.@Just_For_Laughs turn to break the internet. Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence LEBOWSKI LIVE READ #JFLMTL pic.twitter.com/elGnXmfIWw
— JFLComedyPro (@JFLComedyPro) July 25, 2015
This is a sad, dark photo of Michael Fassbender and Jennifer Lawrence in Montreal over the weekend. J-Law, Fassy and all of the X-Men gang are currently filming the neverending X-Men: Apocalypse. But on Friday, they had the night off, so several of the X-Men ended up at Jason Reitman’s Live Read: The Big Lebowski. Reitman has been organizing the Live Read events for a while now, often using his actor friends to play the roles in various famous screenplays. The actors aren’t really supposed to properly “act” but just give authentic line readings.
So, obviously, why wouldn’t you ask Michael Fassbender to read for The Dude in The Big Lebowski? Fassy came out to the event “in character,” wearing shorts, flip-flops and a bathrobe. He apparently smoked throughout, and there is some question as to whether he was smoking hand-rolled cigarettes or something else. J-Law read for Maude, the role made famous by Julianne Moore. Patton Oswalt played Walter (originally played by John Goodman), Olivia Munn played Bunny (Tara Reid) and several of those wonderful nerds from the cast of Silicon Valley filling out the rest of the cast (Silicon Valley creator Mike Judge did his best Sam Elliott). Dennis Quaid – who was also in town filming another project – stunned the audience by stepping in as the other Lebowski.
I really like that Reitman organizes these Live Reads and this one was apparently one of the hottest things that ever happened in Montreal. Variety says that J-Law screwed up her lines a lot, mostly because she was laughing so much at Fassy as The Dude. Variety also says that Patton Oswalt stole the night, which makes sense because John Goodman turned that role into one of the funniest, most amazing characters he’s ever done. People say that Fassy was really good too, that he really did a great Jeff Bridges impression, which I can buy. Everyone loves The Dude. Because The Dude Abides. You can read more here.
Photos courtesy of Instagram, Getty.
So close yet so far away! Too bad they don’t film these, this sounded amazing!
Brian singer is the one next to Jlaw, right? Damn..idk if Its because of all the allegations, but dude gives me the heebie jeebies especially in this photo.
Also was James mcavoy not there !?!? I am in Toronto and if I’d known he was in Montreal…damn
I think jlaw’s body language agrees with you! That or she is really into fassy (absolutely no shame in that, girl!)…
If he wasn’t smoking cigarettes you’d know instantly by the smell, there would be no question.
I love the sound of these live reads, I’d love to be able to attend one…sigh.
Me too… we don’t have anything like this in the US. I’m green with jealousy of Londoners that get to see Letters Live. I enjoy hearing literature/letters read by professional actors in character.
Confession: I’ve watched The Big Lebowski about once a month — for the past 10 years. It’s a bit of a religion.
Lol! I love that movie, too😀
“this one was apparently one of the hottest things that ever happened in Montreal.” Clearly you’re not from Montreal kaiser… This city is amazing, there’s always something big going on here, even in minus 30 in winter! Come visit! 🙂
I second that! (Hi fellow Montrealer!)
Fellow Montrealer here too. While I agree that our city is fantastic, Fassbendy is the hottest thing to have happened to us for a long time. I would give up Montreal for 20 mins with Fassbendy!
I co-sign that as a third Montrealaise!
I attended the event on Friday… thought it’d be a small and intimate event (the ticket originally referenced a 300-place theatre venue) but i guess Fassy and co were mega popular in demand since it played in a place 5 times the size! Super fun atmosphère throughout. To be honest, the mvp’s to me were Patton Oswalt, Mae Whitman (an amazing Donny and german nihilist!!) closely followed by TJ Miller and even Martin Starr (as Jesus Quintana). Fassy was good but hit the comedic beats better as the night went along. His delivery timing felt (very subtly) off in the first hour or so… He did smoke the ciggies throughout (and maybe even drinking real white russians!) but that was kind of servicing the storyline hehehe…
He’s Hugh as a kite and looking delicious.
I can’t help it, I’m a shameless Lawbender shipper and I’d love for the to dump Chris Martin and get with Fassy. I just think they look SO good together and have great chemistry in X-Men. But if they are just friends who reenacts The Big Lebowski together that’s adorable too.
