When you've got press credentials at the Sundance Film Festival, your e-mail in-box overflows with press releases, party invites, notifications of red carpet appearances, and lots more grease for the hype machine. And just a few days in, a few notably awesome and awful publicity gimmicks have stood out:
While Sundance 2011 barrels on with swag, chatter and sundry other thrilling Park City pastimes, sometimes you just need to see the festival for the truest sense of what's going on. Like Lil Jon playing ping-pong with Susan Sarandon, or James Franco blowing it out at his afterparty. To the slideshow!
"Let's tear this place apart!" So instructed director Jason Eisener before Friday's midnight premiere of Hobo with a Shotgun, the unabashedly campy Canadian-American grindhouse flick about a homeless drifter who cleans up the streets of a depraved urban metropolis with only a pawn shop shotgun and plenty of gloriously insane death-dealing catchphrases in his arsenal. And while it may have disappointed Eisener and Co. that an actual riot didn't erupt before or after their film, they must have been pleased that Hobo played exactly right to just the genre-loving crowd it was made for.
It's still eerily quiet here in Park City, so Movieline popped into Main Street's only pop-up insurance agency for our first Sundance Swag Report. Those crazy kids over at Fox Searchlight have constructed an entire insurance agency to promote their Sundance entry/coming-of-age comedy Cedar Rapids, about a small town insurance agent (Ed Helms) who has the weekend of his life at a convention in Iowa. Because nothing says "sexy Sundance swag" like wood paneling and hot apple cider! (Sexy, sexy swag pics within.)
It looks like Kevin Smith might get sacked. (Nyuck, nyuck.) Deadline's Mike Fleming reports that a large number of potential Red State buyers are upset that the film screening on Sunday night conflicts with the AFC Championship game between the New York Jets and Pittsburgh Steelers. Writes Fleming: "A lot of indie distribution executives hail from New York and New Jersey (as does Smith), and they've waited a long time to see the Jets get into a Super Bowl." Somewhere, Bob and Harvey Weinstein are nodding in agreement. [Deadline]
The Sundance Film Festival is off and running, but the major fireworks won't start until the weekend. Well, major if you're a horror geek who just so happens to love Kevin Smith and has a few million dollars lying around to purchase his newest film, Red State.
Among the topics at hand today as Robert Redford held court in Park City, Utah to open the 2011 Sundance Film Festival: The Sundance Institute's commitment to artists, their plans for global domination, how the fest is getting with the times (Twitter!), and of course, Kevin Smith's Red State. Because even in a wide-ranging convo about the storied indie mecca that Redford built, Smith's attention-grabbing, not-screening-for-press Christian homosexual murder pic had to steal the spotlight. Highlights of what Redford, festival director John Cooper, and Executive Director Keri Putnam had to say (including awkward chatter about marketing "riff raff" and rival fest Slamdance) after the jump.
No bidding war necessary for Morgan Spurlock's latest Sundance documentary. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold -- which will premiere at the festival -- was officially picked up by Sony after a lengthy courtship. "Sony Pictures is the greatest distributor a film could have," said Spurlock in a statement. The Greatest Movie Ever Sold -- which focuses on product placement in movies -- will hit theaters in April. Fun! You can keep up with all of the happenings at Sundance by following Movieline's extended coverage right here. [indieWIRE]
Some contemporary filmmakers just have a charmed life when it comes to Sundance. Winter's Bone director Debra Granik comes to mind. The Duplass brothers are up there. And let's definitely not forget Joshua Leonard, the actor-director whose 13-year relationship with the festival continues this week with his feature helming debut The Lie.
And so it begins: The 2011 Sundance Film Festival launches tonight with all the hype, hysteria and hosannas you've come to know and expect, an avalanche of movie-love from the racing heart of the Wasatch Mountains. Movieline will have troops on the ground as per custom, but before the first frame unspools, let's take a step back and see what's stimulating Park City's real winter sports: The Sundance bidding wars.
The despondent, face-ripping marvel that is I Melt With You went even crazier this afternoon wit the release of its latest... teaser? Experimental plug? Tormented curio? All of the above? Whatever you want to call this krazy klip, it features co-star Thomas Jane's own headscratching riff on the "pain of the modern male psyche." Because when Tom Jane hurts, he apparently takes it out on the desert.
So you might have heard Sundance gets underway this week, but Sony Pictures Classics isn't wasting any time on the acquisitions front: The distributor has picked up the Michael Shannon/Jessica Chastain psychological thriller Take Shelter, which premieres in competition Jan. 24. CAA -- which represents virtually the entire principal cast as well as writer-director Jeff Nichols -- sealed the deal with two days to spare before the fest's opening night. And thus it falls off Movieline's annual bidding-war forecast, also coming soon. Congrats to all.
Also in this Tuesday edition of The Broadsheet: Ricky Gervais speaks!... Charlie Sheen allegedly e-mails escorts from an AOL account... Sandra Bullock's baby has an app for that... and more ahead.
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