Few Hollywood screenwriters enjoyed the fame of Dalton Trumbo in the 1940s, who rose to the top of the pack as one of the highest-paid scribes in the industry – against the backdrop of the all-consuming World War II, no less. When the allies marched to victory in ’45, Trumbo was unaware that his reign was about to come crashing down. And crashing down it did.
As a vocal member of the Communist party, the talented scribe was effectively shunned from tinsel town; blacklisted at a time when the Cold War loomed large and tensions between the States and the Soviet Union were reaching an all-time high. It’s a fascinating – if unjust – fall from grace, and with an actor of Bryan Cranston’s talent on board to play the scribe, we’re eagerly anticipating the release of Jay Roach’s Trumbo.
To sate our collective appetites, Entertainment Weekly has debuted the first clip for the political drama, which has Cranston’s wry, intelligent writer summoned to Washington as the House Un-American Activities Committee begins its widespread culling.
It was after Trumbo refused to name his fellow party members that he was sent packing from Hollywood, leading him to write under different pseudonyms. He may have had an entire government on his back, but Cranston’s character still managed to churn out a remarkable story.
Diane Lane, Elle Fanning, Helen Mirren, John Goodman, Louis CK, Michael Stuhlbarg and David James Elliott round out the cast. Bryan Cranston will assume the role of the shunned screeenwriter when Jay Roach’s Trumbo opens on November 6. Attendees of the Toronto International Film Festival will be able to catch the drama’s world premiere on September 12.
The successful career of 1940s screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) comes to a crushing end when he and other Hollywood figures are blacklisted for their political beliefs. TRUMBO (directed by Jay Roach) tells the story of his fight against the U.S. government and studio bosses in a war over words and freedom, which entangled everyone in Hollywood from Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and John Wayne to Kirk Douglas and Otto Preminger.