A huge sigh of relief starts champagne corks popping again after studios open wallets at Sundance

By Judith Orr

Park City, UT (Hollywood Today) 1/22/08 — Midway through the Sundance Festival, nervous yet party-weary filmmakers and actors got a second wind as the hoped-for buying spree got cautiously underway.

After several of the movies from last year flopped at the box office, there had been some reluctance to pick up films, despite the writers strike effect. But the action moved from the parties to huddled tables with cell phones on open lines to agents and studio heads in Los Angeles.

Hopes for getting manufacturers suggested retail prices of $5 million to $10 million worked for only a handful of filmmakers, and when prices dipped with the 20 degree weather, wallets opened, deals were made and the whoosh you heard was a collective sigh of relief.

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“The buying process took longer to get started this year, but everyone seems to be in negotiation as we speak. We are getting multiple offers on our film,” said one person associated with the movie “Bottle Shock.”

Mark Pellington’s “Henry Poole Is Here” is one movie that sold in the under $5 million range. It’s a lighthearted tale of a terminally ill man played by Luke Wilson. His neighbors are concerned and a stain on his stucco wall just might resemble the face of Jesus. The feature has been sold to Overture Films, a new movie distributor looking for notice and pictures.

They guaranteed $3.5 million for the rights to release the movie in the United States. One of the executives involved said: “Overture beat Warner Independent Pictures and Focus Features for the release rights.”

“Hamlet 2” has the biggest deal yet from Sundance 2008. It stars Steve Coogan as a ne’er-do-well actor turned high school drama teacher who stages a musical sequel to “Hamlet” starring a “sexy Jesus.”

“Ten minutes after the screening ended, I had e-mails from distributors saying ‘I must have that film’ and ‘Name your price,’ ” said Micah Green of the Creative Artists Agency, the movie’s sales representative.

Tuesday, Focus was the winner paying $10 million. The Sundance record was $10.5 million paid for “Little Miss Sunshine” in 2006.

Variety broke the news that Fox Searchlight has acquired most world rights to “Choke,” adapted from the novel by Chuck Palahniuk (“Fight Club”). The deal was valued at $5 million.

A press conference was being hosted at the Hollywood Life House (sponsored by Hennessey). Reporters gathered for the film, which stars Anjelica Huston, Bijou Phillips and Sam Rockwell and is directed by Clark Gregg

Downstairs, “Hellride” with Michael Madsen, Dennis Hopper, and Vinnie Jones was holding their press soiree. We asked Madsen what drew him to the role, “I like motorcycles.” He said he had been talking to writer Larry Bishop about the film for four years. When we asked what his favorite thing of Sundance was, he said “rest” and told us he had been catching up on sleep the whole time he’s been here. Obviously he hasn’t been obsessed with the swag and parties like many attendees.

Speaking of swag, we saw Mischa Barton trying on Onitsuki Tiger snow boots at the Hollywood Life House which has one of the best gifting suites that even included makeup and hair for the celebs. Top stylists smoothed and straightened celebrity tresses used high tech devices like a GHD IV styler.

Some folks were doing better than others. “I’m damn good!” said “Heroes” star, Jimmy Jean Louis, when we asked how he was doing in Sundance. He said “This seems to be a place where people go to shop for free”. What was his best swag? “A trip to Kenya”. His new movie, “The Adventures of Power” is a comedy about air drumming that just premiered here at Robert Redford’s festival for independent film and studio features that will be showing at art houses as well as multiplexes around the world.

One favored, exclusive venue is the Celebrity MySpace Café. It’s a new venue where celebrities eat, visit, enjoy a latte and have computer access from 9AM until late afternoon. On occasions when we were there visitors included Kirsten Dunst, Charlize Theron and Paris Hilton to name of few.

Although a raindrop in Hollywood could be cause for Californians to stay home from work, even the 20˚ biting cold and slippery icy streets did not deter the stars and filmmakers in their gift suite Oakley Sunglasses and bags filled with copious gifts from crowding the town of Park City.

We spoke with English actor, Rufus Sewell at the premiere party of the thriller, “Downloading Nancy,” directed by Johan Renck. In the movie his wife (Maria Bello) is unhappy and wants to commit suicide. We asked how she could be married to such a gorgeous husband and want to kill herself. He explained how he portrays an American husband who is cold and ignores his wife who then finds a kindred soul on the Internet (Jason Patric), and orders him to kill her, but the two of them fall in love.

The Greenhouse Top O’ Main after-hours parties, sponsored by Belvedere Vodka hosted one of the most talked about and fun events. It was one of those never-to-be-forgotten evenings that we were lucky enough to witness. Will.I.Am, (founding member of the Black Eyed Peas) was the guest performer when someone handed Lil John a microphone and the rest was history. The entire house was jumping and rocking.

We met up with Lil John the next day at The Celebrity MySpace Cafe and spoke to him about the concert. He said he was down the street at TAO and heard his friend Will.I.Am was performing at The Greenhouse and went down to see him play. When he was handed the mike he decided to “just have fun”. He said, “None of it was planned. We hadn’t even played like that before. It was one of the best times I’ve had here.”

One movie that is getting a lot of buzz is a movie that premiered at The Park City Film Music Festival, Yesterday Was A Lie, written & Directed by James Kerwin. The movie stars Chase Masterson (“Star Trek”), newcomer Kipleigh Brown, and veteran actor, John Newton. We close this report with the film’s tagline: “The most powerful force in the universe lies within the depths of the human heart.”