Kevin Bacon, Chris Colfer and John C.
Reilly have joined the cast of the Los Angeles premiere of the play
8.
8, which was written by Milk
screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, is based on the trial over the
constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban, Proposition 8.
The 13-day trial held last year in San
Francisco resulted in federal Judge Vaughn Walker, now retired,
declaring the ban unconstitutional. A federal appeals court earlier
this month upheld Walker's ruling.
“People need to witness what happened
in the Proposition 8 trial, if for no other reason than to see
inequality and discrimination unequivocally rejected in a court of
law where truth and facts matter,” said Black in a statement.
“I've built my career around exposing and uncovering 'the real
story.' The goal of 8 is to show the world that marriage
equality is a basic constitutional right and that those who would
deny this basic freedom from loving, committed couples have only
vitriol and baseless hyperbole to fall back on. The facts are on our
side and truth always finds the light. We are doing all we can to
help speed that process along.”
The Broadway premiere of the play
raised over $1 million for the American Foundation for Equal Rights
(AFER), the group formed specifically to challenge Proposition 8.
The March 3 Los Angeles premiere of 8
will feature George Clooney and Martin Sheen playing plaintiffs'
co-counsel David Boies and Theodore B. Olson, respectively. Maggie
Gallagher, co-founder and former chairman of the National
Organization for Marriage (NOM), will be played by Glee
co-star Jane Lynch.
(Related: George
Clooney calls gay marriage a civil right.)
John C. Reilly will play Judge Walker.
Kevin Bacon will take on the role of Charles J. Cooper, the lead
attorney for the proponents of Proposition 8, while Chris Colfer will
play Ryan Kendall, a young man who testified about his experience
being sent by his parents to so-called “reparative therapy” as a
teenager.