Day 6 - 25 January

Kevin Spacey receives tribute

Heavy snow and acquisition flurries blanketed Park City on Tuesday as bidding wars skidded towards a reported $4 million price tag on Saving Grace for Fine Line Features, who emerged victorious over USA Films and Miramax. The film, starring Brenda Blethyn, Craig Ferguson and Tcheky Karyo, is from director Nigel Cole whose credit list includes celebrity environmental documentaries, commercials and the ITV comedy series, Cold Feet.

Also confirmed was the deal for the romantic charmer, Two Family House, acquired by Lions Gate. Represented by Jeff Dowd, who commented that Lions Gate was a perfect fit partnered with the film, Two Family House hit bigger than expected as a crowd pleaser that resonated with buyers and audience members alike. Along with several deals for short films, including AtomFilms pickup of director Jason Reitman's In God We Trust, as well as news of foreign rights sold on Jason Preistly's Slamdance entry, Barenaked In America, Park City is revving up the deal-making pace which may put these festivals in the lead for total number of films sold.

Meanwhile, Kevin Spacey arrived in town fresh from the Golden Globes to accept the Piper-Heidsieck Tribute to Independent Vision. Relaxed and ready to banter with the press, Spacey was especially pleased to have finally landed in Park City after missing the World Premiere of The Usual Suspects when he was snowed out.

Elaborating on what the award meant to him, Spacey commented on his career-long fight to stay independent. "Don't wait until you're successful to be an independent," Spacey recalled admonishing himself. "Have a strong feeling about what you will or won't do, learn to say no and fight to be independent."

Spacey also recalled his early efforts to discover the process of his craft: while he was doing stand-up comedy in LA, he would sneak onto studio lots and watch the actors. Offering advice on the easiest studios to access (apparently Universal; Warner Bros. is impossible), Spacey told of wearing a tool belt and walking on set with the crews so that he could spend time absorbing the style and work of other actors.

Spacey's film The Big Kahuna, which was shot concurrently with his role on Broadway in The Iceman Cometh over 16 days, will premiere on Wednesday. Spacey is credited as both lead actor and producer on this John Swanbeck directorial debut co-starring Danny DeVito and Peter Facinelli. Based on Roger Rueff's play, Hospitality Suite, The Big Kahuna gives Spacey room to once again showcase his remarkable talent with narrative structure and dialogue. In the film, the three men are trapped, waiting in a small room for the 'big account' to be landed that will save their firm. Spacey's turn as the aggressive fast-talking salesman swings wildly through arguments, confrontation and confidences.

On other screens at the festival, You Can Count on Me from feature film debut director Kenneth Lonergan, was a captivatingly honest profile of love, family and home that reverberated with the glorious performances of both Laura Linney and Mark Ruffalo as a brother and sister caught up in the often funny, and always endearing, emotional landscape accompanying sibling relationships.

Lonergan, who has written numerous screenplays including Analyze This, The Lost Army and Rocky and Bullwinkle, had no real words of advice for fellow independent filmmakers in the audience with regard to getting projects off the ground. "I showed the script to Hart/Sharp who showed it to the Shooting Gallery who brought it to Cappa (Martin Scorsese's production company) and we made the movie," admitted Lonergan. "I think it doesn't usually happen that way," he added.

Happy Accidents, starring Vincent D'Onofrio and Marisa Tomei, is another success for director/writer/editor Brad Anderson (The Darien Gap, Next Stop Wonderland) whose work has become synonymous with the magic chemistry created between his characters. In Happy Accidents, Tomei's character fall in love, only to discover her beau (D'Onofrio) believes he is a time traveler from nearly 500 years in the obsessed with her image on a photo he's seen. These two actors clearly enjoy themselves on screen, as their comedic timing and Anderson's penchant for cinematic tricks combine in a happy, romantic chemistry.

Slamdance continues it's filmmaker friendly attitude with few exceptions (particularly the gatekeeper at the daily afternoon filmmaker socials who demands creative personal validation on the spot from guests before allowing admittance), and both their fringe lounge screenings and dot com cafe have found huge followings. Early buzz continues on Tuvalu from director Veit Helmer. At 101 minutes running time, the pre-screening fear for this dialogue-less feature was whether it could sustain audiences. Apparently, from the word-of-mouth and sold-out houses, Tuvalu has easily overcome that particular bias.

Slamdance has finally upgraded the seating in their pseudo-theater by adding cushions: this year sponsored by the film Amargosa. While chair cushions may seem like an unusual item to be newsworthy, some acquisitions people had long complained about the difficulty in sitting for any length of time at the festival. As co-founder Dan Mirvish exclaimed about the new cushions, "Such a simple idea...how come we never thought of this before?".

Sponsorships continue to be the bread and butter of the Slamdance Festival, and many films can spend six figures to assure prominence among the crowds. The headliner party with Shawn Colvin for What I Like About You was the hottest ticket on Monday night, yet it remains to be seen if the audience and industry response will correlate.

FilmFestivals.com reporter
Kathleen McInnis

Sundance