The Park City weather cooperated over the first weekend of the Sundance Film Festival, granting cold but clear days of brunches, dinners and dancing into the night. Sundance 2019 is all about inclusion: Women made bold moves on both sides of the camera and the films encompassed the rainbow of human experiences. Plus a bona fide second line came all the way from New Orleans to warm up Main Street.
Mindy Kaling is all smiles at The IMDb Studio at Acura Festival Village, along with her “Late Night” cast of Amy Ryan, Paul Walter Hauser, Nisha Ganatra and Reid Scott. “Late Night,” written, produced and starring Kaling and Emma Thompson and directed by Nisha Ganatra, sold to Amazon Studios for an eye-popping $13 million.
Geoff Stults and Jason Momoa clowned around at Stella’s Film Lounge during the bash for the documentary “David Crosby: Remember My Name,” along with the singer himself and renowned Hollywood music geek Cameron Crowe. Parties went off every night at Stella, with stars like Milla Jovovich, Peter Sarsgaard, Tony Revolori and Danielle Macdonald joining in for the dancing.
No one at Sundance could quite get the name right for “Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile,” but pretty much everyone who saw Zac Efron’s turn as Ted Bundy agreed he was startlingly good as the self-centered psychopath who tried to use good looks and charm to get away with murder. Was his blond hair at the red carpet premiere a way of distancing himself from his horrific character? If so, we don’t blame him.
Armie Hammer wins the “stretching out on sheepskins” crowd-pleasing award at The IMDb Studio at Acura Festival Village, while making sure Sundance knows his next flick is a frightfest called “Wounds.” He promoted the film, which features lots of creepy crawlies, by leaving small plastic cockroaches all over Park City.
TAO Park City popped up for its 11th year at Sundance, with late-night dance parties fueled by Stella Artois beer and Casamigos tequila. Michael B. Jordan skipped the lines on Friday night, along with Shailene Woodley, Kiki Layne, Lena Waithe and a big crowd of VIPs. If they stayed late enough, they caught rapper G-Eazy do an unexpected set, complete with ski-bunny go-go dancers. Hmm, maybe it wasn’t all that impromptu?
Julianne Moore tooled up and down Main Street as she made the rounds talking up “After the Wedding,” along with Bart Freudlich, who’s not only her director on the film, but her hubby, too.
Jaden Smith looks relaxed at the “Hala” party. He’s with his mom, Jada Pinkett Smith, who executive produced the drama about a Muslim teenage girl figuring out her place in the world.
At ChefDance 2019, acclaimed chef Jessica Koslow (of L.A.’s Squirl café) fed the audience at the “Phenomenal Women Dinner in Entertainment, Technology and Philanthropy.” Guests included Maria Bello, Awkwafina, Christopher Meloni and Alessia Antinori. Avril Lavigne and Macy Grey performed.
It’s a a battle of the beards between Gerard Butler and Walton Goggins. The hirsute pair hugged it out at the “Them That Follow” party held at the DirecTV Lodge presented by AT&T.
Judith Light has undeniable power, even first thing Sunday morning at the Marie Claire magazine’s “Power Breakfast” held at The Dell Den with the women of “Before You Know It,” Light’s Sundance 2019 entry. Director Hannah Pearl Utt and scriptwriter Jen Tullock also got up early to join the conversation.
HBO Films hit Sundance with “Native Son,” first-time filmmaker Rashid Johnson’s modern take on the Richard Wright novel, celebrating with a cast dinner and conversation at Park City’s The Inn at Tupelo. Stars Sanaa Lathan, Ashton Sanders, Kiki Layne and Nick Robinson joined Johnson and Suzan-Lori Parks, the Pulitzer-winning playwright who adapted the novel for the screen.
Shia LeBeouf wrote and stars in “Honey Boy,” a quasi-autobiographical tale that brought the cast and crew to celebrate at the DirecTV Lodge presented by AT&T. Noah Jupe, director Alma Har’el, Byron Bowers and Martin Starr join Shia here.
Clara Rugaard and Hilary Swank brightened up the “I Am Mother” premiere at the Eccles Center Theatre, joined by the robot who’s at the center of their sci-fi flick directed by Grant Sputore. But we really want to know if that Weta Workshop contraption can say “Klaatu barada nikto”?
TheWrap partnered with Art Bronze Film Productions at the Wanderluxxe Filmmaker Lounge, presented by Essential Costa Rica, and hosted a number of panels, including a Q&A with the “Relive” cast. Pictured here are Bettina Fisher (director of the Academy’s educational initiatives), “Relive” stars David Oyelowo and Storm Reid, director Jacob Estes, The Wrap executive editor Tim Molloy and Joan Wai, program manager of the Academy Nicholl Fellowships.
The Sundance musical celebrations took to the streets as Arcade Fire’s Régine Chassagne and Win Butler enlisted New Orleans’ favorite sons, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, to second line it to the #MakeChangeSeries at Salesforce Music Lodge, where they put on a private concert for a lucky crowd. Comedian Reggie Watts joined the raucous fun, too.
New Orleans native Wendell Pierce had to appreciate the second line’s appearance. He came to Park City in support of his kinky new film “Piercing.”
Awkwafina (“The Farewell”) bounced around Sundance with Lyft, the official ride share partner of the festival, along with Nico Santos, Mj Rodriguez, Tony Hale and a slew of others who knew better than to drink and drive – or drink and walk on icy sidewalks!
Perennial Hollywood power couple Kyra Sedgwick and Kevin Bacon blew into Sundance with “Girls Weekend,” Sedgwick’s latest directorial project. She took home a glittery award from the Creative Coalition while her hubby looked on. The org’s Spotlight Initiative Awards gala dinner was hosted by the Kia Telluride Supper Suite by Greene St. Kitchen and presented by LIFEWTR.
Powerhouse Hollywood players Naomi Watts, Tim Roth and Octavia Spencer turned out for the premiere of their new flick “Luce,” along with up-and-comer Kelvin Harrison Jr. (who plays the title character) and writer-director Julius Onah. Watts also has “The Wolf Hour” premiering at Sundance this year, thus all those clothing changes.
Rene Russo headed into the Vulture Spot hosted by New York Magazine, joining her “Velvet Buzzsaw” cohorts (Jake Gyllenhaal and writer-director Dan Gilroy) to make everyone feel kinda creepy about this “Nightcrawler” mini-reunion. Different movie, same creative, still weird, this time courtesy of Netflix.
Newlywed Michelle Williams makes matrimony look awfully good as she strolls the red carpet at the “After the Wedding” premiere. Her new indie drama also stars Julianne Moore and Billy Crudup.
“Veep” star Reid Scott may be hard to recognize with his new beard, but we all can identify with the lust in his heart as he contemplates this sweet ride at the Acura Festival Village. Scott hit town to help make Mindy Kaling’s “Late Night” the toast of the fest.
