TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty)
TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty)
By Frances McInnis | September 7, 2012
By Frances McInnis | 09/07/2012
By Frances McInnis | Photography by Christopher Drost
Juno and Up in the Air director Jason Reitman packed Ryerson last night (seriously, the line wrapped three-quarters of the way around the block) for his table read of American Beauty. Taking his “Live Read” series outside its Los Angeles home, the Montreal-born director enlisted several big names, including Breaking Bad’ s Bryan Cranston as unhappy suburbanite Lester Burnham (played by Kevin Spacey in the movie), Mad Men’ s Christina Hendricks as his wife, Carolyn (Annette Bening in the original), and Toronto’s Sarah Gadon as Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) —plus, somewhat oddly, George Stroumboulopoulos in a few smaller roles. The cast, most of whom had only just met each other, lined up across the stage in a row of chairs and performed their roles to an enthusiastic house. The reviewers, too, were kind —although the National Post noted that Stroumboulopolous was fine, “but the gulf in talent between him and the seasoned actors was noticeable.” (To be fair, matching Bryan Cranston for acting chops is a pretty tough feat.)
163127 Adam Driver, Bryan Cranston, Paul Scheer, Christina Hendricks, Nick Kroll, Mae Whitman, George Stroumboulopoulos, Sarah Gadon and Jason Reitman (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman_intro-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman_intro.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman_intro.jpg 656 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman_intro/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman_intro 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163128 Adam Driver played Ricky Fitts (Wes Bentley in the original); Bryan Cranston played Lester Burnham (Kevin Spacey); Paul Scheer played Buddy Kane (Peter Gallagher); Christina Hendricks played Carolyn Burnham (Annette Bening); Nick Kroll played Frank Fitts (Chris Cooper); and Mae Whitman played Jane Burnham (Thora Birch) (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman01-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman01.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman01.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman01/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman01 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163129 George Stroumboulopoulos played Jim Olmeyer, Sarah Gadon played Angela Hayes (Mena Suvari) and director Jason Reitman read the script notes (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman02-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman02.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman02.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman02/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman02 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163134 There were no rehearsals before the live read, and most of the cast members only met directly before the performance (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman07-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman07.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman07.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman07/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman07 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163130 <em>Breaking Bad’</em>s Bryan Cranston<br />
(Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman03-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman03.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman03.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman03/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman03 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163202 Christina Hendricks, also in town to promote <em>Ginger and Rosa</em> (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman08-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman08.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman08.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman08/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman08 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163132 Toronto’s Sarah Gadon, who stars in Brandon Cronenberg’s <em>Antiviral </em> (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman05-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman05.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman05.jpg 624 416 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman05/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman05 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163133 CBC host George Stroumboulopoulos (Image: Christopher Drost) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman06-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman06.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman06.jpg 416 624 [] https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman06/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman06 0 0
(Image: Christopher Drost)
163254 Cameron Bailey introduces the Live Read event (Image: Todd Oren/Getty Images Entertainment) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-2-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-2.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-2.jpg 415 624 {"copyright":"2012 Getty Images"} https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-2/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-2 0 0
(Image: Todd Oren/Getty Images Entertainment)
163253 As the actors read their parts, images of the scenery from the movie showed on the screen behind them (Image: Todd Oren/Getty Images Entertainment) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) TIFF Gallery: Christina Hendricks cheats on Bryan Cranston (in a live read of American Beauty) https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-1-96x96.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-1.jpg https://torontolife.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-1.jpg 656 437 {"copyright":"2012 Getty Images"} https://torontolife.com/culture/tiff-2012-jason-reitman-live-read-american-beauty/slide/tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-1/ tiff12-gallery-jason-reitman-get-1 0 0
(Image: Todd Oren/Getty Images Entertainment)