How does Breaking Bad star Bryan Cranston tap into the dark, depressive, violent undercurrent that courses through society? Well, there was that one time he watched a man die on the street. From The New Yorker:
Cranston paused on Central Park West near Seventy-first. “In August of 1987,†he said, “I was walking to the doctor, because I had a gastrointestinal bug. I was just turning the corner when I heard Bam! Blunk! Aaah!†The Aaah! was a terrible cry. “I turn and see a man on the street, run over, blood on the ground, his eyes are turning up, and his neck wasâ€â€”Cranston crooked his own almost sideways. “I put my hands under his head so it would be softer than the asphalt, and I could feel him gurgling, and I was shouting, ‘Did anyone see the car?’ The doorman said, ‘Oh, that’s Mr. So-and-So. I knew he was depressed, but …’ And then I saw that the parked car next to us hadâ€â€”his hands carved out a huge dent. “And I realized, Oh, my God—he threw himself from an upper window. I was so delirious from illness that, as I watched him die, I felt it all as these sharp fragments, a bad editing job of my life. And I became angry at the man, and pulled back from him.â€
After a moment, he added, “Every experience feeds an actor, and I’ve learned that depression is all around usâ€â€”he gestured toward the hurtling passersby.
Yeesh.