From the "On The Scene" Archives:
PARK CITY 2000 Buzz: Deals and News
by Eugene Hernandez and Anne Hubbell/indieWIRE
(01.24.00)
SUNDANCE DOES DOTCOM DEALŠ
Sundance Channel's Executive Vice President of Programming and Marketing,
Liz Manne announced Monday that Sundance Channel has acquired five short films from Sundance 2000. All of the films were licensed for both Sundance Channel and sundancechannel.com. This deal is the biggest of the festival so far for a dot com division.
"Shorts are among the most entertaining and envelope-pushing films in the festival every year," Manne said in a statement yesterday. "We are delighted to bring what we consider to be some of the year's best short films to our TV viewers as well as visitors to our website."
Director/Juror Kevin Smith musters up some
early morning energy.
Credit: Tim LaTorre/indieWIRE |
The lucky five are
Chicken Pox Pal by
Andrew Mudge,
This Is For Betsy Hall by
Hope Hall,
This Guy Is Falling by
Michael Horowitz and
Gareth Smith,
Men Named Milo, Women Named Greta by
Lawrence Greenberg, and
Reinvention by
Sadia Shepard.
LION'S GATE MOVES INTO "HOUSE"...Two Family House rep Jeff Dowd and producers Alan Klingenstein and Anne Harrison finally shook hands on a distribution deal with Lion's Gate Co-President Mark Urman at 12:59pm Sunday night. (They had to finish swiftly because Lakota was closing and they were getting kicked out.) The American Spectrum film by Raymond DeFelitta is set in ethnically changing 50's Staten Island and follows an Italian couple sharing a house with Irish immigrants.
BIZ BITS...the bidding for Girlfight heated up on Monday as a few other
competitors joined Miramax and Fine Line on the bidding, don't be surprised
if a deal makes news today in Park City.
Were there any distributors who didn't make it to last night's screening of
the new Brad Anderson film, Happy Accidents. The screening was getting
underway at press time and the Sloss crew were working the door at the
Eccles making sure everyone had a seat -- check out indieWIRE.com for any
updates.
CLERKS TV...Sundance juror Kevin Smith and Miramax' TV division used the
influx of press in Park City as an opportunity to tease Smith's upcoming TV
series, "Clerks, The Cartoon." In advance of yesterday's Miramax press
reception a handful of media gathered on Main Street to check out a trailer
for the program and a brief comedic bit. The six-episode series, for
corporate sibling ABC, will air hit airwaves in March -- it reunites toon
versions of Jason Mewes' "Jay" and Smith's "Silent Bob" with Brian
O'Halloran's "Dante Hicks" and Jeff Anderson's "Randal." Alec Baldwin
appears as villain Leonardo, Leonardo and watch for cameos by James Woods,
Gwyneth Paltrow, and Charles Barkley. While Monday's teaser elicited
chuckles from the Park City press, the core audience for this show clearly
skews toward Smith fans and male viewers.
"It seems like a guy show, primarily because there are no women on the
show," teased Smith.
SNOW GLOBES...Those in Park City attempting to watch the Golden Globes Sunday night were frustrated by the poor reception offered by the local NBC affiliate. Wavy images of winners Hillary Swank and Denzel Washington effected several Golden Globe parties. At the Gap condo get together, folks were down on all fours attempting to fix the cable. However, most guests, including Slamdance participant Jason Priestley, didn't even notice. Maybe they were hypnotized by the reflections from all those shiny silver jackets.
Cool in the Park City sun: 'Committed' stars
Casey Affleck and Heather Graham.
Credit: Randall Michelson/Sundancepix.com |
TONGUE LASHING...Industry big wigs abounded at the
MGM/UA party Sunday evening at the
Deer Valley Lodge. The varied crowd also included celebs
Emilio Estevez,
Vincent D'Onofrio,
RuPaul and
Gene Simmons. Talking to
Entertainment Weekly online, Simmons claimed he is interested in producing, and was at the festival looking for writers, directors and scripts. The
KISS frontman said with all the new names for festivals around Park City, "I think Sundance should change the name to 'TongueDance'."
SHAKESPEARE IN PC...Love birds Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman were spotted cuddling in the audience at the sold out premiere of Hamlet Sunday at the Eccles. Hawke plays the young Dane in the most recent adaptation of Shakespeare's classic. Reviews were mixed, with some finding the film "really solid" and other's describing "more style than substance."
QUOTABLES:
"From the network that brought you the ratings smash, 'Wasteland'...
From the studio that brought you the mega blockbuster 'Happy Texas'...
From the filmmakers who brought you the Academy Award winning cinema classic
'Mall Rats'...
comes the next sure thing...
Clerks the Cartoon"
-- opening to the teaser trailer for Kevin Smith's new TV show.
Steve Buscemi on why he decided to play the role of a prison official in his
new film, Animal Factory - "I didn't want to play a convict because I've done the bad guy thing. I didn't want to play a guard because when I put on a uniform I look like Barney Fife."
Fashion, Food and Film
by Peter Byck
January 24, 2000
Michael Winterbottom has made a great film, Wonderland -- shot like a doc, written with intent for improv, always shot in real settings with real people in the background. It has the best, most real sex scenes since that first sex scene in "Last Tango In Paris." Emotional, subtle, huge grainy chunks of celluloid; it's very well executed.
Zipped down to the Zomba soiree at Mediterraneo where Zomba Queen Katurah Clarke was styling in her white plastic jacket. Hey Katurah, who makes that thing? "Nobody makes it. Brand-less, cheap-ass coat."
Trudged up to the BMG Music Studio where Janis Ian was ruling the stage. Great guitar playing, crisp, confidant and her pure emotive voice was forceful and gentle at the same time. Her song, "I Can't See You Anymore," about a white woman in love with a black man, pissed off everyone back in the day: "I pissed off the left wing because she couldn't see him anymore, I pissed off the right because it was interracial, and I pissed off the folk people because I put in drums." Dressed in a black T-shirt (it said "God-like") with a ripped collar, headband with Japanese characters, black leggings and black Chuck All-Stars, she was styled in an 80's way. Her biggest
hit, "17", almost never saw the light of day -- she was too embarrassed by it when she was younger -- her rendition was as fresh and powerful as it ever was.
Cruised up the hill to the Sundance/DirectTV party with Elvis Smith (in his 1989 Buick Park Avenue) who was decked out in a PETA nightmare: bear skin coat with baby seal skin checkered pattern at the cuffs and trim, accompanied by tufts of fox fur. The coat is 50 years old, borrowed from real world adventurer. It could be said that the little critters would be dead by now anyway. He sez: "They died of natural causes."
When I stretched and rubbed my stomach, some caballero at the bar asked if I had indigestion. Having just had a second excellent meal at Mediterraneo, the answer was a sincere no. But I was curious of his cure: "I can fix you up. Baking soda, a little water. If you're making a film, it'll do you right."
Groove Armada was revving up in the big room; and after a Murphy's Law start-up with persnickety
turntables, this paired down version of the 7-piece band immersed the crowd in luscious rhythms and tantric melodies. Leader Andrew Cato (Leads, England) and DJ Tom Findlay (Cambridge, England) were so damn good that I tried to quit dancing and go home five times, but I couldn't stop. What's super cool about their set was when Cato grabbed his bass and slapped some mean low down, grooving with Findlay's vinyl love foundation.
