The ‘Godzilla’ decision that Bryan Cranston calls a “mistake”
Cast your mind back to 2014. Barack Obama was still leading the United States, the idea of a global pandemic was mere fiction, and Elon Musk was yet to hit the self-destruct button on his newly acquired Twitter platform. In hindsight, it seems like a far simpler time, with sci-fi flicks like Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar, Doug Liman’s Edge of Tomorrow, and Gareth Edwards’ Godzilla thrilling audiences by transporting them to wild, alternate worlds.
Indeed, the hype for Edwards’ Godzilla was pretty staggering. Thanks to a deliciously designed teaser trailer, the new monster flick from the British filmmaker was making waves online, being the first Hollywood film in the series since Roland Emmerich’s disastrous 1998 movie. Starring the likes of Bryan Cranston, who was just coming off the back of his success with the TV series Breaking Bad, as well as Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen, the film was primed for box office success.
Earning $529million worldwide, Godzilla was far from a flop, but it was not the critical and commercial phenomenon fans and critics had hoped it would be. Dull and uneven, the lack of narrative strength acted in contrast to the well-constructed scenes of monstrous destruction, making for an entirely forgettable movie.
One of the most controversial moves the film made was to kill off Cranston’s scientist Joe Brody at the start of the movie, even though he was marketed to be a major character. In turn, his son Ford, played by Taylor-Johnson, becomes the protagonist, catching audiences at the time totally off guard.
Taking to The Nerdist podcast shortly after the film’s release, Cranston surprisingly expressed his agreement with the fans and critics who felt that his character’s death was a mistake.
“That character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it,” he told the podcast, “When I read it I said, ‘Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point – he dies?’ What a waste… They kind of dealt with it poorly, that’s my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie”.
Continuing, he added: “I told them that even if I wasn’t doing this role, that character shouldn’t die at that point. It’s just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road. I was the last guy hired because I was still shooting Breaking Bad and they kept pushing because Breaking Bad kept pushing. Finally, I was able to get in and do it”.
It’s easy to forget that Cranston was a hot property at the time of Godzila’s release, with the actor having delivered an extraordinary performance in the TV series Breaking Bad as Walter White, a chemistry teacher turned meth dealer. Winning four Primetime Emmys for the role over the course of five seasons, Cranston flexed his acting muscles, revealing a layered character who struggled with self-identity, guilt, regret and much more.
Take a look at a clip of Cranston in 2014’s Godzilla below.
