Actor Bryan Cranston is best known for his role as Walter White in Breaking Bad. However, despite spinoff movies and shows, the actor seems to be coming back to a different legendary TV role that first gave him his breakthrough. Cranston played the hilarious Hal in the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle.
While Cranston is now the biggest star to come out from the series, his role was reportedly quite limited before he came in to audition. While barely given any lines, Cranston reportedly performed the scene to such unique perfection that the showrunner fell off the chair laughing. Who knew one of TV’s biggest antiheroes could be hilarious like that?
Bryan Cranston made the creator of Malcolm in the Middle fall out of his chair during his auditions
Audition stories have the capacity to be legendary. Thousands of actors come in to try their luck at even the smallest parts, but only a few get the chance to get in front of the camera. It is a mix of luck, talent, and timing. Bryan Cranston, who was a struggling actor all his life, reportedly spent much of his career chasing that luck.
It struck him twice, with the second time formally making him one of the most sought-after stars in Hollywood (and apparently a frontrunner to play Professor X in the MCU). Cranston is best known for his role in Breaking Bad, but he first had his breakthrough in the Fox sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, as the father, Hal.
Cranston’s selection in Breaking Bad is legendary, but the story of how he got the role of Hal is even greater. According to the creator Linwood Boomer, Hal was just a writing device in the pilot script and did not have much to do, even during auditions.
But when Cranston came in, he filled life into the character. Despite having to perform a scene where he just listens, Cranston reportedly pulled all the stops to make him more interesting and funny. Boomer said to GQ,
People say that, but I literally fell off my metal chair. He just had this vast inner life going on. You realize, ’This guy looks like he’s listening, but he’s actually building a rocket ship in his head.’
And Boomer was right. Hal is one of the more eccentric dad characters in American TV, perfectly matching the energy of the incredible sitcom Malcolm in the Middle. He went on to play the role for seven seasons and will be returning for the Disney+ revival.
Bryan Cranston easily slipped into his character in Malcolm in the Middle even after 20 years
Almost twenty years after he played the eccentric dad in Malcolm in the Middle, Bryan Cranston will be donning his patterned shirt yet again as Hal in the upcoming Disney+ revival. In fact, most of the cast is returning, except for actor Erik Per Sullivan, who played Dewey in the original. Cranston revealed why Per Sullivan was not returning.
Cranston has played a number of roles since Hal, including his career-defining part in Breaking Bad and more recently in The Studio. However, he reportedly missed playing the goofy Hal and slipped into the role quite easily, despite an almost 20-year gap since the show’s last episode. He said to People,
Slipping back into that character of Hal for me was so rewarding — I missed him. It’s been almost 20 years since we said goodbye. And he’s a sweet, lovable man. He’s really a lovable guy, and it was fun to see all my whole family back together. It was great…[I wore a] a short-sleeve shirt that Hal would wear, a patterned short-sleeve shirt that screams out he’s not going anywhere.
The revival will reportedly last four episodes and finished filming back in May. It is yet to have a release date, with many speculating that it will come out this year.
Malcolm in the Middle is available to stream on Disney+.
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