Some felt is was too small, too independent, too experimental, too slow, too
boring, too un-marketable, but none of this matters now, because as of last
night Gus Van Sant's cinematic meditation on friendship and survival, Gerry,
was acquired by ThinkFilm. They are hoping for a Fall 2002 release. ThinkFilm's
marketing of Gerry will surely be an interesting campaign to keep an
eye on later this year.
Acting God John Malkovich's directing debut The Dancer Upstairs was
finally picked up by Fox Searchlight late last night in a deal that has been
floating around for days. A socially conscious film about terrorism and revolution
abroad, it will be noteworthy to see how they try to make the film appeal to
our post 9-11 mind-set.
Red hot director Juan Carlos Fresnadillo, who was named one of "Variety's
10 Directors To Watch" just days earlier, has had his Spanish film Intacto
nabbed by Lions Gate. Riding the coattails of fellow Spanish director Alejandro
Amenabar (The Others, Open Your Eyes), Fresnadillo's Intacto has
definitely been one of the more talked about films of the festival. Intacto
should have great success in certain U.S. markets. I would not be surprised
at all to see Fresnadillo following Amenabar's example by also crossing over
and making an English film sometime in the next few years.
It has been reported, but not confirmed that Finn Taylor's genre bending Cherish
has been acquired by Fine Line. Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow is
still under consideration for acquisition.
After having pristine, almost fall like weather in Park City for the first
half of the festival, the weather has become increasingly chilly over the past
few days. This includes a Tuesday evening freak snowstorm that hit many of the
surrounding areas of Park City, but not Park City itself. The surprising weather
system brought havoc upon drivers on the I-15, the 180, and the 189 freeways.
Over 100 accidents, some fatal, were reported on that night alone. This reporter
was involved in one of these accidents on the 189 heading to Provo to visit
with a friend and write some reviews - away from the Sundance madness - when
a car in front of us lost control and caused a three car pileup. Luckily, there
were no serious injuries, only my friend's red Honda Civic, which needless to
say had to be towed away.
The weather report for this closing weekend of Sundance calls for snow showers
on and off so if you are planning on coming up to enjoy the films please drive
with care. On that note, Thrusday night, Birthday Girl, staring Nicole
Kidman premieres up at Park City at the Eccles Theatre at 930pm. Expect a large
crowd. Tomorrow night the long delayed premiere of the Jodie Foster, Vincent
D'Onofrio, Jena Malone picture The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys opens
at Eccles at 600pm.
Jeremy Platt
18.01.2002 | Editor's blog
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