Bryan Cranston claims "white blindness" after turning down director role

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Back in 2019, the Emmy-winning actor was approached by Matt Shakman and asked if he'd be interested in directing a play based on Larry Shue's 1984 comedy "The Foreigner." It's about an Englishman who prevents the conversion of a Georgia fishing lodge he's staying in into a Ku Klux Klan meeting place.

"It is a privileged viewpoint to be able to look at the Ku Klux Klan and laugh at them and belittle them for their broken and hateful ideology," Cranston said in an interview with the LA Times. "But the Ku Klux Klan and Charlottesville and white supremacists — that’s still happening and it’s not funny. It’s not funny to any group that is marginalized by these groups’ hatred, and it really taught me something."

Cranston admitted he had laughed at the play for years. But now, following recent events of social and racial injustice, such as the murder of George Floyd and the protests that followed, caused him to face his own white privilege.

"And I realized, ‘Oh my God, if there’s one, there’s two, and if there’s two, there are 20 blind spots that I have … what else am I blind to?'" Cranston questioned.

The former "Breaking Bad" star added: "If we’re taking up space with a very palatable play from the 1980s where rich old white people can laugh at white supremacists and say, ‘Shame on you,’ and have a good night in the theater, things need to change, I need to change."

"I’m 65 years old now, and I need to learn, I need to change," he reflected.

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