Ellen Page, Jennifer Garner Set for ‘Juno’ Live-Read to Benefit Planned Parenthood

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Fox Searchlight

Actresses Ellen Page and Jennifer Garner will reprise their roles for an all-female live-read of their hit 2007 film Juno, with proceeds from the event going to benefit Planned Parenthood.

Juno director Jason Reitman will stage the live-read on April 8 in Los Angeles, according to Entertainment Weekly.

While Page and Garner will reprise their roles as Juno MacGuff and Vanessa Loring, respectively, the rest of the original cast — including the roles played by actors Michael Cera, Jason Bateman, J.K. Simmons and Rainn Wilson — will be re-cast with women for the one-night-only event.

“Considering how much this election has done against women and what Planned Parenthood has done for women I thought it would be cool to hear this script with an all-female voice,” Reitman told EW.

Juno centers on Juno MacGuff, a Minnesota high school junior forced to make a tough decision when she becomes pregnant after a seemingly harmless sexual encounter with her best friend. The film has long been embraced by conservatives as one of the few mainstream Hollywood hits sympathetic to the pro=life cause, because Juno ultimately decides to give birth and place the child with adoptive parents.

But Reitman — who was nominated for a directing Oscar for the film in 2008 — said the fact that the evening’s proceeds will go to Planned Parenthood should settle the debate once and for all about whether Juno is a pro-life or pro-abortion film.

“If there was any confusion about whether Juno was pro-choice or pro-life, this should settle that,” Reitman told EW. “Juno had a choice, and that was the most important part.”

The director told the outlet that the Juno live-read will be the first event in a series of “Resistance-inspired” live-reads that will also focus on topics like immigration and fake news.

The all-female Juno live-read will take place April 8 at the Theatre at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

 

Editor’s Note: Breitbart News recently included Juno in its list of “7 Great Conservative Films Everyone Should Own.” The reason for its inclusion on the list — that a troubled, pregnant teenager chooses to give birth instead of abort her child because she comes to recognize the humanity of the child she carries — still stands despite the political activities of the filmmakers.

Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum

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