Breaking Bad's Aaron Paul tackles the lead role in the action thriller Need for Speed heading to theaters on March 14, 2014. Based on the popular video game, Need for Speed finds Paul starring as Tobey Marshall, a guy who inherits a garage, has a close group of fast car-loving friends, and who can beat pretty much anybody when he's behind the wheel.  Wrongfully accused of causing a close friend's death, Tobey's quest for revenge takes him across the U.S.

for a dangerous, deadly race against rival driver, Dino Brewster (played by Dominic Cooper).

Are stunts now on the back burner somewhere for you?

"We had such a blast doing this and I can see why these stunt men and women have chose this for their profession because it’s just fun. It’s a science. They’re not just throwing these people in these cars and acting reckless. Safety is everyone’s major concern and priority when doing a film like this. With that said, it was just such a blast."

Doing your own driving, how much training did that require?

"Lots of training. They didn’t want to throw me into a car and say, 'Good luck.' I was just out at Willow Springs, just a track which is about an hour outside of Los Angeles, and I was on that track as often as I could be, from sunrise to sunset, just whenever I had some free time, there ready for another day of practice. It was great. The first few days was really learning how to get out of problematic situations, like if something went wrong. Then, the fun began, drifting around corners, doing reverse 180s, learning how to do 360s, the fun stuff."

How mechanically inclined are you?

"I can change a tire, but other than that, no, I would have no idea how to change my own oil. I’m sure I could figure it out. But, yeah, I can change a tire."

Do you have a need for speed?

"Sure, I guess. I learned while shooting this film, there’s tracks everywhere. Pretty much in every county, there’s tracks you could just take your car or rent a car and race around and do it in a safe manner. So when I feel that need, I go on the track and it’s a blast."

Do you think there will be a faster more furious movie this year other than Need for Speed?

"I have no idea, but the choice of words was just brilliant. I have no idea. We’ll see."

Was this a chance to transition from Breaking Bad into leading big movies?

"Yeah, I think it was the time for me to jump into the studio system. I always just gravitated towards the small, passion projects, and I still do those. Right after I shot Need for Speed, I did a little film called Hellion that was at Sundance this last year. And we did it I think for $400,000. Everyone was doing it for the pure love and passion. I just love independent filmmaking because you walk on set and there’s about 30 people on the crew just making something that they all believe in. You know everyone’s first and last name and you know their stories. With the studio system, I’m just learning that the crews are so giant and it’s really impossible to meet everyone. I just wrapped a film right before the holiday, Exodus, and it was about 6-700 crew members. It’s impossible to meet everybody. Then you don’t remember if you had met the person and you feel bad. Anyways, I thought it was time to kind of jump into the studio system and that way I could kind of still do the passion projects."

What was the scale of this compared to a Ridley Scott biblical epic?

Need for Speed, before Exodus, was the biggest thing I’d ever been a part of. You’d go to set and there’s 13 super cars, 12 cop cars, 2 helicopters. It’s just crazy. It was massive and it was so much fun. But then you go to a Ridley Scott biblical epic and you’re surrounded by 200 camels, elephants and maybe a couple of cheetahs, and you’re like, 'What is happening?' And everyone looks like they’re walking straight out of the Bible. It was epic.

How many of the stunts did you do? And was there a time where Scott Waugh said absolutely not?

"In all honesty, I want to give the stunt men and women credit. They did all of the heavy lifting. Like the grasshopper jump, that was definitely not me, and I did not want to do that. When they drove off the cliff and were caught by the helicopter, that was not me. But that was someone and that’s just terrifying. All of the major crashes were the stunt men and women. But the majority of the driving and all of the races, that was me. A lot of just the driving through the freeway sequences where we’re going about 125 miles an hour, that was me. But when we needed to get the speed up to about 180, 190, they got the stunt men and women in there."

How did you find the balance between the action and more emotional aspects of the film?

"To be honest with you, juggling the action, it was just there because we’re actually in the driver’s seat. We weren’t acting like we were driving and there was no green screen. So that was just an easy thing to kind of just use because you’re in that situation. The brotherhood, the Marshall Motor Boys, it was just all on the page. They’re so different from each other but they just -- and all of us as humans are so different from each other -- but we just really get along. We really hit it off and it was great. Then Imy (Imogen Poots) and I, I love her to death. I just did a film with her when I got this script sent to me. I was shooting a film with her and I just wanted her to come along with me. They told me she was at the top of their list. I just begged Imy to come with me and she did."

Did all your driving for this film make you more comfortable behind the wheel?

"I’m definitely more comfortable in my car, for sure. I always thought I was a good driver. But just being on the track and learning how to maneuver the cars the way that they taught me was great. But I don’t use that in my day-to-day whatsoever.

