darwin awards Tagged Articles at Cinematical

A few hours after leaving last night's press screening of Finn Taylor's The Darwin Awards, my phone started blowing up with the news that the thing had been bought. Rights were picked up by Bauer Martinez – the new kids on the block, who came out of relative obscurity to pick up Harsh Times at Toronto – in a deal brokered sometime after the pic's Wednesday night public premiere. Darwin has an all-star cast, including Winona Ryder, Joseph Fiennes, the late Chris Penn, poet laureate Lawrence Ferlinghetti, and Metallica as Metallica. The film, a takeoff on the website which "awards" those unlucky enough to get themselves killed in idiotic ways, was shot on video in and around San Francisco. Variety had no financial details to report, but we'll pass them along as soon as we can.

When news hit the wires late Tuesday that the body of Chris Penn – star of over 50 films, from Footloose to Reservoir Dogs to Starsky and Hutch, and brother of Oscar winner Sean – had been found in a Santa Monica condo, most outlets didn't file the item alongside their coverage of Sundance. But Penn was fourth-billed in The Darwin Awards, the much-anticipated film by Finn Taylor which premieres here in Park City tonight, and the actor's death is already having an impact on that film's festival blitz. Out of respect for their co-star, the film's actors (including Winona Ryder, Joseph Fiennes and David Arquette) have cancelled all planned interviews and media appearences. Tonight's premiere will go through as planned, but sans press line. We'll be seeing Darwin tomorrow and will have a review up as soon as we can. There's also a Darwin awards party tonight, but with cast and crew in mourning, we imagine it probably won't be much of a party, despite the fact that Metallica is scheduled to play in a room the size of my black faux-crocodile handbag.

Picking what films you want to see based on the Sundance catalogue is challenging. Frankly, I pick what films to see largely based on what people are talking about in the press room (the volunteers are a great source of information). The catalogue is written from a fans' perspective. In fact, it's written by the Sundance selection committee, so it's even more than a fans' perspective--it's the opinion of someone who pushed to have the film in the festival above thousands of other films. It makes sense that they would be glowing.

At the start of Sundance you're really picking films based on the talent, the director, the title, and the photo--that's the truth. It's impossible to know which first time directors will breakout, that's the majic of Sundance and that magic occurs over five days. No one would ever have selected Napoleon Dynamite as something they "had to see" based on the catalogue, for example.

That being said, here are my seven in no particular order.

All Aboard: Rosie's Family Cruise

Wow, a documentary about Rosie at Sundance--that's got legs (at the very least to base a drinking game on). The film was one of three films that still had tickets availble to the public today. The other two were the Shorts Selection and TBD. When your film is neck and neck with "TBD" on the available ticket list you know something is up. This film has camp written all over it, but who knows... I'll try and keep an open mind.

(more after the jump)