Walter White meet LBJ

I guess it really isn't new news, but Bryan Cranston has taken on the role of LBJ in the play, All the Way, which focuses on Johnson getting the Civil Rights Bill through Congress. The play has been circulating for some time, but is due to make its Broadway premiere soon. He looks pretty convincing in the short clip, but then Cranston is a great actor.

All the Way was commissioned by the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2012, as part of a US History Cycle. The play was written by Robert Schenkkan and directed by Bill Rauch. It has garnered quite a bit of praise during its run, but scoring Cranston is obviously a big coup.

He seemed to think that his character Walter White wasn't very far away from LBJ, noting that they had a similar determination to succeed at all costs, and both could be self defeating, but it is hard to imagine LBJ resorting to cooking meth to make ends meet. Cranston first appeared in the role in September and has been honing his performance since. I imagine we will see it on the big screen in due time.

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Team of Rivals Reading Group

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Dispatches from Vilnius

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