Bryan Cranston Wasn't Thrilled About What Happened To His GODZILLA Character

Gareth Edwards' Godzilla impressed a lot of people with its visual effects last summer, but I wasn't crazy about how it handled Bryan Cranston's character. Spoiler alert for those who haven't seen the film, but Cranston himself wasn't thrilled about it either.

For those who don't remember, he's killed off early in the movie, and on the Nerdist podcast (via JoBlo), Cranston spoke openly about his disappointment with the script:

“That character dying at that time was a mistake. I knew it when I read it. When I read it I said, ‘Oh, page 50 this character who was the emotional core at the center, that was guiding the audience in the story up to that point – he dies?’ What a waste.

They kind of dealt with it poorly, that’s my only criticism of it because I think it was a fun movie, it was a very successful movie. I told them that even if I wasn’t doing this role, that character shouldn’t die at that point. It’s just bad narrative, but they were too far down the road. I was the last guy hired because I was still shooting Breaking Bad and they kept pushing because Breaking Bad kept pushing. Finally, I was able to get in and do it.”

Yeah, I think anyone who has seen the film will probably agree with him on that point. Leaving the audience stuck with the block of wood that is Aaron Taylor-Johnson and the criminally underwritten role for Elizabeth Olsen didn't help matters any, and it's probably fair to say most people didn't care about the humans after Cranston died — they just wanted to see more monster action. But the actor did offer a suggestion for a way for his character to die when it actually could have impacted the script in a positive way:

“That character should have been with his son and they would’ve started to bond a little bit more and they went on this journey together to go back home and be reintroduced to his grandson. Just when they’re bonding and it looks like they could have a relationship, the father sacrifices himself to save his son. And that’s the way he should have died.”

I'm right there with him on this one, too. That development would have made the film a little more predictable, but that's a much better alternative than just mentally checking out of the movie an hour in because the human characters are worthless. Regardless, Edwards certainly came out of this whole thing OK, since he's moved on to directing Star Wars Anthology: Rogue One. Mostly it's just refreshing to hear an actor publicly say something negative about a film they've made recently and not just keep quiet because they think it'll hurt their career if they give their honest opinion.