Bryan Cranston's fearsome Walter White was infamously the one who knocks on the door in "Breaking Bad."
But a manically giddy Cranston is now the one barging into people's homes to extol the virtues of
cell phone service in a new T-Mobile campaign.
Cranston, 70, joins a celebrity ad lineup that had included Billy Bob Thornton, Zoe Saldaña
, Zach Braff and Donald Faison, amping up his considerable comic energy to the company's new T-Mix campaign.The Emmy-winner is naturally costarring with a rooster.
Turns out this isn't Cranston's first rodeo handling poultry after spending part of his childhood on his grandparents' California farm. The farm chickens met a decidedly different fate from George the Rooster, Cranston's feathered costar and one of Hollywood's busiest bird actors.
USA TODAY spoke with Cranston about his poultry-farm past, how to get chickens to act and his "eerie" childhood brush with notorious cult leader Charles Manson.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Question: Your feathered costar is known as George the Rooster. How was George to work with? Roosters can get cocky.
Bryan Cranston: He was a bit of a diva. I'm not gonna lie. He refused to come out of his trailer. He wanted an upgrade from the kibble that he was given. A bit of a mess.
Actually, I'm holding George for a lot of the commercial. And we took a break. As soon as I handed him back to the trainer, he [defecated] all over the floor. And I went, "Now that's a professional rooster right there." He waited. And I appreciated it.
When it was lunchtime, I didn't have the heart to tell him I was having chicken. I told him I was going vegan. George appreciated that.
For actors who might find themselves working with poultry in the future, any big tips?
A chicken isn't really trained. You can only motivate it with food. I would have this cup, and I would rattle his food. As soon as he turned toward me, I would drop the food out of the frame and then start acting with him.
You certainly looked like you knew how to handle George. What's the hack?
You wanna make sure that his wings are down, and that with one hand you can cup both wings and then get underneath him. When I was living on my grandfather's farm, though, we didn't hold them that way. We held them with one hand over the tips of the wings and the legs, put their heads on a chopping block and "Whap!"
It's just a farm boy's life. You do what you need to do.
That took a turn. Now I have to ask: Do chickens really run around after their heads are cut off?
They do. But after you cut their heads off, you hold them over a bucket to drain their blood. This is going to be great material for USA TODAY, by the way.
Moving swiftly on. We read that you once had a memorable run-in with Charles Manson while horseback riding near Spahn Ranch. What happened?
It was my cousin and I, when I was maybe 9. It was very common in those days to have your parents just drop you off and be like, "We'll be back. Here, go ride a horse, and we'll see you in a couple hours."
We both knew that this person was different than people we normally see. He had the blackest eyes and the blankest face, as if he was in a daze. He was high as a kite, apparently, and it was just very eerie.
The story of how I inadvertently met a serial killer on a horse path is going to be in an upcoming book.
Was he actually a serial killer at the time?
Well, that I don't know. Was he? Who knows?
In the commercial, you're one of those annoyingly happy morning people, cheerfully throwing open the curtains and such. Are you one of those people in real life?
[Switches to a thespian voice] I hate those annoying people. May I remind you, Bryan? It was a character I was playing in this commercial. It's not really me.
Speaking of Bryan, you spell your name correctly, with a Y. Do you take issue with people who spell Bryan incorrectly with an I?
I don't have an issue. People can make mistakes. That's all right. I don't blame them for their parental mistakes.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Bryan Cranston's chicken acting masterclass, that 'eerie' Charles Manson encounter
