Fan Fare

Sundance surprise: Plenty of worthy pictures, but will any of them be hits?

Another Sundance Film Festival has come and gone, and by most accounts it was a banner year with better movie and more sales than in recent editions. At Saturday night’s awards ceremony, where love story “Like Crazy” picked up the jury prize for best film drama and Iranian lesbian tale “Circumstance” was the audience pick for best drama, veteran critic Todd McCarthy echoed what many festivalgoers were saying almost from the start of the event. The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic said, “this is one of the best Sundances I’ve ever been to.”

But what’s next? Critics, audiences and box office will be the judges. “We have to see what happens,” Sundance founder Robert Redford told Reuters on Saturday ahead of the awards. “We can get very excited, but no one’s going to know until the year plays out.”

Redford said that this year some 40 titles found distributors at Sundance, up from only 14 last year. That means there will be a huge number of mostly low-budget, independently-made movies in theaters this year, and many of those films — depending on how heavily they are promoted and the marketing money behind them — will fail at box offices. One never can be sure how Sundance films will play.

Last year, one hot title picked up at Sundance was “Buried,” a claustrophobic thriller centered entirely on Ryan Reynolds’ character trapped underground in Iraq. How much did it gross for Lionsgate? Just over $1 million — which probably covered just a few weeks’ worth of legal bills against hostile suitor Carl Icahn. Then there was “The Kids Are All Right” with around $21 million (a hit in the indie film frame), and a couple of Oscar nominations. Also, “Winter’s Bone” with just over $6 million (pretty good sum) and some Oscar nods too. But that’s the range for a well-performing art house movie.

This year’s high-profile deals included Weinstein Co’s acquisition of Paul Rudd comedy “My Idiot Brother,” which showbiz website Deadline Hollywood reported was picked up for a minimum guarantee of $6 million to $7 million. Paramount Pictures fell in love with “Like Crazy” for a sum said to be around $4 million. Kevin Smith skewered the financial dynamics of a Sundance deal at his “Red State” premiere and decided to take his movie on a promotional tour, starting March 5 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall and hitting major U.S. cities before ending on April 4 in Seattle. Smith says he’s going to self-distribute “Red State” on Oct. 19.

We’ll see what happens, as Redford says. One trend going for Smith and other indie filmmakers is the opening of new distribution channels on the Web. A second advantage is that after three tough years, there’s still money in the market. What will be the indie hit of 2011? What will be the next “Little Miss Sunshine,” “500 Days of Summer,” “Kids Are All Right?” Will it be the newly anointed Sundance winners “Like Crazy” and ”Circumstance”? Or the sort of unheralded, under-the-radar crowd-pleaser that keeps the pilgrims flocking to Sundance?

50 Cent at Sundance: A work in progess

(Note: strong language in quote, paragraph 2)

He’s not the first music star to try a crossover in entertainment to movies. Not even close. But at least Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is smart enough to know he can’t just jump into making films and be instantly an Oscar winner. So, on Saturday at a news conference at the Sundance Film Festival, the rapper whose albums include “Get rich or Die Tryin’” was quick to admit that as an actor and filmmaker, “I”m a work in progress.”

As a rapper, he’s known as 50 Cent, and his early work and life were as remarkable for their violence as they were his music. But as an actor, 50 prefers to use his name, Curtis Jackson. He has been acting for around six years, starting with an action movie titled after his album, “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” but more recently he has tried to stretch his talents. Three years ago, he came to Sundance and after seeing some of the films here, he told his producing partner, Randall Emmett, “we have to do the same shit they’re doing.” (something makes us think the Sundance organizers don’t consider their films that way, but we knew what Jackson meant).

So, Emmett and Jackson founded Cheetah Vision Films, cut a $200 million deal with Hollywood studio/distributor Lionsgate to make 10 movies. They have six in the can, and on Saturday at Sundance — his third time at the festival — he was talking about his new slate, his future in the film business and collaborating on movies with boxer Floyd Mayweather.

Jackson told Reuters he likes action films and comedies. Of the types of movies he’d like to make, he mentioned films such as “Training Day” and “Bad Boys.” And when asked who he wanted to work with, his answer was Sylvester Stallone and Forrest Whitaker. We reckon that’s quite a range.

