“I’m amazed at
people like (Bryan
Cranston) who have
so much going on
and have such an
ease about them
all the time.”
Actress Marin IrelandWEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2017 SECTION D
Fully committed
to ‘Silence,’
director’s new
project springs
from his soul —
and altar-boy
past 2DScorsese’s
spiritual side
IAN GAVAN, GETTY IMAGESUSA SNAPSHOTS©
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And find a store near you atSerta.com©2017 Serta, Inc.NEW YORK Bryan Cranston
takes a very hands-on approach
to Sunday brunch.
The Emmy winner is direct-
ing a scene of his new series,
Sneaky Pete (streaming Friday
on Amazon Prime), in which
con man Marius (Giovanni Ri-
bisi) is polishing off an after-
church meal with members of
his estranged “family.” Rather
than bark “Action!” and “Cut!”
from one end of the clan’s Con-
necticut farmhouse — built to
scale in a Brooklyn studio —
Cranston is darting between the
director’s chair and the dining
room. He gently offers pointers
on everything from dialogue to
dishware, and later hugs cast
and crew as they
wrap shooting.
“I’m amazed
at people like
him who have so
much going on
and have such
an ease about
them all the
time,” says Ma-
rin Ireland, who
plays single
mother Julia.
“There’s always
such a humor
about him, and
he’s always so
creative.”
Although
Cranston, 60,
has directed TV
before, Sneaky
Pete bears even
more of his cre-
ative stamp than signature
roles on AMC’s Breaking Bad
and Fox’s Malcolm in the Mid-
dle. He executive produces the
crime drama, and co-stars in all
10 episodes as Vince, a New
York gangster to whom Marius
owes a serious debt. Newlyfreed from prison and warned by
his younger brother, Eddie (Mi-
chael Drayer), that Vince is
out for vengeance, Marius
assumes the identity of his
former cellmate, Pete, the
grandson of a family of
bail bondsmen.
As the season pro-
gresses, Marius scram-
bles to maintain his
façade as Pete, while
simultaneously trying to
save Eddie, who is taken
hostage by Vince. “All he
has is his brother,” Ribisi
says. The con game is what he
had “to do to get away from him-
self, but at the core of that, you
see this little kernel of humanity,
and it’s really about making sure
the one thing he has is protected.”
Marius was inspired in part by
Cranston, who was nicknamed
“Sneaky Pete” as a kid for trying
to take shortcuts, such as throw-
ing out most of the newspapers
on his paper route just to avoid
crotchety customers. He refer-
enced the nickname in his 2014
Emmys speech,
and a day later,
got a call from So-
ny Pictures Tele-
vision president
Zack Van Amburg
with an idea for a
series.
“He called me
and said, ‘I think
there’s a show
there, about a guy
who’s a Sneaky
Pete,’ ” Cranston
says. “ ‘That was
OK for you, be-
cause you were a
kid trying to figure
things out. But
what if that kid is
now 35? What is
he now?’ And I
said, ‘I think he’d
be a criminal if he
didn’t change his ways.’ ”
Cranston began developing the
show with House creator David
Shore as a crime-of-the-week pro-
cedural for CBS, and when the
network passed, Shore was re-
placed by Justified ’s Graham Yost.
The series was retooled for Ama-zon to tell a more grounded,
serialized story that was
“still trying to keep the grit
and the humor,” Yost says.
Ribisi was cast as Marius be-
cause “he’s not your average stud,
leading man-type,” Cranston says.
“If you need a gun or a fight, you
didn’t figure out your con very
well. The genius con is when I
convince you that it’s your idea to
give me your money. It’s almost
like a magician: ‘Take any card.’ ”TELEVISIONThe actor’s childhood
nickname inspired
Amazon crime dramaPatrick Ryan
USA TODAYPHOTOS BY ERIC LIEBOWITZ
Marius (Giovanni Ribisi) takes on the identity of his ex-cellmate, Pete, and joins Pete’s family, including Julia (Marin Ireland).Bryan Cranston directs an
episode of Sneaky Pete , which
he co-created and stars in.Con man and ex-con Mari-
us (Ribisi) dupes Audrey
Bernhardt (Margo Martin-
dale) into thinking he is
her long-lost grandson.Bryan Cranston cons his
way into ‘Sneaky Pete’
“I’ve always
said that
about Meryl —
she’s maybe
the most over-
rated actress
of all time. She
and I worked
together on
‘Fantastic Mr.
Fox’ as hus-
band and
wife, and I will tell you even as
a fox, a female fox, she’s
overrated.” — George Clooney
in a sarcastic joke about
President-elect Donald
Trump’s tweet attack against
Meryl Streep, at a reception
hosted by Clooney’s charita-
ble foundation Monday to
promote a new Netflix docu-
mentary, ‘White Helmets.’
THEY SAID WHAT?
THE STARS’ BEST QUOTESGETTY IMAGES
FOR NETFLIXAfter months of damaging
headlines, Brad Pitt and
Angelina Jolie have come to an
agreement in their bitter di-
vorce: They issued a joint state-
ment Monday (their first since
Jolie filed for divorce in Septem-
ber)declaring they will seal the
toxic case behind closed doors
and engage a private judge to
handle it so that further details
won’t be public. The parents of
six children said they are “com-
mitted to act as a united front”
to reunify their family.
MAKING WAVES
MARK RALSTON, AFP/GETTY IMAGESJazzy ‘La La Land,’ a Hollywood
musical for the 21st century,
Tuesday received 11 nomina-
tions for the British Academy
Film Awards, the United King-
dom’s Oscars. The nominations
add to the musical’s momen-
tum after it won seven prizes at
the Golden Globes on Sunday.
The BAFTAwinners will be
announced Feb. 12.Compiled by Maria PuenteAWARD TRACKER
‘LA LA LAND’
LEADS BAFTASDALE ROBINETTE, LIONSGATE, VIA AP