FEATURE: My Day With RJ Mitte

We were there to shoot a shoot. RJ Mitte of AMC’s award-winning show Breaking Bad was being photographed by Evan Lane, photographer and creator of Langly camera bags. In the converted office space at the edge of Sunset Blvd. we spread out across the top floor and prepared for the shoot. I sat, surrounded by the entire line of 40s style military backpacks, opposite RJ.

As soon as he sat down I apologized.

“I’m sorry man, but I’m going to nerd out about Breaking Bad for a little bit if you don’t mind.”

RJ didn’t mind. In fact RJ seemed to rather like nerding out about his job. He is after all one of the stars of what some are calling the greatest television show of all time. He plays Walter White Jr., son of Walter White Sr. (played by Bryan Cranston) the Chemistry teacher turned gourmet Crystal Meth chef and drug kingpin.

“What’s it like being so young and being involved in the most talked about show on television?”

“Dude, I love it!” he said, beaming to life, “I’m working with the most talented writers and actors in television. I’m learning so much and having an amazing time on set watching these people work.”

He pointed to Cranston in particular as a huge influence, citing his transformation from “Mr. Magoo to Tony Montana” as being one of the finest television performances of all time. But he noted that despite all of the character development going on around him, his is the only character that seemed to strengthen his morals and grow as a person. But I wondered if he himself will eventually start breaking bad.

“I hope so! I want to see Walter Jr. get into Meth.”

“For the challenge as an actor or for the good of the plot?” I ask.

“Both. And for his dad. I think that at this point it’s the only thing that can stop Walter and make him think about what he’s doing.”

I limply tried badgering him for spoilers in the hope that I’d bag myself a few thousand more Twitter followers, but he confessed that he didn’t know. They black out large chunks of the scripts to keep their ship as water tight as possible.

Aside from his work, there is one other part of RJ Mitte’s life that never seems to go ignored in interviews. Like his character Walter White Jr., RJ also suffers from Cerebral Palsy, albeit with much milder symptoms than his character. I wasn’t sure how to address it. In planning for the interview I pledged that I wouldn’t mention it. But after reading that he’s the youth ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy I realized that any toes tipping around the subject were my own. I asked him about how much he had to adjust to the role in the show.

“Well, my CP is pretty much only obvious in my speech and my left hand” he said, flexing his fingers and stretching his knuckles. “But I’ve been where Walter White Jr. is. I’ve been in crutches. For the first thirteen years of my life I slept in casts. I’m much better now.”

He bubbled just as much when talked about his disability as he did when he talked about his work. Prior to the interview I hadn’t really considered it to be particularly relevant. RJ’s a terrific actor and an extremely humble person, and there has certainly never been any need to footnote his ability or his achievements. But you can really feel that he wants to help people understand Cerebral Palsy, and do anything he can to improve the lives of those that have it.

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