I am fascinated by mustaches. The surest way to distract me from something is to present it via a mustachioed messenger. Because whether it’s thin or bushy, it is a choice and a commitment, and I have a theory (based on nothing other than my own conjecture) that all that effort and maintenance ends up supporting an image entirely different from whatever the follicle-bearer was originally going for. Of course, the glaring exception to this analysis is an actor sporting a ‘do for a role. Which brings me to Bryan Cranston, who apparently made headlines this weekend for sharing in an interview with British GQ that he would retire when he turns 70… in 3 years. Somehow that is the brou-haha, and not the fact that he currently looks like a cross between Ron Swanson and The Lorax with no explanation provided whatsoever. The GQ writer is definitely affected by Cranston’s mustache, in fact it gets referenced at the beginning and end of the article, bookending the piece, and yet there is no follow up question on what the mustache is for. What kind of reporting is this, people?!? Anyway, Cranston took to his Instagram on Friday to clarify his remarks on retiring:
Bryan Cranston is setting the record straight after reports circulated last week that the “Breaking Bad” Emmy winner would retire from acting when he turned 70 in 2026.
“Some news came out that wasn’t entirely clear… even to me,” Cranston wrote in a recent Instagram post. “So I wanted to set the record straight. I am not retiring.”
While many understood Cranston’s comments in a British GQ interview published Thursday as a plan to retire from the industry while he pursues a quieter life abroad with his wife Robin Dearden, he clarified his intent to take a step back from acting as a “pause.”
“What I am going to do is hit the pause button for a year after I reach my 70th birthday in 2026,” Cranston wrote, adding “Holy crap – 70!” “I’m not even sure what ‘pausing’ means entirely, but at this moment, I think it means that by taking a year off it will provide several things.”
Cranston’s reasoning for a “pause” is two-fold: spending more time with his wife and providing a “reset” in his career.
“I feel as though I’m beginning to run out of fresh ideas in how to play characters that I’m being offered,” he wrote. “So exploring a more expanded life experience will give me the chance to replenish my soul and prepare for whatever roles I may be afforded in a more authentic way.”
During the break, Cranston noted hsi plans to “unplug from social media, step off the hamster wheel of business, and dive into the classic novels that I’ve always promised myself I would read but haven’t.”
This is an absolutely crazy thought, but bear with me here: what if he took some time off, when he felt he needed it, without making a pronouncement? Now I’m someone who’s always liked Cranston when I’ve seen him in roles, and I generally concur with Kaiser’s assessment that he’s” an intelligent man who has sometimes said stupid sh–t.” That’s being human. So maybe it was just this episode in particular, but I found him exhausting in the British GQ interview and then approaching word salad territory in his Instagram follow up. The GQ article opens with an outline of Cranston’s system for evaluating whether he’ll accept a role, and he actually calls it the ‘Cranston Assessment of Project Scale’ (or CAPS, for short, eye roll), wherein five aspects are scored and a project must rank at a minimum of 13 before he’ll consider it. Don’t worry, more initial-abbreviated systems follow.
Then in his Insta post, I felt more confused than clarified. Does he want to take a break to spend more time with his wife, or to read Moby Dick, or because he thinks he’ll be a better actor at the end of a one-year break? And if he’s already feeling burnt out, why must this break wait until he’s officially 70? Did his decision to take a break go through the CAPS system?! He could have kept it simple and just said ‘I need a year to shave off this mustache.’
photos credit: Olivier Huitel / Avalon and via Instagram
