|
You may recall seeing this familiar face on various episodes of Hannah Montana, now you can see RJ Mitte shaking things up every week on AMC's hit television series Breaking Bad. Gaining much recognition for his realistic portrayal of Walter White, Jr., RJ is quickly emerging as one of Hollywood's most talented young actors.
RJ MITTE TALKS ABOUT BREAKING BAD!
(By: Bessie Sorge and Gracie Haverty)
You may recall seeing this familiar face on various episodes of Hannah Montana, now you can see RJ Mitte shaking things up every week on AMC's hit television series Breaking Bad. Gaining much recognition for his realistic portrayal of Walter White, Jr., RJ is quickly emerging as one of Hollywood's most talented young actors.
Growing up in Louisiana, RJ watched his sister Lacianne develop a passion for entertaining a crowd. It wasn't until the family moved to Hollywood to further Lacianne's career that RJ was bitten by the acting bug too. "We went to meet an agent for her, and Megan said ‘why don't you audition?’" Mitte tells us. "I started shortly after that." It didn't take very long after RJ decided to become an actor that he began captivating the hearts of casting directors. In fact, his first acting job was a regular student on The Disney Channel's breakout series Hannah Montana.
Breaking Bad is RJ's first major role in his budding acting career, and for RJ life imitates art in his portrayal of the young Walter Junior who suffers from a severe case of cerebral palsy. From the very beginning RJ had close ties with Walter Junior because, like his character on the show, he also grew up struggling with a mild case of the cerebral palsy disability. While in many ways he can relate to Walt Junior, RJ had to degenerate his disability to become re-trained on all of the behavioral symptoms that he grew up learning not to do in rehabilitative therapy, like having to exaggerate his speech patterns and learn to walk on crutches, which he has never done. "I just really drew everything that I'd overcome out," Mitte tells us.
We recently chatted with RJ Mitte to get the scoop on his new show Breaking Bad, which AMC recently announced was just picked up for a second season.
Breaking Bad is your first major project. Tell us about the moment when you found out you landed the role.
I was half asleep when I found out I got the role, but I woke up right after. It was a great feeling. It was like my fifth audition when I found out I got the role, it was like, "by the way, you're working the next day at six o'clock."
So, you didn't have much very time to prepare.
No, luckily the scene that I had been auditioning for was the scene I was shooting the next day, so I knew it by heart.
Tell us about your character on the show?
He is a normal 16 year old kid just trying to get through life with his disability, and he going through a lot with his dad, and there's a new sister on the way. He's just really got a lot going on and he's just trying to figure it all out like any teenager is.
How did you prepare yourself to play such a dramatic role?
I try in every way to put myself into it. I usually look on experiences or whatever. I try to get as close as I can to the character to try to really prepare myself to put on a good show.
What has been the biggest challenge you have faced with playing a character with cerebral palsy?
Really, it hasn't been the cerebral palsy because I have that covered - I just had to really regress for Walt Junior - but it would probably be the depression scenes. I'm a really cheery guy; I'm always happy. But the most difficult days are the depressed ones.
Have you drawn upon your own experience growing up with cerebral palsy to play this character?
I did. With Walt Junior, I looked back on all the stuff I had to overcome and everything that I worked for. I just really drew everything that I'd overcome out and just went back to where pretty much I was, almost to the beginning.
What has been your favorite scene to film so far?
My favorite, I can't give it away, but my favorite right now would be the driving. That was a lot of fun. That was a good day. My most favorite was the whole season I think it's been (episode) nine or seven. We really had some fun with that.
What was your experience like with the episode where you drove?
Blinding, but other than that it was real fun to do that with Bryan. My favorite part though it was all muggy that day so we all, it was all lighted up, look out here it's all lighted, so it was a fun day though. It was a great experience to figure out how all that worked.
Was there any funny moments behind the scenes that you would like to share us?
Well, working with Bryan, working with the whole cast, we're a fun cast. There are way too many to remember. We always try to bring in comedy to put a little light in the darkness. We all have a very good sense of humor. Me and the makeup guy got into a water fight with a turkey-baster.
Did they film that?
No, actually I wish they did because that would have been hilarious if they did. At first, I called him a chicken baster and he's like, "a chicken baster?" We just try to have a lot of fun.
It was recently announced that the show has been picked up for another season? Are you excited about that?
I am very excited. I'm ready to get back to work on it. It's a real honor to work with Vince and everyone because I couldn't have asked to be on a better show than Breaking Bad.
Tell us about your experience with working with all the other cast members. Have you been able to learn anything from them about how to handle show business since this is your first major project?
When I first came to Breaking Bad, I was actually the greenest person there - I had the least acting experience than Aaron, Dean and Bryan and some of the other guys have had that work on the show. I was just watching Bryan and all of them, you just take away a little bit of each of them, like with the lines and how you are supposed to position, and you learn a lot from the directors and the lighting crews, and where your marks are; how to do everything just perfect.
What has been the best advice you have taken away from this experience?
Don't really try to act, put yourself in the moment and then the acting will come.
Who gave you that advice?
Bryan did, actually.
Tell us a little about your experience traveling to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Well, that was a mess. I actually worked after that on some roofs and stuff. But, when I came back from there, it was a disaster there. My uncle's house got totally demolished; it was right where the hurricane hit the worst. He got hit with a 30-foot surge of water, not including the wind damage, and then when the oil refinery blew, he got hit with that. It was really creepy because going down to it McDonald's used to be on this block and now it got picked up and moved over a little. It was really creepy what a hurricane that size can do to a city.
Has it changed your prospective at all on how you view life?
It made me respect nature a lot more, like you don't want nature to clear our house into your house. You just can't take life for granted. We would drive by all these places and you could tell on the door how many people were still inside when it hit because they would put "3" on the door. You would drive down the street and see all the numbers of people that didn't leave.
Look for RJ to make his producing debut in a film called ME, which is scheduled to start production this fall. "I mean often times when I say the name of the film, people think I'm referring to myself," Mitte explains to us with laughter. In the meantime, tune into AMC every Sunday to catch RJ in Breaking Bad. For more information on RJ, be sure to visit his official Myspace page.
|
Interviews 
