Cranston and O’Hara Turned to Psychedelics Before a Grateful Dead Concert to Get Into Character for ‘The Studio’

Bryan Cranston recently shared a funny story about his first time trying mushrooms while preparing for his role in the Apple TV+ show The Studio.

During an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Wednesday, Sept. 10, the 69-year-old actor described the experience as both nerve-wracking and anticlimactic.

In The Studio, Cranston plays Continental Studios CEO Griffin Mill, a character who indulges in mushroom chocolates. Cranston, however, had no prior experience with psychedelics. “I’m playing this character who is wiped out and I had never had any experience in that. Not many drugs at all, as a matter of fact, and so I didn’t know really how to behave,” he told Kimmel.

To prepare, he turned to the show’s co-creator Seth Rogen and his co-star Ike Barinholtz for advice. “So I was asking Seth Rogen and Ike Barinholtz, ‘You guys are huge druggies! What can you tell me?’” Cranston recalled.

Rogen and Barinholtz suggested starting with a microdose. “I said, ‘I don’t even know what that is. What is that?’ Well, it’s a microdose, you know? And I said, ‘What would the effects be?’ And they said, ‘Well, we’ll try some!’ And I go, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa, hang on.’ ”

The trio took the opportunity to try the mushrooms while in Las Vegas, attending a Grateful Dead concert at the Sphere.

Cranston explained, “If God wasn’t telling me to do microdosing, what was he telling me?” Catherine O’Hara, 71, also joined in but both actors admitted they were nervous. “We were nervous. And Ike Barinholtz was our drug dealer. Can I say that? And he said, ‘I’ll take care of you.’ And I said, ‘I’ve heard that before!’ ”

Barinholtz provided them with small square chocolates containing the microdose. Cranston described the moment: “And so I broke it in half, I took it … nothing. I didn’t feel anything. It felt like maybe I took three sips of wine. It was nothing! Nothing!” Even after taking more, the effect was minimal. “No! Now I’m angry,” he joked when Kimmel asked if the microdose kicked in later.

Kimmel teased Cranston about his acting, noting that the character’s reaction to the drugs looked convincing on screen. “So you really are a great actor, it turns out, because that was all acting,” the host said. Cranston confirmed, “It was acting. I didn’t know what I was doing.”

Cranston’s appearance on Kimmel came shortly after he won the Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series award at the 2025 Creative Arts Emmys for his role in The Studio.

He was not in attendance, so Gwendoline Christie accepted the award on his behalf. Other nominees included Jon Bernthal for The Bear, as well as Dave Franco, Ron Howard, Anthony Mackie, and Martin Scorsese for The Studio.

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