Filmmaker and guy who I tell everyone I’m related to when I want to sound smart, Ken Burns, has a new film about the Gettysburg Address entitled, The Address, debuting next Tuesday on PBS at 9 PM. (I believe we’ll have a drinking game for that.) For the film, Burns asked for some of the country’s politicians to help out by reciting the Gettysburg Address, and he claims that “No one turned us down.” Thus, you’ll be able to see President Barack Obama and Senator Marco Rubio in the film next week, but for now he needed something a little more hip and with the times to get the kids down at the penny arcade and pop stands talking about this groovy movie.
Burns teamed up with ESPN to make a brief promo video, and the result is most of the Worldwide Leader’s biggest personalities reciting the Gettysburg Address with their recognizable voices and trademark styles. Hell, I think Stephen A. Smith might have found a new calling in reciting classic speeches, so he should just go ahead and quit TV now.
UPDATE: The Address debuted on PBS this evening, and it focuses on the Greenwood School in Putney, Vermont. The boarding school for boys with learning disabilities challenges the students to not only learn about the Gettysburg Address, but also memorize it and recite it in front of an audience. The Address isn’t actually about famous people and TV personalities showing off their memorization skills, as it instead focuses on the amazing and inspirational triumph that the boys of the Greenwood School have worked for.
