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Last year it was announced that Bryan Cranston would be playing President Lyndon B. Johnson in HBO's adaptation of the stage play All The Way. We now have our first look at the actor in the role, and he looks completely unrecognizable. It's freaky scary! The photo comes to us courtesy of People Magazine. Cranston also played the character in the stage production, but his makeup wasn't as good as what you are seeing in the image above.
The project is being directed by Jay Roach, and he talked to the magazine about the project:
“Physically and emotionally Bryan completely channels LBJ. We just filmed him and Lady Bird in the Oval Office, after JFK’s assassination. LBJ has arrived as the ‘accidental President.’ He’s almost overwhelmed. In spiritual support, Lady Bird touches his cheek. We melted, like we went back in time and witnessed a private, heart-wrenching moment between these two great people.”
The cast also features Anthony Mackie (Martin Luther King), Melissa Leo (Lady Bird Johnson), Bradley Whitford (Hubert Humphrey), Stephen Root (J. Edgar Hoover), Marque Richardson (Bob Moses), Aisha Hinds (Fanny Lou Hamer), Todd Weeks (Walter Jenkins), Mo McRae (Stokely Carmichael), Spencer Garrett (Walter Reuther), and Frank Langella (Senator Richard Russell).
The story starts off with LBJ taking the oath after President Kennedy is assassinated. This is the official synopsis:
1964: A pivotal year in American history—a landmark civil rights bill was passed, America began its involvement in Vietnam…and one man sat at the center of it all, determined to lift the country out of the ashes and rebuild it into The Great Society—by any means necessary. Hero. Bully. President. He played whatever part it took to win the day. It’s not personal, it’s just politics.
This is sure to be a great film worth checking out when it's released.
