Director defends casting Bryan Cranston to play disabled character

The director of Bryan Cranston's latest film has defended casting the able-bodied actor to play a disabled character. The actor, known for starring as Breaking Bad's Walter White, portrays a quadriplegic millionaire who befriends a convict hired to care for him in The Upside, a remake of the 2011 French global success The Intouchables. The Ruderman Family Foundation, a US organisation that advocates for disabled people, criticised the decision as “discrimination”, while similar moves has been compared to blackface.