The Sundance Film Festival, which kicks off Thursday night, traditionally serves as a sneak preview of the year in American independent film as well as the launching pad of some of the biggest crossover hits, “Memento,” “In the Bedroom,” “You Can Count on Me” and “The Blair Witch Project” among them.
Yet the top indie film story of last year — just about the only indie film story of last year — involved a movie that Sundance chose not to play: “My Big Fat Greek Wedding.” Its wholly unexpected $230 million box-office score triggered much punditry about the new commercial possibilities for no-name, low-budget, heartwarming comedies.
But to Sundance Film Festival Director Geoffrey Gilmore, “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” serves as a helpful reminder of the difference between the mainstream and his 10-day festival that takes place amid the ski mountains of Park City, Utah.
“I actually don’t have any regrets about not running it,” Gilmore said. “It clearly had an audience, and it clearly will have an impact on people who want to see independent film as having a commercial orientation, but in terms of the qualities of the film, I really didn’t think of it as much of a festival work.”
“It’s indie by providence but not indie by personality,” agreed Mark Urman, U.S. distribution head for the small distributor ThinkFilm. “It’s very mainstream, and while I have nothing against mainstream, it has little to do with the very edgy and free-spirited stuff that Sundance and the independent sector are traditionally associated with.”
So while the corporate muckety-mucks may request that their film buyers find this year’s “Big Fat Greek Wedding” at Sundance, the hands-on distribution people more realistically expect the festival to offer its typical combination of idiosyncratic features and shorts made by fledgling filmmakers and others who, at least so far, have eluded the cookie-cutter stamp of Hollywood.
Distributors may be wary
At the same time, those distributors may be wary given the fates of last year’s Sundance acquisitions. Miguel Arteta’s “The Good Girl,” starring Jennifer Aniston, was a solid hit, and Patricia Cardoso’s “Real Women Have Curves” and Steven Shainberg’s “Secretary” proved popular on a modest scale.
But festival award-winners such as “Tadpole,” “Personal Velocity,” “Bloody Sunday” and “Love Liza” have all but disappeared amid flashier competition.
“Anybody who did a very intelligent analysis of what was bought at Sundance and released over the past year would find it sobering and very alarming,” said Urman, whose company picked up “Love in the Time of Money” last year only to see it bomb.
“Since some of those were acquired for a lot of money in the heat of the moment at the height of passion, I think all of us should learn a lesson and swear we won’t do it again. These little, fine character-driven independent movies that show up at Sundance year in and year out, they’re just more fragile now, and they can’t compete.”
On the flip side, Paramount Classics co-president Ruth Vitale said she’s especially eager to see this year’s slate revealed.
“Every year we go through the schedule, and we target films we think are priorities, and this year we have targeted more films than in any other,” Vitale said. “We have 25. That means there are more movies that have recognizable elements in them that we need to pay attention to.”
Those recognizable elements tend to be names. This year’s high-profile premieres include Robert Downey Jr. starring in Keith Gordon’s version of the great Dennis Potter BBC musical series “The Singing Detective”; Neil LaBute’s film version of his stage play “The Shape of Things,” starring Rachel Weisz and Paul Rudd; James Foley’s con-game movie “Confidence,” starring Edward Burns, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia and Weisz again; “Masked and Anonymous,” Larry Charles’ allegorical film about a benefit concert that features Bob Dylan as a cult star plus Jeff Bridges, Penelope Cruz, John Goodman and Jessica Lange; “The Celebration” director Thomas Vinterberg’s surreal new romance, “It’s All About Love,” starring Claire Danes and Joaquin Phoenix; Al Pacino in the much-delayed New York press agent story “People I Know”; and Oliver Stone’s documentary about his three days of bantering with Fidel Castro, “Commandante.”
“It seems like there are a lot of name actors in a lot of things this year, more so than in recent years,” said Magnolia Pictures president Eamonn Bowles, who said he expected a “status quo” year in terms of film buying.
“In the old days when a big name or mainstream artist deigned to make a low-budget film, it was maybe Christine Lahti or Tori Spelling,” Urman said. “Now it’s like the big stars of the world.”
Showcasing indie stars
The festival also showcases stars of the indie world. Patricia Clarkson, currently garnering best supporting actress accolades for “Far From Heaven,” is this year’s belle of the fest (a title previously held by Parker Posey and Lili Taylor), appearing in three films, including “All the Real Girls,” David Gordon Green’s follow-up to “George Washington,” and “The Station Agent,” Tom McCarthy’s film about a train-enthusiast dwarf who affects the lives of two loners.
Both of those films will compete for the dramatic feature prizes, as will Wayne Kramer’s “The Cooler,” starring William H. Macy as a hard-luck casino fixture; the Kevin Spacey-produced “The United States of Leland,” starring Ryan Gosling as a teen murderer and Don Cheadle as his prison teacher; “Party Monster,” a club-scene murder story that marks the big-screen comeback of Macaulay Culkin; and Scott Saunders’ “The Technical Writer,” which does the same for Tatum O’Neal.
