If you've read any of my annual year-end "best of" picks over the years, you already know that I think AMC's "Breaking Bad" is the best show on TV. So, my hand was already tipped my hand when I sat down with RJ Mitte last night, the actor who plays Walt, Jr," at the Taste of Milwaukee event at the Hilton.
Mitte was in town as the United Cerebral Palsy Youth Ambassador. Like his character on "Breaking Bad," the 19-year-old actually has CP, though Mitte's is a milder form of the disability.
You can hear my entire interview with Mitte on this podcast, but here is an excerpt of our conversation:
OnMilwaukee.com: Do you love working on "Breaking Bad" as much as people enjoy watching it?
RJ Mitte: "Breaking Bad" is an amazing job. I couldn't ask for a better role and a better TV show. We have an amazing cast, crew and director. It's really astonishing to see this whole set come together.
OMC: It seems to even have gotten better.
RJM: It has and it hasn't. The more we go through the story, the darker it goes. You cannot beat what Brian (Cranston) does.
OMC: We were all under the impression that last season was the last season. Did you know while you were doing it if there would be another season?
RJM: We did not know, but I figured we'd have at least one more season left because I knew AMC couldn't let that go.
OMC: Do you, as an actor, know where the show is going to go?
RJM: I have no idea. The only people that do know the information are the ones who are building the set. I just bribe them.
OMC: Your version of Cerebral Palsy is pretty mild compared to Walt Jr's, right?
RJM: It is. The only thing I really have in my real-life CP is my left hand my speech.
OMC: Is it challenging to ratchet that up as an actor?
RJM: No, because when I was a kid, my CP was actually a lot worse. I had leg immobilizers, I had braces, I was in wheelchairs here and there, crutches. "Breaking Bad" was an eye opener for me because I am doing everything I've already overcome.
OMC: What's it like to be able to come to Milwaukee and be the Celebrity Youth Ambassador for UCP?
FJM: I enjoy it. UCP is an amazing organization that helps a spectrum of disabilities. What's awesome is that they actually get people jobs. They show that just because someone is disabled it doesn't mean that they are disabled. When people say, "No, you can't," they say, "Yes, you can."
Andy is the president, publisher and founder of OnMilwaukee. He returned to Milwaukee in 1996 after living on the East Coast for nine years, where he wrote for The Dallas Morning News Washington Bureau and worked in the White House Office of Communications. He was also Associate Editor of The GW Hatchet, his college newspaper at The George Washington University.
Before launching OnMilwaukee.com in 1998 at age 23, he worked in public relations for two Milwaukee firms, most of the time daydreaming about starting his own publication.
Hobbies include running when he finds the time, fixing the rust on his '75 MGB, mowing the lawn at his cottage in the Northwoods, and making an annual pilgrimage to Phoenix for Brewers Spring Training.
