sundance (36 posts)
Oprah Winfrey on Precious: Don't Expect to "Enjoy" It
Steve Granitz/Getty Images
Director Lee Daniels insists he never thought that his new movie, Precious, would have much success.
In fact, he never even thought it would be released in theaters.
"I thought it was going to go straight to DVD," Daniels told me last night at Precious' AFI Fest 2009 presented by Audi premiere in Hollywood. "I mean, who was going to want to see a movie about an obese black girl learning how to read?"
But then he got a call from Oprah Winfrey…
Star Trek's Uhura: Ready to Take Her Shirt Off Again
Paramount Pictures
Beam us up, Scotty!
Zoe Saldana says she's on board to start filming the sequel to this summer's blockbuster megahit Star Trek.
"We're working on it," Saldana, who plays Uhura in director J.J. Abrams' revived sci-fi franchise, tells me. "They were calling to see where we were going to be and how my schedule is next year."
She smiled, "Just that was worth me doing a cartwheel when I got the phone call, because I cannot wait to put on the suit and go back to the Enterprise, take my shirt off and be with all those yummy guys."
For those who can't wait that long for more Saldana, we've got Avatar coming up. Yes, she's seen director James Cameron's much anticipated flick, in which she stars as Neytiri…
Sundance Film Fest's Prop 8 Headache
George Pimentel/Getty Images
Will the ultraliberal, gay-friendly Sundance Film Festival be hurt by the passage of California's antigay Prop 8?
It's a possibility.
Earlier this week, John Aravosis, editor of liberal political blog Americablog, posted a story suggesting the state of Utah be boycotted in order to punish the Mormon Church for its rabid support of Prop 8, the ballot initiative that has now banned same-sex marriages in California.
The Robert Redford-founded not-for-profit Sundance is located in Park City, Utah, and relies on the yearly festival as its major fundraiser to support its programs and services. Next year's run in January is expected to draw at least 50,000 people, according to festival rep Brooks Addicott.
"Unfortunately, Sundance is located in a really bad state," Aravosis said.
And things got even sticker earlier today...
Exclusive
Park City Exclusives: Fiddy, Charlize, 90210 Geek-Out
I spent the week out at Sundance and was lucky enough to sit down with everybody. Seriously, everybody. So, this and next week, I'll be presenting extended interviews with a few of the biggest names on the scene.
Next up, the one and only 50 Cent. Hit play above and check out what Mr. Curtis Jackson has to say about his first-ever trip to the fest. Then scroll down and get my 90210 geek-out and exclusive chats with Adrian, Charlize and more.
Tracey Edmonds Rebounding with 50 Cent?
Courtesy of Tao,Lester Cohen/WireImage.com
Are 50 Cent and Tracey Edmonds dating?
Um, no. But rumors of a possible love match between the hip-hopper and Eddie Murphy’s ex are exploding across the Internet. Reports claim they hooked up at the Sundance Film Festival.
As I first told you, Edmonds attended VitaminWater’s private dinner for 50 Cent on Jan. 19, before his concert later that night at Harry O’s.
While reports have the two practically inseparable, Edmonds' rep tells me the only interaction they had was a simple hello. “They are not dating,” the rep said.
And speaking of Edmonds’ love life, word from the Thompson Beverly Hills hotel on Saturday had it that Eddie's ex was still wearing the engagement ring he bestowed when he proposed in July.
Onlookers report Edmonds was wearing a “massive rock” that resembled the eight-carat Cartier ring when she stopped by the hotel for Glamour magazine’s Glam Suite with Hugo Boss and Keds.
But no, it wasn’t Murphy’s bauble. Her rep says it was her own amethyst birthstone.
As for Murphy, he’s doing just fine since he and Edmonds split just two weeks after getting married on New Year's Day. He was spotted at the opening bash of Bank nightclub at the Bellagio in Las Vegas on Friday night getting very cozy with female admirers, according to fellow partygoers.
For more about 50 Cent at Sundance, click over to my colleague Ben Lyons' interview with the rap star and actor in the Lyon's Den.
Sundance Awash in River, Water
Sundance jurors took the aquatic theme and ran with it.
The 2008 edition of Robert Redford's annual indie wingding wrapped up Saturday night with Frozen River winning the Grand Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Feature and Trouble the Water scoring the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary.
