'The Infiltrator' Star Bryan Cranston on Playing a Character Within a Character

Bryan Cranston is no stranger to playing characters who lead secret lives. On Breaking Bad, Cranston, as Walter White, had to play the part of an innocent family man who was hiding his moonlight gig as a burgeoning drug kingpin. Now, in The Infiltrator, Cranston stars as U.S. Customs Agent Bob Mazur, a real person who helped take on Pablo Escobar and his drug cartel.

Mazur took on the alias of Bob Musella and befriended various Escobar allies before ensnaring them in one of the most daring and elaborate stings in modern history. Yahoo Movies had the opportunity to speak with Cranston about what it’s like to play a character who is, in turn, playing a character.

For Cranston, the mindset is to “clarify what are the distinctions between those characters.” So, for The Infiltrator, “the main one you need to get is Bob Mazur, the actual man. Because everything else is a mask on top of Bob Mazur. So that’s the focus,” Cranston said. “Get him first. Get his sensibility, what makes him tick. What is he like as a husband and as a father? What is he like as a noble man, a law enforcement officer, trying to do the right thing? What is he afraid of, what is he good at? What does he hope for? So, all of those things come into play as you’re creating a character.”

While the award-winning actor might be in the thick of character work on the set, he has found it easier over time to leave his job at the office. We asked Cranston if his work playing these larger-than-life characters changes his personality at home, and he said it’s become less so over time. “I think, earlier on in my career, you’re so engaged and so happy that you have a job, if you’re doing a character that’s a little more flamboyant, bigger, something that’s away from who you really are, you have a tendency to latch on it and have fun playing with that,” he answered. “But if you have a wife like mine or anyone else who sets you straight, who can call you on your s***, it’s like, ‘You’re being kind of an a******, so why don’t you stop playing that character and be my husband?’ It’s like, ‘Am I, really? Who are you to tell me … oh, I guess I am!’”

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