Keeley Karsten Steps Into Malcolm in the Middle Revival as Malcolm’s Daughter, and the Chaos Feels Familiar

0:00 [SPEAKER_00]: It's easy to hear your favorite artist on WFPK from wherever you are. [SPEAKER_00]: Listen on your smart speaker, live stream from our website at WFPK.org from Louisville Public Media. [SPEAKER_02]: And welcome to another edition of Kyle Meredith with, it's the interview series presented by WFPK at WFPK.org Consequence and the Consequence Podcast Network, thanks for making your way here.

0:36 [SPEAKER_02]: And for check it this out, please do hit that subscribe button if you're not already. [SPEAKER_02]: You get new interviews just like this when you sit your way every single week, so it's great way to keep up with your favorite artists, because you can find us at Spotify, Apple Podcast, NPR, WFPK.org Consequence, [SPEAKER_02]: YouTube for the video versions or anywhere you get your podcast from subscribe to Kyle Meredith with and please to give this series a rating and leave a review where every listing from.

1:01 [SPEAKER_02]: We've had some great guests drop them by recently. [SPEAKER_02]: We just talked with John Ham, Olivia Munn, Amanda Pete, and James Marsden all about the second season of your friends and neighbors on Apple TV. [SPEAKER_02]: Derek Trucks was here to tell us about the new Tedeski Trucks [SPEAKER_02]: We had some fun with a giga-moderato, Sam Geobroni, and Lulu Wilson discussing pizza movie on Hulu.

1:23 [SPEAKER_02]: That's a fun one. [SPEAKER_02]: Steve Zahn and his daughter, Audrey Zahn, they both star in a film that they wrote, starred in, directed, all the whole thing called She Dances. [SPEAKER_02]: Marisa Tomay, Sheri Colis, Sierra Bravo, and Marco Pagosi, where all of you are here to tell us about your dating and narcissists, the movie that they're in, Felicia Day, who has her new graphic novel out, called the Lost Daughter of Sparta.

1:46 [SPEAKER_02]: We also talked with the cast of Outlander, Radioheads, Edo Brian, Tim Roth, and Steven Knight about P.E. [SPEAKER_02]: blinders, the immortal man, just an example of what you get when you subscribe to the Kyle Meredith with podcast. [SPEAKER_02]: And that's me Kyle Meredith today, we're going to be talking about Malcolm in the middle life's still unfair.

2:05 [SPEAKER_02]: The new four part mini series shot 20 years after Malcolm in the middle went off the air. [SPEAKER_02]: In fact, let's read the premise here. [SPEAKER_02]: It's almost 20 years after the original series, Malcolm now lives a happy life with his daughter Leah and girlfriend Tristan, having distance himself from his birth family.

2:23 [SPEAKER_02]: He's forced to bring them into the family's chaos when his parents Halle low as demand his presence for their 40th wedding anniversary party. [SPEAKER_02]: We're actually going to be talking with Keely Carson, who plays Malcolm's daughter, Leah. [SPEAKER_02]: You've seen Keely and you've seen her and meet the fablements, Steven Spielberg movie, meet the fablements.

2:40 [SPEAKER_02]: The savants, which may one day be released on Apple TV. [SPEAKER_02]: So we're going to get to talk about her coming into this series a series that she had not watched prior to auditioning. [SPEAKER_02]: She'll tell you, she kind of had to binge the whole thing to get the mood. [SPEAKER_02]: But we're going to hear about exactly that coming into a series where, you know, everybody else is reuniting.

2:59 [SPEAKER_02]: You're the new one here. [SPEAKER_02]: But working with Frankie Moones and then the entire cast, [SPEAKER_02]: learning how to fourth wallets in the way that Frankie always did so well as Malcolm telling us about a little bit of the intimidation going into it in the insane situations this family or always a part of and what the future might hold.

3:21 [SPEAKER_02]: There's rumors that there's going to be more and whether it's more of Malcolm Middle or it's been off focus again Leah. [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, you know, only time will tell, but we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna ask that one as well. [SPEAKER_02]: So let's get into it. [SPEAKER_02]: Uh, we're talking about Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair on Hulu.

3:36 [SPEAKER_02]: It's Kyle Meredith with Keely Karsten. [SPEAKER_03]: Hello. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, let me congratulate you. [SPEAKER_02]: You get to be a part of this incredible series, Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair, the big reunion for episodes, which, you know, if we're fans, I mean, only four episodes are only a half an hour.

