Big names join small films for 'Sundance'

Drew Barrymore produced and stars in "Donnie Darko"

"The Sundance Organization is completely focused on nurturing the people who make films," says Stacy Peralta, director of "Dogtown and Z-Boys." "They are so decent to us; they're constantly calling us and preparing everything along the way for us. It's an extremely nurturing environment."

Peralta exemplifies the spirit of independent filmmaking. He got Sean Penn to narrate his documentary after showing him some raw footage -- the same footage that convinced musicians Ted Nugent and David Bowie to license some of their music for the film at a reduced rate.

The filmmakers behind "Series 7" began their film at a Sundance director's workshop in 1996. Actress Brooke Smith says their low budget required less-than-glamorous digs. "We stayed in a crack motel. It was a bad-news place," she says. "One morning the assistant director was walking down the hall, and literally a door opened and a naked lady came flying out into the hallway."

"Double Whammy" features Elizabeth Hurley

One day, she recalls, the script required an actor to play dead outside a convenience store. Real-life customers simply stepped over the"dead" person, unaware that the body on the ground was still breathing.

Lahti shot "My First Mister" in 29 days, stretching a shoestring budget to the breaking point. "One M&M and two pretzels, we'd divvy up among the cast," jokes Lahti, who convinced her name actors to work for a fraction of their regular salaries.

Many stars have jumped on the indie circuit in recent years, taking a smaller paycheck in return for meatier roles. Known names can draw more press attention to a film that does not have the budget to launch a marketing campaign.

A who's who of Sundance 2001 includes:

"I went to Sundance with my ex-boyfriend Hugh (Grant)," remembers Hurley. "'Four Weddings and a Funeral premiered there in 1994."

In one regard she is unprepared for this festival: "I'm probably the world's worst skier...I'm known as 'the snail,' and Hugh always said he could spot me a mile away because everybody else was just zooming down in sexy fashion, and there'd be this sad little figure."

Lahti sums up the feelings of many festival-goers:

"I wasn't even sure this movie would ever get made, let alone be at Sundance," she says. "You have those dreams, and you wake up and go, 'Oh shoot, I was dreaming,' because it was a really cool dream. That's what I keep thinking -- I'll wake up.

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February 2, 2000
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January 24, 2000

Sundance

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