We’ve put on our parkas and headed back to Park City for this year’s Sundance Film Festival, where we’ve once again invited the casts and creators of the fest’s buzziest films to come by the Vulture Spot on Main Street and tell us all about their latest projects. The bar is stocked with espresso martinis, the coffee tables are artfully decorated with the latest issue of New York, and host and comedian Jay Jurden is under the studio lights, notecards in hand. Scroll on to see highlights from everyone who stopped by, and check out our full Sundance coverage here.
Friday
Day One
The Presence of Presence
➼ Presence, the new supernatural thriller from Steven Soderbergh, is a work of fiction about a haunting in suburbia — but that doesn’t mean the cast members didn’t have actual hauntings of their own that prepared them for their roles. Julia Fox told Vulture Spot host Jay Jurden about a friendly ghost named Beauty that cohabitates with her in her newly purchased home.
Lucy Lawless
âž¼ Veteran actress Lucy Lawless premiered her directorial debut, the documentary Never Look Away, which examines the life and work of CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth. She stopped by to discuss how she approached capturing the legacy of the late photojournalist, including the daunting task of interviewing Christiane Amanpour for the film.
Nathan Silver and the Cast of Between the Temples
âž¼ Between the Temples tells the story of a grief-stricken cantor (Jason Schwartzman) who assists an adult woman (Carol Kane) who happens to be his former music teacher in getting the bat mitzvah she never got to have in her youth. The cast and director Nathan Silver shared stories about everything they learned in the process of staging a bat mitzvah for the big screen and the very real chaotic dinners that made their way into the film.
➼ Plus Kane with an important reminder that it’s never too late for women to reinvent themselves:
The People Who Saw the TV Glow
➼ If you thought the myriad Buffy references represented all the ’90s nostalgia in I Saw the TV Glow, think again. Director Jane Schoenbrun, accompanied by cast members Brigette Lundy-Paine and Justice Smith, also revealed to us the hidden Easter-egg reference to The Adventures of Pete & Pete and its significance to the film’s themes.
The Cast of A Real Pain Being a Real Pleasure
➼ A Real Pain is a Holocaust movie, but not the kind you’ve seen before. Jesse Eisenberg described his directorial debut as “more real, less self-important, less sanctimonious, and more with a way in that didn’t feel scary or off-putting†while promoting the film with fellow cast members Kieran Culkin, Jennifer Grey, and Will Sharpe.
➼ Next door in the photo studio, Culkin made our photographer’s job look almost too easy:
Your Monster’s Monster (and the Rest of the Cast)
➼ Caroline Lindy’s new movie, Your Monster, follows a young actress who falls for a charming and irreverent monster in her closet that helps her rediscover her voice in the wake of dashed dreams and a broken relationship. The cast members revealed to Jurden the personal connection they each had with their respective characters and the themes of the film that resonated with them the most.
A White Lotus Reunion
âž¼ Meghann Fahy and Sharpe bumped into each other in the lounge at the Vulture Spot while promoting their new movies, Your Monster and A Real Pain, respectively.
The Stars of Stress Positions
➼ John Early is no stranger to playing the harried housewife, and he took on that role once again in Theda Hammel’s new comedy, Stress Positions. “On some level, I must really identify as a deeply stressed person,†he told Jurden on Friday in the Vulture Spot.
3 People, 10 Lives
âž¼ Promoting their new animated film, 10 Lives, writer-director Christopher Jenkins and cast members Mo Gilligan and Simone Ashley had a chance to brag about their own furry friends.
➼ Ashley also talked about music being her “first love†and the significance of collaborating with Zayn Malik on an original song for the film.
The Freaky Tales Gang
➼ Acting wasn’t the only new skill that Normani had to hone while filming Freaky Tales, the new genre-bending ode to the East Bay music scene from writer-director duo Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden. The artist, along with fellow cast member Dominique Thorne, also put her rapping chops to the test for the soundtrack.
Jack Begert and the Cast of Little Death
➼ Known for his inventive approaches in music videos like Doja Cat’s “Juicy†and Olivia Rodrigo’s “get him back!,†Jack Begert is finally bringing the same experimental energy to the feature space. His new film, Little Death, is an idiosyncratic dark comedy that at its heart “is about the essential human need for connection and meaning and purpose,†according to cast member Gaby Hoffmann. The cast joined the Vulture Spot and explained Begert’s directorial style and how the atmosphere he cultivated on set contributed to the serious yet playful tone of the film itself.
âž¼ Host and beacon of truth Jurden finally says what no one else is willing to say: The movie is also about orgasms!
A Nightcap With O-Ren
âž¼ Once the studio wrapped for the day, we joined the cast of Presence for its premiere party at the Chase Sapphire Lounge on Main Street, where we danced the night away with Lucy Liu.
