Bryan Cranston issued a statement on Friday evening, addressing the financial situation surrounding his (hypothetically) upcoming new indie film Lone Wolf. The movie (which co-stars Oscar nominee Lily Gladstone) reportedly ran into financial troubles a few weeks back, and while Cranston notes in his new comments that he was paid for his work on the film, upon learning that its co-stars and crew weren’t, he’s given an ultimatum to producers: Pay everybody, or he won’t return to finish filming the movie.
Helmed by Arlington Road director Mark Pellington, Lone Wolf stars Cranston as a shadowy type who recruits Gladstone’s character to engineer the death of a public official. The film reportedly had about $2 million in funding fall through, causing several people working on it to not get paid. “Man, what a mess,” Cranston wrote in a statement he gave to Deadline this week, noting that, although not a producer on the film, he was “distressed” that the situation has “caused so much grief and distrust, and so sorry that this crew (which was fantastic) were not treated with the respect they deserved.” He also stated, bluntly, that “I (and I think I speak for Lily as well) will not do anything to promote the film until every cast and crew member is paid back in full, and we will not appear on screen again (ie return to filming) for this movie until that happens.” Lone Wolf reportedly requires at least a few more days of shooting with both Cranston and Gladstone in order to be completed.
Deadline notes that, while funding hiccups aren’t that rare in indie movie-making, having it happen on a movie with several big-name stars, and a director with a long pedigree in Hollywood film, is much more rare. Co-stars on the movie include O’Shea Jackson Jr., Jennifer Ehle, Chet Hanks, and Spencer Garrett. The film has reportedly been facing financial problems from the jump; its original production company, Yale Productions, recently filed for bankruptcy, and the movie faced a multi-day Do Not Work order from SAG-AFTRA after an earlier failure to make payments.
