Keira Knightley in The Jacket
Got up bright and early in anticipation of Peter Mullan's publicist phoning for the interview promised last night. And waited. And waited... and, well, you get the picture. Three phone calls later it was time to do something else instead and a drive to the press office in Park City proved useful, netting a copy of The Emperor's Journey (The March Of The Penguins) - a documentary about penguins and a check disk of MirrorMask - Neil Gaiman's family extravaganza.
Then it was time for a quick cruise down Main Street - the central meet and greet area of Park City and lunch at the No Name Saloon - still no phone call - before dashing to interviews for The Jacket. Director John Maybury, screenwriter Massy Tadjedin and stars Jennifer Jason Leigh, Adrien Brody and Keira Knightley were all in attendance and very pleasant, although Jennifer seemed tired. Keira was sporting a new short haircut but added that she had "shot herself in the foot" by cutting it off as she is now destined for around a year of wig-wearing while she shoots the sequel (or, according to her, possibly two sequels) to Pirates Of The Caribbean. Happy to be out of her corset for The Jacket she talked about her influences and how she mastered the American accent.
Adrien Brody talked about his preparation for the role of Starks in the movie- isolation tanks and straitjackets - and also expressed his views on independent versus studio financed productions. He seems to take a pragmatic line and was happy to talk about the upcoming remake of creature feature King Kong with Peter Jackson - wonder how he prepared for that? - as well as his role in The Jacket.
Interviews over, it was time to try Peter Mullan's publicist again... and again. By five I was resigned to the fact that it would quite possibly take me less time to swim the English channel - the premise of On a Clear Day - than organise the chat, so decided to mingle with the crowds on Main Street gathering for the evening's free street party. Sundance isn't just about film - music has a high profile too, and a visit to the ASCAP cafe proved great fun with excellent sets by Ben Kweller and The Kings of Leon.
Main Street was buzzing by the time we emerged, with crowds gathering outside any venue where stars could be seen giving interviews. Not everyone was keen to stand and wait to rub shoulders with greatness, though. As we walked past a sizeable crowd waiting for Pierce Brosnan to finish promoting his latest film The Matador, pictured, left - a comedy outing which co-stars Greg Kinnear - there was a buzz. "It's Pierce Brosnan, James Bond," one mum said excitedly to her little boy. "But I don't want to see James Bond!" came the plaintive reply.
Cruising the street for an available place for tea we were handed passes for David LaChappelle's party for Rize, the world's first cinematic movie premiere over wireless technology - which proved an adventure in itself. Told to go to a courtesy bus pick up point, we duly did, to discover that we were the only two people on a bus which proceeded to drive for miles up into the mountains. Shades of The Twilight Zone abounded as the driver killed the lights 'for the view'. All that was missing was him asking us "If we wanted to see something really scary".... Fortunately, the drive didn't last much longer and some other guests had come along before, though no-one famous, I'm afraid to note.
On the plus side, on the drive to the party, Peter's publicist finally phoned and set up interviews with him and Billy Boyd for tomorrow afternoon. Result.
Read more diaries and reviews from Sundance Film Festival, Park City, 2005