He did mention that of the six films completed, he’s starring in one, “Things Fall Apart,” which he said was “more of a drama.” He ran into Robert Redford here at Sundance and Redford had seen an early version of the movie. Redford told Jackson, “you know, you were great in it.” Jackson asked Redford if he was surprised!

(Photo credit: Lucas Jackson, Reuters)

Sundance rebels?

If you’ve been reading our coverage of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival (and we certainly hope so, otherwise our boss won’t pay for a return trip in 2011), you know by now that this year event organizers were promoting a return to a rebelliousness among independent filmmakers — those people making movies outside Hollywood’s major studios. The words “rebel,” “rework,” “rebirth,” and others figure prominently on Sundance posters, t-shirts, film trailers and the like. If you haven’t been reading about it, click here and here.

So the natural question all week has been, “do this year’s films exemplify a renewed indie spirit?” The answer depends on how you look at it. In the opening day press conference, even Sundance founder Robert Redford and festival director John Cooper seemed to disagree with Redford calling it a festival of rebirth for that independent spirit and Cooper thinking it was more a renewal of Sundance’s pledge to promote fresh, new voices in cinema. Rebirth or renewal? … TomAIto or TomAUto.

Here’s what we think. Sundance is first and foremost about films and filmmaking, say it’s organizers. So, what about the movies? Many are about the same, and a few will always be different — as different as the people who made them and how audiences perceive them. We ask: how was “Buried,” about a Iraq war contractor buried alive, any different from 2003′s “Open Water,” about a pair of scuba divers stranded in the middle of the ocean when their tourist boat leaves them? Both take us on horrific journeys that lead to personal introspection, but “Buried” also preys upon our feelings about the years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. So that’s a little different, yes. Movie watching is subjective and, as Joseph Gordon-Levitt (you can call him Joe) told us, a new movie is often about taking an old idea and “putting your own, unique spin on it.” Read our Q&A with Joe here.

The marketplace for buying and selling movies here has changed, somewhat. Gone is the notion that the “indie” label could sell anything, and it has been replaced by a more pragmatic business sense. And, after a tough 2009 market, several movies including “Blue Valentine,” “happythankyoumoreplease,” “Hesher” and “Winter’s Bone” found distributors in the festival’s final days.  The investor money is out there to fuel the market, industry veterans here say, but the players at the table are making smarter decisions about how much to invest and where to put their money. Read about that here.

The “indie spirit” is still alive at Sundance, but it never truly went away. In recent years, one just had to clear away the surface clutter to get to it. After Sundance  became a corporate circus for promoting products in the 2000s, some — certainly not all — of those corporate marketers have gone, and the ones that are here are less aggressive. This year (and in 2009 to a great extent, too) the recession cleared the clutter away for audiences. That’s good. And  while some industry watchers complained about the number of stars showing up in independent films in the late 1990s and 2000s, those observers should get over it. The indie world has more challenging material and characters, and that attracts actors and actresses. The stars are here to stay, and that’s just the nature of major studio vs. indie moviemaking heading into a new decade.

You can see the “indie spirit” among winners in the video above — a sort of mash-up of acceptance speeches from Saturday night’s awards. (Read about the winners here). And below, just for fun, is David Hyde Pierce and John Cooper performing a rap to loosen up the crowd — a couple of middle-aged, white hip hoppers, now that was rebellious. Or just plain funny. Click below.

A Sundance filmmaker tell-all?!

The Sundance Film Festival is nothing if not about discovering new filmmakers and fresh voices in the world of cinema. Most of these writer/directors, of course, want their movies to make some sort of impact on audiences, but what impact does Sundance have on them beyond just selling their films into distribution or starting a career? We talked to some of them at a filmmaker meet-and-greet on Wednesday. Click on the video to see what they had to say.

from Environment Forum:

Hollywood’s greenest stars honor U.S. environmental group

Dozens of the world's top movie, television and music stars showed off their green cred on Saturday night at a Hollywood-style fundraiser honoring the Natural Resource Defense Council's 20 years in Southern California.

