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Bryan Cranston Is Undercover DEA In ‘The Infiltrator’ Trailer [Video]

By Nick Younker
Published on: 07:56 PST, May 25, 2016

Bryan Cranston has not seen the last of the drug trade now that he has pulled off another stunning performance in The Infiltrator. Also, if the new trailer for The Infiltrator is any indication, Cranston has once again knocked it out of the park with a role to shine in.

For those who do not know him by name, Bryan Cranston once starred in the hit AMC series Breaking Bad as the lead character, Walter White, AKA Heisenberg. But now, Bryan Cranston has left his days of evading the DEA behind him and in effect, switched roles and become a DEA agent in 1986 to take down the infamous Pablo Escobar cartel.

The Infiltrator is a film that tells the true story of Robert Mazur (Bryan Cranston) and his dangerous operation in South Florida in an effort to take down the Escobar operations that were taking place in the area at the time. But for those who remember Bryan Cranston best as Walter White, the trailer for the movie shows that he is just as dangerous with a DEA badge as he was with a meth lab.

Benjamin Bratt also starts in the movie as the extremely dangerous, real-life character of Roberto Alcaino. The simple fact was that in the 1980s, Alcaino was the man who helped put Pablo Escobar on the map by running his cocaine business in America and really cashing in on the drug trade. But for Cranston’s Mazur, that also meant that all he had to do was infiltrate Alcaino’s American operation and take him down. After that, the house of cards that Escobar had built would come tumbling down, and the cartel would crumble.

So, for those who think that Bryan Cranston is just acting in another Pablo Escobar movie, just consider that there really is very little screen time devoted to Escobar’s character. But as for Bryan Cranston and Benjamin Bratt (Mazur and Alcaino), the cocaine cowboy action is just about to get started.

The trailer for Bryan Cranston’s The Infiltrator clearly shows that it plays out a lot like Martin Scorsese’s The Departed. Except it is all about the drug trade in Florida, and things are about to get really bloody and really violent, just as they did in real life. The ruthless tactics used by the Escobar cartel are nothing short of the real life violence seen in the glory days of the Italian mafia. But in this film, there are much better weapons and more efficient means of mass-murder.

Brad Furman directed Bryan Cranston in the film, and his comments to Entertainment Weekly about the real life characters were quite remarkable, to say the least.

“Mazur had this belief that the way to bring down the drug cartels was not by chasing the drugs, but instead by chasing the money,” Furman EW. “So he literally went undercover as a money launderer and pulled this string that blew open a gaping, volcanic hole. And that hole went as deep as Pablo Escobar.”

But just like any good undercover agent, Mazur had help from other people who went undercover with him. Bryan Cranston is joined in the film by John Leguizamo and Diane Kruger as his support. The trailer for The Infiltrator also clearly shows that the film has some great comedy in it, especially from John Leguizamo and his interactions with Bryan Cranston.

Although this is quite the switch up for Bryan Cranston, it also shows that his skills as an actor are more than just a typecast. He can pull off both sides of the law and even relatively sell his comedic aspects in a major drama film.

For those who have been waiting for Cranston’s return to the drug trade on-screen, you can catch The Infiltrator in theaters this year on July 13.

[Image via Broad Green Pictures]

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