Bryan Cranston reveals why he isn't missing Breaking Bad's Walter White

The 59-year-old actor has just appeared at the Toronto International Film Festival with Dame Helen Mirren for the premiere of their new film Trumbo, and admitted the success of Breaking Bad has opened so many doors for him.

Bryan said: “The Breaking Bad story had such a definitive ending and a satisfying one that I don’t want to then open that back up. It does seem to me it would be a second helping of dessert.”

He added: “The opportunities have opened up and I’m so grateful for it and just trying to navigate through them and take advantage of them.

“I know that at some point, it will calm down and I’ll step off the roller coaster and rest for a while. And when that happens, I want to be able to look back and say I was in the moment and I’m proud of what I’ve done.”

At the Trumbo premiere, Dame Helen called Bryan “one of the greatest living American actors”, leaving her co-star gobsmacked.

“I didn’t know she felt that way,” Bryan said, shaking his head. “I think she must be a little under the weather.”

In Trumbo, he stars as the blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. The film, set for release in the heart of awards season in January in the UK, is directed by Jay Roach and adapted by John McNamara from Bruce Cook’s biography.

Jay, known best for his comedies such as Meet the Parents and Austin Powers, takes a zippy, amusing tour through one of Hollywood’s most shameful periods and through the life of one of its most eccentric figures.

Trumbo, one of the top screenwriters in Hollywood and a member of the Communist party since 1943, was targeted by the House Un-American Activities Committee. When he and others of the so-called Hollywood Ten refused to name names, they were held in contempt of Congress. Trumbo was jailed for 11 months and found himself blacklisted upon release. To make a living, he wrote scripts by pseudonym and won two Oscars (The Brave One, Roman Holiday) under other names.

“It’s fundamentally un-American to force someone under the penalty of incarceration to say: ‘What unions do you belong to?’ Just as it would: ‘What’s your sexual orientation?’” said Bryan. “It’s none of your business, and that’s the point.”

The Cold War-era film, Bryan said, bears lessons for the post-September 11 surveillance by the National Security Agency.

“There are periods of time when fear takes over, the last time being these last 14 years,” he said. “And the First Amendment is often pushed aside, and actions motivated by fear take over. And I think that’s wrong. The First Amendment should always be in the conversation when determining what actions should be taken.”

The part of Trumbo comes with a wealth of accoutrements: a curled moustache, horn-rimmed glasses, a constantly fuming cigarette with a long-stemmed holder, a fondness for typing furiously in the bath. But most entertaining and essential to the character is Trumbo’s rich, ever-flowing wit and verbosity.

Bryan said he dug through audio tapes, video tapes, biographies, Trumbo’s own letters and the memories of Trumbo’s two living daughters.

“I don’t know what I’m looking for, but I keep looking,” he said of finding Trumbo. “I keep looking, keep searching and something comes to me: ‘Oh, I can use that.’ So the character starts outside of me, like it’s outside of my body when I first begin.

“There’s always a little trepidation: Is this a character I won’t be able to get?” he continues. “And I just keep my head down and do more research and do more reading and more discussions, and little by little, the more I do, the closer it gets. And pretty soon, it feels almost like a ghost impression seeps into you.

“Then you’ve got it.”