The Five Biggest Stories From Sundance—So Far!

It's early in the annual festival, but that doesn't mean things arent' happening. Check out our list and bask in the knowledge of Elizabeth Olsen, Kevin Smith's Red State and Chelsea Handler

By Gregory Imler Jan 25, 2011 2:03 AMTags
Lizzie OlsenJustin Namon/ Worldredeye.com

The Sundance Film Festival is underway in Park City, Utah, and it's the place now for Hollywood's hottest celebs to be seen. But behind all the snowboarding photo ops, there's also a lot of wheeling and dealing going on.

Careers are being launched, potential blockbusters are being discovered, and a mysterious new Olsen sister is making a splash!

So here are the five must-know Sundance happenings so far (it's still early!):

1. The Olsen Twins Have a Little Sister! Seriously, they do. Her name's Elizabeth, she studies psychology at NYU and thanks to Sundance, her career is skyrocketing. The little sis stormed into Park City this week, starring in two flicks making their premieres, Silent House and Martha Marcy May Marlene.

Not bad in and of itself. But get ready for much more from the younger Olsen. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Olsen will be teaming up with big-screen heavyweights Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver for Red Lights, a psychological thriller about a team of psychologists trying to expose psychics as dangerous fakes. Have to wonder if her early supporting role in her sisters' 1994 epic How the West Was Fun was the first indicator of success.

AP Photo/Danny Moloshok

2. Kevin Smith Will Waste Your Time—If You Want to Buy His Movie: With his horror film Red State premiering at Sundance, the writer-director announced that following the screening, he'd be auctioning off the rights to distribute the film. Sounded like a lucrative deal. So naturally, movie people showed up with their teams in place ready to make a move. Only, the auction didn't last that long.

After accepting his own bid of $20, Smith announced he would distribute the film himself through his own Smodcast Pictures, shirking the traditional methods of advertising a film—you know, like movie trailers—and pissing off a roomful of businesspeople. Instead, Smith will build buzz for the film by taking it on a cross-country promotional tour ahead of its Oct. 18 release date. Check out the list. It may be coming to a city near you! Or not.

3. Paul Rudd Is Gonna Sell You Some Drugs: Would we lie to you about a film being buzzworthy? Of course not. In one of the first big deals made at the annual fest, the Weinstein Company picked up the new Paul Rudd flick My Idiot Brother, a comedy about a pot dealer (Rudd) who moves in with his three sisters as he tries to get back on his feet. And not only can we expect that classic Rudd humor that just makes the world a better place, he's also rocking some serious beard action. But you know, beards are great places to hide your drugs.

4. Chelsea Handler Might Have a New Boyfriend: OK, it's not movie news, but who doesn't like a heartwarming tale of two people getting together? Our own funnylady was seen getting cozy with a guy while hitting the scene up in Utah, and no, it wasn't 50 Cent. Chelsea was spotted with hotel mogul Andre Balazs. Eyewitnesses reported seeing the two making out at the Florence + the Machine show at Bing Bar, and later that same evening at Tao nightclub.

5. Facebook Got a Movie, So Now YouTube Has One, Too! Nothing out of the ordinary happened on July 24, 2010. But from here on out it'll be known as the day of the YouTube movie! Last year on this day, director Kevin Macdonald asked filmmakers of all abilities from all over the world to capture a glimpse of their lives on camera and to upload the footage to YouTube. Now the feature film, Life in a Day, combining all that footage will be coming to a theater near you thanks to National Geographic. It's going to be our own little time capsule to future generations. Think about how they'll laugh at our old-timey clothes.