AceShowbiz -

Bryan Cranston channels President Lyndon B. Johnson in the first image from HBO Films' "All the Way". The four-time Emmy-winning actor is almost unrecognizable in the first look from the HBO adaptation of the Broadway play with the same title.

"Physically and emotionally Bryan completely channels LBJ," director Jay Roach tells PEOPLE, which obtained the photo. "We just filmed him and Lady Bird in the Oval Office, after JFK's assassination. LBJ has arrived as the 'accidental President.' He's almost overwhelmed. In spiritual support, Lady Bird touches his cheek. We melted, like we went back in time and witnessed a private, heart-wrenching moment between these two great people."

The biopic will follow LBJ shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Roach shares, "It covers the amazing 11-month journey from when LBJ takes office after JFK's assassination, through LBJ's fight to pass the 1964 Civil Rights Act and his own presidential campaign, culminating on the night LBJ is actually elected to the office - no longer the 'accidental President.' "

The TV movie is slated to air in 2016. The cast also include Anthony Mackie as Martin Luther King, Melissa Leo as Lady Bird Johnson, Bradley Whitford as Hubert Humphrey, Stephen Root as J. Edgar Hoover, Marque Richardson as Bob Moses, Aisha Hinds as Fanny Lou Hamer, Todd Weeks as Walter Jenkins, Mo McRae as Stokely Carmichael, Spencer Garrett as Walter Reuther and Frank Langella as Senator Richard Russell.