The Dude abided in Montreal on Friday as a group of performers led by Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence and Patton Oswalt revived the Coen brothers’ cult classic in front of a packed crowd, many of whom had queued for up to 10 hours for a ticket.

This Live Read was the latest in the seasonal series organised by director Jason Reitman in which an ersatz group of unprepared performers read aloud a classic script. Reitman has run the shows, mostly in Los Angeles, since 2011; he wrangles the cast and chips in with stage directions. It was a homecoming of sorts for the director, who was born here, and who returns as part of the annual Just For Laughs festival. That event’s general spirit of joie de vivre was a good match for the title Reitman picked; the two and a half hours flew by.

Fassbender and Oswalt played the Dude and his friend Walter, roles made famous by Jeff Bridges and John Goodman, while Lawrence took on Julianne Moore’s original part of Maude Lebowski. The rest of the group was fleshed out by Fassbender and Lawrence’s X-Men peers, in town to shoot the latest instalment, as well as by members of Mike Judge’s Silicon Valley ensemble.

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– Events From 2015 > July 24th: ‘The Big Lebowski’ Script Live Read In Montreal