We know that Gary Cole was perfect as Ted Jones in Pineapple Express, but he was not the original person cast in the part. Judd Apatow revealed over the weekend that someone else was at the first table read and that was the last day that actor worked on that film.
Who was it? Apatow wrote, “Bryan Cranston auditioned. He may have even read at a table read and I said ‘I don’t think he seems scary enough to seem like a real drug dealer.’ If he did PE maybe the Breaking Bad people would have said, ‘not him, he always plays drug dealers.'” Now that you have imagined Cranston as Ted Jones, imagine someone else as Walter White like Gary Cole? Mind blowing, isn’t it?
How did Cranston respond to Apatow’s reveal? He admitted his bad first day, “Give me another chance, Judd! I understand the role now after Breaking Bad. I was horrible at the table read. Judd fired me on the spot. Seth shook his head in disgust. James just smiled as smoke escaped from every orifice. Gary crushed that part! Congrats on flying high 4 10 yrs.”
If Pineapple Express 2 is ever made, then they should cast the dad from Malcolm in the Middle as a drug dealer. But as one so different than Walter White. How smoking cool would that be?
