Sundance Scene and Heard: Kristen Stewart, Kygo, Octavia Spencer and the Quest for 10,000 Movies (Photos)

A continually updating report on the scene from Park City

Sundance - Kristen Stewart, Photographers
"Certain Women" star Kristen Stewart jumps in with the photographers. #TotalCannesMove. (Getty Images)

Amidst eight figure sales deals, new breakout stars destined for immediate mainstream relevance (hello there, Nate Parker), falling sleet and shrinking crowds, here’s the latest from the scene in Park City.

Seen: Lena Dunham and Katie Couric power lunching by a living room river

Glamour's Women Rewriting Hollywood Lunch at Mimi Griswold's ornate home (there is a hot tub and a river in the living room) brought power women together: Dawn Ostroff, host Cindi Leive, Katie Couric, WIF's Kristen Schaffer and Cathy Schulman, and Lena Dunham.
Glamour’s Women Rewriting Hollywood Lunch at Mimi Griswold’s lodge-style home with Dawn Ostroff, host Cindi Leive, Katie Couric, WIF’s Kristen Schaffer and Cathy Schulman and Lena Dunham

Seen: Tyler Posey and Austin Butler of “Yoga Hosers” are tight

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 24: Actors Tyler Posey (L) and Austin Butler are seen around town at the Sundance Film Festival on January 24, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Mark Sagliocco/GC Images)
Tyler Posey and Austin Butler at Village at the Lift. (Getty Images)

Heard: “That’s a teenager’s dream there,” an event insider said upon seeing Tyler Posey and Austin Butler of “Yoga Hosers” pose together at the Kia Supper Suite on Monday night.

Tyler Posey arriving to the "Yoga Hosers" dinner on Monday, January 25.
Tyler Posey arriving to the “Yoga Hosers” dinner on Monday, January 25.

Plus, “Teen Wolf” star Posey crammed an Olympic training session into a “your hotel room is not ready” timeslot. “I went snowboarding with (Olympic Gold Medalist) Hannah Kearney. I haven’t been snowboarding in years. It was like riding a bicycle,” he said.

Seen: #TotalCannesMove by Kristen Stewart
The “Certain Women” star jumped in with photographers (main image), choosing the backdrop most often seen on the Croisette.

Seen: Cool Cat

"Orange is the New Black's" Alysia Reiner leaving the festival a winner. Her female-drive Wall Street movie "Equity" sold, she won a Creative Coalition Award, and picked up some gear here at a Dell and Campbell's Soup suite.
“Orange is the New Black’s” Alysia Reiner, whose female-driven Wall Street movie “Equity” sold

Seen: Super Bowl-bound Cam Newton’s Oscar winning fan

CHARLOTTE, NC - JANUARY 24: Cam Newton #1 of the Carolina Panthers celebrates during the NFC Championship Game against the Arizona Cardinals at Bank of America Stadium on January 24, 2016 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Cam Newton (Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)

Heard: “Cam Newton is an Auburn Tiger alum. He is at his first Super Bowl, and I’m really excited for him,” Octavia Spencer gushed about her fellow Auburn alum (and fellow WME client), at a Don Julio dinner for “The Free World” on Monday night.

Seen: “The Help” Duo Octavia Spencer and Bryce Dallas Howard with neighboring dinner parties

TK
Bryce Dallas Howard won IMDb’s STARmeter award, while her “The Help” co-star celebrated “The Free World” at the WME|IMG house. (Getty Images)

Heard: Spencer had her first meeting with “The Free World” writer/director Jason Lew at the now defunct Mo’s burger joint in Toluca Lake, California. “Seeing that he was an Asian-American director who had written this very complex story about faith, about differences in society, and how people are perceived and perception of different peoples in society, I knew I had to do it,” she said.

Heard: My credit is the very last thing

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 25: Founder and CEO of IMDb Col Needham (R) presents Bryce Dallas Howard with an IMDb STARmeter Award on January 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images for IMDb)
Howard and potential future Sundance “screener,”  Col Needham. (Angela Weiss/Getty Images for IMDb)

Jason Lew and Spencer’s “The Help” co-star Bryce Dallas Howard went to NYU together. They co-starred in plays together. When TheWrap caught up with Howard a few minutes after Spencer, she revealed the very last thing she did on her Sundance directorial debut, the short “Solemates.”

“I don’t like to put my credit in until its done, done, done. [The last thing I did was] pacing the timing between the end of ‘Solemates’ and my name [as director] fading up.”

