Trumbo (2015)

Trumbo is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Jay Roach and written by John McNamara. The film stars Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Louis C.K., Elle Fanning, John Goodman and Michael Stuhlbarg. The film follows the life of Hollywood screenwriter Dalton Trumbo and is based on the biography Dalton Trumbo by Bruce Alexander Cook.

The film was shown in the Special Presentations section of the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival, and was released on November 6, 2015, by Bleecker Street. The film has received generally positive reviews, with lead actor Bryan Cranston nominated for several awards. However, the film has also been criticized for historical inaccuracies and misportrayals of important people and events.

Plot

Dalton Trumbo (Bryan Cranston) is a screenwriter whose talent places him among the elite of Hollywood. However, his outspoken support for organized labor, and his membership in the Communist Party of the USA draw the contempt of staunchly anti-Soviet entertainment-industry figures such as columnist Hedda Hopper (Helen Mirren) and actor John Wayne (David James Elliott).

J. Parnell Thomas heads the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

Trumbo is one of 10 screenwriters subpoenaed to testify before the United States Congress regarding alleged Communist propaganda in Hollywood films. They refuse to directly answer questions, confident that a liberal majority on the Supreme Court will overturn the convictions for contempt of Congress. Edward G. Robinson, who supports the cause, sells the Portrait of Père Tanguy to raise money for their legal defense fund.

The unexpected replacement of a liberal Supreme Court Justice condemns each of them to spend time in prison. In 1950, Trumbo serves eleven months in Texarkana prison where he meets J. Parnell Thomas who was convicted of tax evasion.

As the Hollywood Blacklist expands to exclude more liberals from working in the industry, Trumbo and his comrades are abandoned by Democratic actor Edward G. Robinson (Michael Stuhlbarg) and producer Buddy Ross (Roger Bart), who disavow them to protect their careers. Trumbo's prison term eventually finishes, but he remains blacklisted and his finances – and family life – become increasingly strained. He resorts to giving the screenplay for Roman Holiday to his friend Ian McLellan Hunter (Alan Tudyk), to take credit and a share of the money, and eventually the Academy Award for Best Story. Selling his idyllic lakeside home and moving to a house in the city, he goes to work as a pseudonymous screenwriter for the low-budget King Brothers Productions, also farming out the writing of B-movie screenplays to fellow blacklisted writers. He puts his wife Cleo (Diane Lane) and teenage children to work as his support staff, adding to domestic conflict. King Brothers' film The Brave One, an original story by Trumbo under a pseudonym, receives an Academy Award he cannot claim. His blacklisted friend Arlen Hird (Louis C.K.) dies, destitute, but an attempt by Hopper's allies to intimidate the head of King Brothers to fire Trumbo fails completely.

Over time, industry suspicion of Trumbo's ghostwriting develops, but he is careful not to confirm it. In 1960, actor Kirk Douglas (Dean O'Gorman) recruits him to write the screenplay for his epic film Spartacus, and director Otto Preminger (Christian Berkel) recruits him to script Exodus for him; both publicly credit Trumbo as the screenwriter despite Hopper's futile efforts to intimidate Douglas into dropping Trumbo. By 1960, to Hopper's despair, the effectiveness of the Blacklist has been broken to the point where newly elected US President John F. Kennedy publicly endorses Spartacus and Trumbo and others are able to begin rebuilding their careers. Ten years later, finally receiving his due accolades from Hollywood, Trumbo speaks about how the Blacklist victimized them all: those who stood by their principles and lost their jobs, and also those who compromised their principles to keep them.

Cast

• Bryan Cranston as Dalton Trumbo
• Diane Lane as Cleo Fincher Trumbo
• Helen Mirren as Hedda Hopper
• Louis C.K. as Arlen Hird (a composite character)
• Elle Fanning as Nikola Trumbo
• John Goodman as Frank King
• Michael Stuhlbarg as Edward G. Robinson
• Alan Tudyk as Ian McLellan Hunter
• Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Virgil Brooks
• Dean O'Gorman as Kirk Douglas
• Stephen Root as Hymie King
• Roger Bart as Buddy Ross (a composite character)
• David James Elliott as John Wayne
• Peter Mackenzie as Robert Kenny
• John Getz as Sam Wood
• Christian Berkel as Otto Preminger
• Billy Slaughter as D.C. Reporter
• Richard Portnow as Louis B. Mayer
• Sean Bridgers as Jeff Krandall
• James DuMont as J. Parnell Thomas

Production

On September 18, 2013, Bryan Cranston joined the cast to play Dalton Trumbo. On April 14, 2014, Helen Mirren joined the cast to play Hedda Hopper. On August 7, 2014, Diane Lane, Elle Fanning, John Goodman and Michael Stuhlbarg joined the cast. On August 13, 2014, David James Elliott, Peter Mackenzie and Roger Bart joined the cast to play John Wayne, Robert Kenny and Buddy Ross, respectively. On September 6, 2014, Louis C.K. joined the cast to play Arlen Hird. On September 22, 2014, Dean O'Gorman joined the cast to play Kirk Douglas. On October 16, 2014, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje joined the cast to play Virgil Brooks. Principal photography began on September 15, 2014, and ended on November 6, 2014.

Release

On August 13, 2014, it was announced that Bleecker Street would distribute the film. The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2015. The film had a limited release on November 6, 2015 before going wide on November 25.

