Bryan Cranston will bring his Tony-award winning portrayal of President Lyndon B. Johnson to HBO as the network has secured the broadcast rights to the hit Broadway show, All the Way, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Cranston earned rave reviews for his Broadway debut when All The Way opened earlier this year, following a short stint in Boston. The show documents LBJs tumultuous first year in office in the wake of John F. Kennedys assassination, specifically focusing on the escalating Vietnam War and the Texans behind-the-scenes fight to pass Civil Rights legislation. Not only did Cranston win Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play, but the show itself took home the Tony for Best Play.
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Steven Spielberg is set to help executive produceAll the Wayfor HBO, while author Robert Schenkkan will return to adapt his script into a TV movie. The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer previously penned four episodes of the premium networks World War II miniseries, The Pacific.
Along with his Tonyfor playing LBJ, Cranston earnedhardware from the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Theater World Awards. All the Way marked one of the actors first major roles after a career-making stint as science-teacher-turned-meth-kingpin Walter White on Breaking Bad, which wrapped up its run last September. Cranston recently appeared in the reboot of Godzilla, and is set to star as blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo in the forthcoming Jay Roach-directed biopic,Trumbo.
As to why he took the ostensibly tamer role of President Johnson inAll the Way after the nail-biting action ofBreaking Bad, Cranston toldRolling Stone:[T]he story of LBJ is so epic. Its enormous and wonderful and all encompassing, and there is no way that you can sort of do it you have to really dive into this situation that he was in. You need to wallow in his highs and his lows. A lot of things surprised me about his nature. He was a man who was accomplished and determined and politically savvy. At the same time there was a humorous side to him, and a fragility to his character that is also very interesting.