Live Read


Live Read is a monthly live staged reading of a film script and a part of the Film Independent at LACMA film series at the Bing Theater directed by Jason Reitman and hosted by Elvis Mitchell from 2011 to 2016. In 2019, Film Independent brought the series back as part of Film Independent Presents... at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, produced by director of events, Rachel Bleemer. A guest director reads the stage directions in the scripts while images from the film would be projected behind the cast. The script is typically announced days before the event and while some actors were announced beforehand, full cast lists and the role each actor would play were kept secret until the event itself. The actors do not rehearse ahead of time.
The readings are one-night-only and are not recorded due to rights issues. Because of this, tickets for the 500 seats, go on pre-sale to members of Film Independent one week ahead of the general public, and sell out almost immediately.
The series is to show audiences how actors create characters.

Readings

directs and reads the stage directions unless otherwise noted. Many of the actors play multiple supporting roles. Specific roles are stated only when information is known.

2011

October (''The Breakfast Club'')

The Breakfast Club by John Hughes
;Cast
The Apartment by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond
;Cast
The Princess Bride by William Goldman, based on the novel by Goldman
;Cast

January (''Shampoo'')

Shampoo by Robert Towne and Warren Beatty
;Cast
Reservoir Dogs by Quentin Tarantino. Reitman assembled an all-black cast to play roles originally played on screen by white actors.
;Cast
The Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers. Due to the huge turnout, speakers were set up outside to allow those without tickets limited access to the proceedings.
;Cast
The Apartment by Billy Wilder and I. A. L. Diamond at The New York Times Center. This was the first of the Live Read series to take place outside of Los Angeles
;Cast
American Beauty by Alan Ball at the Toronto International Film Festival.
;Cast
Woody Harrelson was originally slated to play Colonel Fitts while Nick Kroll would play Buddy Kane, but when Harrelson was stuck in Hawaii, Kroll played Fitts and Paul Scheer played Kane.

October (''Bull Durham'')

Bull Durham by Ron Shelton
;Cast
Manhattan by Woody Allen
;Cast
Ghostbusters by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. Jason Reitman's father Ivan Reitman directed the original film.
;Cast

January (''His Girl Friday'')

His Girl Friday by Charles Lederer, based on the play The Front Page by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur
Guest director: Fred Savage
;Cast
Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet, based on the play by Mamet. Reitman assembled a cast of women to read the all-male script.
;Cast
The Usual Suspects by Christopher McQuarrie
;Cast
of Breaking Bad by Vince Gilligan. This was the first television episode performed at the readings.
;Cast
Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson at the Toronto International Film Festival
;Cast
Boogie Nights by Paul Thomas Anderson
;Cast
Tootsie by Larry Gelbart and Murray Schisgal
Guest director: David Wain
;Cast
Raising Arizona by the Coen brothers
Guest director: Patton Oswalt
;Cast

January (''American Pie'')

American Pie by Adam Herz. Reitman gender-swapped the cast, with women playing the male roles and men playing the female roles.
;Cast
Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino
Guest director: Evan Goldberg
;Cast
Groundhog Day by Danny Rubin and Harold Ramis. Reitman chose this reading as a tribute to Harold Ramis, who died the previous month. He also chose an earlier draft of the screenplay rather than the final shooting script.
;Cast
''The Graduate''
April 17: The Graduate by Calder Willingham and Buck Henry. Based on the novel by Charles Webb.
;Cast
April 19, special event: The Hateful Eight by Quentin Tarantino at the United Artists Theater at the Ace Hotel Los Angeles. Unusually for the series, this script had not been filmed prior to the reading. After a script leak in January, Tarantino considered dropping the film, but decided to hold a reading of the first draft of this script.
Guest director: Quentin Tarantino
;Cast
American Beauty by Alan Ball. All cast members starred in Jason Reitman's 2014 film Men, Women & Children.
;Cast
Diner by Barry Levinson. All cast members have appeared in a lead or recurring role in the FX show The League.
;Cast
The Empire Strikes Back by Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan, story by George Lucas.
;Cast

January (''Goodfellas'')