The event at Beverly Hills' Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel was a who's who of Hollywood environmentalists, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Redford, and Laurie David, a global warming activist and producer of the Al Gore movie "An Inconvenient Truth." All three are trustees of the NRDC's Southern California office. In 2003, the group even dedicated its new building to Redford.

It's no secret that the environment and climate change is a hot cause in Hollywood, and it's hard to imagine another social issue drawing as much star power to one event. The party also raised a hefty $2 million.

"Mad Men" star Jon Hamm and designer Tom Ford also attended the party, which was hosted by "Seinfeld" star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and included a musical performance by Grammy-winning rockers Maroon 5. Actress Rosanna Arquette deejayed the after party.

On stage, Redford recalled why he joined the NRDC in the 1970's, saying it was "because they had the power to sue."

Many attendees echoed that refrain throughout the night, with Louis-Dreyfus bluntly stating: "I love lawsuits."

The evening also included a list of the group's legal victories in the region, including helping to stop inadequately treated sewage from being dumped into the Santa Monica Bay and testing children for lead poisoning in the 1990s. More recently, NRDC and other environmental groups last year reached a deal with land holder Tejon Ranch to permanently protect 240,000 acres of California land from development.

Sundance’s real filmmakers

Robert Redford likes to say the Sundance Film Festival is a place of discovery for fresh cinematic voices, but often all we hear about are the stars. So, here’s some of those new filmmakers at Sundance 2009.

Sundance Opening Day, Early Buzz

For a glimpse of some of the buzzed about movies at this year’s Sundance, click below.

Sundance goes to Abu Dhabi? Maybe, Redford says

Now this is a cultural exchange. Sundance kid Robert Redford has said that his Sundance Film Festival is engaged in early talks to lend its name to a sister film festival in Abu Dhabi.

“It makes total sense we would extend our mission into the Middle East,” Redford told reporters at a news conference ahead of the festival’s opening on Thursday night. He said festival organizers have been approached by people — although he did not say whom — in the United Arab Emirates city about holding a festival there. “We are in discussions, but nothing has been signed,” he said.

What makes it most interesting is that Sundance is known as the No. 1 festival for U.S. independent film, and it has long embraced movies about outsiders and people who live on the edge of society. Sundance champions gay and lesbian films and filmmakers. It’s not exactly the type of image many Americans would like portrayed overseas, especially in the Middle East. Or, is it?

Another thing that Redford, a long-time activist for liberal causes, did was slam the Bush administration for cutbacks to funding for the arts during his tenure in the White House. Redford said he was optimistic that President-elect Obama will restore a favorable climate for public funding of the arts after he is inaugurated next week.

“I think we are going to see art and culture return to the national agenda and that’s very exciting to me,” Redford told reporters.

But it begs age old questions: What exactly is art? Should taxpayer dollars be used to fund an art project that some might view as inexplicable or even trash? And who makes the judgement call? Or, should there even be a judgement call? All good questions and ones that impact you because, after all, it’s your money the U.S. government is spending.

Paul Newman’s death casts pall over Hollywood

History may judge him as the greatest actor of his generation, which includes the likes of James Dean and Marlon Brando, but Paul Newman was more than just an actor. He was a gracious gentleman, family man and generous giver of his time and his money.

His death, at age 83 after a long battle with cancer, cast a pall over Hollywood and in his hometown of Westport, Connecticut on Saturday, and his friends, family and colleagues remembered him.

Robert Redford, his co-star in “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” and “the Sting” said in a statement: “I have lost a real friend. My life — and this country — is better for his being in it.”

Leonardo DiCaprio told Reuters that news of his death was ”sad and depressing.”

In Westport, at the public library where Newman and his wife of 50 years, Joanne Woodward, were often seen, reference librarian Nancy Clark said she set up a display of all his books, movies and biographies as a tribute. ”We are all terribly sad,” said Nancy Clark, a reference librarian at the Westport Public Library. “Once this sinks in it is going to hit the community terribly.”

But what about you, his fans?

Earlier this past summer when news reports surfaced that Newman’s condition had worsened and his death was near, we received numerous comments on Fan Fare wishing him the best and remembering his impact not just on movies and acting, but on numerous people he helped with his charity. If you have something to say, let us know.