LOS ANGELES, June 30 (UPI) — Hollywood producer Ryan Murphy teamed with the Human Rights Campaign to create a star-studded short film eulogizing those lost in the Pulse nightclub massacre.
On June 12, a gunman walked into a gay club in Orlando and killed 49 people and wounded dozens of others.
Following the tragedy, Human Rights Campaign president Chad Griffin reached out to Murphy and the two crafted the call to action.
“We want to ensure that what we do is effective,” Griffin told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s on all of us to know each and every one of them by name and for their legacies to, in part, spur change on important issues.”
The video, filmed over two days on June 20 and 21 at the 20th Century Fox Studios in Hollywood, features a long list of celebrities including Laverne Cox, Lady Gaga, Matt Bomer, Caitlyn Jenner, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Chris Pine, and Jane Fonda, who read the story of Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, whose story was shared in the days following the attack.
McCool, a mother of 11 and a two-time cancer survivor, was killed while protecting her son Isaiah from gunfire.
Jamie Lee Curtis read the story of Amanda Alvear, a 25 year old woman whose life seemed to be just starting.
“I think [the film] has to have gravitas, yet my young woman just lost 180 pounds,” said Curtis. “She was changing her life. She wanted to be a nurse. That’s celebratory.”
The cost of the project was covered by donations – the sound stage, the crew, hair and makeup – were all provided free of charge. What was left was paid for by Murphy.
While honoring the victims, Murphy also wanted this film to become a catalyst for change.
“I think the topic of gun control had become something that everybody was talking about, particularly in this community, but now I feel people are very mobilized,” said Murphy. “It’s madness that 90 percent of our country wants stricter gun control laws and yet we’re held hostage by this select group of Republicans. I think people are getting angry about it.”