3:52 [SPEAKER_02]: You left us one more on this one, but, uh, but congratulations. [SPEAKER_03]: Thank you so much. [SPEAKER_03]: I think that the four episodes is something that a lot of people, you know, they usually say it's not enough. [SPEAKER_03]: And I actually agree, because when you watch them, they go by so fast that you are left wanting more.

4:10 [SPEAKER_03]: But it's a good continuation, a good short continuation. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, so let's hear about like, so let's start, like, what's your connection to this show? [SPEAKER_03]: Did you know much about it going into it? [SPEAKER_03]: And for context Leah's Malcolm's daughter, she's really smart, like him, and kind of impulsive similar to him, but a little bit more emotional.

4:36 [SPEAKER_03]: I hadn't seen it though, so I had to kind of binge the whole thing right before we started filming. [SPEAKER_03]: And there wasn't a lot of time, but I managed to get the most of it in. [SPEAKER_03]: Mostly because I just wanted to know the family before and, you know, the history of the show before I started.

4:55 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like I wanted if that's if that's I mean, it sounds like it's helpful for you But that's a choice you got to make like like do I do I want to To get everything do I want to know the history or do you come in fresh because the character is fresh and but I would imagine like it's Like it was such a uniquely written and and shot sitcom like like I guess it's probably helpful for you to get that mood.

5:20 [SPEAKER_02]: Is that right? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I think I had gone into the whole audition process, not knowing the show. [SPEAKER_03]: So the character in that way was something that I had just taken from what I observed from the writing. [SPEAKER_03]: But then to get the whole... [SPEAKER_03]: show and also like when you go on set, you know, we started with like a house tour of the original home.

5:44 [SPEAKER_03]: So if I hadn't watched the show, I probably would have been really confused, walk around this weekend and don't set. [SPEAKER_03]: So there are things like that that you, it's helpful watching the show before you go on for a review. [SPEAKER_02]: Did they have you auditioned on a specific scene that ended up making the show?

6:02 [SPEAKER_03]: All the scenes that I did were in the show. [SPEAKER_03]: And there were a few of them, yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: And, you know, they kind of vary between like the first and on the callback and then some of the chemistry reads as well. [SPEAKER_03]: But they all ended up making it, so that's fun.

6:17 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: So how are you with the, what do we say? [SPEAKER_02]: The fourth walling, like... Oh, breaking the fourth wall? [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: Well, that was something I definitely hadn't done before. [SPEAKER_03]: Breaking the fourth wall, I always like to say [SPEAKER_03]: you get used to.

6:33 [SPEAKER_03]: So when you first start, it's challenging and Frankie helped me with that a little bit and Linwood who's a career of the show. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, it's all about timing. [SPEAKER_03]: But then once you get it, like you can do it in your sleep. [SPEAKER_03]: It becomes really easy for you.

6:50 [SPEAKER_03]: It's just something that's almost like a second nature and a scene. [SPEAKER_03]: It's like, of course, I'm now going to explain this to the kid. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, just the minutes of everything. [SPEAKER_03]: So you get used to it. [SPEAKER_02]: what's what's the timing behind it like if you can explain it if you're able to [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, I can, it didn't your eye.

7:06 [SPEAKER_03]: I think that when you're doing a scene in something's happening and it's mostly kind of like, Liman always said, imagine you're talking to a friend of yours that you're kind of just blending everything to and imagine you're friend. [SPEAKER_03]: You know, when you're doing a scene in something's happening and you kind of have like a thought in your head, you're just explaining yourself like you would writing in a journal.

7:25 [SPEAKER_03]: So there's something happens and I'm like, oh, that's your great and her journal like this has been, and this is what I was thinking. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's something that I'm going to shift and explain to the camera before I go back. [SPEAKER_03]: And it's also like a brief pause of like, you know what I mean?

7:38 [SPEAKER_03]: So you, I don't know. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, that's it because it's really, it's funny, right? [SPEAKER_02]: Because you know, you you start in this career and one of the very first things you're told is don't look in the camera. [SPEAKER_03]: You don't look in the camera. [SPEAKER_02]: Get that on your head.

7:50 [SPEAKER_02]: Don't look at the camera. [SPEAKER_02]: So to suddenly, right? [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and I actually think that's one of my favorite parts of the show though. [SPEAKER_03]: I really enjoyed breaking the fourth wall, and I also liked watching Frankie break the fourth wall. [SPEAKER_03]: It's different doing it yourself and watching someone else do it, and then at the very end of the show, there's like one of my favorite scenes we both break it, and then we're kind of like, it's so smart, and I love that scenes, but it's definitely a perk of being in the show.

