''The Matthew Shepard Story'' is a 2002

made-for-television film A television film, alternatively known as a television movie, made-for-TV film/movie or TV film/movie, is a feature-length film that is produced and originally distributed by or to a television network, in contrast to theatrical films made for ...

directed by

Roger Spottiswoode John Roger Spottiswoode (born 5 January 1945) is a Canadian-British director, editor and writer of film and television. Early life He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was raised in Britain. His father Raymond Spottiswoode was a British ...

, based on the true story of

Matthew Shepard Matthew Wayne Shepard (December 1, 1976 – October 12, 1998) was a gay American student at the University of Wyoming who was beaten, tortured, and left to die near Laramie on the night of October 6, 1998. He was taken by rescuers to Pou ...

, a 21-year-old gay youth who was murdered in 1998. The film scenario written by John Wierick and Jacob Krueger, it starred

Shane Meier Shane may refer to: People * Shane (actress) (born 1969), American pornographic actress * Shane (New Zealand singer) (born 1946) * iamnotshane (born 1995), formerly known as Shane, American singer * Shane (name), a masculine given name and a su ...

as Matthew and

Stockard Channing Stockard Channing (born Susan Antonia Williams Stockard; February 13, 1944) is an American actress. She is known for playing Betty Rizzo in the film '' Grease'' (1978) and First Lady Abbey Bartlet in the NBC television series ''The West Wing'' ( ...

Judy Shepard Judy Shepard (née Peck; born August 15, 1952) is the mother of Matthew Shepard, a 21-year-old student at University of Wyoming who was murdered in October 1998 in what became one of the most high-profiled cases highlighting hate-crimes against ...

and

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television and, film. He has received a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actors Guild Award, and has receive ...

as Dennis Shepard. Producers were Alliance Atlantis Communications, with the assistance/participation of CTV and Cosmic Entertainment, with support from the Cdn. Film or Video Production Tax Credit (CPTC). The film premiered on

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

on March 16, 2002, the same day

HBO Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...

aired another Shepard film entitled ''

The Laramie Project ''The Laramie Project'' is a 2000 play by Moisés Kaufman and members of the Tectonic Theater Project (specifically, Leigh Fondakowski, writer-director; Stephen Belber, Greg Pierotti, Barbara Pitts, Stephen Wangh, Amanda Gronich, Sara Lambert, ...

''. ''The Matthew Shepard Story'' was also shown on CTV, with language versions shown in many countries.

Plot

In 1998, a young

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

man by the name of Matthew Shepard (

) was robbed, viciously beaten and left tied to a fence to die. Although he's found by the police, rescued and hospitalized, he dies from his injuries. This film recounts the events after the conviction of the two men responsible for this hate motivated murder. Matthew's parents, though satisfied by the conviction, are finding the sentencing phase of the trial more difficult. The parents initially want to request the

death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...

for their son's murderers, but the mother, Judy Shepard (

), starts to

reconsider In parliamentary procedure, reconsideration of a motion (or reconsideration of a question) may be done on a matter previously decided. The motion to "reconsider" is used for this purpose. This motion originated in the United States and is generally ...

. As they struggle with their decision, they decide to reexamine the life of their son and rediscover his personality, his struggle to accept his

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to peop ...

as a natural part of his being and above all, his generous

humanity Humanity most commonly refers to: * Humankind the total population of humans * Humanity (virtue) Humanity may also refer to: Literature * Humanity (journal), ''Humanity'' (journal), an academic journal that focuses on human rights * ''Humanity: A ...

to others. All of this leads the parents to appeal to the court the way their son would have wanted, not out of vengeance but to represent best of what their son was and the tragedy of his loss.

Cast

as Dennis Shepard *

Wendy Crewson Wendy Jane Crewson (born May 9, 1956) is a Canadian actress and producer. She began her career appearing on Canadian television, before her breakthrough role in 1991 dramatic film '' The Doctor''. Crewson has appeared in many Hollywood films, inc ...

as Sarah *

Kristen Thomson Kristen Thomson (born 1966) is a Canadian actress and playwright. Thomson was born in Toronto, Ontario. She is known for her one-woman play ''I, Claudia'', which was adapted to film in 2004. In that play and film, Thomson plays all of the roles ...

as Romaine Patterson * Joseph Ziegler as Cal *

Yani Gellman Yani Gellman (born September 2, 1985) is a Canadian film and television actor, known for playing Paolo Valisari in ''The Lizzie McGuire Movie'', Garrett Reynolds in ''Pretty Little Liars'' and Diego Flores in '' 90210.'' Early life Gellman was b ...

as Pablo *

Damien Atkins Damien Atkins is a Canadian actor and playwright."Damien Atkins stands out"
''< ...