Submitted by first-time filmmaker Courtney Hunt, Frozen River is a remarkable drama about a desperate trailer mom and a Mohawk girl who team up to smuggle illegal immigrants across the Canadian border into the United States.
"[The award] was so big I didn't even know what it was, and people were like, that's a good one, you definitely want to win that one," Hunt told E! Online. "I'm thrilled. When you live with something in your head all these years and then the world sees it and they connect to it, it's an incredibly satisfying feeling."
Sundance veteran Quentin Tarantino, who headed up this year's jury, heaped praise on the neophyte director and her film.
"It doesn't look like a movie, doesn't feel like a movie, it's a wonderful depiction of poverty in America that took my breath away," Tarantino said. "And then somewhere around the last hour it put my heart in a vice and proceeded to twist that vice until the last frame. And all of a sudden this completely naturalistic movie was one of the most exciting thrillers I'm going to see this year."
Trouble the Water had a similar effect on audiences here. The powerful and poignant Katrina exposé by former Michael Moore producers Tia Lessin and Carl Deal features verité footage shot by two Katrina survivors as they struggled to escape the deadly floodwaters that engulfed the Lower Ninth Ward.
"It's been a long road to get to this place," codirector Deal told E! Online. "We're really hopeful this will now see the light of day in the theater, because we believe it has the ability to transform people and to run over certain barriers."
Another documentary to make its mark at this year's fest was James Marsh's Man on Wire, which nabbed the World Cinema Jury Prize for Best Documentary.
The film plays like a heist movie as it chronicles French artist Phillipe Petit's incredible (and incredibly illegal) high-wire dance between New York's Twin Towers in 1974, an act of daredevilry that eventually became known as "artistic crime of the century." The doc also earned the World Cinema Audience Award.
"You've got impeccable taste," Petit told the audience after joining Marsh on stage to receive the accolade.
Swedish helmer Jens Jonsson's family drama King of Ping Pong scored the World Cinema Jury Prize for Best Dramatic Film.
Sundance, which has a worldwide reputation for discovering and nurturing emerging talent, bestowed its Directing Award for Best Dramatic Film on Lance Hammer for Ballast, a riveting drama about a Mississippi Delta family torn apart by tragedy.
Nanette Burstein picked up the Directing Award for Best Documentary for American Teen, focusing on four Indiana high school seniors.
One of Sundance's most prestigious prizes, the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award, went to Alex Rivera and David Riker for their screenplay for the former's sci-fi feature, Sleep Dealer.
Rivera also was named the recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan Prize, which awards $20,000 to a filmmaker whose work uses science or technology as an important theme or in the depiction of a major character.
Here's the complete list of winners at indie film's big dance:
Dramatic Grand Jury Prize: Frozen River
Documentary Grand Jury Prize: Troubled Water
World Cinema Dramatic Jury Prize: King of Ping Pong
World Cinema Documentary Jury Prize: Man on Wire
Documentary Audience Award: Fields of Fuel
Dramatic Audience Award: The Wackness
World Cinema Documentary Audience Award: Man on Wire
World Cinema Dramatic Audience Award: Captain Abu Raed
Directing, Documentary: Nanette Burstein, American Teen
Directing, Dramatic: Lance Hammer, Ballast
World Cinema Directing, Documentary: Nino Kirtadze, Durakovo: Village of Fools
World Cinema Directing, Dramatic: Anna Melikyan, Mermaid
Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award: Alex Rivera and David Riker, Sleep Dealer
World Cinema Screenwriting Award: Samuel Benchetrit, I Always Wanted to Be a Gangster
Editing, Documentary: Joe Bini, Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired
Editing, World Cinema Documentary: Irene Dol, The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins
Cinematography, Documentary: Phillip Hunt and Steven Sebring, Patti Smith: Dream of Life
Cinematography, Dramatic: Lol Crawley, Ballast
Cinematography, World Cinema Documentary: Al Massad, Recycle
Cinematography, World Cinema Dramatic: Askild Vik Edvardsen, King of Ping Pong
World Cinema Special Jury Prize, Dramatic: Ernesto Contreras, Blue Eyelids
Special Jury Prize, Documentary: Lisa F. Jackson, Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo
Special Jury Prize, Dramatic, Spirit of Independence: Chusy Haney Jardine, Anywhere USA
Special Jury Prize, Dramatic, Work by an Ensemble Cast: Choke
Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: (tie) My Olympic Summer and Sikumi (On the Ice)
International Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking: Soft
Honorable Mentions in Short Filmmaking: Aquarium, August 15th, La Corona, Oiran Lyrics, Spider, Suspension, W…
Alfred P. Sloan Prize: Alex Rivera, Sleep Dealer
- Complete coverage of 2008 Sundance Film Festival.