8:21 [SPEAKER_02]: And we'll be right back right after this. [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back. [SPEAKER_02]: It's Kyle Manith with Keely Carston. [SPEAKER_02]: Well, and still, you mentioned working with Franky and everything. [SPEAKER_02]: I mean, that's, that is the other thing like, you know, maybe there are no nerves, but you're coming into something where most of the cast are reuniting.

8:39 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, like, what was that experience? [SPEAKER_02]: Like, you see them. [SPEAKER_02]: They all, they've all done this before. [SPEAKER_02]: They know each other. [SPEAKER_03]: It was a little bit intimidating going in, but it didn't stay that way. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, it would have been impossible to stay that way because Brian, Frankie Jane, all the original cast members had such a good energy.

9:02 [SPEAKER_03]: They were so excited to be back, but they also quickly made me feel like a part of the family as well. [SPEAKER_03]: They were super welcoming. [SPEAKER_03]: And they just kind of made the transition for the newer addition to the cast's super smooth, super easy. [SPEAKER_03]: I mean, they're, they're also down to earth too in that way.

9:21 [SPEAKER_03]: They're grounded. [SPEAKER_03]: They, they're funny in real life. [SPEAKER_03]: They're just great people. [SPEAKER_03]: And we all got along really well. [SPEAKER_03]: So I'm, I'm really grateful for that. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, it's just so fun watching them kind of slip back into those clothes, slip back into those characters, you know.

9:36 [SPEAKER_03]: It's crazy and too because I had been just the entire thing before we started filming. [SPEAKER_03]: I was watching these characters that I had so recently like grown to love and now new so well, like come to life again in front of me and when everyone was together, [SPEAKER_03]: break and then a little bit of seeing they were so funny and they just their dynamics were incredibly new each other so well they know their character so well so that way like yeah it is kind of challenging and all intimidating to go into that but that's another perk I guess of watching the original show is you understand those family dynamics so you can kind of fit your [SPEAKER_02]: Well, and that's like, I don't remember thinking too much about it when the original run happened about them tackling bigger topics and stuff like that, you know, like I took into entertainment when it happened.

10:37 [SPEAKER_02]: But watching this one's like, wow, I mean, this is really saying something about generational trauma. [SPEAKER_02]: like like I don't know if any discussions happened about that or you know I'll just rolled with it but I'm like I was really impressed with the way they sort of you know took a pretty heavy topic and you know made it very entertaining.

10:56 [SPEAKER_03]: I actually think that's the magic of the show. [SPEAKER_03]: I feel like truly insane stuff happens. [SPEAKER_03]: when you really think about it, hiding your teenage daughter, her family, her entire life is wild, but it doesn't seem as wild when you're watching it, like the show takes crazy things, [SPEAKER_03]: and makes them seem not so crazy like they happen all the time and you know what I mean it's it's a weird thing that I've found happens a lot in the show even just in the first one because every episode something insane is happening and maybe you become like what's the word I'm trying to think of the word for when you become desensitized to something [SPEAKER_03]: So I think that's probably the main thing of all that trauma that he has that led him to hiding his family from both Leah and Tristan.

11:59 [SPEAKER_03]: It just doesn't seem as wild when you're watching it. [SPEAKER_03]: No, it's pretty crazy. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: Right. [SPEAKER_02]: And the amount of stories they fit in those four episodes for every character, I mean, it's like it really is. [SPEAKER_02]: It's incredible.

12:12 [SPEAKER_02]: And watching you and Frankie by the way, because what's I wrote down the line, I think it's in the first episode. [SPEAKER_02]: Your personality gets in the way is what you're saying. [SPEAKER_02]: And that line sets up so much for these characters [SPEAKER_02]: they're supposed to be so much alike and they are.

12:30 [SPEAKER_02]: Like, is that something you all work on before hand? [SPEAKER_02]: Are you like watching mannerisms? [SPEAKER_02]: Does it go that far? [SPEAKER_03]: I didn't. [SPEAKER_03]: I actually, this is a funny story. [SPEAKER_03]: We were on set one day and it was maybe a scene at school and our AD had his sons there and they were in that scene and they had said to him like, [SPEAKER_03]: She's so much, like Malcolm, like she's so similar to Malcolm, and I was just like, I was so excited because, I mean, that's was the point of Lea, but I hadn't planned for it that way.

13:05 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, we didn't kind of talk about how we, or you know what I didn't look at Malcolm's character and think like, I've got to be exactly like that. [SPEAKER_03]: I think that was something that kind of just happened naturally. [SPEAKER_03]: So, I guess I... Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: and we'll be right back right after this.

