Breaking Bad: When Bryan Cranston said he patterned Walter White's character after his father, and what that reveals about Heisenberg

Breaking Bad is one of those rare shows that almost no one has a bad word for. It has a global fan following and an almost mythic status in pop culture. It's one of those shows that doesn’t age. That’s because of its themes like power and morality.

The show is also very human. It is raw and will make you think about the choices you make in life. Breaking Bad taps into something we all understand. It shows how sometimes the right path is blurry. And how people don’t always stay who they started as.

And that brings us to Walter White, aka Heisenberg. That's a name that’s become iconic in its own way. We first met Walter as a meek and overqualified high school chemistry teacher. He was just trying to scrape by and provide for his family.

But then he spirals into this person that not even himself could have predicted. He became a drug kingpin whose intellect is sharp but his moral compass is equally broken. He becomes the poster child for the modern anti-hero.

He is someone you hate to love or maybe love to hate. His transformation proved to be even deeper when Bryan Cranston once revealed that Walter White of Breaking Bad was inspired by someone very close to him.

Breaking Bad: The Chemistry teacher who became a kingpin

Walter White in Breaking Bad is a suffering genius when we first meet him. He is a man who once had potential but is now stuck teaching disinterested teens. He soon finds out he has cancer, and then begins the money struggles. He doesn't get furious or yell at anyone for it. He is the kind of guy who keeps things to himself and bears the weight alone.

But beneath that is an egotistical man whose suppressed resentment is just waiting to erupt. And that comes out in the form of Heisenberg in Breaking Bad.

Walter tells himself and us that he’s doing it for his family. But we all knew better. Finally his excuse wears off and he admits that he did it because he loved doing it. A man who was deprived of power finally had it and now refused to let go of it.

Walter wasn't a man driven by desperation. He was someone who always believed that he was the smartest guy in the room and now he had the empire to prove it.

Breaking Bad: How Bryan Cranston’s father helped shape Walter White

Bryan Cranston once revealed in an interview with Josh Horowitz that he crafted his persona of Walter White in Breaking Bad after his father.

Much of Walter’s early physique, including his posture and weariness, was modeled after Cranston's father. He said:

"I actually thought of my dad a lot. His rounded shoulders, his age. And Walter felt like he was much older than he really was. He was 50, but he felt like he was 70. He was kind of a little chubby and soft. And he had this, what I called, an infinite mustache. I wanted a mustache that you look at it and you go, either grow it out or shave it."

The slumped shoulders and tired demeanor made Walter White feel invisible. That invisibility was intentional. Cranston also said:

"I took all the color out of my face. I put a wash through my hair so that it was like a dirty brown, no highlights. I wanted him to feel invisible to himself in the world because I knew that transition was coming. And when that transition came to become Heisenberg, the chest came back, the colors changed, his mood changed. For the first time, he felt that he can intimidate others. He felt aggressive and manly, for lack of a better term, and that's where his downfall was. His ego went along with that, so we explored all of that person and his voyage."

That transformation from colorless chemistry teacher to criminal mastermind was just art. No wonder fans immortalize him with tattoos on their backs, arms, thighs…

"I've seen several people come with tattoos all over their bodies. Backs, arms, shoulders, upper thighs, lower thighs, b*tts... I saw one where it was like I saw my face on someone's b*tt." Cranston laughed, saying this.

Walter White from Breaking Bad wasn’t just a character. He was an era. And it all started with a slouch and a dusty wash of hair.

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