It was shortly before the series finale of “Breaking Bad” last year that word broke of Bryan Cranston signing on to headline Trumbo, a biopic of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo that Jay Roach (The Campaign, Game Change) will direct. Now, Variety reports that Helen Mirren is eyeing a role opposite Cranston as Trumbo’s wife, Cleo.
Trumbo published his first novel, “Eclipse,” in 1935 with his first screenplay, director Louis King’s Road Gang, hitting the big screen the following year. With more than a dozen subsequent credits to his name, Trumbo was the highest paid screenwriter of his day when he was brought before Senator Joseph McCarthy’s House Un-American Activities Committee. Refusing to testify, Trumbo was blacklisted, but continued to write under fake names, winning Academy Awards for both Irving Rapper’s The Brave One and William Wyler’s Roman Holiday.
Mirren most recently starred in RED 2 and can be seen coming up in Lasse Hallström’s The Hundred-Foot Journey.
