Bryan telling stories about his earlier acting gigs.
My first outdoor rolling roadshow for Alamo Drafthouse and they couldn’t have gone with a better choice. Getting his book signed would’ve been nice but I have a feeling Bryan is high demand in Hollywood thanks to Breaking Bad. I’m hoping he’s making better fare than the awful comedy his co-starring in with James Franco this Christmas.
The event was primarily held to promote the release of Bryan’s new book A Life in Parts which is part autobiography and part collection of anecdotes. It doesn’t follow a linear path as most biographies do. The book jumps around according to the roles he played in real life, on stage and before the camera. Somara already started reading hers while we waited for the sun to go down. She said it was good. I’ll get to my copy probably after I’m finished with Star Wars: Lifedebt.
Bryan is a fantastic storyteller and took all the old clips Alamo found of him with aplomb; a hostage taker on Airwolf and the infamous Preparation H commercial.
Then came the part I often dread…questions from the audience which usually means a free-for-all with the local narcissists who might have a question embedded in their self-promotion/mini-bio. The man had the patience of a saint. I already knew the answers to a couple because he talked about them ten minutes earlier. I didn’t let it get me down, just strained my eye muscles from them rolling over too much.
When the Q&A was over, Alamo played Bryan’s HBO movie All The Way which was based upon the one-man play he starred in. It covers president Lyndon B. Johnson’s time from becoming president after the assassination to his re-election party. The makeup was impressive, I couldn’t see any resemblance to Bryan except when the character was exhausted and in bed. He definitely had Johnson down to the letter: his vulgarity, his lack of personal boundaries and his skill at arm-twisting/double talking. I recommend watching All The Way. Is it accurate? More accurate than most of Hollywood’s “based upon a true story” crap.
I hope Bryan returns and I can have a proper meet n’ greet. Maybe ask him if he remembered his audition for Babylon 5 as a ranger.