Sundance fields 'Friends' in opening slot
By Kirk Honeycutt Thu Dec 1, 5:10 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - "Friends With Money," a comic drama starring Jennifer Aniston and
Frances McDormand, will have its world premiere as the opening-night film at next year's Sundance Film Festival.
The Sony Pictures Classics release will screen January 19 in Park City, Utah. The festival's closing night, January 27, will see the world premiere of Nick Cassavetes' drugs drama "Alpha Dog," starring Bruce Willis, Sharon Stone and Justin Timberlake.
"Friends With Money," directed by Nicole Holofcener, revolves around three married couples and a single friend. Scott Caan,
Joan Cusack and Catherine Keener also star.
"It's Chekovian in its ability to talk about social issues and people, class and idiosyncratic personalities at the same time," Sundance Film Festival director Geoffrey Gilmore said.
New Line's "Alpha Dog" is inspired by true events involving warring drug dealers in the San Fernando Valley and the murder of a young man, which caused Jesse James Hollywood to become one of the youngest men ever put on the FBI's most-wanted list. He recently was captured in Brazil. Also in the large ensemble cast are Emile Hirsch and Anton Yelchin.
"Kinky Boots," the directorial debut of Julian Jarrold, is the opening-night film for Salt Lake City on January 20. The production from the newly restructured Miramax Films is about the efforts to save a small-town British shoe factory by switching to more exotic footwear. The film stars Joel Edgerton, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Nick Frost and Sarah-Jane Potts.
Festival organizers are scheduling fewer premieres at Sundance next year, hosting 17 compared with 24 in 2005. This is to have "more options in other areas," Gilmore said. But there might be other reasons as well. The premieres section, showing highly anticipated films often from studios or their classics divisions, has begun to overshadow the indie sections of Sundance in recent years. A couple of years ago, stars and celebrities for the nighttime showings attracted so much media attention that screenings invariably ran late.
At the last festival, organizers moved the media photo line -- the festival resolutely refuses to have an actual red carpet -- from the entrance of the Eccles Theater on the Park City High School campus to a side door to relieve congestion. Next year, celebrities and filmmakers will find themselves negotiating their way through a construction zone at the school because building is under way.
Nevertheless, acquisition execs will still jam the Eccles' lobby for such films as "Little Miss Sunshine," starring Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Toni Collette and Alan Arkin, one of the more highly anticipated offerings without distribution. The film, from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, follows the adventures of a family on a cross-country trip to get its young daughter into a beauty pageant. Also, Jonathan Demme's portrait of a musical icon in "Neil Young Heart of Gold" is certain to get Hollywood attention.
Another premiere film of interest to the film community is Kirby Dick's documentary "This Film Is Not Yet Rated," an investigation into the MPAA's film rating system and its impact on American culture. The documentary, which will reveal who rates the films, might well upset officials at the industry's lobbying organization.
The Weinstein Co. makes its Park City debut with "Lucky Number Slevin" from director Paul McGuigan. Gilmore describes the film, which stars Bruce Willis, Josh Harnett, Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman and Lucy Liu, as a "cerebral, self-conscious action film" involving mistaken identity and New York gangsters.
Terry Zwigoff remains in a "Ghost World" mood with his new film "Art School Confidential," starring Max Minghella, Sophia Myles, Matt Keeslar, John Malkovich, Jim Broadbent and Anjelica Huston. "It's that rarefied world Zwigoff loves to create, a very funny comedy -- actually, maybe it's playful more than funny -- revolving around a murder in an art school," said Sundance programing director John Cooper.
Patrick Stettner's "The Night Listener," from a story co-credited with Armistead Maupin and Terry Anderson, is described by Gilmore as a "small and delicate film." It also stars Collette, Bobby Cannavale, Joe Morton, Rory Culkin and Sandra Oh.
Clive Gordon's "Cargo" is a Joseph Conrad-like morality tale about good and evil in contemporary society. The story, written by Paul Laverty (who pens most of Ken Loach's films), centers on a young backpacker who stows away on a Europe-bound cargo ship after getting in trouble in Africa. The film stars Peter Mullan, Daniel Bruhl and Luis Tosar.
Writer-director Finn Taylor ("Cherish") returns to Sundance with a large ensemble cast for the comedy "The Darwin Awards." In the film, a forensic detective and insurance claims officer investigate the potential winner of a Darwin Award, a real award that honors "those who accidentally kill themselves in really stupid ways." Among the film's many stars are Joseph Fiennes, Winona Ryder, David Arquette, Tim Blake Nelson, Juliette Lewis, Julianna Margulies, Lukas Haas and Alessandro Nivola.
International stars Gael Garcia Bernal and Charlotte Gainsbourg topline "The Science of Sleep" from director Michel Gondry ("Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind"), a sci-fi tale of a man held captive by the people in his dreams. "I heard he once thought of making the film as a $50 million special-effects film," Gilmore said. "But he decided to make it at a fraction of that cost using more economical forms of effects and storytelling."
Neil Burger's "The Illusionist," starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and Rufus Sewell, explores fin de siecle Vienna and magicians who can conjure up the spirit world.
A few premieres have played at festivals outside of the United States. Wim Wenders' "Don't Come Knocking," starring
Sam Shepard, debuted at Cannes, and Jason Reitman's "Thank You for Smoking" was a hit at Toronto.
The neo-noir "A Little Trip to Heaven" from one of Iceland's most promising directors, Baltasar Kormakur, comes to Park City in a version 15 minutes shorter than when it premiered at Toronto, Gilmore said. StarringForest Whitaker, Julia Stiles and
Jeremy Renner, the film revolves around a husband and wife who tangle with an investigator over her dead brother's million-dollar insurance policy.
Isabel Coixet's "The Secret Life of Words" has played in her native Spain. The film, which stars Sarah Polley (who starred in Coixet's "My Life Without Me") and Tim Robbins, centers on a nurse who travels to a remote oil rig to care for a man suffering from severe burns.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051201/film_nm/sundance_dc
