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While we often talk about Bryan Cranston’s screen accomplishments, including a slew of Emmy nominations and wins for his work on Breaking Bad, our chat for the upcoming Disney+ release, The One and Only Ivan, seemed like the perfect opportunity to dig into Cranston’s stage experience. He actually has two Tony Awards to his name, one for his performance in All the Way and another for Network. On The One and Only Ivan, Cranston got the chance to collaborate with a director who’s got quite the background in theater herself, Thea Sharrock. While Sharrock has a significant amount of stage credits to her name, the one that’s likely most familiar is her 2007 West End production of Equus with Daniel Radcliffe, which she then took to Broadway in 2009.

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Image via Disney

Now, with The Only and Only Ivan, she brings K.A. Applegate’s award winning children’s book to screen. Cranston steps in as Mack, the owner of a mall who’s also the ringmaster of the location’s prime attraction, a circus featuring a gorilla named Ivan (voiced by Sam Rockwell). During our chat, I asked Cranston if Sharrock’s theater background came in handy on set. Here’s what he said:

“She has a real collaborative process, theatrical background, loves to rehearse - as do I - loves to talk about it, and has an open door policy. So, open to any whim or suggestion that may come up on the set or otherwise. The most you can hope for in a director is that, not only do they have a clear vision like she had, but also to be able to accept spontaneous ideas that come up and try things; not to be too rigid in how you approach it. And Thea is a wonderfully collaborative and artistic partner.”

If you’d like to hear more from Cranston about his experience working with Ben Bishop, the motion capture artist responsible for playing Ivan on set, and if there's any chance he'll appear as Walter White on Better Call Saul before the series wraps up, check out the full video interview at the top of this article!

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Image via Disney

Bryan Cranston:

  • Cranston discusses working with Thea Sharrock, a director with an extensive theater background.
  • Cranston also talks about working with motion capture artist Ben Bishop.
  • Will Cranston ever direct an episode of Better Call Saul or appear as Walt before the series wraps up?