Trumbo

Trumbo (2015)

Timing: 2:4 (124 min)

7.161/10
1530

7.385/10
37799

7.4/10
87000

All about film

Video 5

Photo 12

Actors and characters

Release date

2015-10-27

Country

United States

Production

ShivHans Pictures, Groundswell Productions, Inimitable Pictures

Genre

Drama

Budget

$15 000 000

Revenue

$11 430 025

Website

Director

Jay Roach

Actors

Bryan Cranston, Diane Lane, Helen Mirren, Elle Fanning, Louis C.K., John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, David James Elliott, Roger Bart, John Getz
All actors and roles (10)

Scenario

Producer

Jay Roach, Monica Levinson, Michael London, Janice Williams, John McNamara, Kevin Kelly Brown, Nimitt Mankad, Shivani Rawat, Kelly Mullen

Operator

Jim Denault

Composer

Theodore Shapiro

Artist

Audition

David Rubin

Editing

Alan Baumgarten
All team (26)

• In the 1950s, Dalton Trumbo's scripts were awarded two Academy Awards for "Best Screenplay," but Trumbo did not receive either of them. Other scriptwriters were credited in the films because Trumbo himself was blacklisted. The first film for which Trumbo received an award was "Roman Holiday." Ian McLellan Hunter was credited as the screenwriter, and he did write scripts for films and was later also blacklisted. In 1993, after the deaths of both Trumbo and Hunter, the American Film Academy attempted to take the statuette from Hunter’s family and give it to Trumbo’s widow. Hunter’s son, Tim, a director ("River's Edge," "Tex," and others), refused to part with the statuette, so the American Film Academy had to issue another statuette to Trumbo’s widow. The credits of the 2003 DVD release of "Roman Holiday" now list Trumbo instead of Hunter. The second film to win Trumbo an award was the drama "The Brave One" (1956). Robert Rich was credited in the credits here. Unlike Hunter, Rich had no involvement whatsoever in writing the screenplay. He was simply the nephew of one of the film's producers. In May 1975, approximately a year and a half before Trumbo's death, the American Film Academy presented him with a gold statuette for the screenplay of this film.
• Initially, Gary Oldman was supposed to play the role of Dalton Trumbo.
• During breaks in filming, Alan Tudyk entertained the children (including Elijah Miskovski, who played his son in the film) by imitating the voices of King Candy ("Wreck-It Ralph"), the Duke ("Frozen"), and Alistair Krei ("Big Hero 6"). When the children learned that Alan had also voiced in the shooter video game "Halo 3", they simply followed him around for the rest of the shoot.
• This is the third feature film in the last four years in which John Goodman has played the role of a studio owner or top executive. He previously appeared in "The Artist" (2011) and "Argo" (2012). Incidentally, both of these films won the "Oscar" for "Best Picture".
• Helen Mirren and Richard Portnow starred together in "Hitchcock" (2012), another film whose plot unfolds in Hollywood of years gone by. The film’s plot is primarily focused on the making of "Psycho" (1960), starring Janet Leigh. "Trumbo", in turn, tells the story of the making of "Spartacus" (1960), which starred Janet Leigh’s husband, Tony Curtis.
• Trumbo held Communist Party membership card number 47187.
• According to director Jay Roach, many scenes in which Trumbo is writing either sitting at a desk or lying in the bathtub were invented by Bryan Cranston "on the fly". Moreover, Cranston actually wrote out entire sentences on paper in front of the cameras.
• Four actors who appeared in "Trumbo" had previously worked with Ben Affleck: Bryan Cranston and John Goodman starred in "Argo", Diane Lane played a role in "Superman Doomsday" and "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice", and Elle Fanning is in "Live by Night", which is slated for release.
• All the films Jay Roach directed before "Trumbo" were comedies.
• Steve Martin once stated that in his youth, his then-girlfriend and her family introduced him to completely new ideas and postulates. Her father's name was Dalton Trumbo. Martin had no idea who that was.
• Otto Preminger was actually both a director and an actor. He appeared in the animated film "The Hobbit" (1977) by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. Dean O'Gorman starred in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy (2012-2014).
• In the living room of Trumbo's house, a certificate of membership in the "Delta Tau Delta" fraternity hangs on the wall. Dalton Trumbo was indeed a member of this fraternity during his studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.
• This did not happen in real life, however the film shows how Edward G. Robinson commits an act of betrayal towards his friends, naming them as communists at a hearing of the House Un-American Activities Committee of the US Congress. Robinson testified four times before the Committee, but never named any of his acquaintances as communists, even those he suspected of sympathizing with communism. He admitted that he himself had been a victim of deception by organizations that served as a front for communists, but he did not name Dalton Trumbo or anyone else as a communist. Robinson stated that he considered them, as well as himself, to be liberals, and that some of them periodically invited him to rallies and other events, but he did not call anyone a communist.
• In the 1950s, Dalton Trumbo's screenplays were awarded two Oscars for Best Screenplay, but Trumbo did not receive either of them. Other authors were credited in the titles of both films, as Trumbo himself was blacklisted. The first film for which Trumbo received an award was "Roman Holiday." Ian McLellan Hunter was credited as the screenwriter, and he did indeed write screenplays for films and was later also blacklisted. In 1993, after both Trumbo and Hunter had passed away, the American Film Academy attempted to take the statuette from Hunter's family and give it to Trumbo's widow. Hunter's son, Tim, a director ("River's Edge," "Tex," and others), refused to part with the statuette, so the American Film Academy had to issue another statuette to Trumbo's widow. The credits of the 2003 DVD release of "Roman Holiday" list Trumbo instead of Hunter. The second film to win Trumbo an award was the drama "The Brave One" (1956). Robert Rich was credited in the titles here. Unlike Hunter, Rich had no involvement whatsoever in writing the screenplays. He was simply the nephew of one of the film's producers. In May 1975, approximately a year and a half before Trumbo's death, the American Film Academy presented him with a gold statuette for the screenplay to this film.
• During breaks in filming, Alan Tudyk entertained the children (including Elijah Miskovski, who played his son in the film) by imitating the voices of King Candy ("Wreck-It Ralph”), the Duke ("Frozen”), and Alistair Krei ("Big Hero 6"). Upon learning that Alan had also participated in the voice acting for the computer game-shooter "Halo 3," the children simply followed him around for the rest of the shoot.
• Helen Mirren and Richard Portnow starred together in "Hitchcock" (2012), another film whose plot unfolds in Hollywood of years past. The film's plot is primarily focused on the making of "Psycho" (1960), in which Janet Leigh starred. "Trumbo," in turn, tells the story of the making of "Spartacus" (1960), in which Janet Leigh's husband Tony Curtis starred.
• According to director Jay Roach, many scenes where Trumbo writes either sitting at a desk or lying in a bathtub were invented by Bryan Cranston 'on the fly.' Moreover, Cranston actually wrote entire sentences on paper in front of the cameras.
• All the films that Jay Roach directed before "Trumbo" were comedies.
• Otto Preminger was actually both a director and an actor. He appeared in the animated film "The Hobbit" (1977) by Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass. Dean O'Gorman played in Peter Jackson's "The Hobbit" trilogy (2012-2014).
• In the living room of the Trumbo house, a certificate of membership in the "Delta Tau Delta" fraternity hangs on the wall. Dalton Trumbo was indeed a member of this fraternity during his studies at the University of Colorado Boulder.