Bryan Cranston Explains What It Takes to Be an Artist
Actor Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Trumbo, Last Flag Flying) is easily one of the greatest actors of his generation. But he has a remarkable perspective on art ...
==========
I think generally artists are much more inclined to just embrace ambiguity than the business world. Ambiguity lies in the unknown. So does art. Whereas business lies in facts, lies in specifics. This equals this, and if you do this you’ll get that. Work and reward. In art you have to find your own reward in it. So it’s still a work-reward system, meritocracy. But the rewards are different. I try to encourage young actors or writers or directors to go into the arts for the right reason, and that is: the love of the art. And if actors – and I can always tell when they’re not heading in the right direction, because when they’re looking at something as some sort of stepping stone to something else, like in Los Angeles, which is not a theater town but you’ll hear often acto...
==========
I think generally artists are much more inclined to just embrace ambiguity than the business world. Ambiguity lies in the unknown. So does art. Whereas business lies in facts, lies in specifics. This equals this, and if you do this you’ll get that. Work and reward. In art you have to find your own reward in it. So it’s still a work-reward system, meritocracy. But the rewards are different. I try to encourage young actors or writers or directors to go into the arts for the right reason, and that is: the love of the art. And if actors – and I can always tell when they’re not heading in the right direction, because when they’re looking at something as some sort of stepping stone to something else, like in Los Angeles, which is not a theater town but you’ll hear often acto...