Seen: Sundance comically pleading a job offer to IMDB founder Col Needham

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 25: IMDb's Keith Simanton (L) and President of Film Independent Josh Welsh attend a party, hosted by IMDb, celebrating Bryce Dallas Howard receiving an IMDb STARmeter Award on January 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Angela Weiss/Getty Images for IMDb)
IMDb’s Keith Simanton (with Film Independent President Josh Welsh) quizzed guests on movie trivia (Angela Weiss/Getty Images for IMDb)

Heard: “Since the first of January 1980, I have seen 9,529 unique feature films. I have one year to watch 471 movies if I am to hit 10,000 unique movies on my 50th birthday,” Needham said on his goal for the 365 days remaining before his birthday.

“Col, you can be a screener!” one Sundance exec shouted back at him, offering him a job watching the submitted films throughout the fall. “I can make it happen.”

This followed a rendition of “Happy Birthday” sung by a chorus of film industry “framers” whose tentpoles mark the annual calendar: AFI Fest’s Jacqueline Lyanga, Film Independent’s Josh Welsh, executives from the Gotham Awards and Sundance, and Chaz Ebert at the WhoSay hosted dinner at the Mustang.

Seen: Kygo, drawing more than just locals to a ticketed (paid) show

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 24: DJ/Producer KYGO performs during the 2016 Sundance Film Festival at Park City Live! on January 24, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by C Flanigan/Getty Images)
KYGO performs at Billboard’s Winterfest on Sunday night Jan. 24, 2016. (C Flanigan/Getty Images)

Heard: Kygo’s tropical-infused EDM on a Sunday night in the snow. As a rarity, industry folks were actually looking to take out their wallets at Sundance and pay for something.

Seen: “Black Swan” x “Birdman” interactive Art (Press play below)

 

Hey, so I turned into a bird and flew away… bye! #sundance2016 #newfrontier #ChrisMilk #TheTreacheryofSanctuary

A video posted by Natalie J Eakin (@natttjul) on

 

The Broad Museum is going to need to add a wing on for this installation by an artist named Chris Milk, which appeared just off Main St. in a tent on Swede Alley.

Seen: A “Top Chef” diced with a top voice

PARK CITY, UT - JANUARY 25: Chef Marcel Vigneron plates and offers Aluna Francis of AlunaGeorge the perfect bite showcasing Samsung Black Stainless Steel home appliances in the Samsung Studio Café during the Sundance Film Festival 2016 on January 25, 2016 in Park City, Utah. (Photo by Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Samsung)
“Top Chef” Marcel Vigneron ran the kitchen for an intimate dinner party with singer  Aluna Francis (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Samsung)

Seen: Frances Fisher using her flashlight app to light a speech 

(Mikey Glazer)
Part-time gaffer Frances Fisher at the Kia Supper Suite on Sunday night, where Maestro Dobel Tequila flowed. (Mikey Glazer)

Heard: “In my spare time, I gaff,” Frances Fisher said, acknowledging her helping hand in lighting the director of “Outlaws and Angels” with her cellphone flashlight while he gave speeches. Daughter Francesca Eastwood stars in the Western, continuing dad Clint’s family tradition.

Also Heard: “This is the smallest movie (producer) Jeff Rice has ever made,” director JT Mollner said about his producer who was sitting at a table nearby. Rice is best known for noisier fare like “Lone Survivor,” “End of Watch” and “2 Guns.”

Seen: Amy Winehouse documentary director/ “Amy” Oscar nominee Asif Kapadia

Heard: “I didn’t know (that all Oscar nominees are scrambled across table assignments at the Nominees’ Luncheon). I thought I’d sit with my wife. Maybe not,”  director Kapadia said.

Heard: Michael Jackson’s “Beat It” mashed up with Calvin Harris’ “We Found Love”

(Mikey Glazer)
(Mikey Glazer)

Seen: Spike Lee nodding along with an entire table of the “Michael Jackson estate” led by longtime attorney/manager John Branca co-signing Questlove’s two-hour audio tour through MJ’s library at a dinner for Lee‘s new documentary on the late King of Pop.

TheWrap’s Party Report at Sundance is presented by the vehicles that will be shuttling filmmakers and to casts to special events, the 2016 Kia Sorento CUV. Among those special events are The Party Report’s party pal and HQ, the Kia Supper Suite by The Church Key. Keep up with real time images of the scene in Park City on @SundanceParties (Twitter and Instagram).

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