Aaron Paul says he struggled to get lead roles after 'Breaking Bad'
Aaron Paul has said that he struggled to land movie roles after starring as Jessie Pinkman, his breakthrough role in the hit show Breaking Bad.
Experiencing what many actors who play iconic TV roles have, he added that he was initially 'spoiled' while making the latter series of the the show, and was 'being offered everything'.
But speaking to Vulture, he revealed that after he picked two flops – the Fast & Furious-esque Need For Speed, based on the EA video game, which was critically mauled, and Ridley Scott's Exodus: Gods and Kings, which was critically mauled AND tanked at the box office – the leading role offers thinned out.
Read more: Breaking Bad fave returning for El Camino
“You do one commercial film that’s not the success they think it’s going to be, and you’re damned,” he said.
He also said that he missed out on one 'monster, monster hit', which he refused to name.
Now Paul is set to return to the role of Pinkman in El Camino, the feature-length sequel movie to Breaking Bad, being made by the show's creator Vince Gilligan.
“There were some big thorns in my side that I had to let go,” Paul added.
“My wife knew all of this was going on, so when I told her what Vince wanted to do, she threw her arms around me. She knew it was an opportunity for me to spread my wings again.
“It was easy to access those emotions, man. It was all very much still in me, and it was nice to release those feelings again. I look at the world completely differently [since] having my daughter. I see Jesse as this damaged soul - as this guy who’s just hurting - even more now.”
Read more: Everything you need to know about El Camino
Paul is also lined up for the third series of HBO's Westworld, due out next year.
El Camino, meanwhile, which also brings in former Breaking Bad stars Charles Baker (aka Skinny Pete), Jonathan Banks (aka Mike Ehrmantraut) and Matt Jones (Badger) – and possibly Bryan Cranston as Walter White in flashback scenes – lands on Netflix on October 11.