Reception

Critical response

Trumbo has received generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 72%, based on 132 reviews, with an average rating of 6.6/10. The site's critical consensus states, "Trumbo serves as an honorable and well-acted tribute to a brilliant writer's principled stand, even if it doesn't quite achieve the greatness of its subject's own classic screenplays." Metacritic gives the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Peter Debruge of Variety gave the film a positive review, saying "Trumbo may be clumsy and overly simplistic at times, but it’s still an important reminder of how democracy can fail (that is, when a fervent majority turns on those with different and potentially threatening values), and the strength of character it takes to fight the system." Lou Lumenick of the New York Post gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "It's a cracking good story, and Cranston does a great job portraying a man who made great sacrifices for his principles." Manohla Dargis of The New York Times gave the film a negative review, saying "Part biopic, part historical gloss, Trumbo tells a great-man story with a patchwork of fact and fiction, mixing in the odd bit of newsreel with a great many dull, visually flat and poorly lighted dramatic scenes." Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Trumbo is breezy and pithy without ever undercutting the seriousness of the subject. A certain degree of wit is appropriate in a writer’s story, just as any Hollywood tale must at least have a whiff of absurdity, or else it can’t be true." Richard Roeper of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Trumbo is a corny, well-made B-movie about an A-list screenwriter who had to take jobs writing B-movies after he was blacklisted, but eventually worked his way back to writing A-movies with Kirk Douglas a.k.a. Spartacus as his champion."

Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter gave the film a positive review, saying "What makes the movie work are the lively performances, both from the supporting cast and from Cranston, who sheds the mimicry and pontificating of earlier scenes to turn Trumbo into a wry, self-deprecating and somewhat cheeky older man, even if he continued to stand up for what was right." Ty Burr of The Boston Globe gave the film three out of four stars, saying "Cranston's performance is the motor that runs Trumbo, and that motor never idles, never flags in momentum or magnetism or idealistic scorn." Alonso Duralde of TheWrap gave the film a positive review, saying "Roach and McNamara fall victim to the occasional phony biopic moment or straight-up moment of didacticism, but overall Trumbo is a lively history about the day-in-day-out drudgery of survival during oppressive times. Screenwriters are so rarely taken seriously by the film industry that it’s a nice switch to watch them be the heroes." Bill Goodykoontz of The Arizona Republic gave the film three and a half stars out of four, saying "Roach’s film may be light in places, even sugarcoated in others, but any reminder of the past and its impact on the future is a welcome one. Plus, we get a good Cranston performance in the bargain."

Despite generally positive reviews, several critics attacked the film for being historically misleading. Godfrey Cheshire of the Roger Ebert Journal wrote that Trumbo is “another of those simplistic, made-to-order films about the Hollywood blacklist in which the blacklisted movie folks are all innocent, in every conceivable way.” Certain inaccuracies were particularly troubling to Cheshire, such as insinuations that Joseph McCarthy and the House Committee on Un-American Activities created the blacklist. In reality, the blacklist was created and maintained by Hollywood studio chiefs. Cheshire also criticized the film’s less-than-subtle defense of international communism: “it invites us to the see the Communist Party USA as just another political party rather than as the domestic instrument of a hostile and ultra-murderous foreign tyranny.” Other critics raised similar concerns. While the film portrays Trumbo as “a New Deal liberal hero defending civil liberties”, Ron Capshaw explained how the real Trumbo was an outspoken supporter of Soviet-style communism, including the brutal regimes of Joseph Stalin and North Korean dictator Kim Il-sung. Pat Buchanan questioned the appropriateness of portraying Trumbo as a “martyr to the first amendment” while overlooking his support for regimes that actively suppress free speech. Armond White of the National Review went a step further, accusing director Jay Roach of “unrestrained partisanship” for whitewashing the dark history of communist ideologies to invent a hero that supports Roach’s political views.

Accolades

Bryan Cranston received numerous award nominations for his portrayal of Trumbo, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

Awards
Award	Date of Ceremony	Category	Recipient	Outcome
Academy Awards	February 28, 2016	Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Pending
British Academy Film Awards	February 14, 2016	Best Actor in a Leading Role	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Pending
Critics' Choice Awards	January 17, 2016	Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nom
		Best Supporting Actress	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nom
		Best Acting Ensemble	Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Louis C.K., Bryan Cranston, David James Elliott, Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alan Tudyk	Vorlage:Nom
Golden Globe Awards	January 10, 2016	Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress – Motion Picture	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nominated
Houston Film Critics Society	January 9, 2016	Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nominated
Indiana Film Journalists Association Awards	December 14, 2015	Best Film	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nominated
		Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor	Louis C.K.	Vorlage:Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nominated
Palm Springs International Film Festival	January 2, 2016	Spotlight Award – Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Won
San Diego Film Critics Society	December 14, 2015	Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nom
		Best Supporting Actress	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nom
San Francisco Film Critics Circle	December 12, 2015	Best Actor	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nom
		Best Supporting Actress	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nom
Screen Actors Guild Awards	January 30, 2016	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role	Bryan Cranston	Vorlage:Nominated
		Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role	Helen Mirren	Vorlage:Nominated
		Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture	Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Louis C.K., Bryan Cranston, David James Elliott, Elle Fanning, John Goodman, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Michael Stuhlbarg, Alan Tudyk	Vorlage:Nominated
Writers Guild of America Award	February 13, 2016	Best Adapted Screenplay	John McNamara	Vorlage:Pending

Alleged Robinson Inaccuracy

The film depicts actor Edward G. Robinson betraying his friend Dalton Trumbo and others by naming them as communists before the House Un-American Activities Committee. Robinson did testify four times before the committee and eventually stated that he had been a dupe of communist front organizations, but he never named anyone, friend or foe, as a communist.

External links

• Vorlage:Official website
• Vorlage:IMDb title