December 29, 2015 - 21:26 AMT
Palm Springs Film Festival to honor Bryan Cranston

The Palm Springs International Film Festival will present Bryan Cranston with the actor spotlight award at its gala on Saturday at the Palm Springs Convention Center, Variety reports.

Previously announced honorees include Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Johnny Depp, Michael Fassbender, Brie Larson, Rooney Mara, Tom McCarthy, Saoirse Ronan and Alicia Vikander. Mara is receiving the actress spotlight award.

“Whether on film, television or Broadway, Bryan Cranston is an outstanding actor who delivers an extraordinary and memorable performance with each character he takes on,” said Festival Chairman Harold Matzner. “In ‘Trumbo,’ Cranston brings his amazing talent to his portrayal of blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo.”

Past recipients of the spotlight award include J.K. Simmons, Julia Roberts, Jessica Chastain, Amy Adams and Helen Hunt. All honorees received Academy Award nominations in the year they were feted, and Simmons won the Oscar for best supporting actor.

For his role in “Trumbo,” Cranston has received a Golden Globe nomination, two SAG Award noms and two Critics’ Choice Movie Awards nods. He will next star as President Lyndon B. Johnson in the HBO film adaptation of “All The Way,” for which he won a 2014 Tony Award.

He is currently in production on the drama “Wakefield” opposite Jennifer Garner and will then begin on John Hamburg’s “Why Him” costarring James Franco.