Through 5 seasons of Breaking Bad, Bryan Cranston utterly shifted from being a beloved comedic actor to certainly one of peak TV’s most celebrated thespians, all due to his more and more extra intimidating efficiency as Walter White. The former chemistry instructor turned fairly proficient with prison acts, from cooking up practically excellent meth to planting explosives to rigging up the present’s notorious “machine gun in the trunk of the Cadillac” contraption.
So yeah, Walter White actually is aware of a factor or two about machine weapons — even when collection creator Vince Gilligan has publicly regretted its inclusion — however not everybody could be conscious that Bryan Cranston himself is outwardly recognized to get right into a Nerf gun conflict every now and then. At least at any time when he’s invited to, because it went on the set of Modern Family at any time when the Emmy-winning actor popped by the ABC sitcom to supply up his directing abilities.
When Modern Family vet Nolan Gould appeared on former co-star Jesse Tyler Ferguson’s podcast Dinner’s On Me, the youthful actor talked about how he, Ariel Winter and Rico Rodriguez was “maniacs” behind the scenes and would get into all type of shenanigans. Here’s how he boasted about getting the celebrity actor to hitch their horseplay:
Do you keep in mind the Nerf gun wars that we would have on units after we have been accomplished taking pictures on them? [My] crowning achievement was getting Bryan Cranston to do it on the top of Breaking Bad.
Host Jesse Tyler Ferguson did certainly do not forget that expertise, and advised Gould to share somewhat extra about it, to which the To Do List actor mentioned:
Bryan has directed a number of episodes. And at some point, I do not understand how we did this, we invited him to return play Nerf weapons with us. And so we’ve got photographs of us armed to the enamel with these items, subsequent to Walter White himself.
Ferguson then addressed the truth that he’d truly hosted Bryan Cranston himself on the podcast beforehand, and that he’d talked concerning the Nerf gun expertise on the time. As the Mitchell Pritchett actor put it:
He was a visitor of the podcast. He advised us that story, too. [He said] principally the identical factor. I believe that was just like the true mark of being embraced by the solid is that the children needed to hang around with him.
As against Modern Family and Malcolm within the Middle, Breaking Bad did not precisely have a ton of kid actors hanging across the set. There was Walter and Skylar’s child, in fact, however not till later, and it is in all probability not tremendous protected (or enjoyable) to play Nerf wars with an toddler.
Cranston directed two episodes of Modern Family, one in Season 3 and one in Season 5, however that wasn’t his solely stint behind the digital camera. He helmed three episodes of Breaking Bad, eps of Sneaky Pete and his Showtime thriller Your Honor, in addition to that episode of The Office the place a automobile stunt practically went awry, with seven installments of Malcolm additionally beneath his directorial belt.
Just as a result of he is proficient in directing does not imply he’ll be quitting his day job anytime quickly. To that finish, Cranston’s feedback about stepping away from performing went viral final yr in methods he presumably didn’t intend for, since he got here out afterward to make clear that he wasn’t absolutely retiring from the artform, however that he could be taking a while off when he turns 70 in 2026.
Before that occurs, although, followers will get to see the actor return to his TV sitcom roots for Malcolm within the Middle’s formally confirmed revival, which can hopefully land on the 2025 premiere schedule.
In the meantime, followers can at all times rewatch Breaking Bad in full with a Netflix subscription, whereas Modern Family is offered to stream in its entirety with a Hulu subscription.