George Clooney joins L.A. cast of Prop. 8 play

With that cast the tickets are cheap, your getting alot of talent for your money.
MM, there are some gay actors in it.

Forgot to add, I hope George does well he's had so much experience over the years, hopefully it will help on stage. Watched Huge Jackman talk about film/theater the other day something he's lucky to be successful in both. Maybe George can pull it off.

The galleries are beautiful, the whole place has so much personality.

I think George will do just fine. I don't think he would have agreed to it if he couldn't pull it off.

Dexterdidit wrote:Wow, that is expensive and that isn't even for a great seat I expect. I wonder when George will start rehersals he hasn't been on stage in a very long time.

Since this is a "benefit reading", I think they will be reading directly from the scripts during the performance. I'm not entirely sure that they even move around the stage. I've seen something like this before, and they just sit on stools or chairs or something and "read" from the script in character. If someone knows otherwise, please correct me.

OH so it isn't a play play. Like the Vagina monologues but about penises too.....

Maggy wrote:The galleries are beautiful, the whole place has so much personality.

I think George will do just fine. I don't think he would have agreed to it if he couldn't pull it off.

if
sit on stools or chairs or something and "read" from the script
I guess he can perfectly do it!

Dexterdidit wrote:OH so it isn't a play play. Like the Vagina monologues but about penises too.....

And the right to put each of those things wherever you want.

Michelle meyers wrote:This sounds incredible except I was expecting gay actors to be in it. ( shrug )

Known gays bolded:

George Clooney as David Boies
Martin Sheen as Theodore B. Olson

With
Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown,Jamie Lee Curtis,
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, Christine Lahti, Jane Lynch,
Matthew Morrison, Rory O’Malley, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith, and George Takei

I don't know who some of the others are, so I don't know if they're gay or not.

melbert wrote:

Michelle meyers wrote:This sounds incredible except I was expecting gay actors to be in it. ( shrug )

Known gays bolded:

George Clooney as David Boies
Martin Sheen as Theodore B. Olson

With
Matt Bomer, Campbell Brown,Jamie Lee Curtis,
Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, Christine Lahti, Jane Lynch,
Matthew Morrison, Rory O’Malley, Rob Reiner, Yeardley Smith, and George Takei

I don't know who some of the others are, so I don't know if they're gay or not.

Thank you. I thought George Takei was the only gay actor in it
Thanks again

why do you (we) need to say
this is
this isn't?

don't know if good as accepting
or bad
as discriminating

...

I agree. Not sure that it matters what the actors' sexual orientation is. Surely the message is the important thing?

@ Mel....Matt Bomer is openly gay and he and his partner adopted recently I believe.

@Katie...it would be important only in that they are trying to change public perception of gays and lesbians nationwide, to gain greater acceptance and change the tide of civil rights for ALL and if people saw their "favorite actor" as openly gay, it may have an impact on their "thinking"...hopefully.

Maggy wrote:The galleries are beautiful, the whole place has so much personality.

I think George will do just fine. I don't think he would have agreed to it if he couldn't pull it off.

Yes indeed beautiful, it has been used for " The Artist " !

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I am the last person to be discriminitory. I am half black i was merely asking a simple question. Sorry i asked....

Missa wrote:

Dexterdidit wrote:Wow, that is expensive and that isn't even for a great seat I expect. I wonder when George will start rehersals he hasn't been on stage in a very long time.

Since this is a "benefit reading", I think they will be reading directly from the scripts during the performance. I'm not entirely sure that they even move around the stage. I've seen something like this before, and they just sit on stools or chairs or something and "read" from the script in character. If someone knows otherwise, please correct me.

LOL, yup, made that comment twice already in the threads that people commented on George doing a play. I explained that its a Reading not a Play.

Lighterside wrote:@Katie...it would be important only in that they are trying to change public perception of gays and lesbians nationwide, to gain greater acceptance and change the tide of civil rights for ALL and if people saw their "favorite actor" as openly gay, it may have an impact on their "thinking"...hopefully.

Hmmm, taking bets now on whether George will come out!!

MM, please don't feel insulted, IMO no one meant it that way, we were just responding to your comment.
FYI, all being who they are is acceptable.

