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Updated 2/8/02

We're Hangin' With....

FRANKIE MUNIZ

Frankie Muniz: Somewhere in the Middle
Interview by: Lynn B.

Most of us know 16-year-old Frankie Muniz as Malcolm from the hit t.v. comedy "Malcolm in the Middle". He's one busy dude. You've seen him do guest appearances on other shows and commercials. He lends his voice to cartoons and is often seen in Hollywood at various charity fundraisers. Now he has his first big lead role in the wacky comedy Big Fat Liar. When we talked with him, we found him to be so "normal" that it was weird. He seems unaware that girls find him "cute". He's totally into his hot new "ride" and, like a lot of new drivers, almost lives in his car. He told us about the process of working in film versus television, working with pal Amanda Bynes and how he crams so much living into his busy schedule.

We heard rumors about Frankie's amazing new car. "I bought the Jetta from "The Fast and the Furious". I made a deal with my mom yesterday. I have a pick-up truck too. We got it to be my first car. She said , once I get to 40 thousand miles, she's gonna let me get one of those Cadillac Escalade pick-up trucks they came out with. So I'm like driving in circles trying to get up to 40 thousand miles." Little Malcomb a street racer? Move over Vin Diesel. "Don't tell anyone (yeah, like we won't publish this..). But I had it up to 140 the other day without lighting the nitrous. My mom likes it. I only do that in the right places (of course)."

Frankie is so into the California car culture that he practically lives in his car. Any girl interested in him will just have to accept that. "If I were to go on a date...I have my license so we would just go cruisin' and then go to eat and cruisin' some more because I like to drive. I don't know, just being with the girl would be fun." Even Frankie's musical interests involve his car. "I'm a huge fan of all kids of music. I'm a big drummer. In my Jetta I have like the best sound system in the world and I have every type of music. I should get a refrigerator in there and I'd have everything."

Frankie was first introduced to his co-star Amanda Bynes through e-mail. "I hadn't worked with her before but I read the script about two years ago and they said that they might get her to do it too. I was really excited because I used to love "All That" and "The Amanda Show" and I was a huge fan of hers. They gave me her e-mail address and we started talking and we met each other and became pretty good friends before we started shooting the movie so it was really easy to be friends on camera. She's great. She's hilarious. I don't think I'm funny but she is so hilarious". Amanda does several of her funny voices in the film. "It doesn't say in the script 'In a voice like this'. She just brought that to the character. So many different voices. Same with Paul (Giamatti). They were both really amazing".

Actor Paul Giamatti, who was recently seen behind a lot of make-up in Planet of the Apes, plays the egotistical producer who is Frankie and Amanda's nemesis in the film. "He was amazing. He's the nicest guy and he's so funny. When I first read the script I pictured the producer completely the opposite but once I saw Paul doing it, it couldn't be any other way. His dances and facial expressions are so funny". Frankie said that he couldn't keep a straight face during much of Paul's scenes. "I was just glad the camera wasn't on me."

The process of making a film versus a weekly television series was different for Frankie. "Shawn (Levy, the film's director), me, Amanda (Bynes) and Paul (Giamatti) and I got together before we started filming and talked about everything and what we wanted to add. Shawn wanted to make it very real so he told us to say whatever you would really say. Add in your own thing. It was a little hard for me at first because on Malcolm, they write the episodes and have it so exact how they want it so if I say "the" instead of "thee", it's like whoa, we've gotta do it again. I don't get to improv at all on that so it was weird to get to do sorta what I wanted on this. It was fun, a great time".

Getting to ad-lib wasn't the only difference. Frankie explained. "On a t.v. show, we film a 30 minute show in six days. That's really rushed. A movie, you have two or three months to do an hour and a half. For the t.v. show we do about seven scenes a day and I work the entire day. For a movie, we'll do like two scenes and make sure we got everything right. The only real difference I see in the pace. A movie is cool because you start it, you finish it and you get to see the finished product and it's done and it's finally watched on video a hundred times. A t.v. show, everything runs together. I can't even tell you what we filmed last week". So, being the lead in a popular t.v. show is pretty high pressure. "You have to do more. More scenes, more lines to memorize and because they are on such a tight schedule, you really need to know it pretty well. We don't have any rehearsals or read-throughs before so it's sorta hard that way but the directors and the writers are always there. They're so good and on top of it. We have one little rehearsal in the morning then we start shooting."

