I just got house from the lively Starz party in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant
I just got house from the lively Starz party in the Cosmopolitan Restaurant, which turned out to become fairly the business mixer.I ran into Andrea Arnold, director of Fish Tank—a film that won the Cannes Jury Prize earlier this year. The humble filmmaker and I chatted over an ice-cold Heineken about our first Telluride experiences and I went on to tell her about how I missed the 6:30 screening of her film in the Mason Theater earlier that evening, finding myself stranded in the top of Colorado Avenue as ominous rain clouds covered the night sky.
The day started with a 9:45 screening of The Last Station, which I must say was beautifully shot. I could watch Helen Mirren and James McAvoy do anything, (dont tell anyone, but I did pay to see Penelope twice!) After the screening I grabbed a little lunch at a sushi joint up the road before heading down to the Backlot to see Waking Sleeping Beauty, a film about the inner politics and struggle at Disney in the mid-1980s when Jeffrey Katzenberg ran the animation department. Following the screening I made my way to the UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television reception in the Wegman Gallery honoring fellow alum and guest director, Alexander Payne. Attendees included Ralph Lauren himself, Phil Kent (COO of Turner Broadcasting), producing partners Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, Eugene Hernandez of IndieWire, and Goldie Hawns old producing partner, Teri Schwartz whos the recently appointed dean at UCLA. These were only a few of the esteemed guests who sipped on refreshing citrus-flavored Belevedere cocktails chatting about their favorite films in the festival thus far. Sony Pictures Classics has a fantastic presence here this yearthey are also distributing two more films that everyone in the party recommended, The White Ribbon and The Prophet—both of which I will do my best to squeeze in tomorrow or Monday before I head out. The one problem Im having is that theres so much great stuff to see, I cant possibly do it all infour days!On my agenda tomorrow: Samson & Delilah, Bright Star (I hear Abbie Cornish is getting great buzz), Jason Reitmans Up In the Air, starring George Clooney, and the Viggo Mortensen Tribute followed by a screening of The Road.