At Sunday’s Tony awards, Bryan Cranston took one step closer to joining an exclusive club of performers who have won the EGOT – an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony – with his win for the play All The Way on Broadway. Now Cranston, and his performance as Lyndon B. Johnson, the 38th President of the United States, could be headed to TV, with Steven Spielberg primed to grab the rights to the play.
Written by Robert Schenkkan, All The Way chronicles Johnson’s efforts to manoeuvre members of the 88th Congress to enact and support the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Johnson had a serious juggling act to pull off, convincing civil rights leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr. to join his cause while also dealing with the deep opposition to the bill. He resorts to cajoling, arm-twisting and blackmail, all the while worrying about his re-election campaign.
The play itself also scored a Tony, has received enthusiastic reviews, and has already earned its initial investment money back. According to Deadline, Spielberg is working through Amblin to secure the rights, but nothing has been set up yet, and there’s no word on whether it’ll hit channels Spielberg has collaborated with before (HBO, Fox etc.) or if AMC might pitch to regain its Breaking Bad leading man. Wherever it lands, the plan is to adapt the story into a miniseries.