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Monday, August 27, 2012

Salon Magazine: Willa Paskin: 'Breaking Bad's" Anna Gunn: Skyler might kill Walt'

Source:Salon Magazine- actress Anna Gunn.
"Things are pretty bleak for "Breaking Bad's" Skyler White, played by Anna Gunn. Trapped in her marriage to Walt, her increasingly malevolent, manipulative meth-lord husband, she's terrified for the safety or her children, but unable to see a way out. With just two episodes left in the first half of "Breaking Bad's" fifth season, it is simultaneously hard to imagine how things could get much worse for Skyler, and even more difficult to think that they could get better.

Gunn spoke to Salon about Skyler, her predicament, her depression and the possibility of her killing Walter White.

I’m extremely worried about Skyler. It’s getting really stressful to watch her. Was it stressful to be her?

It was. It really was. There were days on set where it was like, “Wow, it’s hard to live in this place.” And thank God for Bryan Cranston being so hilarious and great, and pretty much our whole cast and crew, so we have a lot of levity. But I had to dig deep into some pretty black stuff this year. As an actor you wait for this kind of material, but it can also be very emotionally exhausting." 


"Moderator David Kronke (Media Critic) asks Breaking Bad's Creator/Executive Producer Vince Gilligan about the affect of keeping Anna Gunn (Skyler White) in the dark about Bryan Cranston's (Walter H. White) drug dealing. Vince discusses how he and the writers finally decided to address this issue." 

Source:Paley Center- actress Anna Gunn.

From the Paley Center

One of the cutest mommies you'll ever see. 

Skyler White (played by the beautiful and adorable Anna Gunn) comes off at least what I believe as a 'babe in the woods' (great Goodfellas line) in Breaking Bad. At least in the first season. I didn't become a regular viewer of this show until the third or fourth season. And Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) doesn't start off as a criminal. He's someone who get into the meth business to save his life and get the treatment that he needs for his cancer, as well as to support his family. 

Walter White (played by Bryan Cranston) is woefully, underpaid, middle-age, science teacher in New Mexico. And goes into the meth business to again save his life and support his family. Skyler, his wife starts off this series as a homemaker, who other than her husband's cancer, believes he's a good, honest, man, living a normal life.

As the first season moves along the White Family, Walter, Skyler and their son, are essentially broke. Walt, is bringing in the only income to the family, forty-thousand-dollars a year as a high school science teacher. 2008-09, the start of the Great Recession and when it was at its worst, no economic or job growth, even with Baby Boomers retiring. So Skyler goes back to work as an accountant. 

Skylar is an accountant, not some former stripper, bimbo, (not that there is anything wrong with that, if that's who you are) married to one of her former clients that she fell in love with. She's an educated, an intelligent person and knows her family is going to need money and a lot of it. Especially with her husband in the hospital on a regular basis getting treatment. The accountant part is key here, because she figures out her husband has extra money here. Which is where this series gets very interesting.

This is when Walt is getting is meth business going and becoming successful with his high school dropout partner. She figures out that he's in the drug business, but doesn't turn him in. Maybe she's worried about what will happen to her if she does that. Maybe she's worried about what will happen to the father of her son who has cancer. Maybe she doesn't want to lose his income from his business, because again they need the money. 

The White Family, which was pretty normal pre-cancer, now becomes very stressful and Skylar and Walt, now are arguing on a regular basis and even separate, but never actually divorce. 

This is really a great and funny crime drama with all sorts of great characters. And Skylar White played by Anna Gunn, is a huge part of that.

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