Michelle asked the question and I gave the answer to the best of my knowledge (I did forget that Matt Bomer was openly gay). In no way was I trying to be "don't know if good as accepting or bad
as discriminating" as It's Me said. I know that gay actors play straight and straight actors play gay. I did find it interesting the assortment of performers in this play. Not all the characters are gay from what I gather, not that that's important either. I wish the performance to be earth-shattering and record-breaking and I'm very proud that George is doing this.

me2

me2

ciao Vi!

ciao it's me

hi baby!

Just a gentle reminder that this thread is for the Prop 8 play that George is in. You can PM each other or go to the chitchat thread for personal conversation.

melbert wrote:Michelle asked the question and I gave the answer to the best of my knowledge (I did forget that Matt Bomer was openly gay). In no way was I trying to be "don't know if good as accepting or bad
as discriminating" as It's Me said. I know that gay actors play straight and straight actors play gay. I did find it interesting the assortment of performers in this play. Not all the characters are gay from what I gather, not that that's important either. I wish the performance to be earth-shattering and record-breaking and I'm very proud that George is doing this.

You didn't say anything wrong, IMHO. If it wasn't for the "big names" it wouldn't make any money, IMHO.

Starring Morgan Freeman and John Lithgow, this promo gives viewers a tasty bite of what's to come in the full stage performance.

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Promo video at link

silly girl wrote:Can't find the Prop 8 thread but here is a link...they are livestreaming it...
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Uncover the truth about marriage for gay and lesbian Americans. George Clooney, Martin Sheen and Jane Lynch join an all-star cast for a one-night-only benefit reading of “8,” the new play by Academy-award winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk, J. Edgar) that chronicles the landmark federal trial of California’s Prop. 8 using the actual court transcripts and first-hand interviews.

Watch the L.A. Premiere LIVE >
Saturday, March 3, 7:30 p.m./10:30 p.m. ET

I found the thread!!

Brad Pitt Joins George Clooney, Kevin Bacon & More in the L.A. Cast of 8

Oscar nominee Brad Pitt is the latest addition to the A-list line-up for the Los Angeles premiere of Dustin Lance Black’s 8. The one-night-only event will be held at L.A.’s Wilshire Ebell Theatre on March 3. Rob Reiner, who appeared in the show's New York premiere, is set to direct. Pitt joins the previously announced Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer, John C. Reilly and George Clooney, among many others. The reading will be broadcast live at YouTube.com/AmericanEqualRights.

The play 8 chronicles the historic federal court trial overturning Proposition 8, the ballot measure that denied gay and lesbian couples in California the right to marry. Pitt will star as United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who found Proposition 8 unconstitutional after presiding over the historic twelve-day public trial.

Clooney and Martin Sheen will star as David Boies and Ted Olson, respectively, the lead counsels for the plaintiffs in the case. Rob Reiner has a role in the play, in addition to directing. The cast will also feature Jamie Lee Curtis as Stier, Christine Lahti as Perry, Jane Lynch as Maggie Gallagher, Matthew Morrison as Paul Katami, in addition to Campbell Brown, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, George Takei, Jansen Panettiere, James Pickens Jr., Vanessa Garcia and veterans of the original New York reading: Matt Bomer, Rory O'Malley and Yeardley Smith.

Link

What are friends for?

I'm gonna be watching on YouTube. Wish I could be there what treat that would be to see George and Brad together. Well done boys!!!!

I am so looking forward to this! Since I obviously DIDN'T win the contest, I'll just have to watch online!

it looks interesting
hopefully for me videos will remain online past saturday, 'cos I already had a sleepless night for the oscars, don't think I'll manage it this week end
those of you who are going to watch live are so lucky

From lainey gossip today
Be this guy
March 1, 2012
Posted at 12:03 PM
Posted by Lainey
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This article is about George Clooney and a little about Brad Pitt and a LOT about Proposition 8. I hope you are still reading.

George Clooney’s new interview with The Advocate was released yesterday. I love every word. I love him when he’s saying these words. This is the George Clooney I wish he could be, like, all the time. Not the one who feels he always has to have a lower fame level escort during award season, not the one compelled to bend over for the MiniVan Majority, not the one who can’t just take his parents to the Oscars and win as a single man without a girlfriend.

Be this guy!

Show me the guy who speaks so passionately about marriage equality, about Darfur, about Syria. Because this guy is a winner. This guy is the one I want to vote for.

