The Laramie Project (2002)

Director:

Moisés Kaufman

Writers:

Moisés Kaufman (play)
Moisés Kaufman (screenplay) ...

Genre:

Drama | Crime

Tagline:

When a small town comes face to face with murder, everybody has a tale to tell.

Plot:

The true story of an American town in the wake of the murder of Matthew Shepard.

Plot Keywords:

Murder | Death | Angel | Interview | Fence

Awards:

Nominated for 4 Primetime Emmys. Another 5 wins & 7 nominations

Cast

Kathleen Chalfant	...	Anonymous Female Rancher
Laura Linney	...	Sherry Johnson
Peter Fonda	...	Doctor Cantway
Jeremy Davies	...	Jedadiah Schultz
Nestor Carbonell	...	Moises Kaufman
Camryn Manheim	...	Rebecca Hillicker
Andy Paris	...	Stephen Belber
Grant Varjas	...	Greg Pierotti (as Grant James Varjas)
Kelli Simpkins	...	Leigh Fondakowski
Clea DuVall	...	Amanda Gronich
Billie McBride	...	Waitress
Bill Christ	...	Man on Porch
Frances Sternhagen	...	Marge Murray
Michael Emerson	...	Reverend
Margo Martindale	...	Trish Steger

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:12 | UK:15 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Golden, Colorado, USA

Company:

Cane/Gabay Productions

Trivia:

In one scene, Rebecca Hillicker (Camryn Manheim) is directing a rehearsal of a play that Moisés Kaufman (Nestor Carbonell) says he "never gets tired of" (and Hillicker responds, "Yeah, well, try directing it fifty times."). The play is "Our Town" by Thornton Wilder, which won the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and has been a staple of community, college, and high school theaters ever since. Like "The Laramie Project", "Our Town" is a play about a typical American small town and the impact on that town's citizens of the death of a beloved young person.

Quotes:

Dennis Shepard: My son, Matthew, did not look like a winner. He was rather uncoordinated and wore braces from the age of 13 until the day he died. However in his all-too-brief life, he proved that he was a winner. On October 6th 1998, he tried to show the world he could win again...

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 54th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (2002) (TV)

another worthwhile HBO movie..

i was very impressed with this documentary-style tv movie. i appreciated the fact that the filmmaker took this approach, giving a sense (at least i hope) of the people on whom these interviews are based, while allowing a buffer zone so that the real people are not subjected to more publicity OR made to look stupid because of their personal beliefs. i thought it was a very wise approach to take and allows more of an unbiased POV in many ways than would a straight up documentary. not to say that this piece was unbiased - it wasn't - and i don't think it should have been. but the filmmaker did not take any low blows and that was refreshing. the way the whole piece was put together was different - i could feel the theatrical aspect coming in, the visuals were much more fractured than a standard tv movie, and i could REALLY appreciate that this was not just another murder story come to life on screen.

thank you for not doing a re-enactment of the crime! i think it was WAY more effective to hear it described by people. i found the laramie project to be horrifying and touching, and i wish more pieces were made that hit at such a gut level. i won't forget this movie.