While Breaking Bad is obviously Bryan Cranston’s show, few would argue that Aaron Paul and his increasingly layered work as Jesse Pinkman hasn’t long been the warm center of the show (I think our excellent Breaking Bad reviewer would agree). It’s a role Paul was born to play, but the prospect of him getting to branch out and take on different roles in other interesting projects is an exciting one. As it happens, a Nick Hornby novel-adaptation, A Long Way Down, will be his next opportunity to do so.
Former 2nd Unit shooter for Luc Besson, Pascal Chaumeil, will be behind the adaptation, which will see Paul joining Pierce Brosnan, Imogen Poots, and Toni Collete as one of four people that encounter each other atop Topper’s House in London (where the film will be shot) on New Year’s Eve. What Paul’s pizza delivery boy has in common with the talk show host, teenaged girl, and mother he meets is that they all plan on jumping from the building to escape their troubled lives. The High Fidelity and About A Boy novelist’s story then turns into a dark comedy, which director Chaumeil will bring to screen from a script adapted by Jack Thorne.
Paul will next be seen in the indie film Smashed, which pairs him with the wonderful Mary Elizabeth Winstead as an alcoholic couple struggles to maintain their dynamic when one decides to go sober.
Both projects sound pretty firmly in Paul’s established wheelhouse, but when the stakes aren’t meth sales and Mexican Cartel murder, I’ll be excited to see the actor stretch his wings.
source | Deadline