AS A youngster, Bryan Cranston had aspirations of becoming a police officer, and believes he would've done a sound job.
"I had an aptitude for it," states the 60-year-old.
But fate had other plans for the LA native, and now, following a deferred breakthrough role – as Walter White in the TV mega-hit Breaking Bad, of course, which debuted in 2008 – he's regarded as one of the leading lights in Hollywood.
His chosen vocation affords him the opportunity to sample an array of professions, and for his latest role, Cranston gets to live out his boyhood dreams.
The Infiltrator sees him play Special Agent Robert 'Bob' Mazur, a US customs official who carried out one of the most ambitious stings in US history, under the guise of flashy businessman, Robert Musella.
Mazur created the alter-ego with one aim: to infiltrate the Colombian drug cartels by offering to launder millions of dollars' worth of dirty cash for them.
Over two years in the mid-80s, armed only with some snappy suits and a recording device hidden within his briefcase, Mazur managed to penetrate the inner circles of the drug cartels, trading mob connections to become a confidante to scores of key players in the highest echelons – including one of Pablo Escobar's closest allies Roberto Alcaino, a smooth but menacing presence, brought to life in the movie by Benjamin Bratt.
He also reeled in the dodgy bankers who enabled the money laundering.
"Bob has to take on a persona, a character, and he has to know those characteristics of that person and keep them separate to the next guy he's playing," explains Cranston, on the parallels between his job as an actor and an undercover agent like Mazur.
"But the similarities end there because, as an actor taking on a character, you go home, you're done, you're fine, and when we're finished with this – hopefully, if it works for audiences – we take a bow. If it doesn't work for Bob Mazur, he could've been killed, so it's like pretending to be a surgeon or actually being a surgeon."
The film is based on Mazur's book Infiltrator: Undercover In The World Of Drug Barons And Dirty Banks, and directed by Brad Furman, who Cranston previously worked with on 2011's The Lincoln Lawyer.
"Brad is an incredibly passionate director and an incredibly honest one. I trust him, and that, I think, is the biggest thing," remarks the actor, who was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year for his portrayal of screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in Trumbo.
"You have to go into a relationship like that, trusting your director, that he or she won't move on to the next scene until they feel they have it and it works, and they were able to get the best performance out of you. That's a good thing for an actor."
Cranston was on Broadway, busy working on what would be his Tony Award-winning performance as President Lyndon B Johnson in All The Way, when he was approached about The Infiltrator and the part of Mazur.
"When I read the script, it felt like one of those old classics. It could be The Conversation or The French Connection or All The President's Men – it has that sensibility to it," he states.
"There's a thriller aspect to this, a danger aspect, and discovery. And the character is phenomenal," Cranston adds. "He's a heroic guy, and I like the idea there was a man who was committed to trying to do the right thing. Trying to improve his country, his society, and in order to do that, he had to become very good friends with some very bad people."
The actor spent hours chatting to Mazur in preparation, and admits it was tricky to get him to open up.
"You get a lot out of Bob in certain ways, but a man who was able to very carefully navigate the choppy waters of undercover cannot be a person who is loose-lipped and free in thought and feeling," the father-of-one observes.
"He has to be very methodical and thoughtful before he speaks, and that is Bob. So I gleaned a lot from his book and, more so, just being with him and spending time with him, getting a sense of his persona and what it takes for a person to be able to live that dichotomous sort of lifestyle."
Ultimately, Mazur allowed Cranston "to poke and probe – because he knew my intention was to honour who he is as a man, as a law enforcement official".
The actor, who spent six years on the US comedy series Malcolm In The Middle, clearly has respect for Mazur.
"He made sure everything was in order and under control and double-checked and triple-checked – he was very much that guy," he says of his accomplishments.
"There was a pragmatism to it, because if you're not careful, you could die. It's like if he was a construction worker on a high-rise, you have to be more careful because of the fact you're 35 storeys up and a slip or simple mistake could be the end of your life. It was the same for The Infiltrator; he's under that daily threat."
Aside from some footage shot in Tampa Bay, Florida, at the end of the shoot, the movie was made in Britain, in locations across London, Buckinghamshire and Hampshire.
Cranston stayed in a flat in north London's leafy Primrose Hill for the duration of the shoot.
"I loved it, because it's close enough to London and the restaurants and West End but not in it, and I enjoyed that, being able to run around the park there, do my walks and get my head together," notes the actor, who's next project is a big-screen outing of Power Rangers.
"I have a history with the Power Rangers. I used to do the voices for the English dubbing," Cranston reveals, explaining what might seem an unexpected choice for some fans.
"So it's a reintroduction to that world, and I've never done an on-screen version of a superhero thing and I was intrigued by that."
:: The Infiltrator is released on Friday, September 16.