Saturday
Day Two
June Squibb and the Rest of the Thelma Crew
âž¼ When someone impersonated Josh Margolin in an attempt to scam his grandmother, he started to imagine what it would be like if Grandma decided to seek revenge. This idea turned into Thelma, the new movie starring June Squibb in the titular role. Squibb, Margolin, and cast members Fred Hechinger and Clark Gregg told Jurden their favorite parts of filming, which for Squibb included performing her own stunts.
The People Behind Lollapalooza
➼ Jane’s Addiction front man and candy enthusiast Perry Farrell found a way to combine his passions: paying homage to a classic treat in the name of the iconic music festival he co-created.
➼ The story behind Jane’s Addiction ending up on the Twilight soundtrack:
Dawn Porter, Director of Luther: Never Too Much
➼ One word to describe a documentary about Luther Vandross? Overdue. “He is the soundtrack to our lives,†said director Dawn Porter while promoting the film at the Vulture Spot.
The Cast and Director of The American Society of Magical Negroes
âž¼ Kobi Libii, director of The American Society of Magical Negroes, knows he made a movie that will ruffle some feathers. But he’s not in the business of making people comfortable. “So much of the film is about the discrepancy between Black comfort and white comfort,†he explains. “And how it’s less comfortable for us to move through America and white spaces than it is for white people to do that. And I love that, just in saying the title, that’s flipped.â€
Bird Skeptic Saoirse Ronan
➼ Saoirse Ronan was exposed to wildlife of all kinds while working on a farm in the Orkney islands in preparation to shoot The Outrun, the new film from Nora Fingscheidt based on the memoir of the same name by Amy Liptrot. She swam with seals and midwifed some lambs, but one class of animal she didn’t quite connect with? Birds. “I’m just a bit like, What’s it all about?†she said of the feathered creatures of Orkney.
âž¼ She also dished on her favorite Jo March meme:
Alicia Silverstone and the Cast of Krazy House
âž¼ Steffen Haars, writer and director of the genre-bending ode to the classic ’90s sitcom, Krazy House, explained of Dutch movies, “They’re great, but they also kind of suck.†His new film is a bit of an oxymoron itself, poised as a comedy but slipping quickly into dark, gruesome madness. Haars and the principal cast explained what shooting was like, and why coming home from set each day felt like returning from a “war zone.â€
The Ponyboi Crew
➼ River Gallo identifies as intersex, but they weren’t familiar with the term before they started working on the short film that was eventually developed into the full-length feature Ponyboi. The movie is a poignant reflection on their own experience and intersex identity, which doesn’t come without its own trauma and a checkered medical past dating back to infancy. Gallo and the rest of the cast discuss what they learned in the process of making the film and why it was important to each of them to be involved.
➼ Our best friend Dylan O’Brien, he’s an ally. Talk, Dylan O’Brien!
The Cast of Suncoast
➼ Director Laura Chinn is joined by cast members Ariel Martin, Daniella Taylor, Ella Anderson, and Amarr to explain the true story of the landmark case (and her personal connection to it) that served as the inspiration for her new film, Suncoast. The cast also dished on what it was like to get yelled at by Laura Linney, and what would be their characters’ most used emojis.
Sunday
Day Three
Richard Linklater and Glen Powell
➼ Hit Man director Richard Linklater stopped by the studio with co-writer, star, and longtime muse Glen Powell to discuss the challenge of writing and playing a real person. “I like the blurry edges of what’s real and what’s not,†said Linklater.
âž¼ Powell also responds to those capybara allegations.
The Team Behind Exhibiting Forgiveness
âž¼ Andra Day was joined by writer-director Titus Kaphar and fellow cast members André Holland, John Earl Jelks, and Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor while discussing the diversity in her career that led to her role in Exhibiting Forgiveness. She also explained how important it was to her to participate in this project. “I don’t care if I have to be an extra, I will be in this film,†she confessed to Kaphar, “I don’t care if I have to be one of La’Ron’s crackhead friends.â€
Winner’s Cast and Director
➼ What was funny about Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election? Reality Winner was, according to Winner’s director, Susanna Fogel. “Letting situations be funny when they’re funny creates a situation where the dramatic stuff hits really hard,†said Fogel, explaining her reasoning for putting a comedic twist on the sensational story of the infamous whistleblower.
âž¼ The cast, including Emilia Jones, Zach Galifianakis, Kathryn Newton, and Danny Ramirez, also joined us in the studio.
Zahn McClarnon
➼ “We all grew up with the stereotypes of Native Americans, and now it’s a time where we’re telling our own stories, finally,†said McClarnon, the lead actor of AMC’s Dark Winds who also starred in FX’s Reservation Dogs. The show is an adaptation of Tony Hillerman’s Leaphorn & Chee novel series, and follows two Navajo police officers in the American Southwest.
