In addition to being an immensely gifted filmmaker and inspired organizer of LACMA Live Reads, Jason Reitman is also a solid entertainment journalist. Check out the concise, clear and very compelling sentence with which he leads off his brief, touching Entertainment Weekly tribute to Roger Ebert:

I spoke with Roger Ebert perhaps a dozen times, but only heard his voice once.

Reitman’s piece, headlined “The Man Who Loved Movies,” is currently only available in the print and tablet editions of EW. It’s scheduled to go online shortly and when it does, the magazine can expect a torrent of appreciative reader comments.

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EW senior writer Anthony Breznican, keeper of LACMA Live Read scoops, is absolutely right when he suggests that next week’s staging of Glengarry Glen Ross has the potential to match the excitement of Season One’s Reservoir Dogs event. That’s because instead of a stage lined with African-Americans doing Tarantino, Jason Reitman will guide a gaggle of women through Mamet.

The spectacular February 21 line-up will feature Robin Wright (reading the role of Ricky Roma), Catherine O’Hara (Shelley Levene), Maria Bello (Dave Moss), Allison Janney (George Aaronow) and Mae Whitman (John Williamson). Per Breznican’s report:

Every performance re-imagines the script with a new actor in each role, but after the success of Reservoir Dogs last year Reitman and LACMA film curator Elvis Mitchell wanted to have another live-read where the entire cast shared a trait that was new to the story.

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There’s something hilarious about the idea of the Oscar-winning screenwriter of Juno being housebound due to the care of a newborn. But such has been the case in recent months for Diablo Cody (pictured), albeit from the relative comfort of her well-appointed Hollywood Hills abode.

As any parent who has gone through that drill knows, the first real trip out of the house is one to both look forward to and savor. In Cody’s case, it will be when she heads to the east coast at the beginning of February to attend the third annual edition at Barnard College of the female-centric Athena Film Festival (February 7-10), for which she is one of the co-chairs.

“I have a toddler and an infant right now,” Cody tells FishbowlLA via telephone. “I don’t get out to the movies, I don’t get out to have dinner, I don’t get out to my friend’s Live Reads [Jason Reitman, LACMA]. I am so home-bound right now. That’s why I’m so excited about the Athena Film Festival and getting to go to New York for a couple of days. I’m going alone, so I don’t know what I’m going to do with all that “thinking” time.”

Cody will also have the opportunity to finally meet a fellow female Hollywood trailblazer, Gale Anne Hurd, who is receiving the event’s Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award. “I’m really excited about that,” Cody confirms. “I think it’s so cool that she’s getting this award. I’m really interested to hear the Q&A with her and hear about the experiences that she’s had. Especially making these films that I think a lot of people would consider not to be in a woman’s wheelhouse. She’s probably got a lot to say.”

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As per usual, Entertainment Weekly senior writer Anthony Breznican has the exclusive scoop on who will be participating in filmmaker Jason Reitman’s next “Live Read” event at LACMA. For a script indelibly stamped by Reitman’s dad Ivan.

Standing in on Thursday for the Ghostbusters trio of Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis will be, respectively, Seth Rogen, Jack Black and Rainn Wilson. The only problem is that a lot of Murray’s best lines as Dr. Peter Venkman were not on the page, so Reitman had to combine the original script with a transcript of the finished film. Per Breznican’s report:

“While almost all of the dialogue in the original screenplay is echoed on screen, the Venkman character is completely improvised,” Reitman tells EW. “It’s as if Bill Murray was given a mumblecore-style essay about each scene and then permitted to say whatever he wanted as long as he got the point across.”

“He slimed me” is in the script, but not the follow-up line: “I feel so funky.”

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One of the great things about Jason Reitman‘s “Live Read” series for Film Independent at LACMA is that the all-star sessions are never filmed or recorded for Internet posterity. It’s all about the audience surrendering to a live-performance moment. To bring that point home last night, curator Elvis Mitchell donned a pair of sunglasses and jokingly warned that anyone caught using a Smartphone in the audience would get a painful, personal visit from Laurence Fishburne.

Fishburne (pictured), seated center stage, was riveting as Mr. White, cranking out the first pair of Reservoir Dogs reading highlights: the injured-partner-in-the-car scene with Mr. Orange (Cuba Gooding Jr.) and the soulful significant-others discussion with jewelry store heist organizer Joe (Chi McBride). Bookending the all-black cast last night was Reitman, stage-left, who reads the script scene set-up info, and his Young Adult co-star Patton Oswalt, stage-right, who donned several comic relief hats as a radio DJ, policeman and more.

Terrence Howard put his own, seductive spin on the role of psychopath Mr. Blonde, played so memorably in the film by Michael Madsen. He also got one of the biggest laughs of the night when he came to page 59 and, in response to Reitman’s stage direction, told the audience, “I wasn’t ready to die yet.” Reitman quickly adjusted, expanding Quentin Tarantino‘s words to indicate a longer, drawn out death scene.

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NBC’s revival of their prime time line-up, er Jay Leno moving back to late night, starts next week. His guests include athletes who won gold at the Olympics like Apolo Ohno, Lindsay Vonn and Shaun White and others who are just famous for being trashy and on TV like the Jersey Shore kids, Kim Kardashian and Sarah Palin.

From NYT:

Monday, March 1 – Guests include Jamie Foxx, the Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn and a musical performance by Brad Paisley

Tuesday, March 2 – Guests include Sarah Palin, the Olympic snowboarder Shaun White

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Lost In The Air: The Jason Reitman Press Tour Simulator from Jason Reitman on Vimeo.

Jason Reitman writes, “Three months. Three hundred interviews. My press tour of North America and Europe with Up In The Air. A complete and utter blur.”

Follow Reitman on Twitter.

Screenwriter Diablo Cody, aka Brook Busey-Hunt, has declined to attend a FOX screening for her new film, Juno,that would have featured a Q&A afterwards. The comedy was directed by Jason Reitman and stars Ellen Page and Michael Cera.