Aaron Paul is giving the TV-to-film transition his best goal and, with Breaking Bad and Need for Speed on his reel, he has an actual shot. In the wake of Need for Speed, his most recent release (7.4/10 on IMDB, 22% on Rotten Tomatoes), as well as Breaking Bad, Paul is enjoying the kind of freedom in his career that only a major award could grant.

Need For Speed Movie Logo
After making meth for five seasons, Paul now has a need for speed.

"When I came out here 17 years ago, I had $5,000 to my name and this crazy dream of being in movies," says out-of-towner Paul, 34, for USA Today "Suddenly, I actually get to be picky with scripts. The doors have kind of been blown open."

For the Breaking Bad actor, it’s all downhill from his breakout role, or at least he thinks so. Paul says that the role of Jesse Pinkman, which made him a staple in the collective consciousness, is a once-in-a-lifetime deal. Still, Paul doesn’t regret anything.

Watch the teaser trailer for Need for Speed below.

"But Breaking Bad was heavy, serious stuff that could be draining, especially the last two seasons," he says of the series about a meth-cooking high school teacher and his former student. "I knew it was the right time to jump into the studio system. But I also wanted to veer off into something completely fun."

And fun he got with Speed, which sees him playing one Tobey Marshall, a street racer framed for murder who plots his revenge on the racetrack. Like the video game, Speed moves its stars from muscle cars to rally cars to six "supercars." Paul’s co-stars include a Lamborghini Sesto Elemento and a Bugatti Veyron.

Aaron Paul, Kid Cudi
Also Kid Cudi as we see in this still of Paul looking very distressed indeed.