Word here in snowy Park City, day 6, is that Made in America, Stacy Peralta's doc about the history of L.A.'s two most notorious gangs, the Crips and the Bloods, is about to be sold. Sources told the Hollywood Insider that Picturehouse, Miramax, and the Weinstein Company are all interested in the gritty, compelling documentary. And at this morning's press and industry screening, we spotted Sony Pictures Classics' co-head Tom Bernard and Fox Searchlight president Peter Rice.
In Park City this morning, attorney Jonathan Handel, Writers Guild of America member Howard Rodman, and Screen Actors Gulid member Jason Stuart were on hand for a panel at Queer Lounge to discuss the ongoing WGA strike and what the Directors Guild of America's deal means for the current "informal talks" between the writers and producers. They batted around a lot of numbers and gave some background on the he said/she said aspect of the negotiations: It seems as if the main sticking points between the WGA and AMPTP are new media and reality TV. So during the Q&A portion of the panel, the Hollywood Insider asked, "If the AMPTP makes a reasonable compromise on new media, what's the probability that reality TV will be taken off of the table?" After the jump, their responses.
It's nearly day 5 of the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, and only two movies — Marina Zenovich's documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired, and Elvis Mitchell and Timothy Greenfield-Sanders' doc The Black List — have found buyers. That's it.
Meanwhile, some of the most anticipated titles coming into the fest are still looking to be sold. Barry Levinson's What Just Happened? hasn't, apparently, lived up to its high expectations. And while Christine Jeffs' Sunshine Cleaning has earned some pretty ardent fans, its story about two women who own a crime-scene-cleanup business could be seen by some as a tough sell (even if the two ladies in the movie happen to be Amy Adams and Emily Blunt). What has caught many buyers' attention are the documentaries American Teen, from director Nanette Burstein, and Anvil! The True Story of Anvil, from director Sacha Gervasi. Sources tell the Hollywood Insider that American Teen is likely to sell before the end of Monday, though it's unclear who will step up. As for Anvil, it received a standing ovation during Sunday's screening at the Egyptian, but agents say that the studio subsidiaries are fearful of bringing docs home to their bosses, since so many of them performed dismally at the box office in 2007. Also, one source says that rumors are floating around that the strike may be resolved soon, so the possibility of studios gearing up production again on their own projects may make buyers even less eager to make new purchases.
The Weinstein Company announced Saturday that it has purchased international rights to Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired,
filmmaker Marina Zenovich's look at the media circus surrounding
Polanski's 1978 conviction for having unlawful sexual intercourse with
a minor, and his subsequent flight from the U.S. to avoid prison.
United States and Canadian rights still remain available. The film,
which premiered Friday night at Sundance (as part of the festival's
Documentary Competition), was exec-produced by Steven Soderbergh and
Randy Wooten. —Nicole Sperling
SUNDAY UPDATE: HBO Documentary Films has purchased domestic rights to the film.
One thing this Sundance virgin has learned from my brief time here: Things move pretty fast. Just yesterday Variety reported that HBO had acquired The Black List, the documentary collaboration between former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell and photographer/filmmaker Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, and by the time I was sitting in the press screening at the Yarrow Hotel this morning, the HBO logo was in place in the film's opening credits. (Granted, an insider did tell us that the movie had been bought just before the fest began yesterday...but still.)
In the film, 22 black icons from all fields — from Pulitzer winner Toni Morrison to comedian Chris Rock to former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell — share anecdotes about their experiences being black in America and how those experiences shaped their careers. Highlights: Slash (who is half black) describing the tension between himself and his bandmates in Guns N' Roses after he expressed discomfort over Axl Rose's lyrics in "One in a Million" (specifically its use of the n-word); Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. expressing his crushing disappointment that he "didn't get a phone call for a year and a half" after his Best Supporting Actor Oscar win; and Chris Rock (pictured, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) explaining his off-kilter definition of true equality (when black people can "suck" just as bad as white people and still be accepted). But who got the biggest laugh at the press screening I attended? Vernon Jordan, who talked about trying to decide as a young man whether he'd go into law or the ministry: "In the process, I discovered sin. And I liked it."
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