The Laramie Project (2002)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

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:

Death | Murder | Laramie Wyoming | Bar | Trial

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 | Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Golden, Colorado, USA

Company:

Cane/Gabay Productions

Trivia:

Members of the Tectonic company who originally conducted the interviews in Laramie are featured in the movie.

Quotes:

[last lines]
Doc O'Conner: I remembered something to myself. The night he and I drove around together, he said, 'Laramie sparkles, doesn't it?' And where he was in that spot up there, if you sit exactly in that spot up there, Laramie sparkles. With the low-lying clouds, it's - uh - it's the blue lights that bounce off the clouds...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in People Like Us (2009)

Very important and moving

I knew when I first heard about the project to put The Laramie Project on-screen that I wanted to see it. I knew, too, that I would find it moving and touching and probably a bit depressing. What I did not know, however, is that it would remind me of my own responsibility to live out loud and honestly. I remember being numb to Matthew Shepherd's death at the time it occurred, thinking how this is just one person out of the thousands whose similar experiences are never heard, so what makes him so special.

What I realized while I watched the film is that it is precisely because he is no more special than other human being that makes his story important, because it could be any gay person's story, even any minority person's story, and whatever draws attention to matters of hate and violence in the name of fear is crucial to the fight for equality of all people.

I realized while watching this film that I let loved ones in my life get away with language that I wouldn't take from a stranger, ignorant comments about how I don't make them uncomfortable because I don't "flaunt my gayness." Seemingly harmless words like "live and let live" are really saying "I will live however I want, and you can live however you want as long as I don't have to hear about it."

The Laramie Project reminded me how precious freedom is and how puritan this supposedly free country still is. I wish this film would become a part of school curriculum, part of office training on sensitivity--it should be viewed by everyone of both sides of the "gay issue." I hope it serves to change some minds.