What kind of car do you drive?

"My lease was up six or seven months ago and I haven’t really been in town. So I have an old classic, a ’65 Chevy Cobra. It’s a fun car."

If it’s successful, are you signed to play Tobey again?

"We’ll see. It hasn’t been a big discussion but if the film does well, I’m sure the studio would love to do another one. After shooting this first one with everyone involved, I would absolutely without a question jump into it, as long as the story’s there, and I think it would be, because the first one was great. So yeah, I would love to."

Was the “Blue Eyes Exchange” ad-libbed or in the script?

"That was actually all scripted. Yeah. The thing is I don’t have blue eyes. They’re green, but we decided to go with it. Yeah, it was all scripted."

How much of the country did you get to see while filming and what stands out?

"That’s another reason why I wanted to jump into this film, just the fact that we did get to drive across this beautiful country of ours. I think we shot in seven different states. It was incredible. We were there for some time. I had a lot of time to really enjoy. I was working every single day, well, Monday through Friday, but I had the weekends off if I wasn’t traveling. I definitely got to enjoy it. This is a beautiful country. First time I ever experienced Moab, Utah. If you haven’t been there… The salt flats were great. But Moab, it’s like you’re a Mars rover riding around on the surface and it’s gorgeous. Yeah, it’s a beautiful, beautiful country. I definitely enjoyed it all."

How similar or different is the character of Joshua to Jesse Pinkman?

"Joshua is definitely a little bit different than Jesse Pinkman as well. Let’s be honest. But Joshua also has a lot of inner turmoil, a lot of anger, and he’s just ready to fight back."

In Breaking Bad, Vince Gilligan said that your character wouldn’t last very long after being picked up by the police…

"I disagree with Vince there, just because I want him to be okay. I don’t know if he deserves to kind of get away but I think he had his time in that hole. He was just tortured enough so I think he paid the price. I would like to think that he got away. He’s hiding out in Alaska somewhere, carving some wood."

Did the cast while you were shooting Need for Speed bug you about what was going to happen on Breaking Bad?

"Yeah, everyone wanted to know but really they didn’t want to know. So everyone would say, 'Come on! Please tell me.' I’m like, 'Oh my God. All right, but you have to promise not to say anything.' They’re like, 'Okay.' Then I would start to just talk and they’re like, 'No! Don’t tell me.'"

Looking back, what was the most memorable moment of Breaking Bad?

"That’s kind of impossible to answer. Everything. I’m sure a lot of you have talked to a lot of the cast of Breaking Bad. We were just such a family. I think, looking back, when we all watched the pilot for the first time, we all saw it for the first time together at the Sony lot, we were in a screening room, we knew we were a part of something special just because the script was so brilliant. But just seeing their vision of what they wanted to accomplish, we were just all kind of floored. We just couldn’t believe that we were a part of something like this, but we still didn’t even know if it was picked up or not. Our whole thing was, 'All right. I hope the next episode is half as good as this one.' That was the main challenge was to keep the quality up there and I think they definitely did that."

The night of the finale, were you eager to be on Twitter and see everyone’s reaction?

"Actually, I wasn’t on Twitter. I had been planning on doing an event for the night of the finale for a couple years. I wanted to do an event. I wanted to give the opportunity to the public to get together with everyone that made the show. So I rented out the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. We played the pilot episode and then we played the final episode. I got Jimmy Kimmel to moderate the little Q&A afterwards. It was great because when we put the tickets up -- all of it was going to charity for my wife’s nonprofit Kind Campaign -- we sold out in 36 seconds. We raised just under $2 million and it was fantastic. I was so happy with the way it ended. You could hear a pin drop in that cemetery during the final episode. Vince was a little nervous to play it with that many people. There were thousands and thousands of people there. But everyone was so respectful and they were so invested. If anyone screamed out, I think their neighbors would have knocked them out, like, 'What are you doing, you psycho? Shut up.'"

People have transitioned from calling you by your character’s name to Aaron Paul. How does that feel along with this transition to film?

"It makes me very happy, thank you. Let’s be honest… I did CNN the other day live and the woman called me Jesse. I just started laughing. I’m like, 'Don’t worry.' She felt very embarrassed but I’m like, 'Don’t worry. It happens to me all the time.' The majority of people know me as Aaron Paul which is great but they also know me as playing one character. They just think that that’s who I am and I couldn’t be further from him. I mean, he’s definitely a big part of me, but I’m quite the opposite of Jesse Pinkman. Yeah, it’s nice to branch off and do something completely different. I hope when people see this movie, they see a different person. They don’t see Aaron and they don’t see Jesse, they just see someone else. I hope that’s the case."
How many tickets did you sell to the Breaking Bad event?
"Five thousand maybe, something like that."