Frankie Muniz says Bryan Cranston still checks in on him every few weeks

18 years after Malcolm In The Middle, Frankie Muniz says his old TV dad still checks in on him once a month or so.

By William Hughes  |  November 30, 2024 | 6:56pm
Photo: Michael Tullberg/Getty Images
TV News Bryan Cranston
Frankie Muniz says Bryan Cranston still checks in on him every few weeks
Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Bryan Cranston still takes his fictional paternal responsibilities seriously, apparently. This is per Frankie Muniz, with the actor-turned-race-car-driver revealing on a recent episode of Michael Rosenbaum’s Inside Of You podcast that Cranston—who played Muniz’s fake dad for six years on Malcolm In The Middle, before his career skyrocketed with Breaking Bad—still keeps in touch with Muniz at least once every few weeks to “check in on” him. And not just calls: “He really cares about what I’m doing, comes to the races, if my band was playing, came to shows.” (We’re not made of stone: The idea of a smiling Bryan Cranston taking time out of his busy schedule to watch his fake son drive his car very fast genuinely gets to us.)

Referring to his former co-star as a “father figure,” Muniz spoke warmly about Cranston as an on-set inspiration, as well: “He was the most incredible person because he showed up every day on set and gave it 100%. He was so nice to everybody and you never ever saw him wanting to leave… he took advantage of that opportunity and he did his best work. So I’ve always used that as an inspiration.” (While we’re collecting Cranston anecdotes, all of this dovetails nicely with stories told by Cranston’s former TV wife Jane Kaczmarek when the actor got his star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame back in 2013, revealing that he opened his home to Erik Per Sullivan, the young actor who played Dewey on the series, to give him some semblance of normalcy during filming.)

Cranston has occasionally talked up the possibility of revisiting Malcolm with his former castmates, although if we’re being honest, it seems pretty unlikely: Kaczmarek still works, and Muniz very rarely takes a job—he popped up last year in an episode of Awkwafina Is Nora From Queens—but for the most part, most of the show’s cast have moved away from performing in the years since the series ended.

 
Join the discussion...