Sundance 2007, Day 1

It’s my sixth trip to Sundance, after skipping it last year in favor of Berlin. Sundance is every bit as wonderful and maddening as I remember it, with endless waits in lines, unhelpful media contacts, screenings full of whiny and jaded critics – and the unfailing sense of anticipation that the next film will be the great one I’ve been waiting for.

I’ve seen two so far – neither great, but not horrible either. I got a screener of “Great World of Sound” before I left – it was filmed in Charlotte, though not very recognizably. It’s about two guys who get jobs working for a sleazy record producer, and their job is to listen to a bunch of wannabe musicians and try to get them to sign on – in exchange for a fee of course. Here’s the cool thing (spoiler alert): Almost all of the auditions in the movie were real musicians who answered a newspaper ad and thought they were really trying out for a record producer. They were filmed secretly, with the two actors improvising in character, and told later it was for a movie (presumably they all signed releases and were happy to be in the movie; otherwise maybe it’s the next ‘Borat’).

Funny thing: The guy who played the sleazy producer, John Baker, was on my
flight yesterday – he lives in Weddington and had a bit part in “Talladega Nights.” I recognized him in line so I went up to him and chitchatted a bit, then told him “You did a good job – I felt a little bit of revulsion when I saw you.” He took it as the compliment I intended.

And after arriving yesterday, I managed to make it to the premiere of “Snow Angels,” the latest from director David Gordon Green (“All the Real Girls,” “Undertow”). Kate Beckinsale was supposed to be on hand, but she didn’t show, nor did co-star Amy Sedaris, much to my disappointment. Sam Rockwell and two of the younger actors – both of whom seem to be up-and-coming so I bet we’ll be seeing them in more things – were there. So was Green, who’s finally looking closer to his twentysomething age instead of being mistaken for a 12-year-old boy, which is how he looked last time I saw him. The movie was a real downer – it has some comedy in the beginning, but you can tell it’s going in a bad direction, and then something really tragic happens, and then some even worse things happen. But there’s a note of hope too. A typical Sundance mood piece, I guess. Here’s my writeup from today’s Observer: click here.

Afterward I went to the cast party. The best thing about it was the free food, as I had been going since 4:30 a.m. Eastern time (that would be 2:30 a.m. Utah time) without a meal. I people-watched a while, ran into the sleazy record-producer actor again, and had a couple of interesting conversations before crashing.