Why Breaking Bad's Bryan is going to be 'mad as hell': Actor to make his London stage debut in theatre version of the film Network

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Bryan Cranston, who shot to fame playing an unlikely drug king in U.S. TV series Breaking Bad, will go from bad to mad when he makes his London stage debut in a theatre version of the film Network.

Cranston will play an unstable television news anchor who urges viewers to stick their heads out the window and yell ‘I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it any more!’ — a line which has stuck in the minds of many who have seen the 1976 movie.

The film’s Oscar-winning screenplay, by Paddy Chayefsky, has been adapted by Lee Hall — who wrote the film and stage versions of Billy Elliot.

Bryan Cranston (left) pictured with Yvette Nicole Brown (right). Cranston will make his London stage debut in a theatre version of the film Network

The production, to be staged at the National, will be directed by Ivo van Hove, whose incendiary, stripped-down version of Hedda Gabler, starring Ruth Wilson, has become a much-discussed sensation at the NT.

Van Hove’s other works — including A View From The Bridge and A Streetcar Named Desire — created with designer Jan Versweyveld, have played to acclaim here and in the U.S.

Rufus Norris, the director of the National Theatre, revealed that Network will open in the Lyttelton in November, with tickets available in the summer.

The artistic chief told me that Cranston, who won four Emmy awards for his role as crystal meth maker Walter White in Breaking Bad, confirmed this week that he would play fictional newsman Howard Beale — the role that won Peter Finch an Oscar.

Peter Finch starring as Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network which has been adapted for the stage by Lee Hall will be staged at the National with Bryan Cranston starring as Howard Beale

‘It has taken a little while because Bryan will have to relocate here,’ Norris noted.

The NT chief joked that the wooing started on stage at Radio City Music Hall in New York 18 months ago, when Cranston presented the National with the best play Tony for The Curious Incident Of The Dog In The Night-Time. ‘Several thousand people didn’t hear the muffled “Are you available?” offer from centre stage.’

Cranston read the script early on, but had a lot of commitments, including the movie Trumbo (which won him an Oscar nomination), and a run on Broadway in the play All The Way, for which he won a Tony.

‘It has been an on-off chase, trying to make it work with all his numerous commitments,’ Norris told me yesterday. ‘We are delighted to have someone of his craft coming over.’

Bryan Cranston played the chemistry teacher turned crystal meth cook Walter White in the series Breaking Bad

Long before the NT and van Hove became involved, there was the germ of an idea to cast Daniel Craig and Mark Strong in Network — which, clearly, didn’t go anywhere.

The movie also starred William Holden as Max Schumacher, head of the fictional UBS-TV news division, and Faye Dunaway as Diana Christenson, the station’s unfeeling director of entertainment.

Finch, Dunaway, Chayefsky and Beatrice Straight (who played Max Schumacher’s wife, Louise) all won Academy Awards and Chayefsky’s dialogue is still quoted today.

Norris observed that a participant in last weekend’s Women’s March held a placard saying: ‘I’m as mad as hell!’

Chayefsky’s screenplay is packed with zingers. At one point, Schumacher complains that Christenson isn’t capable of real emotion. ‘She’s the television generation. She learned life from Bugs Bunny.’

Chayefsky also anticipated how corporations would go global. One character — a corporate chieftain — lists a series of major companies, and declares ‘those are the nations of the world today’.

 At the time, it seemed like dark satire; but much of its content has come to pass. ‘It very much speaks to the moment,’ Norris agreed.

Lee Hall approached the National with his Network adaptation after being commissioned by a group of producers — Patrick Myles, David Luff, Ros Povey and Lee Menzies — who will work with the NT.

Later, Hall was introduced to van Hove, who was intrigued by the piece. ‘Once Ivo got into it, he was hooked,’ Norris recalled.

He said he didn’t think the stage Network would be ‘radically modernised’, as many of Hove’s productions have been. ‘It will recognisably be an adaption of the film, but I can’t answer for a process that is still a little way down the line. I’m sure it won’t be a million miles away (from the movie).’

When Network was released, people shouted along with Howard Beale in the cinema. Would NT audiences be encouraged to join in too, I wondered?

‘Audience participation isn’t generally Ivo’s style,’ Norris said drily, ‘but I wouldn’t rule out anything at this moment.’ 

The force is strong with Nancy at the Old Vic

Nancy Carroll, one of our great thespians, will be joining John Boyega — the young actor who made his mark in Star Wars: The Force Awakens — in Jack Thorne’s adaptation of Georg Buchner’s unfinished play, Woyzeck.

Set in Eighties Berlin, it tells the story of a downtrodden soldier and society’s indifference to those who have fallen by the wayside. 

Nancy Carroll (left) will appear with John Boyega (right) in Jack Thorne's adaptation of Georg Buchner's play Woyzeck

Ben Batt, Sarah Greene and Steffan Rhodri are also joining the company at the Old Vic. Director Joe Murphy’s production will run from May 13.

Another Old Vic offering — Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, starring Daniel Radcliffe and Joshua Maguire — will be shown in cinemas via NT Live on April 20 and marks the first NT Live collaboration between the two theatres.

Tom Stoppard’s play was originally staged at the Old Vic 50 years ago, when it was the base of the National Theatre.

The new production starts previews on February 25. 

Playwright Peter life to be celebrated

Simon Callow and Hal Cazalet are joining forces to organise a celebration for the life of playwright Peter Shaffer, who died last June aged 90.

Actress Jessie Buckley, pictured here in BBC 1's War and Peace, is expected to take part in a celebration of the life of playwright Peter Shaffer who died last June aged 90

Callow, who played the title character in Shaffer’s Amadeus for director Peter Hall at the National, will introduce the event in the Olivier Theatre on March 30, as well as organising the acting and literary side of the memorial. 

Those expected to participate include Derek Jacobi, Jessie Buckley and Lucian Msamati — currently playing Salieri in the terrific Amadeus revival at the Olivier.

Cazalet — a noted tenor and writer — will oversee the music, some of which will be provided by the Southbank Sinfonia.

Shaffer’s best-known dramas include Equus, The Royal Hunt Of The Sun, and Lettice And Lovage (Trevor Nunn will direct a new production of that at the Menier Chocolate Factory from May 4).

The musical about the late, great Dusty Springfield has had a spring clean. Sandi Toksvig had been hired by producer David Ian to write the book, but both are no longer involved. New producer Eleanor Lloyd has signed Jonathan Harvey to write Dusty, based on interviews with the star’s friend and manager Vicki Wickham, and her friends Tris Penna and Pat Rhodes. Director Maria Friedman will hold a workshop in April, and Dusty is due to open some time in 2018.