as Donny * Philip Eddolls as Aaron McKinney * Paul Robbins as Russell Henderson *

Judah Katz Judah Katz (born June 23, 1960) is a Canadian actor born in Montreal, Quebec. He has worked in Toronto and Los Angeles for more than 30 years, appearing in both TV series and films. Winning an ACTRA award (now called a Gemini Award) for his v ...

as Defense Attorney * Drew Nelson as Lance *

Nazneen Contractor Nazneen Contractor (born August 26, 1982) is a Canadian actress known for her role as Layla Hourani on CBC's '' The Border'', and as Kayla Hassan on '' 24'' in 2010. She also guest-starred in the ''Letterkenny'' International Women’s Day ...

as Shima * Makyla Smith as Casey * Lindsay Murrell as Matthew's Date * James Bearden as Protester * B.J. McLellan as Logan Shepard (age 17) * David Broadhurst as Logan Shepard (age 12) * Shawna Lori Burnett as Female Officer * John Henry Canavan as Painter * Bruce Beaton as Cowboy * Brian Frank as Neighbour * Sadie LeBlanc as Girlfriend * Jim Codrington as Health Food Store Manager * Dorothy Gordon as Elderly Woman * Susan Chuang as Female News Anchor * Richard Blackburn as Judge * Ray Kahnert as The Minister * Patricia Carroll Brown as Angry Mourner * Dinah Watts as Cal's Secretary * Eduardo Gómez as Gomez * Scott McLaren as Drug Dealer * Derek Gilroy as Mike * Scott Wickware as The Bartender

Awards and nominations

The film went on to win several awards and nominations for others:IMDb: The Matthew Shepard Story – Awards and nominations
/ref> ;Awards *"Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role" for Shane Meier as Matthew Shepard at the 2003 Los Angeles

Outfest Outfest is an LGBTQ-oriented nonprofit that produces two film festivals, operates a movie streaming platform, and runs educational services for filmmakers in Los Angeles. Outfest is one of the key partners, alongside the Frameline Film Festival ...

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...

in 2002 for " Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Miniseries or a Movie" for

for her role as Judy Shepard *Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Movie or Miniseries at the 2003

Screen Actors Guild Awards Screen Actors Guild Awards (also known as SAG Awards) are accolades given by the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA). The award was founded in 1952 to recognize outstanding performances in movie an ...

for Stockard Channing. *Sam Waterston won a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in the United States ...

for "Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series". *The writers John Wierick and Jacob Krueger won the Paul Selvin Honorary Award given by

Writers Guild of America The Writers Guild of America is the joint efforts of two different US labor unions representing TV and film writers: * The Writers Guild of America, East (WGAE), headquartered in New York City and affiliated with the AFL–CIO * The Writers Guil ...

;Nominations *Outstanding Television Movie at the 2003

GLAAD Media Awards The GLAAD Media Award is an accolade bestowed by GLAAD to recognize and honor various branches of the media for their outstanding representations of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and the issues that affect their live ...

*"Best Writing in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series" for writers Jacob Krueger and John Wierick at the 2003 Gemini Awards *"Best Performance by an Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television" for Stockard Channing at the 2003

Satellite Awards The Satellite Awards are annual awards given by the International Press Academy that are commonly noted in entertainment industry journals and blogs. The awards were originally known as the Golden Satellite Awards. The award ceremonies take place ...

Soundtrack

The film also contains soundtrack album with the following: *"Matthew Songs" – Written, performed and produced by Jim Huff *"El Burkan" – Written by Hossam Ramzy *"I Keep Holdin' On" – Written by T. Leonard and A. Lerman, performed by Fathead *"Lonesome World" – Written and performed by Paul Kass *"Good Vibration" – Written by Mladen Borosak and Tom Barlow, performed by Twigg *"Naked in the Water" – Written and performed by Michaela Foster Marsh *"Shine" – Written Rob Garnder, Kadru Gardner and Mike Thibeau, performed by Electrostatic *"I Want You to Fall" – Written and performed by Monica Schroeder *"Get You Some" – Written by Robert J. Walsh, Ron Chick, Dennis Winslow *"Edge of a Dream" – Written by Billy Livesay and David Graham, performed by Billy Livesay *"Who'll Hold On" – Written and performed by Adam Daniel *"American Triangle" – Written by

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...

and

Bernie Taupin Bernard John Taupin (born 22 May 1950) is an English songwriter, singer and visual artist. He is best known for his long-term collaboration with musician Elton John, a songwriting partnership that is one of the most successful in history. Tau ...

, performed by Elton John *"What Matters" – Written and performed by Randi Driscoll

References

External links