'Wakefield's' Bryan Cranston on his 'very relatable' character
— -- "Wakefield" star Bryan Cranston believes most adults will find his character in the new film to be very relatable. He's playing the role of a successful Manhattan lawyer and family man who gets caught up on the hamster wheel of life.
To title character Howard Wakefield, it "feels like in order to maintain what I have, I need to just keep going and going and going," Cranston said on ABC News' "Popcorn With Peter Travers." "I thought this was very relatable because I don't think there is an adult alive who hasn't thought, 'I'd like to just hit the pause button on my life if I could, and just stop things so I can take a break'," said Cranston.
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Some viewers might find that their ability to relate to the lead character ends there. But Cranston said his connection to the character was greater, so much so that it affected how chose to play the role. In the film, Wakefield finds himself hiding in a garage attic across from his home, spying on his wife and children, with no one knowing he's there.
"At first I was judging him and I didn't like his manipulative way that he abandoned his children and abandoned his wife. It affected me because my father abandoned our family," Cranston, 61, told Travers. "I could never conceive that with my daughter. That was never going to happen. So I had to get over the judgment of Howard Wakefield before I could get to a place of neutrality with him and then start to build on who I believe that character is -- a man who is searching for a way home, not just physical but also in his heart, in his soul. Where does he belong? And I think that's a universal question."
Be sure to watch the full interview with Peter Travers and Bryan Cranston in the video above as Cranston also looks back on his roles in "Breaking Bad" and "Malcolm in the Middle."
