Judd Apatow Didn't Cast Bryan Cranston In Pineapple Express Because He "Wasn't Scary Enough To Be A Drug Dealer"

Trent posted the Seth Rogen tweetstorm yesterday of Pineapple Express facts and trivia for the 10th anniversary – how they had to roll their own joins because the crew couldn’t do it correctly, how Stormy Daniels was in a set picture, how everyone kept smashing their heads and getting stitches, how they basically invented a new strain of weed.  Fascinating stuff even if you’re not a huge fan of the movie, which would be weird.

Here’s my favorite one – a latecomer from Judd Apatow.

Hey Judd.

Judd Apatow didn’t cast James Gandolfini because he wasn’t tough enough to pay a mob boss.  Judd Apatow didn’t cast Steve Carrell because he wasn’t a convincing small company manager.  Judd Apatow didn’t cast Kiefer Sutherland because he wasn’t badass enough to save the world 8 times.  Judd Apatow didn’t cast Don Draper because he didn’t look good enough in a suit.

Easy to make fun of the miscalculation by Apatow here, considering Cranston went on to become (not even arguably) the most iconic drug dealer in TV history and an absolutely perfect fit for the role.  But he’s probably right – part of the reason his performance in Breaking Bad was so great was because nobody saw it coming.  The dad from Malcolm in the Middle shocking the world by becoming Heisenberg and shooting people in the back of the head.  If he had played a drug dealer in some Seth Rogen comedy beforehand, maybe it would have taken some of the magic away.  So in a way, Judd Apatow’s failure was actually a huge success for the rest of us.

And as awesome as Pineapple Express was/is, it’s definitely not worth taking anything away from Walter White.

So thank you Judd.  Thank you for gifting us with Pineapple Express, and thank you for not taking Walter White away from us.  Win win.