TheBreaking Badstar returns to his greatest role.
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of photos featuring his 19-month-old daughter, Story.
Shes totally fine when she sees Jesses scars, Paul says, putting down his phone.
She looks past all of that and right into my eyes.
When we moved in, he says, they gave us two binders of information about running this place.
For those whod come to root for Jesse, the send-off felt victorious.
But it also left some questions in the balance.
Ever sincethe finale, Paul notes, people always ask, What happened to Jesse?
And Id say, You know as much as I do.
I dont bury anything.
He was real to me, the actor says.
I cared for him.
I wanted him to be okay.
2 on an episode ofMelrose Placeand aJackass-inspired stunt-doofus onThe X-Files.
He also tried out a couple of acting classes.
I saw people doing strange exercises that I just didnt understand, he says.
He was spared after producers noted how well Paul and Cranston fit together onscreen.
Vince immediately knew Jesse was going to be a more meaningful character.
(Bernstein, who knew Paul before hisBreaking Baddays, didnt know about his after-hours research.
At times, Paul even dreamed as Jesse.
It sounds odd, but I lived and breathed every moment of his life, says Paul.
I know him so well it feels like these things happened to me, in a way.
As the shows final episodes neared, Jesse had become increasingly imperiled by Walters schemes.
He wrote a letter to Gilligan, pleading that Jesse go out honorably.
I asked Vince to read it to the entire staff, Paul says.
I said, If Jesses going to die, can it at least be by his own hands?
I beg you: Let him make that decision himself.
Vince wrote back: I could never kill the heart of the show.
What are your thoughts on that?
At that point, Paul says, I was in a very good place.
Wed just gotten pregnant, which wed wanted for a long time.
I love everyone on that show, he says of the series,which was canceled in 2018.
But story-wise, I dont know if we knew the direction it was going.
He found it hard to leverage his TV success into a film career.
I was so spoiled at the height ofBreaking Bad, he says.
I was being offered everything.
Television actors even those with multiple Emmys have always struggled to navigate the gulf between TV and film.
Thats all the more difficult when your best-known character is being rediscovered on a daily basis.
She knew it was an opportunity for me to spread my wings again.
When I flipped the last page, I just laid there in silence.
From the moment Gilligan had told him about the film, hed been eager to learn Jesses fate.
I said, Dude, its way too early, says Paul.
People are just going to think of Walt and Jesse.
They settled on Dos Hombres, which was released this summer.
Theyre like, The show was so perfect, why mess with it?, notes Paul.
With Jesse, it felt like we were scratching at something that hadnt been fully addressed, she says.
It was the one story with an immediate fallout.
He had something to say, and I didnt doubt for a minute that it was worthy.
Paul, whos in nearly every moment ofEl Camino, shot his scenes without any rehearsal.
It was easy to access those emotions, man, he says.
It was all very much still in me, and it was nice to release those feelings again.
Its part of a performance that, in many ways, was informed by Pauls becoming a father.
I look at the world completely differently now, he says.
I see Jesse as this damaged soul as this guy whos just hurting even more now.
Aarons now further on down the road.
Hes lived more, so he can bring all of those colors to his performance.
I cant live with that pressure on me, nor will I. Im happy.
She soon attaches herself to Paul, who bounces her on his knee.
Shes in such a daddy phase now, he says.
