The grumbling continues as Sundance winds down, with the L.A. Times documenting these signs of festival fatigue: “a man snoring loudly through a morning screening of the steroid documentary Bigger, Faster, Stronger; festival volunteers exchanging flu remedies; journalists plotting their escapes days ahead of schedule.” Marketing execs are whining about the lack of “standout” films, which might actually mean the focus this year was on challenging, hard-to-pin-down fare rather than commercially viable movies. Black is white, up is down, and the suits aren’t having any of it!
In keeping with the unpredictable nature of this year’s edition of Sundance, Sony Pictures Classics has bought the rights to Baghead – you remember, the mumblecore horror movie – for a cool million bucks. If you have any lo-fi genre scripts in the drawer – The Hefty Bag from Outer Space, perhaps – this might be the time to dig them out and start shooting.
The “triumph of the little guy” storyline continued on other fronts, as well. What Just Happened? is not only the question many Sundance hopefuls are now asking themselves, it’s the name of one of those big buzz movies that left town without a peep. Barry Levinson’s movie industry satire starring Robert De Niro comes up wanting when compared to smaller-scale show biz spoof The Deal starring and co-written by William H. Macy, says Chris Knight of Canada’s National Post. One reason the Levinson picture may not have sold, Variety explains, is that this thing called the Internet on which “bloggers” publish their thoughts on such films is having an influence on potential buyers. Sounds like crazy talk to us.
