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Tonight, starting at 7:45 on the West Coast (10:45pm east coast time) the American Foundation for Equal Rights will stage an all-star reading of Dustin Lance Black’s “8″ based on the transcripts of the 2010 trial in Judge Vaughn Walker’s courtroom on the constitutionality of California’s Proposition 8. We’ll have a watch party right here at this thread at MyFDL to enjoy it together, starting about 7:30pm.
This live Los Angeles production includes such stars as Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Martin Sheen, Kevin Bacon, Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown, Chris Colfer, Jamie Lee Curtis, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Vanessa Garcia, Cleve Jones, Christine Lahti, Jane Lynch, and Matthew Morrison.
Should be fun, with the simultaneity of enjoying the play itself while comparing the performances with our actual memories of the liveblogging and liveblog-reading more than two years ago! I do want to congratulate Judge Vaughn Walker on snagging Brad Pitt as the actor playing him, as I had thought they’d use Brad to play that intrepid front-row Firedoglake liveblogger….
See you tonight!
59 Comments
We will also be test-driving the new, numbered, nested MyFDL comments tonight, which is a very exciting punch-list item for our Firedoglake technical crew. Thanks to them for their hard work getting the MyFDL comments looking like comments everywhere else at Firedoglake!
Hugz to intrepid front-row reporters! and to Badger!
I’m popping corn now. What a wonderful web site.
Hi there to you too! And Badger sez hi!
Weeee! This should be fun. Can’t wait to see it!
BTW – who is going to play YOU since Brad Pitt is reading for Judge Walker?
I suggest Cam Gigandet play hottie live-blogger Partridge
Thanks, Teddy.
BTW, the online program for the play (at http://www.afer.org/8la-program/)
lists John C. Reilly as playing the part of Judge Walker.
Has John been replaced? or has Brad?
Yeah — that’ll do.
Might have to have some one-on-one time for him to get into character….
Tweets from AFER say that the run-through was fantastic! They are at 1 hour and counting down!
Thanks for the live chat! Can’t wait for the play to start!
Here’s the YouTube link for tonight’s performance, to which I guess you don’t need to RSVP:
http://www.youtube.com/AmericanEqualRights
Whoo hoo, its starting!
Who wants popcorn?
And we’re off!
omg, little girls marrying princesses!
dogs and cats together!
man on dog!
Me please!
“We thought our parents were married, that’s how they explained it to us.”
Amazingly, Brad Pitt’s goatee looks remarkably like Vaughn Walker’s.
These interactions with the kids are great.
incredible cast
I agree.
I feel like President Bartlet from the West Wing is arguing the case for equality under the law, and it’s great to hear Lisa Simpson, the smartest girl in cartoon land, is supporting the case.
The Kevin Bacon numbers across the industry are dropping to single digits.
Really cool to see Matt Bomer talk about marriage; he just ‘came out’ by thanking his partner and kids when recently presented with an award.
Chris Colfer was a brilliant choice.
NARTH, you’ll recall, was led by Dr George Rekers, the fellow who arrived home from a European grand tour of speaking on reparative therapy with a young lad who was a rent-boy that Rekers had hired because he had a bad back and needed assistance “carrying his luggage.”
No, the beard is not a bad Vaughn Walker at all. Pitt also sits back in his chair, contemplative, as Walker sometimes is want to do.
And, as i related in another forum, so far this is FUCKING KILLER! Really great.
damn. I can’t stay up late and watch it. Gotta preach tomorrow on the separation of church and state!
BTW I think Kevin Bacon was raised a Unitarian at First UU Philly. Can’t get more liberal religiously than that.
Sheen playing Ted Olson? That’s kind of funny in its own way.
The Kevin Bacon take on Charles Cooper stammering was freaking priceless. As I am sure Teddy can confirm, Cooper was just about that stymied often. I saw it a couple of times, and I was only there live for closing arguments.
Teddy
Are they taping this so we can see it later?
I’m assuming, since it’s broadcast on YouTube, that it will be available there?
Do you know, Teddy?
It is to the credit of the playwright and the director, both of whom attended most court sessions, that the actors (none of whom I saw there) have so brilliantly captured the long days we remember.
Teddy, how many actors are going to be needed to represent the FDL bloggers? [I.e., how many were there?]
I hope so, but I’m not sure.
Marcy, Dave Dayen, bmaz, egregious, and I were there.
Reilly as Blankenhorn! Yesssss.
Julianne Moore = Marcy
Oh, shit, Pitt is REALLY getting the calm perturbance of Vaughn Walker PERFECTLY.
dude who played Uncle Fester can play me. What’s his name, Jackie Coogan?
*heh* You are a ‘crusty’ old soul, eh, bmaz…?
Looks like Rob Reiner was going to play the part of Blankenhorn (online program), but I cannot imagine he could have done better than Reilly is doing now.
Well, heck, I dunno; let’s put it this way, Fester is probably a hell of a lot closer than Clooney.
*heh* I resemble that remark too…! ;-)
Sheen enunciates much faster than Ted, and is noticeably more dramatic in affect, yet somehow is getting a lot of the strength of Olson’s closing. I think that is a testament to just how good Ted really was in his own, personally, understated manner. He gave a killer closing.
… and our director, Rob Reiner.
sleeping pill starting to kick in so I may not make it much longer.
hope it is posted for all to see. Would like to get my congregation to see it,That would be a fun event.
Or even get hold of the script and do to ourselves.
Anyone know the plans for release either the video or script for non-profit use?
WOW! I’m not techno savvy enough to run two screens, so I just watched the play. Astounding, heartfelt, maddening, joyful, and on and on. Thank you, Teddy, for bringing this to our attention.
Nicely done.
Wow, the whole gang’s there!
RevDeb, your question was answered on screen. Hope you’re awake to see that the video will be avail.
Thanks, all, for joining us tonight!
The video will be posted shortly at http://www.youtube.com/AmericanEqualRights
Support AFER here.
Awesome. thanks for hosting, Teddy.
Again, thanks! That was one of the most compelling ‘plays’ I’ve ever, ever seen. And the cast! Just Wow! I can’t wait to refer my daughters to the replay. I’m still just stunned. So wonderful!
Much Mahalo, Teddy, for all your efforts…! *g*
I want to see this one but was at a showing of “Yoga Women”. Hopefully it will be up tomorrow somewhere.
I sent her an email, thanks pdaly….
The video will be posted shortly at http://www.youtube.com/AmericanEqualRights
Deb, if you go to the link above, the live stream has been replced by a regular You Tube.
I’m an early to bed person too, so I watched this AM (Sunday)
Casting issue, I would have cast Charlie Sheen, who speakes very fast as Bois, not Olsen, who speaks more slowly.
YES, is watched it Sunday morning
I love the look of Pitt’s face every time he talked about the defense’s assertiong that they did not need to present admissable evidence.
I also enjoyed the Daubert exchange.
For those watching the taped Youtube video of last night’s reading of the play “8″,
http://www.youtube.com/AmericanEqualRights
skip forward to about the 18 minute mark when the show begins with actual news clips and then transitions to the stage play.
Not sure why the preshow of 15+ minutes of silence was included in the final Youtube video.
Thanks for hosting the party last night, Teddy.
or skip forward to the 30 minute mark with the beginning of the acutal play (my bad, the Youtube video offers this shortcut).