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Cradle Will Rock is a 1999 historical drama film directed, written, and co-produced by Tim Robbins and fictionalizes the events surrounding the production of The Cradle Will Rock by Marc Blitzstein. It features an ensemble cast including Hank Azaria, Rubén Blades, Joan Cusack, John Cusack, Cary Elwes, Philip Baker Hall, Cherry Jones, Angus Macfadyen, Bill Murray, Vanessa Redgrave, Susan Sarandon, John Turturro, and Emily Watson.
Synopsis[]
Loosely based on real events, the performers and crew of the Federal Theater Project are faced with the possibility of shutting down due to their beliefs, but everyone is willing to fight for what they believe in.
Cast[]
- Hank Azaria as Marc Blitzstein
- Bob Balaban as Harry Hopkins
- Jack Black as Sid
- Rubén Blades as Diego Rivera
- Corina Katt Ayala as Frida Kahlo
- Victoria Clark as Dulce Fox
- Joan Cusack as Hazel Huffman
- John Cusack as Nelson Rockefeller
- Cary Elwes as John Houseman
- Gregg Edelmann as Dream Larry Foreman
- Kyle Gass as Larry
- Paul Giamatti as Carlo
- Philip Baker Hall as Gray Mathers
- Erin Hill as Sandra Mescal
- Barnard Hughes as Frank Marvel
- Peter Jacobson as Silvano
- Cherry Jones as Hallie Flanagan
- Angus Macfadyen as Orson Welles
- Audra McDonald as "Joe Worker" Singer
- Bill Murray as Tommy Crickshaw
- Allan F. Nicholls as George Zorn
- Vanessa Redgrave as Countess Constance LaGrange
- Gil Robbins as Congressman Joe Starnes
- Susan Sarandon as Margherita Sarfatti
- Jamey Sheridan as John Adair
- Barbara Sukowa as Sophie Silvano
- John Turturro as Aldo Silvano
- Emily Watson as Olive Stanton
- Harris Yulin as Congressman Martin Dies
Trivia[]
- Production for this film started back in the 1980s and was originally going to be directed by Orson Welles himself who wanted Rupert Everett to portray him. While a screenplay for that version was written, Tim Robbins himself never read it.
- Tim Robbins considered casting himself as Orson Welles, while Rainn Wilson apparently auditioned.
- While Bertolt Brecht appears as a spirit, in real life, he was still alive in 1937, the year the film is set.
- Barnard Hughes' final film.