As reported by ScreenRant, star Bryan Cranston recently recalled the advice he'd received from Paul Rudd regarding Cranston's poorly received comedy, Why Him? In the movie, Cranston plays a father who doesn't care for his daughter's millionaire boyfriend. The comedy also starred James Franco, Zoey Deutch, and Megan Mullally. Why Him? received generally negative reviews and currently holds a 39% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics along with a 51% from audiences.
During an appearance on First We Feast's Hot Ones, Cranston spoke about the advice he got from Paul Rudd regarding the 2016 comedy, Why Him? The Breaking Bad star said that he'd gone to Rudd due to the This is 40 star's lengthy history with comedies and because Cranston felt that the script for Why Him? needed additional work. The star stated that Rudd told him that improvisation plays a big part when it comes to comedy work.
Bryan Cranston Asked His Publicist to "Get a Hold of Paul Rudd"
Cranston said, "The one I mentioned before that didn't have a high scale on the writing was Why Him?. Why Him? had a very simple premise — midwestern 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 such, but it doesn't wow.'"
The Your Honor star continued, "And he goes, 'That's kind of the nature of this kind of movie. It relies heavily on the ensemble cast to be able to punch it up and just play. So we will shoot scenes as it's written, and then you go, then you're adding lines, and then it's, 'How about this?' And then someone says something and you add on top, and it becomes something completely different, and you can't script that.'"
Cranston additionally noted, "Several improvisations that I came up with ended up in the film, and it was like, 'Oh, man, this is so much fun.' So, I learned my lesson from that, and it was a good lesson, that that scale that I usually go by is not always accurate."
Still, while Cranston chose to get advice from the Ant-Man star, the actor already has quite a history with comedy. Back in the early 2000's Cranston starred in the popular sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, where he played Hal. Cranston also appeared on the early 2000's sitcom How I Met Your Mother, where he portrayed Hammond Druthers, Ted's obnoxious boss.