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Bryan Cranston talks The Handlers for Atom, Golden Globes and Breaking Bad

By April MacIntyre Dec 14, 2010, 20:00 GMT

In "The Handlers" for Atom.com, Jack Power, described as his own worst enemy, is played by Bryan Cranston (three-time Emmy winner for Breaking Bad).

Bryan Cranston is bowled over, deeply honored for a first-time Golden Globes nomination, and also happy too for Katey Sagal, who was nominated for best actress in a television drama by the Globes.

"I'm very happy for her, she's a wonderful actress" shared Cranston, on the phone with Monsters and Critics today to discuss his latest creative venture that began cooking back in 2007, prior to "Breaking Bad" catching fire for AMC and Cranston's career.

"She (Sagal) is such a great actress and the show too, but it's great to see her recognized."  Cranston noted that both excellent dramas, "Breaking Bad" and Sagal's "Sons of Anarchy" were kindred spirits in that they were not everyone's taste, and that he truly appreciated the recognition by the Golden Globes nomination announcement today.

Atom.com will be hosting a series of eight webisodes that Cranston hopes will draw his actor friends to him to collaborate in the sketch segment vein of Saturday Night Live, a Tuesday event titled "The Handlers" which was born from Cranston's friend and colleague, Jamie Bruce, who is French, introducing him to a French language webseries "Henaut President," a study of the gameplaying, planning and execution of getting a man into office. 

In "The Handlers" for Atom.com, Jack Power, described as his own worst enemy, is played by Bryan Cranston (three-time Emmy winner for Breaking Bad).

Cranston and Bruce fashioned this Americanized version of "Henaut President" that will allow for additional stars to be included as guest politicians, "We want to invite celebrities to become candidates, similar in a way to an SNL template, by writing to their strengths for a variety of different electable positions, from school boards, even a coroner which is an elected position," explained Cranston, who will be featured as Jack Power on Atom.com on Tuesday, January 4, 2011.

"I'll show them the sketches that I do, and hope that if an actor is interested, and they want to do this to let me know, there's a lot of humor to enjoy about this political process, and we are presenting it in non-partisan way."

"The Handlers" is a series of eight webisodes which center on a cadre of ambitious campaign operatives determined to do whatever it takes to win the contest, the absurdist lengths they go to, all for Jack Power, described as a hapless candidate, elected to a post as State Senator, whether he likes it or not.

"The team is fascinated less about the candidate than they are more about the campaign management, winning and the hierarchy among them, and this D-Team of sorts is set to a smaller campaign; they haven't quite ascended the ladder." Cranston felt that the timing was good for this long-simmering series, just wrapping post-production for Atom.com. "Politics and the interest in it is on people's minds, and this format is non-partisan fun to invite celebrities on for different political races, and we make fun of iconic political figures and parties, we're putting our political big toe in the water and hope to get more actors involved in this ongoing series."

"Breaking Bad" too was on Cranston's mind, as I asked him what his feeling were about Gale (David Costabile) and the ambiguous ending we were left with, despite showrunner Vince Gilligan telling the AV Club in a past interview that he hadn't realized he had done so.

"This may be one of those happy accidents," laughed Cranston. "I think its more enjoyable for me not to know, but David Costabile is a wonderful actor, a terrific guy, and I don't know what the intentions are, and from what I understand the controversy was caused by a mechanical one, as the dolly shot - and [laughs] Vince directed this episode so he has no one to blame but himself -  it appeared from the movement of the camera on the dolly that the gun had turned away, but I believe he was meant to be murdered. Again, maybe it is a happy accident and we don't want to kill him."

And for Walt, Cranston reflected on the question; was he irredeemable at this point in the series?  "Will he go back to being a high school chemistry teacher? No, he's gone down the path, one he was unaware he could be capable of, and he didn't leave a breadcrumb trail behind him to find his way back, he's just too far down this road to reconcile with his soul."

As for any guest star spoilers or any season four tidbits, Cranston kept to the coda for the creatives on the AMC hit series. "We have a don't ask don't tell" policy, and I really don't want to know; I like finding out closer to when we shoot, but I have no idea about anything at this point."

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