Fans of the hit AMC crime drama may have a hard time imagining anyone other than Anna Gunn play Skyler, the fraught and fierce wife to Bryan Cranston’s Walter White. But before two Emmy Awards and some of the loudest critical acclaim in television history, Gunn was just another actor showing up.
As she told Backstage two years ago, her audition for Vince Gilligan involved miming the handjob Skyler gives Walter in the pilot episode. You can see in the video below a fully fleshed-out person, a distracted wife at the end of a long day casually giving her husband some attention. It plays as flat-out comedy as Gunn hits every beat—especially “I just, I really need you to mow at some point.” Cranston is not even in the frame and you can feel their breezy chemistry (no pun intended). With an audition this good, casting becomes a cinch.
Want to see more? Check out “9 Great Actors’ Audition Tapes!”