Slow Days at Sundance
Temperature-wise, single digits are in at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. Sales-wise, it's pretty frigid out there.
Robert Redford's 10-day indie-film extravaganza is closing in on its final weekend with few, if any, big buys by the major studios and their smaller rivals—the sole exception being the Andrew Fleming-helmed Hamlet 2, a hilarious high school comedy starring British comic Steve Coogan, which Focus Features scooped up early Tuesday for a whopping $10 million.
Unlike past fests, which sparked fierce bidding wars for such films as Craig Brewer's Hustle & Flow, eventual Oscar nominee Little Miss Sunshine and last year's John Cusack vehicle Grace Is Gone, this year's Sundance has been relatively quiet on the sales front despite the bevy of A-list premieres that have seen the likes of Charlize Theron, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Mischa Barton, Diddy and Sharon Stone gracing the red carpet.
Though that didn't stop more than a few celebrities from taking advantage of all that Park City has to offer.
"It's my first Sundance," said Saturday Night Live alum Jimmy Fallon, who turned out for last night's premiere of The Year of Getting to Know Us, in which he takes a rare dramatic turn. "It's great. It's snowing out. I went snowmobiling earlier today."
Besides Hamlet 2, the second biggest payday went to Clark Gregg's comedy drama Choke, whose worldwide rights were nabbed by Fox Searchlight for an estimated $5 million. The movie, a big-screen adaptation of Fight Club author Chuck Paluhniuk's novel, stars Sundance vet Sam Rockwell as a sex-addicted con artist.
Overture Films plunked down a reported $3.5 million for Henry Poole, a quirky dramedy featuring Luke Wilson and Radha Mitchell from director Mark Pellington (Arlington Road), who had a pretty good week along Main Street, as his other film, U23D, had its world premiere in Park City.
Perhaps it was the subdued mood of festival attendees after learning of Heath Ledger's tragic death earlier this week. Or maybe it was the ongoing writers' strike, which raised expectations of a feeding frenzy by distributors eager to beef up their slates should producers fail to reach a settlement soon with Hollywood scribes.
But by Wednesday, many of the Industry movers and shakers, such as Sheila Nevins, HBO's president of documentary programming, were on planes back to L.A. or New York, leaving it to lower-level minions to do the wheeling and dealing.
Outside of the aforementioned acquisitions, the only other picture to get a pickup so far was Frozen River, newcomer Courtney Hunt's debut feature about a working-class mom smuggling immigrants across the Canadian border to save her family.
The flick, which has earned dollops of praise, was purchased by Sony Pictures for low to mid six figures and is also being touted as a possible contender for the dramatic competition prize.
Beyond that, Tinseltown execs are said to be eyeing deals for a small list of indies, among them: Lance Hammer's Mississippi drama, Ballast; the soccer doc Kicking It; Randall Miller's winemaking tale Bottle Shock; Jennifer Phang's low-budget futuristic drama Half-Life; Russian mystery Mermaid, which the Weinstein Company is said to be eyeing; Phoebe in Wonderland, starring Patricia Clarkson; and Baghead, the latest entry from Jay and Mark Duplass, who last made a splash with their 2005 road movie The Puffy Chair.
On the documentary side, HBO Documentary Films was one of the first out of the gate, scoring a deal last weekend for The Black List: Volume One, a series of interviews with influential black icons like Colin Powell and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Quick to follow was Zeitgeist Films, which snapped up the rights to Up the Yangtze, an exposé about China's rapid transformation through the eyes of the people living along the famed Chinese river flooded by the Three Gorges Dam. That film unspools in theaters in April.
About the same time, on Apr. 8, HBO Documentary Films will also premiere on the pay-cable channel another Sundance acquisition, The Greatest Silence: Rape in the Congo. The doc has galvanized Sundance audiences to action by telling the heartbreaking story of rape survivors in the war-torn African country.
