Once television’s biggest child star, Frankie Muniz, decades after “Malcolm in the Middle,” is on the comeback trail.
This week sees Muniz, 39, in theaters with a dramatic turn as a lonely if brilliant introvert in “Renner.”
In April he reunites with his “Malcolm” costar Bryan Cranston to film a 4-episode, Disney+ decades-later reboot of the series to see how things have turned out for the boy genius and his dad.
“When I left what people call ‘He left Hollywood,’ I never really fully left” an animated Muniz explained in a Zoom interview. “Throughout the last 19 years since ‘Malcolm’ ended, I’ve done a fair amount of acting here and there,” mainly guest spots.
“It hasn’t necessarily been something that I’ve been 100% pursuing. It’s always, ‘If it’s the right script, if it’s the right timing — you know, all that.”
“Renner” was that script. “Reading it, I was absolutely obsessed with really the character. It was so different from anything that I’d ever played.”
Renner is an AI developer. Shy and obsessive, whether cleaning his chess set or in his personal hygiene, he’s coached by Salenus, the rotund eyeball of an AI machine with his mother’s voice (Marcia Gay Harden).
Intrigue appears with his attractive and mighty friendly neighbor Jamie (Violett Beane) and her glum roommate Chad. As their friendship inches towards the romantic, “Renner” which is set entirely in his apartment, discovers Salenus’ secrets are threatened by a would-be thief.
“He’s this loner, a professional building this AI who’s very OCD. He programmed his overbearing mother into it. And you realize towards the end that maybe it isn’t helping.
“It goes back and forth and leaves the viewer dancing a little bit. Like, who’s telling the truth? Who should you believe?
“Yes, Salenus keeps his schedule but by allowing an outside person into his life (which is what he wanted with the AI, to learn how to be assertive and take him out of there and make some changes), it literally affects every single element of his at-home life.
“Seeing where it ends up is really shocking.”
As for “Malcolm,” I can’t give away too much of the storylines,” he said. “But I think it’ll be fun to see where everybody is 19 years later. The show ended in 2006.
“I love ‘Malcolm’ and appreciate it now more than ever. The fact that people still love the show, showing it to their kids and watching it every year, the fact that I was part of something that people really loved, means we’re going to have a lot of fun coming back together.”
“Renner” is in theaters