Goodfellas by Nicholas Pileggi and Martin Scorsese. Based on Wiseguy by Pileggi.
;Cast
Sideways by Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor. Based on the novel by Rex Pickett.
;Cast
Dazed and Confused by Richard Linklater. Most actors except Travis Tope also played various freshmen.
;Cast
Major League by David S. Ward
Guest director: Joe Manganiello. In a departure from Live Read tradition, Manganiello did not read the stage directions, but instead played a character. He cast sportscaster Rich Eisen as the narrator.
;Cast
The first-season finale of Mad Men, "The Wheel" by Matthew Weiner and Robin Veith. The reading was held on the same day as the premiere of the series finale and was followed by a screening of that episode.
;Cast
Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Cameron Crowe based on book Fast Times at Ridgemont High: A True Story by Crowe at the Los Angeles Film Festival
Guest director: Eli Roth
;Cast
The Big Lebowski by the Coen brothers at the Just for Laughs Comedy Festival in Montreal
;Cast
Fassbender, Lawrence, and Munn would all appear in . Miller and Starr appear on the series Silicon Valley, created by Judge.

September (''The Princess Bride'')

The Princess Bride by William Goldman, based on the novel by Goldman at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival.
;Cast
Garcia Bernal was late for the show due to a delayed flight, so Catherine Reitman filled in until he arrived.

October (''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'')

Ferris Bueller's Day Off by John Hughes
Network by Paddy Chayefsky
Guest director: Scott Sternberg
True Romance by Quentin Tarantino

January (''Dr. Strangelove'')

Dr. Strangelove by Stanley Kubrick, Terry Southern & Peter George. Based on the novel Red Alert by Peter George.
Guest director: Mark Romanek
The Maltese Falcon by John Huston. Based on the novel by Dashiell Hammett.
Guest director: Laurence Fishburne. LACMA curator and event host Elvis Mitchell read the stage directions.
Stand by Me by Bruce A. Evans & Raynold Gideon. Based on the novella The Body by Stephen King. Like the Glengarry Glen Ross reading, the all-male script was read by all women.
Thank You for Smoking by Jason Reitman. Based on the novel by Christopher Buckley. For the first time, Reitman staged a performance of one of his own scripts.
Reitman announced that this reading would be the last of the series.

2018

December (''Casablanca'')

For the first time since April 2016, Reitman directed another live read, featuring an all-female cast, of Casablanca, by Julius J. Epstein, Philip G. Epstein, and Howard Koch. The reading was sponsored by Astraea Lesbian Foundation for Justice.

March (''My Dinner With Andre'')

Film Independent Presents, the producers of the Live Read series, resumed again with My Dinner With Andre by Andre Gregory and Wallace Shawn with comedy stars Nick Kroll and John Mulaney. Hosted by Elvis Mitchell, the evening veered into a comedy put-on by Kroll and Mulaney, as the reading was staged with Michael Keaton and Paula Pell doing the main roles from the original script, heavily interrupted by Kroll and Mulaney's Oh, Hello characters Gil Faizon and George St. Geegland, respectively.
When Harry Met Sally... by Nora Ephron.
Guest director: Randall Park. Park assembled a cast entirely of Asian-American actors. Film Independent curator and event host Elvis Mitchell read the stage directions.
This was Elvis Mitchell’s final night at the helm of Film Independent’s signature screening series, which would continue under the purview of director of events Rachel Bleemer.

October (''Singles)''

Singles by Cameron Crowe.
Guest director: James Ponsoldt. Ponsoldt read the stage directions and acted as the host encouraging the audience to "wear their flannel."
A nice treat leading into evening’s main event was an email from Crowe, which Ponsoldt read to the audience. “The movie came from a special time in my life,” Crowe said. “I’d fallen in love with Seattle, and so many of the soulful members of the community.” He went on to acknowledge the late Soundgarden frontman, who has a cameo in the film, saying: “Love live Chris Cornell!”

February (''Breaking Away)''

Breaking Away by Steve Tesich
Guest directors: Michael Angelo Covino and Kyle Marvin, the creative team behind The Climb.
A live string quartet provided musical accompaniment.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind by Charlie Kaufman from a story by Kaufman, Michel Gondry, and Pierre Bismuth
Guest director: Brett Haley
On March 23, 2014, Jensen Karp assembled a cast to read Space Jam by Leo Benvenuti, Steve Rudnick, Timothy Harris and Herschel Weingrod at the UCB Theatre in Los Angeles. The event was in many ways a parody of Reitman's series. While the scripts Reitman chooses are from well-received and occasionally Academy Award-winning films, Space Jam is a children's film that received, at best, mixed reviews. In addition, LACMA's Bing Theater is a large auditorium, while the UCB Theatre is a small comedy club. The cast included: