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movie news
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Fri. 01 19. 2007 8:07 AM EST
Sundance Diary: Stars, Swag, Snow — But No Lindsay Lohan
Fest first-timer flies with a celeb, takes in Redford's welcome and opening-night film, 'Chicago 10.'
by
Josh Horowitz
Sundance founder Robert Redford speaks at the festival's premiere of "Chicago 10" on Thursday.
(
Evan Agostini/ Getty Images
)
This year MTV is covering the Sundance Film Festival from every conceivable angle — including an ongoing diary of our news team's experiences at the fest.
January 17, 3:45 p.m.
Sundance 2007 begins in a run-down Burger
King at New York's JFK International Airport. This will be my first time at the film festival, and in my mind's eye I never imagined it beginning this way. The Gate 16 waiting area is standing-room only, the crowd filled with publicists, journalists and surely a would-be wunderkind director or two (I sneak a peek at one working in Final Draft on his laptop). Since all of the aforementioned are there awaiting the next flight to Salt Lake City, I am here — at Burger King, wondering how the journey to the United States' most famous film festival could start here. I mean, where are all the celebrities? I've read the coverage, seen the stories. We all have. Where is Paris Hilton bundling up in a parka? I feel cheated.
4:11 p.m.
Sam Rockwell just brushed by me at the newsstand. That's better. That's Sundance. Rockwell is, of course, the indie darling of an actor who's flirted with breakthrough status here and there ("Confessions of a Dangerous Mind," Charlie's Angels"). I know he's coming to Sundance with two films, including one I'm particularly excited about called "Snow Angels" that co-stars Kate Beckinsale. I choose not to accost him. There's a whole week for that when we get there.
5:15 p.m.
Liftoff. Sam's up front. I'm in steerage. As it should be. I'm happy to have seen him, though. The only thing more Sundance-appropriate might have been if Steve Buscemi had asked me to trade his window seat for my aisle. I'll settle for seeing Rockwell. Oh, and Buscemi's got two films at the festival too. Yeah, big surprise.
10:27 p.m. (local time 8:27 p.m.)
Welcome to Sundance! OK, it's actually "Welcome to the Salt Lake City airport." And come to think of it, Sundance isn't really in Sundance. It's not quite a "Sixth Sense" secret but still, worth noting. Most of the fest takes place in nearby Park City, a ski resort town that's never less about skiing than for these 11 days every year.
January 18, 12:10 a.m.
Lindsay Lohan's in rehab?! So much for our scheduled interview with her late in the fest. Or maybe not. Stranger things have happened than her coming straight from rehab to a film festival. Lohan's flick, "Chapter 27," is one of the most anticipated of the fest (see "Timberlake, Lohan And That Dakota Fanning Flick: Sundance 2007 Preview"). She co-stars with Jared Leto — who plays Mark David Chapman, the man who killed John Lennon. "Just My Luck" it's not.
9:30 a.m.
I wander through this still-sleepy town for the first time by daylight. The signs for the festival are up and there are a smattering of film crews, but there's little evidence of the massive influx of Hollywood that's about to come (a sighting of "Extra" correspondent Jerry Penacoli doesn't count). The whole vibe of Park City feels almost like a city bracing for a natural disaster. The locals are few and far between. And many stores are closing down — except those stores are about to open back up, re-imagined as "lounges" with major sponsors giving away tons of swag to the stars. I'll be the one drooling with envy as Adrian Grenier grabs his free Xbox 360.
1:05 p.m.
MTV News writers Larry Carroll and Shawn Adler have joined me as we talk to the people running the press for Slamdance. If successful films spawn copycats, why should film festivals be any different? But that analogy might be paying short shrift to Slamdance which, since its 1995 debut, has helped propel such great filmmakers as Christopher "Batman Begins" Nolan and Jared "Napoleon Dynamite" Hess. Apparently this small town is big enough for two festivals after all. This year, Slamdance boasts a cool lineup including "Weirdsville," which stars Scott Speedman and Taryn Manning. We'll be all over it.
2:10 p.m.
Robert Redford is here. So I guess Sundance really has begun. He's just stepped out to make his opening speech to welcome the press to the festival. He looks tired, like he's made this speech before. And you know what, he has. For 20-plus years he's probably been talking about the diversity of voices present in these films and how this is a festival first and not a market. At the same time, there's nothing wrong with this speech or this festival. Sure it's commercialized, but I've been looking at the catalog and there are some amazing-sounding flicks here — films starring everyone from Lohan and Nick Cannon to Anthony Hopkins and Gwyneth Paltrow. So what if American Express and Delta have a piece of it?
2:20 p.m.
The festival's opening-night film screens tonight. It's called "Chicago 10," and it's a cool-sounding hybrid of documentary and fiction narrative. Featuring the voices of Nick Nolte and Mark Ruffalo (the flick is animated in part), it's all about the war protesters at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Redford introduces the director, Brett Morgen, who is positively psyched to be where he is. He talks about "what a bitch" it was to wait on line for an hour and a half to see a film at Sundance last year. No such worries for him this year.
2:40 p.m.
The press conference ends, and I race over to chat up one of the filmmakers sitting on this year's Sundance jury, Catherine Hardwicke, the director of "Thirteen" and "Lords of Dogtown." She tells me she's bummed that she can't snowboard this year thanks to an injury, but is thrilled otherwise. "I'm so excited that I'm not in the competition," Hardwicke says. She sounds as enthused as a first-timer like myself. "And I get to watch all these super cool films! It's going to be wild. My head is just going to explode." She says it with such a smile I find myself nodding. I guess I feel the same way.
8:45 p.m.
My head didn't explode, but I did just see my first screening at Sundance. "Chicago 10" pretty much lives up to the hype — engrossing, entertaining, at times even riveting. And you won't find a more relevant film this year. This one is sure to be one of the most talked-about films for the rest of 2007. And we saw it first. Redford's baby is going strong, alright.
This report is from MTV News.
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