Asked whether she would have preferred a theatrical release, the filmmaker—who drew on her own experience as a rape victim to get the women to open up—praised HBO for providing a bigger forum to bring the horrendous crimes resulting from this terrible conflict to light.
”It could run for two weeks in sold out houses...and 12,000 people would see it. But one showing on HBO, and 12 million will see it," Jackson told E! Online. "I see it more as an advocacy piece."
The cable channel also ponied up $1 million for domestic rights to Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, Marina Zenovich's recounting of the great Polish director's 1970s child-rape case, while the Weinstein Company landed International rights for $600,000.
Other documentaries close to sealing a deal, meanwhile, include the Colin Farrell-narrated Kicking It, chronicling a group of homeless people competing in an international soccer competition, and Stacy Peralta's gangland exploration, Crips and Bloods.
- Get our complete coverage of the 2008 Sundance fest.
Sundancing: SJP, Alba, Bono and Barton
Randall Michelson/WireImage.com, George Pimente/WireImage.com, AP Photo/Dan Steinberg, George Pimente/WireImage.com
I'm back home, but the scoop from Sundance just keeps coming. Read on for the latest scoop on Sarah Jessica Parker, Jessica Alba and a pair of celebs caught stripping down at a party!
First up, Mischa Barton is at Sundance promoting Assassination of a High School President—and I hear she’s finding some time to celebrate her 22nd birthday today. I’m told plans are being finalized for a birthday party in just a few hours. It’s looking like it will be Barton and about 25 friends in a private room at the ChefDance dining series. I also hear Sharon Stone and Jimmy Fallon may also be there for a dinner celebrating their movie, The Year of Getting to Know Us.
But back to Barton: She hit the swag suites and picked up Stella McCartney shades from the Solstice Sunglass Boutique at the Hollywood Life House, along with a pair of not yet available oversize Balenciaga sunglasses.
Also at Hollywood Life, Mena Suvari showed things are still going strong with her boyfriend, party promoter Simone Sestito. I saw the lovebirds hanging out there as Suvari got a pair of limited-edition Asics boots. (Only 100 were made, and they were just for Sundance celebs.)
Meanwhile, I got some more deets on Sarah Jessica Parker’s swagging while she was in Park City. The other day I was the first to tell you that Parker, who hit the festival for the flick Smart People, picked up freebie Spyder jackets, Love from Australia boots and Guitar Hero III at Fred Segal at the Lift. Well, I just got word she also walked away with items from the Scarlet Poppy Arte clothing and linen company and a Glam Rock manicure kit.
And how will Jessica Alba shed her pregnancy pounds? While making the rounds at the Kari Feinstein Style Lounge, Ms. Alba was given Reebok fitness equipment, including a treadmill, an elliptical machine and a stationary bike!
Why were Olivia Wilde and Bijou Phillips stripping at Stereo the other night? No, they weren’t getting naked. They were putting on some Scanty thermal sets, because the clothes they were wearing were donated to be auctioned off by Clothes Off Our Back to benefit children’s charities.
Now, whatever happened to the much buzzed about surprise performance by U2 at the Greenhouse after-party for their flick, U2 3D? I’m told they were all set to go—they apparently even had a sound check earlier in the day—but ditched the plans after drummer Larry Mullins Jr. decided not to go to the bash.
U2’s The Edge, however, was around for a few more days. He was spotted on Sunday night at Self magazine and Origins’ launch party for the Harmony Project, a new art group promoting social and environmental causes. The evening included the debut performance of Moby’s new band, the Little Death.
Speaking of music, David Arquette filmed pal Lukas Haas’ performance on Monday night at Teddy’s at the Lift. Earlier that same night, celebs like Jodie Foster, Danny Glover and Andie MacDowell toasted new talent at Variety’s 10 Directors to Watch shindig at the Stein Eriksen Lodge.
Marc Ecko
One shindig I’m definitely miffed I missed was designer Marc Ecko’s Adventures in Wonderland tea party. People in white rabbit costumes greeted guests like Haas, Adrian Grenier, Kim Kardashian and Chamillionaire. The party included displays of Ecko’s artwork, including a mixed-media piece (above) featuring a distraught Humpty Dumpty who appears to be infatuated with Grenier’s most recent reported hookup, Lindsay Lohan.
