"Taking Woodstock"

Actor Emile Hirsch, left, director Ang Lee, center, and actor Demitri Martin arrive at the premiere of "Taking Woodstock" in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. Lee directed the two actors in the film about how the iconic music festival came to be, "Taking Woodstock" opens Aug. 28, shortly after the real Woodstock's 40th anniversary.

The film is based on the autobiography "Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life" by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte. It centers around Elliot (played in the film by Demetri Martin), who offers up his parents' motel and music festival permit to the Woodstock organizers and helped the iconic event come to be, getting swept up in the music and the movement in the process.

Actor Demetri Martin arrives at the premiere of the feature film "Taking Woodstock" in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009.

The film was directed by Ang Lee, seen here at the "Taking Woodstock" premiere in New York on July 29, 2009. Lee won the Oscar for best director in 2006 for "Brokeback Mountain."

Elliot's parents, Jake and Sonia Teichberg, are played by Henry Goodman and Imelda Staunton, seen here with Demetri Martin, center. Elliot has to move back from New York City to help them save their motel, the El Monaco, which they have run into the ground. In order to generate some much-needed business, he offers the motel and his parents' music festival permit to the Woodstock organizers.

Eugene Levy, seen here with Demetri Martin, plays Max Yasgur, owner of the nearby dairy farm where the Woodstock Music and Art Fair (as the event was officially called) would take place. Woodstock took place there from Aug. 15-18, 1969, and celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2009.

Jonathan Groff, center, plays Michael Lang, one of the Woodstock organizers who makes use of Elliot's family motel, their festival permit and the farm next door to put together the iconic music festival. The real Woodstock celebrates its 40th anniversary on Aug. 15, 2009.

Actor Emile Hirsch arrives at the premiere of the feature film "Taking Woodstock" in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. He plays Billy in the film, a recently-returned Vietnam veteran.

Emile Hirsch as Billy, a Vietnam War veteran, in "Taking Woodstock." At the Los Angeles premiere, he said, "I think that one of the reasons Woodstock remains as famous as it is, even though I wasn't there, is it seems to represent the pinnacle, the peaceful kind of activists, kind of like utopia that generation was able to achieve."

Filming for the movie didn't happen in Bethel, N.Y., where the actual festival took place. Instead, "Taking Woodstock" was filmed in New York City and New Lebanon, N.Y. Here, Kelli Garner, Demetri Martin and Paul Dano are seen in a scene from the film.

Liev Schreiber, seen at the New York premiere, also stars in the film. At the New York premiere, he told the New York Observer, "The film brings a sense of optimism, community, diversity and acceptance. My parents were hippies and I spent some time in a commune, so I'm not pining for Woodstock to come back, but I am pining for the innocence it all had."

Liev Schreiber, seen on the right with Demetri Martin in a scene from "Taking Woodstock." Schreiber plays Vilma, a cross-dressing ex-Marine.

Demetri Martin attends the premiere of "Taking Woodstock" in New York on Wednesday, July 29, 2009. The film, based on the memoir ""Taking Woodstock: A True Story of a Riot, a Concert and a Life" by Elliot Tiber and Tom Monte, opens in theaters on Aug. 28.

Actor Emile Hirsch and girlfriend Brianna Domont attend the premiere of "Taking Woodstock" in New York on Wednesday, July 29, 2009.

Actor Emile Hirsch, left, and director Ang Lee arrive at the premiere of the feature film "Taking Woodstock" in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Aug. 4, 2009. The film opens on Aug. 28.