I strongly encourage you to click here to read Clooney’s full interview with The Advocate. There’s a great answer here about a great role vs a great film (which, if we want to move temporarily over to a different tangent, is what is plaguing actresses in Hollywood these days - there are few strong parts, and the parts that are strong belong in weak vehicles. Why is this?) and about when and if he’ll soon play a gay character. Obviously what people are most fixated on is his response to that ongoing question about whether or not he’s gay himself.

The gay rumor has followed you for years.
I think it’s funny, but the last thing you’ll ever see me do is jump up and down, saying, “These are lies!” That would be unfair and unkind to my good friends in the gay community. I’m not going to let anyone make it seem like being gay is a bad thing. My private life is private, and I’m very happy in it. Who does it hurt if someone thinks I’m gay? I’ll be long dead and there will still be people who say I was gay. I don’t give a sh-t.

Here’s what I consider to be the best part of the article:

When did you decide to get involved in the fight for marriage equality?
It’s always been this albatross that stood out to me as the final leg of the civil rights movement. It really came to a head during the 2004 elections, when it was used as a wedge issue, and it was a very effective tool to keep the Republicans in office and to avoid talking about other issues. Well before Prop. 8, I’ve made the point that every time we’ve stood against equality, we’ve been on the wrong side of history. It’s the same kind of argument they made when they didn’t want blacks to serve in the military, or when they didn’t want blacks to marry whites. One day the marriage equality fight will look as archaic as George Wallace standing on the University of Alabama steps keeping James Hood from attending college because he was black. People will be embarrassed to have been on the wrong side. So it’s encouraging to know that this too will seem like such a silly argument to our next generation. There are even a lot of young conservatives today for whom marriage equality isn’t an issue. It always takes government an extra generation to catch up to the people.

When the Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional to restrict marriage based on race in 1967 (Loving v Virginia), two thirds of the population at the time were against interracial marriage. In that sense, then, government was ahead of the people. But right now, a majority support marriage equality (source) and 70% of those under 40, in other words, our future leaders, believe it to be a basic human right. In this case then, the government needs to catch up to the people.

Can you believe it used to be AGAINST the law for people of different races to fall in love and get married? As George Clooney posits, one day we’ll feel the same way about marriage equality.

This coming Saturday March 3, George Clooney and several high profile celebrities will perform a reading of the play “8”, written by Dustin Lance Black, about the fight to defeat Proposition 8. George will be David Boies alongside Martin Sheen as Ted Olson. Boies and Olson are considered the two brightest legal minds in America and, prior to Prop 8, though friends, they were frequent adversaries in court - see Bush v Gore.

For a long time Boies and Olson had been looking for an opportunity to work together. If we are labeling people, Boies is considered to be liberal and Olson conservative. But on Prop 8, on legal and moral grounds, Boies and Olson stood together. And brought that motherf-cker down.

It’s a great idea for a movie, non?

David Boies recently appeared on Charlie Rose. If you have time at lunch today - just 16 minutes - I highly recommend watching. Click here. He’s brilliant. And while Boies doesn’t resemble Clooney physically, he's so smart you’ll find yourself attracted to him immediately. George is playing that guy.

Brad Pitt, it was just announced today, will be reading Judge Vaughn Walker, who declared Prop 8 unconstitutional.

8 the play will be livestreamed on YouTube on Saturday March 3.

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Brad Pitt is set to join the cast of the West Coast premiere reading of 8, the play penned by Academy Award-winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black (Milk) that follows the legal fight to overturn Proposition 8, the California law that outlawed gay marriage.

Pitt will play United States District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker, who found Prop 8 unconstitutional after presiding over the 12-day public trial.

He joins a cast that includes George Clooney and Martin Sheen (as the plaintiff’s lead co-counsel), Christine Lahti and Jamie Lee Curtis (as a lesbian couple), Matthew Morrison and Matt Bomer (as a gay couple), as well as Kevin Bacon, Jane Lynch, John C. Reilly, Campbell Brown, Chris Colfer, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Cleve Jones, Rory O’Malley, George Takei, Yeardley Smith, Vanessa Garcia, Jansen Panatierre, James Pickens, Jr., and Bridger Zadina.

The American Foundation for Equal Rights and Broadway Impact also announced that the performance will be streamed live on YouTube at 7:45 p.m. PT on Saturday, March 3, with a pre-show airing at 7:30. Director Rob Reiner recorded a video explaining the play and inviting people to watch the live stream, which can be viewed here.

