Frankie Muniz: Winning the Race

Is that Frankie Muniz' voice I hear coming out of that little zebra? Yep. Muniz is the voice of Stripes in the new talking animal film Racing Stripes. He's rubbing hooves/paws with some greats; Dustin Hoffman, Whoopi Goldberg and Snoop Dogg. Of course, Frankie was rarely if ever in the same room with them and they are a Shetland pony, a goat and a bloodhound. That's voice/over work for ya.

19-year-old Frankie, of "Malcolm in the Middle" fame, enjoys animated and talking critter films and was happy to lend his voice to make Stripes, a zebra who wants to be a race horse, come to life. When we chatted with Frankie recently in Beverly Hills, we noted that his bright blue eyes really light up the room. They are really big and sparkly. The upbeat actor was happy to talk about Stripes, "Malcolm", his car fetish and his plans to carefully choose his next projects so that he can make a smooth transition from kid to adult actor. In purple t-shirt, topped with a stylish black shirt with small violet stripes, Frankie hit that casual Fridays kind of vibe right on center. Check the chat:

TeenHollywood: You've done voiceovers before. Was this different for you?

Frankie: I played a baby bear and Mandy Moore was my sister. I love doing the animated stuff. It seemed like a great idea and I knew there was going to be a great cast. I love the Doctor Dolittle movies and Babe. Those were some of my favorite movies growing up. So I thought it would be fun and I had a good time.

TeenHollywood: How about playing a zebra? Did you know what he would look like?

Frankie: I started doing my voiceover stuff like four months before they even started filming the movie. I had no idea how anything was going to look. It's kind of hard to guess. They videotaped my mouth to try and match the animation to my mouth. I did it how I thought it should be and it turned out good. I went back to do the final (voiceover) once the movie was cut together and got to know the other actors by name. That was part of the fun because I had to go in a bunch of times to re-do scenes because after the other actors would go in, they'd change lines or ad-lib so I had to react different. I've worked with great actors in this movie but have never met any of them. (laughs) Seeing it cut together, all the scenes turned out pretty well, I think.

TeenHollywood: Was this easier than doing a live-action movie during your time off from the T.V. show?

Frankie: Definitely. I worked on this movie for two years but maybe for eight days. I had a fun time. It's always cool. I can go in in my pajamas! You get to play around with it and not worry as much about being on camera. Seeing the movie after reading the script and saying my lines, it's awesome. That's the cool thing about animation, you go in and hear your voice do a different character.

TeenHollywood: Did you get excited about being in a movie with classic actor Dustin Hoffman?

Frankie: It's so funny because people say oh, you worked with Whoopi Goldberg and all these people, and I say actually, I've never met them. They had me go in for one session with Dustin Hoffman. Thirty minutes. There's one scene where we have a lot of back and forth. You have to have the actor there to get into it. It's hard to say the lines without getting a reaction. You get used to it. That was the last session we did. They wanted it to be more intense, more real. So they had him come in with me and we did it together. I was very intimidated at first. He's a very respected actor and I'm just me, doing what I do, hoping it was Ok. But he was really nice and we worked well together and it went real fast.

TeenHollywood: Did you get ever get to visit with any of the animals?

Frankie: No. I went to the first two of my recordings in London, then they went to South Africa and filmed the movie and then six months later, I went in (and recorded) again. I wish I did (hang out with the animals) because I love animals. I saw the behind the scenes footage. It looked like a fun set. I went to a zoo in Australia and they let me feed all the animals but they wouldn't let me touch the zebras because (they said) they're really mean animals. I knew they were going to film zebras and was wondering how they were going to get Hayden to ride the zebra, but it looked good.

TeenHollywood: Hayden was a guest star on your show?

Frankie: Right. She was on an episode about three years ago and I didn't know that she was working on this movie until I saw a cut and she looked great. She was in another episode this season.

TeenHollywood: The producers did your movie My Dog Skip. Is that how they brought you in?

Frankie: Yeah. I have a great relationship with them. They're friends of mine. They came to me with it and I thought it would be a good idea. I didn't want to just anything but I thought this would be fun.

TeenHollywood: I thought you were going to be in the movie. Do you think some kids will be disappointed you're not actually in the movie?

Frankie: A son of one of the crewmembers on "Malcolm in the Middle" came up to me and said 'what's it like to be a zebra'? They hear my voice coming from the zebra's mouth.

TeenHollywood: Are you careful about what projects you take on?

