Bringing the fourth season to a close with only a few more reads to go, Keegan-Michael Key, Josh Gad, Michaela Watkins, Lake Bell, Catherine Reitman and Jason Reitman took to the stage inside The Bing Theater for the Film Independent At LACMA Live Read of Sideways.

The Live Read series gives creator Reitman and audience members once in a life time entertainment opportunities. Only in this series can Thomas Hayden Church and Keegan-Michael Key or Harrison Ford and Ellen Page play the same roles. In a culture populated with reboots, requels, remakes and reimaginings, it’s a pleasure to listen to incredibly talented actors that we all know and love play against type without the pressure of test screening scores or box office returns and completely recreating our favorite films from the past.

Not only did Sideways director Alexander Payne attend the reading last night, the event came almost ten years to the day after the film took home an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay. Listening to the cast and crew read and react to the words on the page, it’s not hard to see why. In addition to the dialogue being painfully funny no matter who is reading it, the stage direction is paced with jokes and personality all on its own. Listening to Sideways come alive directly off the page was an incredible treat.

In addition to the series’ diverse casting and admiration for the art of screenwriting, it’s also wonderful to watch the cast and Reitman sincerely react to the script’s comedy and hearing their peers perform it for the first time. One of my fondest memories from watching The Graduate live read was watching Kevin Pollak, who was playing all of the minor male roles in the read, get a sincere kick out of the hilarity of the material.

The Film Independent Live Read Series at LACMA continues next month with a reading of Richard Linklater’s cult favorite, Dazed and Confused.

Photo Credit: WireImage