GHOSTBUSTERS Live Read to Include Seth Rogen and Rainn Wilson
Director Jason Reitman, son of Ghostbusters director Ivan Rietman, is hosting a live read of the classic film, and he cast Seth Rogen, Jack Black, and Rainn Wilson to play the characters Dr. Peter Venkman, Ray Stanz, and Egon Spengler, respectively. The live reading will be combination of the original shooting script with Bill Murray’s classic improvised one-liners mixed in. Reitman talked about Murray's performance saying,
While almost all of the dialogue in original screenplay is echoed on screen, the Venkman character is completely improvised. It’s as if Bill Murray was given a mumblecore-style essay about each scene and then permitted to say whatever he wanted as long as he got the point across.
'He slimed me' is in the script, but not the follow-up line: 'I feel so funky.'
He’s like a jazz musician who knows, ‘I have eight measures here and have to hit this note here and as long as I follow those rules everything else is up to me.'
The event is being presented by Film Independent at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and takes places Thursday, December 12th. This is something I would to attend! Unfortunately, it's already sold out... Damn.
EW released the full cast list, and here's the line-up:
- Peter Venkman – Seth Rogen
- Ray Stantz – Jack Black
- Egon Spengler – Rainn Wilson
- Winston Zeddmore – Phil LaMarr (Marvin in Pulp Fiction)
- Dana Barrett – Kristen Bell
- Walter Peck – Kevin Pollak (as well as the voices of Larry King and Casey Kasem)
- Janine Melnitz – Mae Whitman
- Louis Tully – Paul Rust (Inglourious Basterds, I Love You Beth Cooper)
- Everyone else – Paul Scheer
Reitman also gives a little note on why he cast the actors that he did for the event:
Seth Rogen as Peter Venkman
'It’s the most crucial and tricky piece of casting. I knew we needed an actor whose rhythms were equally unique to Bill Murray’s and had that kind of a swagger.'Jack Black as Ray Stantz
'When you think about Dan Aykroyd as Ray Stantz, you think about this positive enthusiasm and energy. No one has that like Jack Black.'Rainn Wilson as Egon Spengler
'As originated by Harold Ramis, this part needs someone with an earnest, scientific mind and clear-cut decisive humor.'
Hopefully they release a video of this event!