You may have heard some reports over the weekend that Aaron Paul was knocking around Dublin, there's even the selfies to prove it. The Breaking Bad star arrived into the capital on Saturday evening for his very first visit to our shores, with speculation rife as to what he was doing here. Although in fairness, Aaron Paul can visit us for whatever the hell reason Aaron Paul likes.
It was announced today that the Emmy winning actor is the latest ambassador for the Budweiser Dream Job campaign, and we were beyond delighted to get the opportunity to meet and chat to him today about the competition and everything else we've wanted to know from the actor who played one of TV's most iconic characters of recent years.
Budweiser Dream Job returns for its second year to give Irish people the opportunity to compete for whatever they feel their dream job would be, with the prize including a €40,000 cash prize, a €5,000 equipment bursary, and internship placement and support from relevant experts. Not bad 'ey?
"It's encouraging people to chase after their dreams," Aaron said. "Everyone has a dream floating around in their head and some people chase after it, and some are too afraid to, or financially they can't. So what's so great about this is that Budweiser are just giving people the opportunity to go for it."
Aaron Paul himself is undoubtedly a man living the dream, with his role as Jesse Pinkman in Vince Gilligan's Breaking Bad catapulting him onto the world stage. The critically acclaimed show, which is now regarded as the highest rated of all time, has won countless awards with Aaron Paul earning a record breaking three Emmy wins for his role.
For those that have somehow never got to the final episode yet, look away now, as here lie spoilers. Last we saw of Jesse Pinkman he was driving at speed away from his captors after being rescued by his former partner in crime, Walter White (Bryan Cranston).
After years of torment and tragedy, it looked like Jesse was finally free. So what does Aaron Paul think became of him? "I would like to think that he just kept driving, I would assume that he would want to see Brock again, I think that's his only tie to Albuquerque and he would definitely blame himself for Brock's mother's death. But maybe he just wants to get away, so maybe he just kept going. I like to think that he drove up to Alaska, went into hiding, maybe did some more wood work, started a class."
That's how we like to think of him too, we told him. 'Yeah, right? he said. " I just want him to be okay'.
It was reported over the weekend that Breaking Bad spin-off 'Better Call Saul' would definitely not feature either Bryan Cranston or Aaron Paul in its first season, although it has been left open for them to appear at a later stage, considering it is a prequel. Aaron didn't rule this out either and we wanted to know how he would like to see his character appear on the series, if that day were to ever come.
"I would somehow like to see him in just a happier light,' he said. "It would be nice to see Jesse, just you know, smiling, because he has been through the ringer."
"Who knows though, if it was five years previous, Jesse is in high school. I don't know if I could play a high school student, maybe if there was some sort of lighting to make me look younger," he joked.
We reckon he could pull it off, thirty-five or not!
As we said, this is of course Aaron's first visit to Dublin and one of his first stops was to check out the night life of the city, with people spotting him in Diceys, The Dean and 37 Dawson Street over the weekend; "We got in on Saturday and had a nice bite to eat, went to a couple of pubs. Met a LOT of people. Everyone was so great!", Paul told us.
This may read like he was some uber-enthuasiastic American about it all, but trust us, he said this in his very cool, laidback Aaron Paul way.
"We stay until Thursday," he went on to say. 'It's not nearly long enough so I'll have to come back again and stay for a couple weeks."
"We will be in Dublin for the most part, I think this will be our hub, but the next couple days we are going to do day trips and go along the countryside."
Let the Aaron Paul watch begin!
The actor may be enjoying some downtime on our shores over the next couple days, but he has been a busy man since Breaking Bad wound up, with films like Need For Speed, Smashed and A Long Way Down out last year, and even more coming up in 2015.
Paul has an impressive four flicks due out this year, starring alongside just about everybody in Hollywood it seems, from Helen Mirren and Russel Crowe, to Kate Winslet and Northern Ireland actor Jamie Dornan.
As Aaron always seems to come across as quite the genuine bloke and an overall sound man, we wanted to know what he had so say about his fellow co-stars. He sung the praises of upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey star Jamie Dornan, who he is starring alongside in The 9th Life of Louis Drax out later in the year; "I mean I'm such a huge fan of his, I knew his work from The Fall, and thought, wow this guy is so phenomenal. Read the script, heard that he was attached so I had to just jump on it."
Aw, bromance? We think so.
Paul was also utterly impressed with Helen Mirren who he appears in Eye in the Sky with; "My God she is incredible, she is hilarious! The stories she has. I figured she was hopefully a good person, right? Because I'm such a huge fan of hers. But when we sat down and had dinner, 'My God', I thought, 'this girl is just so funny'."
Now there's a dinner table we would like to have been sat at.
Unfortunately our time with Aaron was far too short, but we are looking forward to seeing all he has to bring to the big screen over 2015, and here's hoping one or two of these premieres involves a Dublin pit stop. Sure he still hasn't even been to Coppers...
