did that happen and I blacked it out? Did I lose time?”
So he went straight to the man who would know. Cusack said he ran into ‘Breaking Bad’ creator Vince Gilligan in New York and asked him directly. “Hey, man, I love your show, it’s awesome. I gotta know, everyone is saying you offered me that. Did you offer me that?” Gilligan’s answer was a single word. “No.” Cusack was delighted. “Thank you, Vince!” he recalled saying. ComingSoon reported that he has no hard feelings about a part that was never his to lose. “How could you regret Bryan Cranston playing that role?” he said. “It was meant to be his.”
John Cusack Also Looked Back At ‘Say Anything’
Gilligan had a very specific reason for wanting Cranston. The two previously worked together on a 1998 episode of The X-Files called “Drive,” in which Cranston portrayed a desperate, increasingly dangerous man suffering from a mysterious medical condition. Gilligan was impressed by the actor’s ability to make an unpleasant character sympathetic, a quality he knew Walter White would need. When AMC executives questioned whether the star of Malcolm in the Middle could convincingly play a criminal mastermind, Gilligan showed them the episode. They eventually agreed, and Cranston went on to win four Primetime Emmys for his performance.
The confusion appears to have originated during the show’s early casting process. In a previous interview with ROUTE Magazine, Cranston explained that Cusack and Matthew Broderick were among the actors whose names appeared on a list of potential stars, but neither was formally offered the part. TV Guide also reported that other names under consideration included Steve Zahn and Dylan Baker. Cranston was ultimately the only actor to receive an official offer, despite initial hesitation from AMC executives who primarily knew him as the goofy father on Malcolm in the Middle.
The conversation covered the movies that made him a favorite in the first place. Closer Weekly noted that Cusack talked about ‘Say Anything,’ the 1989 romance in which he held a boombox over his head and wrote much of his own big speech. He also addressed other casting legends that have followed him around, including the story of how he and his sister Joan almost starred in ‘The Breakfast Club’.
Paul Smith / Featureflash
The reason for the interview was something new.
Cusack has co-written a graphic novel called ‘Momo,’ which Closer describes as a road trip with cosmic stakes. One old rumor can finally be retired. The boombox scene is staying right where it is.
