Amidst eight figure sales deals, new breakout stars destined for immediate mainstream relevance (hello there, Nate Parker), falling sleet and shrinking crowds, here’s the latest from the scene in Park City.
Seen: Lena Dunham and Katie Couric power lunching by a living room river
Seen: Tyler Posey and Austin Butler of “Yoga Hosers” are tight
Heard: “That’s a teenager’s dream there,” an event insider said upon seeing Tyler Posey and Austin Butler of “Yoga Hosers” pose together at the Kia Supper Suite on Monday night.
Plus, “Teen Wolf” star Posey crammed an Olympic training session into a “your hotel room is not ready” timeslot. “I went snowboarding with (Olympic Gold Medalist) Hannah Kearney. I haven’t been snowboarding in years. It was like riding a bicycle,” he said.
Seen: #TotalCannesMove by Kristen Stewart
The “Certain Women” star jumped in with photographers (main image), choosing the backdrop most often seen on the Croisette.
Seen: Cool Cat
Seen: Super Bowl-bound Cam Newton’s Oscar winning fan
Heard: “Cam Newton is an Auburn Tiger alum. He is at his first Super Bowl, and I’m really excited for him,” Octavia Spencer gushed about her fellow Auburn alum (and fellow WME client), at a Don Julio dinner for “The Free World” on Monday night.
Seen: “The Help” Duo Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard with neighboring dinner parties
Heard: Spencer had her first meeting with “The Free World” writer/director Jason Lew at the now defunct Mo’s burger joint in Toluca Lake, California. “Seeing that he was an Asian-American director who had written this very complex story about faith, about differences in society, and how people are perceived and perception of different peoples in society, I knew I had to do it,” she said.
Heard: My credit is the very last thing
Jason Lew and Spencer’s “The Help” co-star Bryce Dallas Howard went to NYU together. They co-starred in plays together. When TheWrap caught up with Howard a few minutes after Spencer, she revealed the very last thing she did on her Sundance directorial debut, the short “Solemates.”
“I don’t like to put my credit in until its done, done, done. [The last thing I did was] pacing the timing between the end of ‘Solemates’ and my name [as director] fading up.”
Seen: Sundance comically pleading a job offer to IMDB founder Col Needham
Heard: “Since the first of January 1980, I have seen 9,529 unique feature films. I have one year to watch 471 movies if I am to hit 10,000 unique movies on my 50th birthday,” Needham said on his goal for the 365 days remaining before his birthday.
“Col, you can be a screener!” one Sundance exec shouted back at him, offering him a job watching the submitted films throughout the fall. “I can make it happen.”
This followed a rendition of “Happy Birthday” sung by a chorus of film industry “framers” whose tentpoles mark the annual calendar: AFI Fest’s Jacqueline Lyanga, Film Independent’s Josh Welsh, executives from the Gotham Awards and Sundance, and Chaz Ebert at the WhoSay hosted dinner at the Mustang.
Seen: Kygo, drawing more than just locals to a ticketed (paid) show
Heard: Kygo’s tropical-infused EDM on a Sunday night in the snow. As a rarity, industry folks were actually looking to take out their wallets at Sundance and pay for something.
Seen: “Black Swan” x “Birdman” interactive Art (Press play below)
The Broad Museum is going to need to add a wing on for this installation by an artist named Chris Milk, which appeared just off Main St. in a tent on Swede Alley.
Seen: A “Top Chef” diced with a top voice
Seen: Frances Fisher using her flashlight app to light a speech
Heard: “In my spare time, I gaff,” Frances Fisher said, acknowledging her helping hand in lighting the director of “Outlaws and Angels” with her cellphone flashlight while he gave speeches. Daughter Francesca Eastwood stars in the Western, continuing dad Clint’s family tradition.
Also Heard: “This is the smallest movie (producer) Jeff Rice has ever made,” director JT Mollner said about his producer who was sitting at a table nearby. Rice is best known for noisier fare like “Lone Survivor,” “End of Watch” and “2 Guns.”
Seen: Amy Winehouse documentary director/ “Amy” Oscar nominee Asif Kapadia
Heard: “I didn’t know (that all Oscar nominees are scrambled across table assignments at the Nominees’ Luncheon). I thought I’d sit with my wife. Maybe not,” director Kapadia said.
Heard: Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” mashed up with Calvin Harris’ “We Found Love”
Seen: Spike Lee nodding along with an entire table of the “Michael Jackson estate” led by longtime attorney/manager John Branca co-signing Questlove’s two-hour audio tour through MJ’s library at a dinner for Lee‘s new documentary on the late King of Pop.
TheWrap’s Party Report at Sundance is presented by the vehicles that will be shuttling filmmakers and to casts to special events, the 2016 Kia Sorento CUV. Among those special events are The Party Report’s party pal and HQ, the Kia Supper Suite by The Church Key. Keep up with real time images of the scene in Park City on @SundanceParties (Twitter and Instagram).