Bryan Cranston to Reprise ‘All the Way’ Broadway Role in HBO's Upcoming TV Adaptation
Bryan Cranston will be reprising his Tony Award-winning Broadway debut role as President Lyndon B. Johnson in Robert Schenkkan's All the Way stage play in HBO's upcoming made-for-TV movie adaptation, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Schenkkan is also on board to adapt his stage play for the small screen. The HBO TV movie will be produced by Amblin Television, Tale Told Productions and Moon Shot Entertainment, with Steven Spielberg, Darryl Frank and Justin Falvey as executive produces alongside Schenkkan and Cranston. James Degus will co-executive produce the project.
All the Way is named after Johnson's 1964 campaign slogan, "All the Way with LBJ." The play itself is set to open shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy and continues through until Johnson's landslide reelection on November 3, 1964. In his first year as president, Johnson engineers passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a landmark legislation in the nation's history. He relied on Senator Hubert Humphrey of Minnesota reach out to liberal congressmen and civil rights groups, while he himself personally deals with Southern congressmen, who are deeply opposed to the legislation. At the end of Act One, the civil rights act passes the Senate, using cajolery, arm-twisting and blackmail to get his way. In the second act, the action shifts to Atlantic City where a battle is brewing at the 1964 Democratic National Convention.
Cranston won the 2014 Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Actor in a Play for his role as Johnson, which Charles Isherwood at the New York Times describes as a "heat-generating performance [that] galvanizes the production. Even when Johnson is offstage or the writing sags with exposition, the show, directed solidly by Bill Rauch, retains the vitalizing imprint of his performance." The play itself won in the Outstanding New Broadway Play category. At the 68th Tony Awards, Aranston won Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play while All the Way won in the Best Play category.