Marisa Tomei reprises plaintiff in Proposition 8 Trial

"Why would everybody be getting married if it didn't do anything?"

Marisa Tomei, Josh Lucas and other actors and actresses have begun to reprise key scenes from the Proposition 8 trial that took place back in January, and whose final arguments are (finally!) scheduled for June.

Called "Testimony: Equality on Trial," the novel campaign launched Thursday encourages people across the country to videotape key scenes from the trial and post them on a website alongside performances by Tomei and other professional actors.

The full trial was re-enacted earlier, but once the trial ended and closing arguments were repeatedly delayed, interest (including mine) waned. I must say that Tomei does a much smoother job than was done in the original re-enactment of Kristin Perry's testimony, as I recall it. (Both were unrehearsed, I believe).

In February, two Los Angeles filmmakers, John Ireland and John Ainsworth, recruited 42 actors to play participants in the trial and re-enacted more than 55 hours of testimony. They posted it on YouTube but viewership has been low.

Cohen, who produced "American Beauty" and "Milk," among other films, said the latest effort offers viewers brief segments that contain emotional highlights of the trial.

"The idea of this was to put it up in shorter pieces that might be easier to watch," he said. "People who wouldn't dream of watching two weeks of testimony might watch Marisa Tomei for 10 minutes."

Listen to the 14 minute video, then spread the clip link and reflect on Tomei's statement about why she did this scene:

"Supporters of Prop 8 tried to stop Americans from watching one of the most important trials in a generation," she wrote. "They didn't want the public to see the pain caused by decades of discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans. But you have the power to change it. You can bring this trial to life...