Aaron Paul's post-“Breaking Bad” career is going to be interesting.
Being on a show that is a breakout phenomenon like that can be a double-edged sword. Sure, his visibility went through the roof, and all of a sudden, he became incredibly well-known, and not just as Jesse. People unearthed old game show appearances and a video of him chatting with tourists outside his house went viral. He became closely identified with the emphatic use of the word “Bitch!”, and ended up endorsing a whiskey as himself.
So now what? We talked about how he's adjusted to the end of the show, and we also discussed his first major post-“Breaking Bad” role, the new car stunt extravaganza “Need For Speed” and why he chose this film.
On the page, it makes sense for why they would want him. If Paul has a signature move as an actor, it is that shaky tearful anger of his, and he is called on to do a certain amount of it onscreen in this role. What's weird is that he seems like he's almost perpetually cheerful in real life, and why not? If you're exorcising all your demons in front of the camera, it must make it easy to be well-adjusted and happy in your daily life.
More than that, though, he seems like he took the role because he wanted to drive real fast, and he certainly seems to get plenty of chances to do that in the movie. Because the movie is all practical car gags, there's a lot of opportunities for Paul to be the guy behind the wheel, and he seemed delighted to talk about his training and his favorite moments in the film.
I'll have more interviews for “Need For Speed” as well as a review of the film in the next two weeks, so keep checking back for those.
“Need For Speed” opens Friday.