Aaron Paul, who played Jesse Pinkman, had some intense fight scenes in the popular series Breaking Bad. One of his fight scenes in the second episode of season 2, titled Grilled, was with his co-star Raymond Cruz — that left a lasting impact on Paul.
Cruz portrayed drug lord Tuco Salamanca, who kidnapped Jesse and Walter White in the episode. During a dramatic scene, he throws Paul through a screen door that leaves him half unconscious. That’s why another actor on set was too scared to work with Cruz after the incident with Aaron Paul in that episode.
Bryan Cranston was Afraid of Raymond Cruz in Breaking Bad
Grilled was the last episode featuring Raymond’s character, Tuco. When discussing his final scenes with Mirror, Raymond said that Vince Gilligan [the show’s creator] was really excited about the scenes he was shooting during the very last episode.
He also revealed that in the meanwhile, the actor who played Walter White was afraid of him whenever they had any scenes together. The actor was no one but Bryan Cranston himself. As Cruz said:
“I had Bryan and Aaron held hostage in this house in the middle of the desert and Vince runs up and goes ‘Oh my God it’s fantastic, you guys look so frightened, this is great acting’ and then Bryan said ‘We’re not acting’. He was really terrified every time I approached him. Every time I got near, everyone would start shaking.”
The Upside star was afraid of shooting a scene with Raymond Cruz because he had this notion about Cruz that he might end up like Aaron Paul.
Bryan Cranston’s Co-star Raymond Cruz Clarified Misconceptions About Grilled Episode Scene
About the scene, Aaron Paul later said that Cruz thought he was acting and continued to kick and punch him before medics intervened. But Cruz remembered the scene playing out quite differently. Speaking exclusively to The Mirror, he said:
“It’s kind of accurate but not quite because Aaron suffered a concussion at the beginning of the scene and you can see it on film. He gets thrown through a screen door and he catches the screen door on his arm because instead of crossing his arms when he hit the door, he had them open and caught the screen door and lifted it off its hinges.”
The actor continued:
“I’m actually the one who stopped it. You can see in the scene, he stood up and I thought he was really there but once we got through the wall, I stopped it and I said, ‘Um, he’s not there’.
Cruz said that Paul “suffered a blow to the head and it was from the screen door.” The actor himself admitted, “It’s a crazy take because it’s so violent, the door ripped off its hinges.”
Paul was the one who ripped the door off with his body weight when he got caught on it. Cruz called this action “a fantastic looking take.” So, this clears the misconception that Cruz didn’t hit Paul violently and caused him to lose consciousness.
Watch Breaking Bad on Netflix.
