Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston's 'Fast Times' reunion is awkward and fantastic
The Brad Pitt-Jennifer Aniston reunion tour made another stop Thursday night as the former couple participated in a virtual table read of the film "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" — and things got pretty steamy.
That's because the A-listers were cast as teenagers Linda Barnett and Brad Hamilton, roles originated by Phoebe Cates and Judge Reinhold in Amy Heckerling's 1982 teen comedy, written by Cameron Crowe.
The oft-delayed event was presented Thursday by Dane Cook's "Feelin' A-Live," a fundraising campaign for COVID-19 relief and criminal justice reform. It featured a star-studded cast participating through video-conferencing and included a slew of Oscar winners and A-listers: Matthew McConaughey, Julia Roberts, Shia LaBeouf, John Legend (and a glam cameo from wife Chrissy Teigen), Ray Liotta, Henry Golding and CORE co-founder and former "Fast Times" star Sean Penn.
L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti also made an appearance to introduce the read.
The unrehearsed reading was viewed by more than 4 million people and initially raised more than $135,000 for CORE and REFORM, organizers said in a statement Friday.
Aniston and Pitt, who divorced in 2005 but sparked plenty of reunion rumors last year, were assigned the iconic daydream sequence in which Pitt's character is, uh, pleasuring himself in a bathroom while imagining being seduced by sex queen Linda as she emerges from his swimming pool.
The actors, and their fellow celebrity participants, struggled not to laugh during the suggestive read, even with screen directions narrated by none other than Morgan Freeman. Freeman gamely threw in a "Lord have mercy" while reading the quasi-pornographic narration.
"Hi, Brad," Aniston said as Linda in the dream sequence. "You know how cute I always thought you were. I think you're so sexy. Will you come to me?"
The reaction shots here showing fellow table-readers were superb. (See them at the 37-minute mark. The full read — with all its uncensored language — can be viewed here.)
Of course, the awkward scene evaporates as Brad's self-care session is abruptly interrupted and Pitt fumbles out his character's lines" "Doesn't anybody f— knock any more?!"
LaBeouf went full method during the read, smoking and going shirtless as Penn's surfer-stoner Jeff Spicoli, the role originally held by Penn. Penn instead played a delivery driver, Roberts played Brad's little sister Stacy Hamilton, Golding played Mr. Vargas, Legend played Charles Jefferson and his little brother, Liotta played history teacher Mr. Hand, McConaughey played Mike Damone, Cook played Mark "Rat" Ratner, and Kimmel read all the other parts.
