Breaking Badalone shows offBetsy Brandt’s significant range. Marie Schrader added loads of much needed comic relief, but also afforded Brandt the opportunity to excel during some of the show’s darker beats, even making the most of a single reaction shot in the Emmy winning episode, “Ozymandias.” Want even more proof that Brandt can do just about anything? Give her filmography a quick glance beyondBreaking Bad. That line-up includes sitcoms likeLife in PiecesandThe Michael J. Fox Show, a powerhouse dramatic turn inClaire in Motion, and even film appearances where she contributes by making a single scene unforgettable like inMagic Mike. Hope you’re ready for even more proof of Brandt’s range because herSoulmatescharacter experiences quite the arc in the final episode of the season, “The (Power) Ballad of Caitlin Jones.”
Brandt leads as the title character, Caitlin, a woman trapped in a loveless relationship with a guy who walks all over her. In an effort to find “the one,” Caitlin turns to the show’s futuristic dating technology, Soul Connex, a test that pinpoints one’s soulmate with 100% accuracy. That test matches Caitlin withJJ Feild’s Nathan, a too-good-to-be-true type who, of course, has a dark side.
With “The (Power) Ballad of Caitlin Jones” airing on AMC on Monday, October 9th, Brandt took the time to join us for an episode ofCollider Ladies Night. We covered a little bit of everything from her time studying acting in school to joiningBreaking Badand then some, but during our chat, Brandt pinpointed a specific part of her process that likely contributes to her ability to excel in any genre - and speaks to her enthusiasm for her work as well. Here’s how she described how she picks projects:
“My team, they read it first and if they think this is something we want to move in on, then I’ll read it. I tend to get attached to stuff and it also is hard for me to say no. And they also know what I’m looking for at the time, and that’s a big compass for me. It’s like, what did I just do? What was the project I was just doing? What do I need to do next? And when we worked together, I’ve always said, ‘Whatever I’m doing all the time now, give me something opposite to that.’ You give me something opposite, I think that’s what you do during hiatus. You want to keep your acting muscles intact.”
To hear more about Brandt’s earliest ambitions, how her experience working onBreaking Badinfluenced her craft, how she feels about her character’s arc inSoulmatesand so much more, check out her full Collider Ladies Night interview at the top of this article!
