Bryan Cranston Almost Nixed a ‘Breaking Bad’ Scene Because of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’
Breaking Bad remains one of actor Bryan Cranston’s most iconic and memorable roles. But before playing the chemistry teacher turned drug kingpin, Cranston was mostly known for playing Hal in Malcolm in the Middle.
The two characters he played in the separate television shows couldn’t have been any more different. But there was one Breaking Bad scene Cranston originally felt was too reminiscent of the sitcom father.
How ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ almost cost Bryan Cranston ‘Breaking Bad’
Cranston’s time as the lovable father Hal in Malcolm in the Middle nearly cost him the role of a lifetime. One of the only reasons the show creator, Vince Gilligan, wanted Cranston for the role was because of their prior work on X-Files. On the classic supernatural show, Cranston showed dramatic chops that stayed with Gilligan for years prior to Breaking Bad.
But even Gilligan admitted that if he only knew Cranston from Malcolm in the Middle, he might not have cast him.
“I hate to say it, but if I’d only known him from Malcolm, I never would have thought of him,” Gilligan once told NJ. “As great as he is on Malcolm, you don’t think in terms of drama when you’re watching a comedy, and vice versa. I was very fortunate to have worked with him on The X-Files, about 18 months before Malcolm went on the air.”
Initially, AMC was also worried about hiring Cranston for the role because of his comedic background.
“At that point, all the AMC people, the way I remember it, they were a little concerned. But then I showed them that X-Files episode, and they said, ‘Okay, he’s got range,'” he added.
Bryan Cranston was against doing this ‘Breaking Bad’ scene because it reminded him of ‘Malcolm in the Middle’
Breaking Bad features an unforgettable and almost comedic scene in its very first episode. Many fans remember Cranston’s Walter White starting the series off wearing nothing but a pair of white underwear while frantically steering an R.V.
But The Upside star initially considered nixing this scene altogether. If only because Cranston felt it might have been too much of a callback to Malcolm in the Middle.
“The tighty-whitey underwear was actually in the script. And initially I was going to change it, because I had done that on Malcolm In the Middle,” Cranston once told AV Club.
But instead of changing the script, Cranston would later change his mind. The Emmy-winner believed the scene would be shot differently than it had been in the sitcom.
“But then the more I thought about it, the more I realized, ‘You know, this works in an oddly different way than it did on Malcolm.’” So I kept it,” he said.
Bryan Cranston said that Vince Gilligan would ‘agonize’ over ‘Breaking Bad’
Breaking Bad dealt with a lot of heavy subject matter and scenes that had only gotten darker as the show progressed. But Cranston rarely if ever questioned Gilligan’s narrative decisions due to his complete trust in the creator. Even during times when Gilligan might not have fully trusted himself.
“It was held in such gentle hands by Vince, he agonized over every second of that thing. In fact, whenever he directed our show, and he was asked a question, he would literally tap his forehead. Like, ‘Is that the right thing? Do I have it all? Do I have it all? He would agonize over that,” Cranston once said on The Dan Patrick Show.
But that was also why Cranston believed the show was so successful.
“And that’s why it became what it is, because of his attention to detail,” he added.