@Glimmerbunny: Agreed.
I cosign to this.
I don’t know, I get the vibe he’d hit it, but she isn’t his type—but I could be wrong. Anyone attractive may be his type. LOL
From your lips to ………………….
There are a couple of snippets of audio floating around on the internet, both featuring JLaw and Michael. Very, very funny. I think there is a difference between playing high and actually being high.
In some of the other pics from this floating around the internet, he looked rather Al Bundy-ish in the robe and boxers. Plus he needs to stop drinking and smoking, he doesn’t have the kind of skin that is going to hold up for long with this sort of behavior. It’s actually only just barely passable now and only because he’s a man and most won’t judge him for looking rough. One can already see how much he has aged and he is still too young to be looking this weathered.
The reading got fantastic reviews with a sold out house!. The whole cast received good reviews…Indiewire thought Fassbender was a weak link but still gave the reading an “A”.
I wish I could have seen it!!…
ETA: Lawrence and Fassbender do have chemistry, don’t they?…hmmm…
I don’t know if it’s because Fassy’s face is so weathered looking or because J-law is wearing minimal makeup but they look like an adorable father and daughter with glowing smiles. Relieved that he is into brunettes not blondes (probably too close to his redheaded self) cause it would be weird to see them as a couple. Chris Martin at least looks younger in the face.
I would love to see a taped version of this Live Read, Patton Oswalt is AWESOME and so underrated. His brain dropping on Twitter is hilarious. Note to watch the Big L tonight when I get back home 🙁
I’m in Toronto too and wish I could have attended.
ON a random side note: one of my ex-boyfriends from my college days was always referred to as “the dude”. Maybe this is why I also have a Fassbender crush. LOL
I wish there was video of this too, it is probably awesome!
I was there! I took a bus 6 hours from Toronto to attend and had to stand in line outside the theatre for 4 hours to get myself a sweet 6th row centre seat. Harvey Keitel was sitting three people down from me.
The reading was INCREDIBLE – everyone was hilarious. Jennifer had Julianne Moore’s diction down perfectly but she wasn’t exactly as smooth a reader as everyone else. The stand outs were Patton Oswalt, Mae Whitman (her German nihilist had Fassy laughing hard), TJ Miller and Mike Judge (who did a spot-on Sam Elliot impression).
And oh yeah, as someone who was within smelling distance….those were not all just cigarettes Fassy was smoking. At one point he pulled a baggie out of his pocket and handed it to Jennifer who then rolled him his next smokable. She was also the keeper of the lighter for a large part of the reading.
Mae Whitman was there?! I love her. Who it’s like a who’s who of some of my favorite people together. The Silicon Valley cast, Patton Oswalt, Mike Judge, and Mae Whitman.
Mae’s incredible. The girl dang near breaks my heart whenever she cries and she’s an amazing voice actress. This must have been so fun.
Yep! She did Steve Buscemi’s part and then a bunch of supporting characters as they came up.
I also saw her do a Live Read of the Dawson’s Creek pilot at a TV Festival in Austin last month. She played Dawson and was equally as excellent.
I was telling my friend that the entire thing (ticket, travel and AirBnB for 2 nights) cost me $350 plus all of those hours spent on the bus and then waiting in line yet I don’t regret it for a minute. It was totally worth all of the hassle. I laughed a lot and met a lot of fun people along the way.
Mae does all of Jason’s live readings
Only one dude:
http://www.midwestsportsfans.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/the-dude-dancing.gif
God, I can’t believe Munn was allowed to take part in something like this. In a way, they are kind of giving her validation she doesn’t deserve and that’s extremely depressing. And of course she was Bunny. Makes sense. She was just playing what she knows.
Live readings are a bit of a thing in Canada. There used to be a series in Vancouver that drew some big names; it featured local talent, and unproduced scripts, but the audience had a lot of big names. One night both Stephen Spielberg and George Lucas were there, according to my friend who was there. A Hollywood producer whose name I forget but you’d probably know told my friend “We could never do this in LA. Somebody would sue over something. That’s one of the things we like about it up here.”