“At long last each and every American will be able to see for themselves what happens when prejudice and fear are put on trial in a court of law,” said AFER board president Chad Griffin in a statement. “For over two years, the anti-marriage proponents of Proposition 8 have fought tooth and nail to hide their discriminatory arguments from the American people. But on Saturday night, thanks to YouTube and our incredible cast, people across the nation, from Los Angeles to Little Rock to Baltimore, will get to watch as our Constitution’s promise of liberty and equality for all is protected.”

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The show first premiered on Broadway in September (with cast members like Morgan Freeman, John Lithgow and Ellen Barkin) and is set to tour nationally throughout 2012, although the A-list stars attached to the West Coast reading are not expected to remain with the play.

Read more:
Court strikes down Prop 8
On the scene of Dustin Lance Black’s ’8′ reading

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YouTube to broadcast Proposition 8 play live

by Stephen Gray
1 March 2012, 5:15pm


Brad Pitt will play Judge Vaughn Walker (Photo: Georges Biard)
YouTube has announced it will broadcast the star-studded LA reading of Duston Lance Black’s Proposition 8 play this weekend.

Brad Pitt was confirmed today as the actor playing Judge Vaughn Walker in the play which details how the California ballot measure which revoked gay citizens’ right to marry was ruled unconstitutional for the first time in 2010.

Actor, director and AFER co-founder Rob Reiner announced that the play would be broadcast live on the American Foundation for Equal Rights (AFER)’s YouTube channel this Saturday evening.

He said: “I hope you’ll join me, George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Martin Sheen, Kevin Bacon, John C Reilly, Jamie Lee Curtis, Christine Lahti, Jane Lynch, Matthew Morrison, Chris Colfer and Jessie Tyler Ferguson.

“You see we had a problem, we couldn’t find any famous people to be in the play.”

The play, 8, focuses on the trial’s historic closing arguments in the summer of 2010. Matt Bomer, the White Collar actor who recently confirmed he was gay, will also appear.

UK audiences will have to set their alarms or settle in for a late night, however, as although the show starts at 7.30pm PT, it will be 3.30am GMT on Sunday morning east of the Atlantic.

That's great news !

Will it be available on youtube after the Saturday Live Stream
showing, does anyone know ?
Otherwise I'm in for another sleepless night session... just one week after Oscar kept me up.

At my age it's getting to be a problem to recover quickly

You just need to go to bed early, then set your alarm for 3:30 a.m. Well, set it for 3, so you can fix a cuppatea and have your early morning ciggy (was going to call it something else, but considering the thread, thought twice). Then Sunday afternoon, you take a little rest! Problem solved!!! You're welcome!!!

This is the channel for viewing it on Saturday 3 march

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melbert wrote:You just need to go to bed early, then set your alarm for 3:30 a.m. Well, set it for 3, so you can fix a cuppatea and have your early morning ciggy (was going to call it something else, but considering the thread, thought twice). Then Sunday afternoon, you take a little rest! Problem solved!!! You're welcome!!!

Thank you mel for offering to bring me my early morning drink....strong coffee, please, with half teaspoon of brown sugar and two digestive biscuits.... in bed.
Then we can snuggle down and watch it together...Oooo La La

OK Joanna and Mel - I think you two definitely need to get a room. LOL I'll join you with my cup of x-tra strong coffee, toast & jam and a ciggy. See ya there!

Oh WOW....how Simply Spiffing

(...must remember to change the sheets on Saturday)





I believe the Wilshire theatre was used for The Artist wasn't it ?
Poor George, he can't escape from the French invasion.

Joanna - you smoke? I knew there was something I liked about you. We're part of the "lost generation."

Yes cindi...I'm wicked too.....

When we die and go to Heaven, we'll be in the "smoking section." lol

And I will be making signs that say
"No Smoking"

so live?

huhh


but I can't
bec of time!!!

Sweets, what can't you
and why sad?

I M ....follow mel's advice that she gave me....OK ?

Cool! I like george and brad as a team!

CindiGirl, I'll pick you up tomorrow and we'll be to Joanna's by Saturday to snuggle up and watch George and Brad and all those other people!!!!

can't see it live... I'm soooo far!