You give a man a little extra time off of his successful TV show and he goes film role-shopping crazy: Bryan Cranston, who has been scooping awards and praise for his work on US cable drama Breaking Bad, is being linked to yet another likely movie gig with Variety reporting that Adam Shankman and the Rock of Ages team are in talks with him.
He’s on to play the mayor in the musical adaptation, which follows the story of two young lovers – one a wannabe rocker, the other a naive newcomer to LA with dreams of stardom – whose lives collide at a club on the Sunset Strip. There, a combination of odd characters, including a charismatic rock star and the owner of a strip club conspire to keep them apart.
And from the looks of it, Cranston has all but been cast, with Shankman expressing his enthusiasm for snagging the man: “Bryan Cranston is one of my favourite actors alive, and I cannot believe that I have the great fortune to be working with him on this project."
He’ll join a cast that already includes Tom Cruise, Paul Giamatti, Russell Brand, Mary J Blige, Julianne Hough, Diego Bonita, Alec Baldwin and Catherine Zeta-Jones, who’ll be cranking out a variety of ‘80s rock tunes for the film. It al kicks off shooting in Miami this month.
Cranston, meanwhile, has also nabbed the lead villain role in Total Recall and has** Larry Crowne**, Contagion and John Carter of Mars all creeping towards release dates.