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Crowds, Stars, Even ‘God,’ Flock to Sundance
Tuesday January 21 6:00 PM ET
The Sundance Film Festival, the top independent film gathering in the United States, reached mid-point on Tuesday with big crowds, stars like Kevin Spacey and Salma Hayek and even a white-robed guy calling himself God on the streets of this mountain town.
Having a deity around is handy for the first-time filmmakers here because they are praying for many things such as: “Please, let me sell my film for a million bucks,” or “Please, let me be a big movie star,” or “Please, let me into that party with Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez.”
But the last request — the party invite — has been difficult given the huge increase in festival goers compared to 2002, when Olympic skiing and Sept. 11 kept attendance down.
Sundance organizers annually put attendance for the festival’s 10-day run in this town east of Salt Lake City at about 20,000, but early ticket sales and packed public busses lead them to them to think they will easily surpass that number after the festival ends on Sunday, according to a festival spokesman.
One young filmmaker who has already had his prayers answered is Matthew Ryan Hoge, who is making his directorial debut with the drama “The United States of Leland,” about the emotional wounds inflicted by a murder on both the victim’s family and the family of the man who killed him.
The film was produced by Spacey’s Triggerstreet Productions, which has a goal of finding undiscovered talent.
In typical indie fashion, “Leland” was shot on a small budget by Hoge and his crew in only nine days, he said. Early this week, it was bought by Paramount Classics, the specialty film wing of major Hollywood studio Paramount Pictures.
“We never doubted (his ability),” said Spacey. “We did our job, which was to try to facilitate getting many of the people he needed to come on board, and try to protect him and nurture him in the right way. Then all we had to do was step back and let him make his film.”
Independent film distributor Lions Gate Entertainment bought rights to “The Cooler” for a reported $1.5 million. It stars William H. Macy (“Fargo”) as a casino worker whose presence sends bad luck around a table of gamblers.
Fox Searchlight, the specialty film wing of Twentieth Century Fox, was near a deal to acquire rights to “Thirteen,” which stars Holly Hunter and Evan Rachel Wood, in a story about a 13-year-old girl (Wood) whose desire to befriend a popular schoolgirl leads to drug and sexual experimentation.
FRESH FACES, PACKED PARTIES
All three films are vying for the festival’s top price, the Grand Jury Award for best dramatic feature film that will be given at a ceremony on Saturday.
Wood is receiving a lot of attention as an actress to watch for in 2003, as are Lee Pace and Troy Garity in “Soldier’s Girl.” That film was inspired by the true story of an army soldier (played by Garity) who was beaten to death after his troop mates learned he dated a transgendered (a male-to-female role played by Pace) entertainer.
For festival goers lucky enough, they could have met Pace and Garity at cable TV channel Showtime’s party on Monday night to celebrate actress Salma Hayek’s directorial debut, “The Maldonado Miracle,” a feel-good film about a dying town whose prayers are answered when a Christ statue seems to bleed and tourists flock to town.
Hayek was at the party with boyfriend Edward Norton and the film’s co-star Peter Fonda. Also there was Peter’s sister Jane Fonda whose son is Troy Garity.
This past weekend, Park City’s main street had to be shut down because of the crush of people trying to glimpse Affleck and Lopez at a party for the Project Greenlight film contest.
As for the guy calling himself God. He is really Los Angeles filmmaker Curtis Hannum and he has a film to promote — a comedy called “The Real Old Testament,” which he says is a mix of Bible stories told in the style of MTV’s “The Real World ( news – Y! TV).” It playing at the Slamdance festival, one of the many sideline events here.
“I’ve got my cell phone, and I’m having conversations with Archangel Gabriel,” he told Reuters.
Hannum said he knows his bit of street theater raises awareness for all those people who have come to Sundance and found nothing but long lines and crowds.
“We see a lot of people again out here on the street who say ‘thank you’ for sending us,” said Hannum. In other words, their prayers must have been answered.