News > Damon, Mortensen, Tomei and More to Speak in Doc

Written by David Morgan

Chris Moore (Project Greenlight) is executive producing a miniseries and feature-length documentary based on historian Howard Zinn's 1980 book A People's History of the United States. The documentary will be called The People Speak and will feature music and readings all about the triumphs and tribulations that America has experienced during the past five hundred years.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Matt Damon, Marisa Tomei, Viggo Mortensen, Josh Brolin, Danny Glover, David Strathairn, and Kerry Washington will provide performances or otherwise appear in some capacity. These performances will interweave with archive footage, photographs, and interviews. Eddie Vedder and John Legend will lend their musical talents to the project as well. Zinn will provide introductions and the historical context through oncamera appearances.

Moore said of the project, "It's going to be a great piece of entertainment but more importantly something people can watch and learn and remember how great this country has been and how individual people have changed the course of history. It's going to make them think, laugh and cry and be proud to be American."

Zinn added, "Our hope is that these words from the past will speak passionately and clearly to the needs of the present."

It'll be interesting to see how this turns out and is received. It sounds like disposable infotainment on the one hand, but it's got quite a bit of real talent involved.