Filming Big Fat Liar was a welcomed change for the young actor. "I felt like we just started the movie and it was a wrap. I'm like 'no way'. We had such a good time. Every scene was funny or had something fun to do or something crazy or different I'd never done before". Frankie feels that his "Liar" character Jason is pretty far removed from Malcomb. Who is he most like? "I think I'm exactly in the middle (no pun intended). Like with Malcolm, I'm not a genius. I don't go to a special school. I have more friends than he does. Jason has a lot of friends, everyone likes him, although he lies a lot. I have similarities with both characters".

"Liar" is being compared to the classic 1980's Matthew Broderick comedy Ferris Bueller's Day Off. "They gave it to me the day before we started filming. Ferris is very cool. Everything just comes out. That's sort of how they wanted me to play this character. It was sort of weird at first because I'd been doing Malcolm for three years non-stop. It was tough to not be Malcolm. (The director) would say 'That's very Malcolm. Don't do that' because I'd be talking very fast and he wanted me to talk a little lower, be more cool and not make as many facial expressions because that's more "Ferris". It was hard getting to that at first". Frankie doesn't seem too concerned that he's so well-known as Malcomb. "I'm doing other stuff along with the show, trying to pick different characters so it's not all the same, so I don't get stereotyped. Even if I do, so, I'm known as Malcolm. At least they know me from somewhere. We'll see what happens when I get older".

We've seen Frankie's face or heard his voice everywhere. When does he find time for this kind of killer schedule? "Weekends. Lately I've been having a lot of days off with Malcolm but I'm starting to get back into it again. I never want to take a break. I want to take everything while it's here because I never know when I'm not gonna have it. I did this movie but who knows if I'll work after this. I don't take it for granted. It's fun. I'm going to the AMA's and Golden Globes and Emmys and all the after parties. I'd rather do that than go to the prom. I enjoy it".

Part of Frankie's work includes doing voice-overs for cartoons which he finds pretty laid back. "I do Chester in "Fairly Odd Parents" and I have a new cartoon coming out called "The Mobil Mysteries" and I play Mo in that. I think it's fun. You go in, do it real fast and no one has to see you. You can wear crap. It's weird seeing your voice on a different "person" even though it's a cartoon. The episodes that are airing now, I recorded like three years ago because they do all the voices and send it to Japan and try to match the mouths to our voices. It's a long process".

Is the young actor going to stick with comedy roles? "One thing I like about acting is being different people, getting to do different things. That's what I look for when I pick a job. That's what's fun. Maybe (I'll do) a more serious part. One of the movies I'm talking about doing now is called "Ghost Town". It's a real (looking serious and lowering his voice) DRAMA. I'm still deciding which (film) I'm going to do next after I'm done with the (t.v.) show in March because we have like five that we're talking about. We want to pick the right one. I did Deuces Wild (with Matt Dillon) about two years ago and it's just now coming out in April I think. I'm about this small (indicates tiny) in that."

So how does Frankie pick his projects anyway? "It's really just me and my mom. I've gotten people who come up to me to look at their scripts. There's my agent and we just hired a manager like a week ago and he's been doing so much for us already. I have a really good team. They get most of the scripts. They read it and if they think it's cool they'll send it over and if I like it we'll see about doing it. A lot of stuff is for older kids like the American Pie type movies and I don't to do that yet if I ever have to, but we'll see.

Unlike a lot of kids his age, Frankie isn't too attracted to the teen "gross out" genre. "I'm not into the scary movies, not teen movies with stupid humor like American Pie. I don't like that at all. I'm on the SAG nominating committee right now so I've got every movie that came out last year. I love Life as a House, I Am Sam, just good movies. Me and my friend Luke, we always go see little independent movies".

Frankie has it all goin' on right now. We wanted to know what advice he'd give to acting newbies or wannabes. "If you start acting, don't give up. You're going to go on a lot of auditions. Even if you don't get (a role) in the first 100 auditions, you can't give up. When you do get it, enjoy it, because you don't know if you're going to have it back again. Don't take take anything for granted and don't worry if they don't pick you, just have fun!". Frankie then hurried away. We assume to hop in that hot new car of his and hit the road.