All the Way

All the Way Information

All the Way is a 2016 American HBO biographical TV drama film based on events of the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, directed by Jay Roach and adapted by Robert Schenkkan from his play with the same title. The film stars Bryan Cranston, who reprises his role as Johnson from the play's 2014 Broadway production, opposite Melissa Leo as First Lady Lady Bird Johnson; Anthony Mackie as Civil Rights Movement leader Martin Luther King, Jr.; and Frank Langella as US Senator Richard Russell Jr., from Georgia.

The film was broadcast on HBO on May 21, 2016. The film was well received by critics, with Cranston's portrayal of Johnson garnering praise. It has been nominated for a Television Critics Association Award for Outstanding Achievement in Movies, Miniseries and Specials, with Cranston also nominated for Individual Achievement in Drama for his work on the film. It got nominated for eight Primetime Emmy Awards, including Outstanding Television Movie as well as acting nominations for Cranston and Leo.

Plot

Johnson becomes President of the United States after the John F. Kennedy assassination. Johnson enters the White House but soon must work on the passage of the Civil Rights Act. Pressured by King to pass the bill without removing its most significant content to appease Southern Democrats, who oppose the bill so much that they may abandon the Democratic Party if the bill passes. At the same time, he wants to declare a War on Poverty. The Vietnam War escalates after the Gulf of Tonkin incident.

Cast

Bryan Cranston as President Lyndon B. Johnson
Anthony Mackie as Martin Luther King, Jr.
Melissa Leo as First Lady Lady Bird Johnson
Bradley Whitford as Vice President Hubert Humphrey
Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover
Marque Richardson as Bob Moses
Aisha Hinds as Fannie Lou Hamer
Todd Weeks as Walter Jenkins
Mo McRae as Stokely Carmichael
Spencer Garrett as Walter Reuther
Ken Jenkins as Rep. Howard W. 'Judge' Smith
Tim True as Deke Deloach
Bruce Nozick as Stanley Levison
Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell, Jr.
Ned Van Zandt as Senator J. William Fulbright
Dale E. Turner as Choir Director
Ray Wise as Senator Everett Dirksen
Eric Pumphrey as Dave Dennis
Dohn Norwood as Ralph Abernathy
Joe Morton as Roy Wilkins
Steven H. Bozajian as JFK Aide

Production

On July 16, 2014, it was announced that HBO Films had acquired the rights to the play All the Way with Robert Schenkkan writing the adaptation and Bryan Cranston reprising his role as Lyndon B. Johnson. Schenkkan and producer Steven Spielberg agreed that that the adaptation would differ significantly from the play. Schenkkan says, "When Steven, Bryan Cranston and I brought this to HBO, what I said at the time was, 'Look, I have no interest in just shooting the play. What I want to do is a complete cinematic reimagining of this story.' Everybody was on board for that. It"?s obviously recognizably the same story with many - but not all - of the same characters. I took a really hard look at how I could best tell this story on screen now that I had all the things that cinema brings that I did not have in my toolkit when I was working on stage."

On March 7, 2015, it was announced that Jay Roach would direct the film. On June 30, 2015, Anthony Mackie was cast as Martin Luther King, Jr. On July 2, 2015, Melissa Leo was cast as Lady Bird Johnson. On July 8, 2015, Stephen Root and Marque Richardson were cast as J. Edgar Hoover and Bob Moses, respectively. On July 23, 2015, Bradley Whitford was cast as Hubert Humphrey. On July 23, 2015, Aisha Hinds, Spencer Garrett, Todd Weeks, and Mo McRae were cast as Fannie Lou Hamer, Walter Reuther, Walter Jenkins, and Stokely Carmichael, respectively. On July 28, 2015, Frank Langella was cast as Richard Russell, Jr. On September 18, 2015, Bruce Nozick was cast as Stanley Levison. On September 29, 2015, Ned Van Zandt was cast as J. William Fulbright.

Filming began on August 13, 2015.

Reception

All the Way received positive reviews from critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film an approval rating of 88%, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 8.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Anchored by Bryan Cranston's phenomenal performance as LBJ, All the Way is an engrossing portrayal of a complicated man during a pivotal moment in US history." On Metacritic the film has a score of 78 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".