Bryan Cranston Used To Get Paid Anytime He Hummed Or Whistled In Malcolm In The Middle
Bryan Cranston is known for his many iconic roles, particularly that of Walter White in "Breaking Bad" and Hal in "Malcolm in the Middle." However, according to a recent interview with the actor and director, Cranston is also technically a professional musical artist.
He dropped this fact during an interview on "The Kelly Clarkson Show," where he joined Rita Wilson in discussing a wide array of subjects. The actor even discussed a film Wilson recently produced starring her husband, Tom Hanks, titled "A Man Called Otto." Wilson also talked about her musical career, which seems to be going well. Her original song, "Till You're Home," which was written as part of the soundtrack for "A Man Called Otto," was shortlisted for an Oscar, and she also released a separate album inspired by the '70s called "Rita Wilson Now & Forever: Duets."
However, many people may not know about Bryan Cranston's own musical career, because of the particularly unusual way he entered it.
Bryan Cranston received a check for each of Hal's little ditties
In the interview with Kelly Clarkson, Bryan Cranston shared that although he might not have released any albums or full-fledged original songs, that doesn't mean he hasn't had any kind of musical career.
As Cranston explained it, while working on "Malcolm in the Middle," he once got a call from the music supervisor at Fox, asking him if the little tunes his character, Hal, would hum or whistle were taken from someone else's work. Pretending to be offended, Cranston assured the supervisor his whistles and hums were original, so he would receive checks compensating him for his tunes. Since he got paid for his music, does this make Cranston a professional musical artist?
"And so it got to the point where I was collecting these little checks, and I would cash them and buy drinks for all the crew," Cranston said. "And sometimes a crewmember would come by and say, 'Hey Bryan, this might be a good opportunity for Hal to whistle on his way to the car.' And I'll go, 'You just want a drink, don't you?'"