The Laramie Project

After a young gay student is beaten and left to die near Laramie, Wyoming, the town becomes the focus of national attention. Members of a New York theatre company travel there to interview residents over an extended period, gathering their words about the killing and about what it revealed of the community. The resulting film dramatizes that visit, with actors portraying townspeople whose own recorded statements form the screenplay. A large ensemble plays the many interviewees, among them Dylan Baker, Tom Bower, Clancy Brown, Steve Buscemi, Jeremy Davies and Clea DuVall, in a production that moves between the events that drew reporters to Laramie and the quieter responses of those who live there. It aired as a television film, produced by HBO with Good Machine and Cane/Gabay Productions, and runs 95 minutes.

Moisés Kaufman directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Stephen Wangh, working from the stage piece he had developed with his company; the film stands as his first feature as director. Declan Baldwin produced, and 45 performers are credited, reflecting the breadth of the town's voices the project set out to represent. Reception has been warmer among viewers on IMDb, where it holds a 7.1 average from roughly 7,300 votes, than on TMDB, where it sits at 6.2 from a much smaller sample of 62.