With the "second half" of the fifth and final season of AMC’s Breaking Bad set to air Aug. 11, the fate of everyone’s favorite science teacher-turned-meth cooker Walter White (portrayed by Bryan Cranston) has captured the nation’s attention. In celebration of the show that has been regarded by numerous media outlets as one of the greatest dramas of all time, the Museum of The Moving Image is hosting a new exhibit, From Mr. Chips to Scarface: Walter White’s Transformation in Breaking Bad, on display through Oct. 27.
Credit: Sam Suddaby / Museum of the Moving Image
The exhibit kicked off with a special appearance at the museum this past Sunday by the show’s creator/producer/sometime director and writer Vince Gilligan, who was interviewed by Charlie Rose. Gilligan, who also wrote for The X Files, was inspired years earlier to create a show with Cranston in mind, after being impressed with his performance as an anti-Semitic man with a terminal illness that took Files’ Fox Mulder hostage. (Cranston’s main body work was of mostly lighter fare, including his longtime work as Hal on the comedy Malcolm in the Middle.) Gilligan had come up with a character who had to be simultaneously loathsome and sympathetic and has said, “Bryan alone was the only actor who could do that, who could pull off that trick.”
Credit: Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for AMC
“It was really fantastic for us to have Gilligan come up and see the exhibit, to see what we’ve done. He was like a rock star, instantly recognizable to fans!” said Barbara Miller, the Museum’s Curator of The Collection and Exhibitions.
Among the objects on view are several costumes worn by Cranston, with a color palette that darkens as the show progresses: the briefs worn by White during his first methamphetamine-making session; the yellow Oxford shirt and khaki pants typical of White’s (earlier) daily wear; the black pork pie hat, black jacket and pants, and green shirt favored by White’s alias, Heisenberg; and the hazmat suit, gas mask, apron, and boots used in subsequent “cooking” scenes.
Credit: Wendell Walker / Museum of the Moving Image
Props include those relating to White’s cancer treatment—pharmaceuticals, PET scan, strands of loose hair (the result of his chemotherapy)—as well as objects featured in pivotal scenes in the series, including the pink teddy bear that falls from a plane crash (season 2) and lands in White’s pool, representing the havoc White has brought upon his life and family (and community), and a copy of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, with the inscription from chemist Gale Boetticher to White. Also on view will be selected clips from the series and behind-the-scenes footage.
“We are thrilled to present material from this extraordinary and compelling television series. The exhibit explores how Breaking Bad’s filmmakers used a variety of visual cues to convey Walter White’s transformation,” says Miller. "It’s important to us that the exhibit is located within the “Actor” section of the “Behind the Screen” core section of the museum, as Breaking Bad focuses on the performance of Walter White and the arc the character takes.”
The Museum of the Moving Image is located at 36-01 35 Avenue, Astoria, NY, 718-777-6888, movingimage.us. *Year round, the museum is free on Fridays, 4pm-8pm.