Jeff Vespa/WireImage.com
Now, take a look at the photo of me to the left. I’m wearing Tundra Gear’s big pink fuzzy Dr. Zhivago-esque hat. As I told you last week, Survivor winner Aras Baskauskas started Tundra Gear. What I didn’t know then is that 10 percent of the company’s profits go to the Cheshire Project, a creative arts program for people with disabilities. And proceeds from the pink number also go to fight breast cancer. Nice!
Well, that's it from Sundance. Maybe. The festival runs until Sunday. You just never know what can happen between now and then.
—Additional reporting by Laura Lane
Remembering Ledger's Brokeback Influence
Paramount Pictures
Lee Marks didn’t know Heath Ledger personally, but that didn't stop him from choking up when talking about the late actor.
Why? Because Marks says it was Ledger's role in Brokeback Mountain that helped inspire his own work in Half-Life, a live-action/animated drama centered around an Asian American family living in Diablo Valley, California. The film, by writer-director Jennifer Phang, premiered last night at the Sundance Film Festival, which is where the actor talked about Ledger's influence on his performance.
Marks (below, left) costars as a teacher whose career is threatened when he becomes romantically involved with a man, played by Leonardo Nam (below, right).
“I always told myself that when I was able to play a gay character, I'd feel that I had arrived as an actor,” Marks said while fighting back tears at the movie's premiere. “I read an article about how Heath developed his character and what the character felt. I watched Brokeback Mountain about 15 times.”
Randall Michelson/WireImage.com
Nam, who grew up in Sydney, Australia, said he and Ledger hung out in the same social circle and shared an acting coach. “He was such a brave actor by the way he directed his own career, making choices such as Brokeback and now doing the Batman movie,” Nam said. "It's dangerous to reprise a role that has already been done by Jack Nicholson. It was incredible to choose that."
—Additional reporting by Laura Lane
Sundancing: Tracey Moves On from Eddie
Steve Granitz/WireImage.com
Tracey Edmonds isn’t letting the demise of her marriage to Eddie Murphy get in the way of having a good time.
Edmonds is making the rounds at the Sundance Film Festival. Sources tell me she was spotted on Saturday at VitaminWater’s private dinner for 50 Cent at ChefDance.
“She came through a back entrance and didn’t allow photos,” a fellow dinner-goer told me.
And then on Sunday, I’m told she hung out in the Fuse TV Lounge at Harry O’s during the 944 magazine and Tao party. “She was drinking and laughing with her girlfriends,” an eyewitness said.
Speaking of the 944 and Tao bash, Paris Hilton was there. Her upcoming comedy movie, The Hottie and the Nottie, had been feted earlier in the evening at a Bon Appétit dinner prepared by Iron Chef winner Cat Cora. When the movie’s after-party started at about 11 p.m., Hilton took a trip to the bathroom with two gal-pals. No biggie—except why on earth did her big male bodyguard join them in the loo?
After that, the heiress headed over to Harry O’s, where she jumped on stage during Velvet Revolver’s performance to bang a drum or two. Then she made her way to the Green Door Mansion to hang in the Dom Pérignon VIP room. The snowstorm was in full force by the time she wanted to leave. Hilton had to stay put for about an hour until the closed roads were reopened to traffic.
Meanwhile, Kirsten Dunst did her best not to be seen. She ran into Main Street Deli at about 9:30 p.m. on Sunday to get away from the crowd. “She just wanted the back door to ditch out of here because there were people following her,” an eyewitness said.
At about the same time, Dave Matthews was down the block at Butcher's having dinner. When a young female fan sent him a beer, he insisted she come over to meet him.
Sundance runs until Saturday. I’m going to have a lot more for you as the week goes on.
—Additional reporting by Laura Lane
Paris and Jared's Photo Finish
Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage.com
On Sunday, I told you my spies saw hotel heiress Paris Hilton and former My So-Called Life star Jared Leto getting cozy at the Sundance outpost Hyde at Village at the Yard.
Well, now you can see it. Click over to dlisted.com for a look at the lip-lock in question.
Still, no word if there are shots featuring Hilton's other alleged Sundance smooch...with Simon Rex!
This Just In! SJP Spotted at Sundance
James Devaney/WireImage.com
Sarah Jessica Parker was just spotted pickin’ up some freebies at Fred Segal at the Lift.
She took home a Royalty jacket from Spyder, two pairs of Love from Australia boots and Guitar Hero 3 for her son, James.
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