LACMA: The Apartment Reading

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content.usatoday.com/communities/entertainment/post/2011/11/portman-returns-to-spotlight-beyonce-reveals-wedding-dress/1

It's been a minute since we've seen new mom Natalie Portman out at an official event. She popped up last night in L.A. for a live reading of the script of The Apartment, organized by Juno director Jason Reitman. Also at the reading: Mindy Kaling, Pierce Brosnan and Steve Carrell. ...

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So, my guess is if he was participating he was reading the Fred MacMurray role (to whom he has been compared before - notable in Mars Attacks)

www.popsugar.com/Natalie-Portman-Apartment-Reading-Postbaby-Debut-Pictures-20467756

[Portman] joining other stars like Mindy Kaling, director Jason Reitman, and Steve Carell, Natalie participated in the Film Independent At LACMA series with a live reading of the 1960 Billy Wilder film The Apartment in LA. Rounding out the cast were Collette Wolfe, Jake Johnson, Pierce Brosnan, Ken Jeong, and Nick Kroll.






An account from the reading on the blog. Pierce was a last minute replacement as yes Mr. Sheldrake (portrayed by Fred MacMurray)

talesofa4thgradenothing.wordpress.com/2011/11/18/the-apartment/

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www.movieline.com/2011/11/notes-from-the-jason-reitman-directed-live-script-read-of-the-apartment.php

On the Scene || by Jen Yamato || 11 18 2011 6:30 PM
Notes from the Jason Reitman-Directed Live Script Read of The Apartment

Part of the wave of initiatives in Elvis Mitchell’s rebooted Film Independent at LACMA programming is a series of live script reads directed by Jason Reitman (Up in the Air, Juno), who kicked things off last month with a star-studded rendition of The Breakfast Club. Last night’s second script read of the 1960 multiple Oscar-winner The Apartment, with Natalie Portman and Steve Carell in the Shirley MacLaine and Jack Lemmon roles, respectively, demonstrated how the marriage of cherished movie memories, live theater, and fresh talent is such an inspired idea to begin with.

Following the success of Reitman’s Breakfast Club live read, anticipation was high for The Apartment, with Reitman doling out casting announcements via Twitter leading up to Thursday’s event. His selections were varied but pretty great: Portman, post-baby, gave elevator operator Fran Kubelik a tough-edged fragility of her own, while Carell, initially rushing through his lines, eventually relaxed into the naïve bluster of clueless accountant C.C. Baxter at his own signature Carell pitch.

J.K. Simmons, initially set to play Baxter’s sauve philandering boss Mr. Sheldrake, couldn’t make it as planned, sending a wave of disappointment through the crowd. “Believe you me, he’s been in everything I’ve ever made,” Reitman admitted. “So this is a little weird for me.”

Luckily, he found the perfect last-minute replacement. “There’s a young actor, you may not know his name, you may know it soon, and I’m thrilled that he’s going to be joining us tonight,” Reitman announced, teasing the crowd. “In the role of Sheldrake, originated by Fred McMurray… Pierce Brosnan!”

James Bond as Mr. Sheldrake. So fitting!

Reitman’s supporting cast helped Billy Wilder and I.A.L. Diamond’s script leap off the page, with Jake Johnson, Mindy Kaling, Colette Wolf, Nick Kroll, and Ken Jeong providing multiple characterizations. Comedian Kroll (of The League fame) and Jeong in particular, turning up the comic midcentury swagger, knew to pause to let their punchlines breathe; Jeong, who gamely shrieked through a few awful Asian accented lines as the waitstaff at the Rickshaw restaurant — shaking his head the whole time — clearly had more fun than anyone in the entire theater just watching the proceedings unfold.

From the aisles there was the added dimension of seeing locations from the film projected above the stage, with key characters digitally removed by Reitman & Co.; you could, or inadvertently did, transpose your own memories of watching the 1960 film with the live dialogue onstage. Add to that Reitman’s own stage direction, read from the script with vivid scene and character details otherwise simply visualized in cinematic form, and the whole of the story and its characters came alive in a wholly new way. For a movie event sans actual movie screening, it was an incredibly extra-cinematic experience to have. That’s the way magic was made, movie-wise.

(Next month’s already sold-out live read, teased thusly at the end of last night’s event: “Inconceivable!” Start hunting for tickets now.)

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www.lamag.com/culturefilesblog/blogentry.aspx?BlogEntryID=10316163

Spyglass Blog: Previews and reviews of L.A.'s cultural events

Here's What Happened at LACMA's Sold Out Live Read of "Apartment"
Posted By: Donna Hung · 11/18/2011 6:00:00 PM

LACMA's Bing Theatre had a different air about it last night. The crowd was not the same one I had previously watched Ozu, Dreyer, or Antonioni with. This was a lively audience more heavily influenced by contemporary pop culture, and they were there to see Film Independent’s live read of Billy Wilder's 1960 gem The Apartment with director Jason Reitman (Juno, Up in the Air).

After film curator Elvis Mitchell introduced Reitman, the Academy Award nominee told us, "I'm so proud of Los Angeles and having this in my hometown," then announced the cast members for the night: Ken Jeong, Collette Wolfe, Nick Kroll, Jake Johnson, Mindy Kaling, Steve Carrell, and Natalie Portman. There were whoops and hollers. Then Reitman played a joke on us: He said J.K. Simmons, who was billed to play an elderly Sheldrake, would not make the performance and that he would be replaced by a younger actor. On cue, Pierce Brosnan walked out. The girl next to me jumped out of her seat.

The Apartment tells the story of Baxter, a tormented pushover who lends out his apartment to workplace superiors for clandestine trysts in return for a quick move up the corporate ladder. He's in love with Fran, an elevator girl who is already in a relationship with their married boss, Sheldrake. Carrell played Baxter beautifully—he was nasally and awkward, a combo of his characters in Dinner for Schmucks and The Office. Jack Lemmon, who originated the role, once told his son, "Drama's tough. Comedy's tougher. But being funny in a drama is one of the most difficult things of all." Carrell mastered this by being likeable and sympathetic and by utilizing precise comic timing, lightening even Fran's suicide attempt.

Other stand-outs for me were Pierce Brosnan and Mindy Kaling. Brosnan seemed a reincarnation of Fred MacMurray's Sheldrake but a little sexier. The way Brosnan inflected his voice and delivered his lines with the confidence of a man in charge was just like MacMurray. Kaling was great as Miss Olsen, but it was her portrayal of Mrs. Mildred Dreyfuss that had me bowled over. Her devotion to the old-timey New York accent was admirable and her comedic timing was unsurprisingly on point.

It's wonderful that LACMA and Film Independent are hosting Live Reads monthly. I met quite a few people there who had never seen the films of Billy Wilder, but were drawn to the celebrity bill. Expanding an artist’s audience is a good thing, culture-wise.