Movies

Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren And Diane Lane Talk TRUMBO In New Featurette

By Michelle McCue | October 21, 2015

“Dalton Trumbo was an American patriot, but his defense of our freedom of speech made him a traitor in some people’s eyes,” director Jay Roach says. “One of the great questions that the film asks is how we as a country got to a place where it seemed right to send someone like Trumbo to jail and prevent him from writing.”

In never before seen interviews with Bryan Cranston, Helen Mirren, Nikola Trumbo and Diane Lane, watch the new featurette about the legendary and infamous screenwriter from TRUMBO.

In the 1940s, Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is one of the highest paid screenwriters in the world, penning movie classics including the Oscar-nominated KITTY FOYLE and THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO.

A fixture on the Hollywood social scene, and a political activist supporting labor unions, equal pay and civil rights, Trumbo and his colleagues are subpoenaed to testify in front of the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) as part of its sweeping probe into communist activity in the U.S. Trumbo’s refusal to answer the congressmen’s questions lands him in a federal prison and earns him the eternal enmity of powerful anti-communist gossip columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren).

For the next 13 years, all of the major Hollywood studios refuse to hire Trumbo for fear of being associated with his perceived radical political views. Forced to sell his home and ostracized by friends, colleagues and neighbors, Trumbo struggles to feed his family by writing mostly low-budget movies under assumed names.

But he never gives up fighting for what he believes in. Ultimately, Trumbo prevails when star Kirk Douglas and director Otto Preminger each put the screenwriter’s real name on screen in their respective 1960 blockbusters, SPARTACUS and EXODUS, effectively bringing the blacklist era to an end.

An astonishing portrait of an often forgotten chapter of American history, TRUMBO is directed by Jay Roach (“Game Change,” Meet the Parents) from a script by John McNamara (“Aquarius,” “Prime Suspect”), based on the book Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Cook.

The dazzling world of Old Hollywood comes alive again from director of photography Jim Denault (Boys Don’t Cry, “Game Change”), production designer is Mark Ricker (The Help, The Judge), editor Alan Baumgarten (American Hustle, Zombieland), costume designer is Daniel Orlandi (The Da Vinci Code, Meet the Parents) and music by Theodore Shapiro (The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, St. Vincent).

The film stars Bryan Cranston, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Louis C.K., David James Elliott, Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Diane Lane, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alan Tudyk and Helen Mirren.

TRUMBO opens in theaters on November 6.

Visit The Official Site: www.TrumboMovie.com