RIVERSIDE: 'Breaking Bad' has Inland Empire Beginnings.. by John Asbury, Press Enterprise Reporter. Sept. 27, 2013

RIVERSIDE: ‘Breaking Bad’ has Inland beginnings

SEPTEMBER 27, 2013 BY JOHN ASBURY

Aaron Paul and Bryan Cranston star in “Breaking Bad.” (AMC)

It could be a whole different story if Walter White and Jessie Pinkman were cooking meth in Mead Valley instead of Albuquerque.

That was the plan by creator Vince Gilligan when he dreamed up the iconic program now drawing to a close Sunday.

Of course, the Inland Empire was notorious for its drug activity in the 1990s, earning its claim as the “meth capital” of the world early on.

Gilligan said in multiple interviews that his plan was for Walter White’s meth business to be based around Riverside, according to Slant magazine.

“When I originally conceived of Breaking Bad, I intended to set it in Riverside, California,” Gilligan said. “And of course southern California is not too far from the Mexican border either, but when I originally conceived of the show I wasn’t thinking as much in terms of the Mexican drug cartel component. I was thinking more in terms of a homegrown meth business that Walter White was going to establish.”

The Drug Enforcement Administration has worked closely with the creators of Breaking Bad to provide factual consultation for the show, according to DEA spokeswoman Sarah Pullen.

“The DEA provided general location information as to where meth labs had been seized so that the writers/producers etc. could get a better idea as to what these locations looked like,” Pullen said. “At that time, labs were prevalent throughout the Inland Empire.”

Though during the past decade, most meth labs in the Inland region have dissipated and moved out of the area in favor of other sites, such as Mexico.

The vision for Riverside came down to such minute details as the sky and landscape Riverside could provide. In the end, it came down to a tax credit that made it cheaper for “Breaking Bad” to film in Albuquerque, according to Vulture.com

“Gilligan’s pilot script was informed by a friend working in drug enforcement out of the Inland Empire, so Walter White was originally intended to run riot around Riverside County. After Sony suggested relocating the setting to Albuquerque for tax purposes, it only took a glimpse at the skies over New Mexico to win Gilligan over. “California skies are usually blank, blue skies or a marine layer comes in and it’s gray,” he said, “but Albuquerque has these cumulus clouds that give you a scope of the distance out there. It’s amazing. And it felt like virgin territory for cinematography.”

So next time you see Walter White burying his barrels of money in the desert or cooking in his motorhome, just think, what might have been outside Riverside or Hemet.

FILED UNDER: CRIME BLOTTER, MOVIES & TV

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