13:24 [SPEAKER_02]: Welcome back, it's Kyle Manith with Keely Carston. [SPEAKER_02]: But there was a thought like I have no armor. [SPEAKER_02]: That was I figured another line that you got to say. [SPEAKER_02]: And like like she is so awkward on her social skills, which I don't like I'd love to hear you take on it because she sort of knows that but is also completely unaware of to the extent.

13:45 [SPEAKER_03]: I like to say that Lea knows a lot. [SPEAKER_03]: But she is really unaware about a lot of things. [SPEAKER_03]: I think it's because she is super smart. [SPEAKER_03]: And she wants social connection, like she wants friends, and she doesn't want to ostrich eye ostrich eyes other people.

14:04 [SPEAKER_03]: But she says things are kind of jarring to everybody else. [SPEAKER_03]: Like she tries to insert her knowledge in places that [SPEAKER_03]: shouldn't be there. [SPEAKER_03]: So I think in that way, she doesn't mean to make other people uncomfortable, but she is. [SPEAKER_03]: And that's what's different, I think, between her and Malcolm, is that a fixer.

14:29 [SPEAKER_03]: Like, she feels badly. [SPEAKER_03]: She's confused. [SPEAKER_03]: She doesn't understand. [SPEAKER_03]: She wants to be a part of something, but she also can't see how her being impulsive and saying those things. [SPEAKER_03]: hurts other people. [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: It looks like a fun character to play.

14:47 [SPEAKER_03]: These are fun character to play. [SPEAKER_03]: I actually remember there's the scene where she's at school, and she's kind of said something about this girl's hair She might have ringworm, and then she'd like explodes into this huge laugh. [SPEAKER_03]: And that was something I auditioned with that was like the first, and I loved that scene.

15:09 [SPEAKER_03]: I thought it was so smart, and it was so uncomfortable to film, but I had so much fun with it. [SPEAKER_03]: Like, Canada, [SPEAKER_03]: more, like bigger laugh, like just go crazy. [SPEAKER_03]: I was like exploding into laughter randomly in this like silent hallway and then all the other students were like I'm packing away.

15:29 [SPEAKER_03]: It was really funny. [SPEAKER_02]: Because that's the moment like she could be crazy. [SPEAKER_02]: Like that's the laugh of someone who could be crazy. [SPEAKER_03]: It is the laugh of someone who is, you know, she's like desperate. [SPEAKER_03]: It's a desperate laugh for sure. [SPEAKER_03]: And it was fun to film.

15:46 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, I love her. [SPEAKER_02]: I keep asking you to go further and further with it. [SPEAKER_03]: Oh, yeah. [SPEAKER_02]: Especially to get to four, I guess. [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah. [SPEAKER_03]: To get like the other students to react even bigger. [SPEAKER_03]: Like, oh my god, what is with you?

15:59 [SPEAKER_03]: I had to do like a really big one. [SPEAKER_03]: And that was fun. [SPEAKER_02]: So, for episodes as we started saying, leaving people wanting more, I've already seen somebody talking about a possible spin-off that puts the camera right on you. [SPEAKER_02]: Like, like, is this actual talk or is this just wishful thinking at this point?

16:19 [SPEAKER_03]: I love the show. [SPEAKER_03]: I love the character of the year. [SPEAKER_03]: I love the cast, and I love to come back. [SPEAKER_03]: But there's not really anything that I can share right now. [SPEAKER_03]: news. [SPEAKER_03]: I think for now we've got the four episodes and they're great and I hope that people especially the fans get to enjoy them and then we'll see from there but my experience from filming couldn't have been better so it would only be something that I'd like to do.

16:47 [SPEAKER_02]: Well said, well said, well I certainly enjoyed it. [SPEAKER_02]: I really did. [SPEAKER_02]: I hope that we get to see more of this character and more of this family and, you know, not all reunions work, you know, and reboots or whatever you want to call it. [SPEAKER_02]: They don't want to work, but, but man props to the writers and the directors and the crew and all of you all for just nailing this.

17:06 [SPEAKER_03]: I think that is the thing, since everybody, or really, mostly everybody from the original came back, whether it was the creator or the producers or the DP or the caution designers, like they were able to recreate the magic of the original. [SPEAKER_03]: And that was what was really special about this reboot.

17:28 [SPEAKER_02]: Yeah, Mokili, it's so nice talking to you. [SPEAKER_02]: Congrats on it again. [SPEAKER_02]: And I hope we get to talk more about [SPEAKER_03]: Yeah, and have a nice rest of your day. [SPEAKER_02]: My thanks to Keely Malcolm in the middle, life's still unfair is out now on Hulu. [SPEAKER_02]: Thanks to you for checking out the episodes.

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