With Downey’s return and Mickey Rourke’s presence in two films, Sundance 2003 could be dubbed the career-resurrection fest.
There are 120 features in all, including dramatic films and documentaries, chosen from a pool of 2,050 films submitted (including shorts), up from 1,730 last year.
Although the shaky economy has made movies harder to finance over the past year, digital filmmaking, which is less costly and labor-intensive, has more than compensated. Gilmore said 49 of this year’s features were shot digitally, compared with 25 last year.
Gilmore stressed that although distributors view the festival as a market, commercial considerations are not the driving force behind Sundance. “It’s not necessarily my goal to figure out how to get films sold,” Gilmore said.
“We’re trying to find the most interesting and provocative works in the independent arena and put them out there. Films that are some of the best work aren’t necessarily films that are going to do that well.”
And, loads of anticipation aside, you never know which films even have a chance until they debut in the mountain air.
“Inevitably the buzz film going into Sundance is not the buzz film going out,” Bowles said.
Last year’s Sundance score card
Of the distributor-supported movies that premiered at Sundance last year, some would become relative hits (“One Hour Photo,” “The Kid Stays in the Picture”) while more would miss (“The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys,” “Stolen Summer,” “Crush”).
As for those true “Sundance movies” that were bought at the festival, they tended to breathe easier up in the mountain air than down in the real world.
“Bloody Sunday.” Paul Greengrass’ shattering re-creation of a fatal showdown between Catholic protesters and British soldiers in Northern Ireland shared the festival’s World Cinema Audience Award and was bought by Paramount Classics. Despite almost universal raves and topping several critics’ top-10 lists (including the New York Times’ Elvis Mitchell, the Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan and this writer’s), the movie couldn’t even reach the $1 million box-office mark.
“Personal Velocity.” Rebecca Miller’s digitally shot adaptation of three of her short stories won the top dramatic jury prize and was picked up by MGM/UA. Its late 2002 release drew mostly positive reviews but paltry box-office numbers.
“Tadpole.” This digitally shot comedy about a 15-year-old boy (Aaron Stanford) with a crush on his stepmom (Sigourney Weaver) was one of the festival’s most popular films, won Gary Winick a directing prize and fetched a festival-tops acquisition price (supposedly $5 million) from Miramax. Released over the summer, it fizzled with a $2.8 million gross.
“The Good Girl.” Fox Searchlight got a bargain when it reportedly paid less than $5 million for this Miguel Arteta-directed, Mike White-written, Jennifer Aniston-starring small-town comedy, which ultimately took in $14 million at the box office. Out of competition, the movie was well-received at Sundance but generated more enthusiasm in the real world.
“Secretary.” Steven Shainberg’s black comedy about a woman keen on self-mutilation (Maggie Gyllenhaal) who finds fulfillment with a spank-happy lawyer (James Spader) spurred wildly mixed Sundance viewer reactions, won a Special Jury Prize for Originality and was picked up by Lions Gate. Its fall release generated a surprisingly strong showing at the box office: almost $4 million.
“Real Women Have Curves.” This HBO Films production, about a slightly overweight Mexican-American girl (America Ferrera) in conflict with her overly critical mother (Lupe Ontiveros), was set to go straight to the cable network until it became a clear festival fave, winning the Dramatic Audience Award plus special jury prizes for its two stars. Released in October, the movie was a hit, grossing more than $5 million.
“Narc.” Joe Carnahan’s gritty cop movie, starring Jason Patric and Ray Liotta, got little attention at the festival and took home no awards, in part because some considered it too polished for Sundance and it wasn’t an underdog with Lions Gate already set to release it. But soon afterward, Tom Cruise saw it, convinced Paramount to buy it from Lions Gate, and the big studio gave it a major release last Friday to mostly positive reviews but mediocre weekend business.
“Love Liza.” This acting showcase for Philip Seymour Hoffman as a gas-huffing widower won the festival jury’s screenwriting award for the actor’s brother Gordy Hoffman and landed a distribution deal with Sony Pictures Classics. But the dark drama received mixed reviews and has faired poorly at the box office since its year-end release in New York and Los Angeles. (It opens in Chicago Feb. 7.)
Other flops: “Love in the Time of Money,” “Cherish,” “Intacto.”
Still to come: Gus Van Sant’s audience-dividing “Gerry,” starring Matt Damon and Casey Affleck on a stunningly shot, seemingly endless trek through the wilderness (February); Karen Moncrieff’s “Blue Car,” with young Agnes Bruckner in a breakout role as a high school student who finds a father figure in her English teacher ; John Malkovich’s directorial debut, the political thriller “The Dancer Upstairs,” starring Javier Bardem (Feb. 26.); and “Better Luck Tomorrow,” Justin Lin’s take on disaffected Asian-American high school students.
— Mark Caro
