Bryan Cranston Almost Killed ‘The Office’ Cast While Directing an Episode

Walter White himself carried his reign of terror from Albuquerque, New Mexico to Scranton, Pennsylvania when Bryan Cranston, the actor know for playing Breaking Bad‘s anti-hero, directed an episode of The Office. Sitcom stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey recounted Cranston’s memorable turn behind the camera in their new book about The Office, claiming the cast of the show almost got killed on the Season 9 episode “Work Bus.”

Fischer and Kinsey shared the story in The Office BFFs: Tales of The Office from Two Best Friends Who Were There, writing that Cranston “was an accessory to almost murdering the entire cast of The Office,” per Mashable. Cranston was directing the episode in which the Dunder Mifflin employees work in a “mobile office” for the day while their usual work space undergoes repairs.

Described by Fischer as a “small airport shuttle,” the bus fit 14 actors and four crew members, plus props like work furniture and equipment (and even a microwave and TV).

When the bus hit the road, the trouble began as the actors got nauseous and overheated when the air conditioning on the vehicle had to be turned off because it was too loud, Kinsey recalled in the book. While she thought “the heat and the nausea seemed like our worst obstacles,” the trip somehow got worse when a stunt driver was pulled in to make a bus swerve look more authentic.

“We were saying our lines and everything was going smoothly when all of a sudden, we heard the assistant director yell, ‘Swerve!'” Kinsey shared. “The stunt driver swerved HARD. I mean he cranked that wheel like Cole Trickle in Days of Thunder.

“As a result, the entire cast and contents of the bus went flying into the side of the party bus!,” she continued. “What no one had considered when they told this stunt driver to swerve as hard as he could without flipping the bus over was that none of our office furniture, props, or set decorations were securely tied down.”

As if their terrifying ride wasn’t traumatizing enough, the cast was also subjected to “being slowly poisoned” that same day by a portable air conditioner, which was brought in to make them more comfortable.

“We were thrilled, and as we loaded back onto the cool, reorganized bus, everyone relaxed and decided to put the morning behind us,” Fischer wrote, but added that she soon noticed “a funny smell.”

“The portable air-conditioning unit’s INTAKE hose was right next to the EXHAUST pipe on the bus. So that hose was sucking in exhaust and blowing it straight into the sunroof of the bus,” Fischer wrote. “We were all being slowly poisoned. Or not so slowly, actually.”

Kinsey said Cranston was a calming presence despite all the chaos, writing, “Poor Bryan Cranston. I gave him a big hug. He was so calm and kind even as the wheels were literally coming off the Dunder Mifflin bus.”