Frankie: Yes. Especially now that I'm 19. The reason why I didn't do movies this past summer is because I want to take the right decision; do something more dramatic, something different from what I've done before. You have to be cautious. You can't go out and do everything and anything that's there. I'm actually going through a time (in my career) that's kind of scary. This next movie I do has to be right and different and I have to do a good job in it. I have to act in it. With "Malcolm", I just kind of have fun and do it. But now I actually have to work with great people and really get into it. We'll see what happens.

TeenHollywood: How many more years of "Malcolm" do you have?

Frankie: Hopefully, a couple more. We're in (season) number six right now. We've done like 125 episodes. It's going well. I hear the ratings are still good this year. So probably next year. After that I'll be 20. We'll see what happens.

TeenHollywood: Do you think you'll direct some of the episodes?

Frankie: No. Brian (Cranston) has been directing a bunch of the episodes but he's really into that. Directing seems so impossible to me. Everything has to come from you and you're there from the beginning of the day to the way end, nonstop. I just can't imagine.

TeenHollywood: Have you adjusted to having a little brother around the set?

Frankie: Yeah. At first the babies we had would always cry. These babies that are about a year and a half, I've never heard them cry. They're on set all day, every day. They're so happy. Whenever they see me or Justin or Jane, they (smile). It's scary almost. They must be on some drugs to make them so good. It works. Because you can't have the baby on the show and have the babysitters all the time. They've been able to do some great opening scenes with the baby and it's turned out good.

TeenHollywood: You were such a car buff and we hear that you've given up a lot of your cars. Why?

Frankie: I've pretty much sold everything, truthfully. I don't know why. I'm still a car guy. It's kind of scary how people don't know what I've been in but they know I've got a lot of cars. I wasn't driving them and just started selling things and I now I only have two cars.

TeenHollywood: What's your main ride?

Frankie: I have a Range Rover. Nothing too crazy. I have the new GTO. I love it. I have the '04 that has the 5.7 liter, 260 horsepower engine. The newer one has a 6-liter, 400 horsepower engine. I might have to get that one. It's fun.

TeenHollywood: Yep, you're a car guy alright. Are you taking driving lessons?

Frankie: Yeah. I've taken a lot of (courses). I race cars. I've definitely taken a lot of racing courses.

TeenHollywood: Is it dangerous?

Frankie: Driving in LA is way more dangerous than driving 180 miles per hour on a track. I mostly race on a track with no walls, so if you spin out or you crash you go out onto the dirt. Know what I mean? Everybody is there to race, and you have your helmet and a roll bar and harnesses. You're so strapped in so that even if you get hit, it's okay. I was in the tour de Grand Prix in Long Beach this year and on the last lap I crashed pretty hard and if I did that in my normal car, I'd be in the hospital but on the track, it wasn't a big deal.

TeenHollywood: Have you ever rolled?

Frankie: (grinning) Uh...ah... no. No comment.

TeenHollywood: First season "Malcolm" is out on DVD. Do you do commentary on the DVDs?

Frankie: We only had the first unit came out. We have a lot of original music for the show and when you come out on DVD you have to pay all the musicians. We don't want to change the music for the DVD because that's part of the show. So they're going through some stuff now for a couple of the other seasons, but for the first DVD, I didn't do any commentary. Now that we're on year 6, if we do (seasons) two through five, I have more to talk about.

TeenHollywood: Is it hard to do commentary?

Frankie: It's hard in the sense that we've done so much that everything jumbles together. I don't remember years five to one. It could be fun because I do have some stories and I'm close to the cast and I've got so much to talk about, that I think it would be interesting.

TeenHollywood: You have a rep for being pretty level-headed and together. That's hard in Hollywood. How do you maintain that when so many young stars are going way off track?

Frankie: I've always been independent and have known what I wanted to do. I've never been a partier at all. I bought a house that is a cozy, comfortable family house and then I bought another house that was more like a cool, young bachelor type house and I got rid of it after 14 days because it wasn't me. I'm more of a chilled, laid back guy. I'm always working and I don't want to through anything away. I've been so lucky it would be stupid to throw it away.

TeenHollywood: What is up for the future in film for you? Don't you have a limited time to shoot a movie while doing the T.V. show?

Frankie: I only have from mid-April until the beginning of August to shoot. Once I pick what movie I'm going to do, they really have to get on with scheduling and get everyone else together. That's the hardest thing because all the movies I've read or been offered or that I want to do are filming right now (in winter) while I'm doing "Malcolm". It's so hard being on the show and having a respected movie career.

We have a feeling he'll succeed anyway.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.