WAKEFIELD Trailer

Welcome to the Bryan Cranston show. As a guy who stops his life by hiding out in the garage, Wakefield seems to be about Cranston’s Howard and Howard alone, taking an intimate look at the character’s breakdown.

It’s an odd premise, one that seems to reduce its protagonist to an observer of his own death. While many of us fantasize about what our absence would mean to those around us, Howard forces the scenario to play out for real and for much longer than is comfortable. It’s a selfish, mystifying decision, and one that gives Cranston a meaty showcase on the silver screen.

The film is an adaptation of the short story of the same name by E. L. Doctorow, so the narrative will likely be expanded to fill a feature length movie. Taking on that challenge is writer/director Robin Swicord, who helped Eric Roth expand another odd meditation on life, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. She also wrote the screenplays for Memoirs of a Geisha and Little Women solo, so it seems that the potentially difficult adaptation was put in safe hands.

What’s more interesting is how she will handle directing duties, as her experience in that department is limited to one feature, The Jane Austin Book Club. It won’t be easy to make Howard’s isolation cinematic, but she does have Cranston to train the camera on, and he’s proven to be a magnetic presence.

Wakefield is directed by Robin Swicord and stars Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner. It will be released in the U.S. on May 19th, 2017. For international release dates, click here.

Do you think Wakefield can sustain its premise? Let us know in the comments!