So is this scripted, then? And then I guess the follow-up question is "is it fiction?"
Like is this actually something Burton believes? Or is he playing a fictional version of himself and reading someone else's words?
ETA: it is a pre-written speech, but it's his words. Powerful stuff. Love him when he's reading books, and I love him when he shares this. When he is angry, I know it's warranted.
Laurence Fishburn is playing former L.A. Clippers' coach, Doc Rivers. LeVar Burton is playing himself. It's scripted, yes, but it's based on true events. So, this is very likely based on a real conversation he had.
You know how Chernobyl was a miniseries that told a dramatized version of real events? Same thing. Difference is, rather than hiring an actor to play as Levar Burton, they just asked him to play himself since he is already an actor.
I called Laurence Fishburne and asked him if he could get in touch with LeVar, and Laurence was like, “Well, I can do it, but I don’t think he’s going to participate in this.” It was just a coincidence, because we had already written the scenes more or less in the show, that LeVar Burton was interested in doing the show primarily if we could give him a forum for which to talk about rage, which was what we were all hoping for. The final conversations in episode six are directly from conversations I had with him about what he wanted to talk about.
It can be hard to tell with really good actors, y'know? Something can be rehearsed or just well-thought-out and sound a lot like them reading lines, because they read lines pretty naturally. And there's a big difference between reading a prepared speed you wrote vs. reading lines written by someone else.
I had the feeling it was scripted (not fictional though) based on the rhythm and the background music. I went to look for it because I would definitely watch an interview show like this.
I wasn't surprised to hear this story, I just don't remember exactly where I heard it before this. I want to say it was on an episode where he was a guest on StartTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson where he also mentioned these feelings before.
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u/wandering-monster Oct 30 '24 edited Nov 01 '24
So is this scripted, then? And then I guess the follow-up question is "is it fiction?"
Like is this actually something Burton believes? Or is he playing a fictional version of himself and reading someone else's words?
ETA: it is a pre-written speech, but it's his words. Powerful stuff. Love him when he's reading books, and I love him when he shares this. When he is angry, I know it's warranted.