Bryan Cranston sought advice from none other than Paul Rudd, before making the rom-com movie Why Him? Since starring as Walter White in TV series Breaking Bad, Cranston’s career has expanded out in a number of different directions.
He had a starring role in 2012’s Best Picture winner Argo, as well as in monster movie Godzilla and biopic Trumbo. However, the actor has always maintained his comedic roots and has appeared in several comedy movies and comedy series since ending his time on Breaking Bad too.
One such movie was the 106 comedy flick Why Him? in which Cranston starred as a traditional, mid-Western father who was disappointed with his daughter’s choice of partner. However, choosing to take on his role in the movie wasn’t straightforward for Cranston, and he spoke to fellow actor Paul Rudd for advice on whether or not he should do the movie.
Recalling the situation on Hot Ones, Cranston said, “Why Him? had a very simple premise: mid-Western dad doesn’t like the boyfriend of his cherished daughter. That’s it! I talked to my publicist and I said “Is it possible that I can get a hold of Paul Rudd.” So I called Paul, and I said “Paul you’ve worked on these movies before. The script seems just kind of… there. There’s some funny situations and jokes, but it doesn’t wow [me].” He goes “That’s the nature of this kind of movie.”
Cranston continued, “It relies heavily on the ensemble cast, to be able to punch it up, and just play. So we will do the scenes, we will shoot the scenes as written, and then you go: you’re adding lines, someone says something you add something on top, then pretty soon it becomes something completely different and you can’t script that.”
Rudd’s advice comes from a place of experience, and he’s got decades of experience appearing in comedy movies and rom-coms. Rudd has also brought that experience into the MCU, making his Ant-Man character one of the funnier aspects of the franchise.