Los Angeles has a Mayor! Three-time Emmy winner Bryan Cranston is the latest name attached to the upcoming film adaptation of metal musical Rock of Ages directed by Hairspray-helmer Adam Shankman, according to Deadline.com. Cranston will star as the Mayor of Los Angeles, whose wife, an Anita Bryant-type conservative out to do away with rock and roll, will be played by Oscar- and Tony-winner Catherine Zeta-Jones.
In addition to Cranston and Zeta-Jones, the cast includes the previously reported Tom Cruise as rock star Stacee Jaxx, Alec Baldwin as club owner Dennis Dupree, Russell Brand as Lonny, Julianne Hough as Kansas-transplant Sherrie, Mary J. Blige as strip club owner Justice, Paul Giamatti as manager of Stacee’s band and newcomer Diego Gonzalez Boneta as Drew.
Cranston is best known for his role as Walter White on AMC television hit Breaking Bad, a role for which he has won three Emmy Awards. He played the father in the FOX sitcom Malcolm in the Middle, and has had memorable turns on show like Seinfeld, The King of Queens, How I Met Your Mother and From the Earth to the Moon.
Rock of Ages is set in 1987 on the Sunset Strip, where small town girl Sherrie meets a big city rocker at the Bourbon Room, L.A.’s most famous rock club. Their love story is told through the hits of Journey, Bon Jovi, Styx, Pat Benatar, Foreigner, Twisted Sister, Asia, Whitesnake and many more. The Broadway musical, which is now running at the Helen Hayes Theatre, received five Tony nominations (including Best Musical) after opening on April 7, 2009.
The film will have a script by librettist Chris D’Arienzo, which has reportedly gotten a rewrite from Little Miss Sunshine scribe Michael Arndt. The movie is expected to begin filming in Florida on May 19, and will hit movie theaters on June 1, 2012.