Here are two things Hollywood really likes: movies about charismatic individuals triumphing over political oppression, and movies about Hollywood. Luckily, Bryan Cranston’s new film, Trumbo, is about both: Cranston plays screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, who was blacklisted by the industry in 1947 after refusing to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee.
Trumbo was perhaps the most successful of the “Hollywood Ten”; he wrote under pseudonyms throughout the ’50s, and even won Oscars for his work on The Brave One and Roman Holiday. Cranston, deploying the full range of that booming, stentorian voice, looks pretty crackerjack in the role, and he’s accompanied by a murderer’s row of talent: Helen Mirren, Diane Lane, John Goodman, and Louis C.K. all have supporting parts. Trumbo is out in November.
