Bryan Cranston has just worked with James Franco on one of the latter’s recent directorial outings,** In Dubious Battle**, which he’s putting through post-production now. They’re set to team up again, this time both just as actors for the new comedy **Why Him?
John Hamburg, who appears to be channelling his own work on the Meet The Parents films (and a little pinch of TV’s Cuckoo) has cooked up the idea, which finds a Midwestern father taking his family to visit his daughter, who is attending Stanford. But the Christmastime trip is soured somewhat when he meets her boyfriend, an ambitious Internet billionaire (think Sean Parker more than Mark Zuckerberg), played by Franco and immediately takes a disliking to him.
Thus kicks off a battle for his daughter’s attention as the dad tries to compete with this charismatic new rival. Hamburg co-wrote the script with Ian Helfer based on a draft by **Bad Neighbours **director Nick Stoller, and it sounds like a firm casting match: Cranston can do various levels of frustrated dad, and Franco gives good smug when he needs to.
Cranston will next be seen in Trumbo (out January 22 here), and his voice will be heard in Kung Fu Panda 3, which arrives on March 18. Franco, as mentioned, is juggling various indie productions including In Dubious Battle and The Long Home. He’s also starring in Hulu’s small screen adaptation of the Stephen King book 11/22/63 and corruption drama pic The Fixer.