For several years now, director Jason Reitman has been delighting audiences with his “Live Read” series in which a group of well-known actors convenes at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) to execute a reading of a well-chosen Hollywood classic movie. Past events have tackled Bull Durham, Boogie Nights, The Apartment, Goodfellas, and so on.

On the occasion of a 2011 Live Read of The Breakfast Club, Reitman commented that the purpose of the readings was to show audiences how actors arrive at their characters: “It’s exciting to see a role developed from start to finish.” So it’s especially interesting when Reitman lures to his events the actors who originated key roles, as has happened a few times. Sam Elliot participated in a March 2012 Live Read of The Big Lebowski, while Fred Savage and Cary Elwes took part in separate readings of The Princess Bride.

For the Live Read to take place on December 16, Reitman secured commitments from Christian Slater and Patricia Arquette to play Clarence Worley and Alabama Whitman in True Romance, which was directed for release in 1993 by Tony Scott from a screenplay by Quentin Tarantino. The rest of the sprawling cast, which included Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt, James Gandolfini, Christopher Walken and Dennis Hopper for the movie, has not been announced. According to Reitman, the two actors had the same reaction when offered the gig:  “Both said yes, but both wanted to make sure the other was in. It was very sweet. One didn’t want to do it without the other.”

 
Both Arquette and Slater have enjoyed critical recognition recently. Arquette is the most recent winner of the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her work in Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, while this week Slater received a Golden Globe nomination for “Supporting actor in a TV series, limited series or TV movie” in recognition of the first season of the TV series Mr. Robot.

In February 2012 Reitman assembled an all-black cast to take on Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, while a year later, a cast of women essayed David Mamet’s manly masterpiece Glengarry Glen Ross. In early 2013 I spent a few weeks in Los Angeles, and I actually attended that Glengarry Glen Ross event, which was hugely enjoyable. The full cast was Carla Gugino, Robin Wright, Catherine O’Hara, Maria Bello, Melanie Lynskey, and Mae Whitman.

Fans who are looking forward to audio or video of the event may be disappointed, as the spectators are urged not to record the proceedings to honor the actors’ willingness to undertake an unrehearsed reading in public, while no official recording is made for rights reasons.
 
Here’s Gary Oldman playing the ultimate wigga Drexl in an early scene from True Romance:

 
via Consequence of Sound
 

Previously on Dangerous Minds:
Alternate universe ‘Pulp Fictions’: Who else did Quentin Tarantino consider for these iconic roles?

 
This limited edition bong, appropriately called “Floyd,” is named in honor of the wake-n-bake stoner character played by Brad Pitt in True Romance.

It’s from New York-based artist Glen Baldridge and while I do like the idea, the $525.00 price tag seems a wee bit steep!

Below, “Floyd” and his famous bong:

 
Via The World’s Best Ever

 
Quentin Tarantino screenplays re-imagined as Penguin books.

These fabulous designs were made by Sharm Murugiah, a Graphic Designer living and working in London. See more of his work here
 

 

 

 

 
H/T Penguin Books
 

 
A young Tony Scott stars in his brother Ridley’s first film Boy and Bicycle.

This was the film that inspired Tony to make movies, and it’s a long way from the loud, brash, stadium rock ‘n’ roll films he became famous for in later life.

Tony Scott had considerable skill as film-maker. He was great at large scale, set-piece action scenes, which he manipulated with the ease of a master conjuror. He was more than capable at getting strong performances from his cast, even when characterization was flimsy. And interestingly, his films brought together the most unlikely groups of fans - the Goths of The Hunger, the jocks of Top Gun, the Hip of True Romance, and the Geeks of Enemy of the State. I always thought he should have made a Batman or a Spiderman, or teamed-up again with Tarantino.

The news of his death was shocking, but the manner in which he chose to die had something terribly dramatic about it - his fall from the Vincent Thomas Bridge was witnessed by on-lookers and even filmed.

Tony Scott will be remembered for those populist, large scale movies that captured the audience’s imagination, while at the same time reflecting the cultural ambition, fantasies and fashions of their decade.

Tony Scott R.I.P. 1944-2012