The Cast of Rob Peace
➼ Writer-director Chiwetel Ejiofor and cast members Jay Will and Camila Cabello enter the studio to discuss telling the “rich, complex, and emotional story†of the life and death of Robert Peace. Ejiofor discussed spending time with Peace’s mother in order to authentically tell Peace’s story and honor his legacy. Will and Cabello each discuss their connections to the project and how the story resonated with them.
Devo
➼ Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald Casale, and Bob Mothersbaugh of the band Devo joined the studio with director Chris Smith to talk about the making of Devo, a new documentary that captures the band’s “gloriously radical spirit.†Always embracing the cutting edge of musical innovation, the band talks about ideating hologram shows back in the ’70s and how often in their careers they’ve had to wait for technology to catch up to their vision.
Alessandra Lacorazza and the Cast of In the Summers
➼ For director and writer Alessandra Lacorazza, casting was an intimate process, for she was finding actors to portray her father, sister, and herself in her debut feature. She’s joined by these actors to discuss the very real relationships they formed on set while portraying the ones of Lacorazza and her family.
Giancarlo Esposito
➼ Parish is a new AMC series about “a journey of a man who is striving to keep his family together and is wanting more out of life,†according to lead actor Giancarlo Esposito. He shared how he relates to the story and his character and which of his skills came in handy for this role in which he plays a taxi driver.
âž¼ He also drops some wisdom in the form of “Giancarlo-isms.â€
The Director and Stars of A Different Man
âž¼ Director Aaron Schimberg is joined in the studio by cast members Sebastian Stan, Renate Reinsve, and Adam Pearson to promote the groundbreaking psychological thriller about an actor who drastically changes his appearance. Schimberg discusses what he hopes people will take away from the film while Pearson delivers a lesson on the difference between “good cinema†and “great cinema.â€
âž¼ Sebastian Stan on being an actor playing an actor.
Monday
Day Four
Will and Harper of Will & Harper
➼ Will Ferrell’s best friend transitioned at the age of 61. They went on a road trip, and as it turns out, two comedians stuck in a car together makes for a very good movie. Promoting the movie in the studio with Jay, they talked about dealing with transphobia both online and offline while on the road, and the bittersweet beauty of a late-in-life transition.
➼ And a Vulture exclusive: Will Ferrell’s DJ name.
Documentarian Lana Wilson
Lana Wilson, known for her revealing celebrity portraits like Miss Americana and Pretty Baby, chose a completely different subject for her latest film, Look Into My Eyes: the world of psychic mediums. The idea for the documentary came after a visit to a psychic the day after Trump’s 2016 election. “I was extremely depressed, sad, frightened about the future, and in my lost state, I just walked into a psychic shop,†she recalls. The psychic told her how people come to her at “real crossroads in their lives,†which piqued Wilson’s interest as a filmmaker and storyteller.
➼ She also answers the question preying on everyone’s mind: How do psychics afford New York City rent?
Pauly Shore
âž¼ In The Court Jester, Pauly Shore portrays fitness guru Richard Simmons, who meets and changes the life of protagonist David in the ten-minute short film. In the studio, he addressed the controversy around Simmons’s own disavowal of the film. “First of all, you should be happy that Pauly Shore is doing this, because I’m a good person,†he said. “It’s done with love.â€
âž¼ Also, host Jay Jurden presenting Shore with a real-life leaning tower of cheese-ah.
The Team Behind As We Speak
➼ Director J.M. Harper was joined by collaborators Kemba and Erik Nielson to discuss their latest project, As We Speak, which examines the U.S. court system’s tactics of using rap lyrics as admissible evidence in criminal cases. The trio discuss Young Thug’s trial serving as a catalyst for the film’s production and the essential advocacy of Killer Mike.
Dìdi (弟弟) Director Sean Wang
➼ The experience of being 13 is universal, according to Sean Wang, the director of the new coming-of-age film Dìdi (弟弟), which is loosely based on Wang’s own experience of adolescence in the Bay Area. While discussing the film, Wang noted the influence that Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird had over his own approach.
Mark Duplass, Mel Eslyn, and the Cast of Penelope
âž¼ At the start of the pandemic, Mark Duplass was spending a lot of time alone. Incidentally, he was also watching Alone. So he did what any of us would do: write himself into the character of a 16-year-old girl running off into the woods. Thus, Penelope was born.
Johnny the Killer
âž¼ Director Chris Nash and cast members Andrea Pavlovic and Ry Barrett were in the studio to discuss the making of their new film, In a Violent Nature. How many gallons of blood were used on set? More then you would expect.
âž¼ Also joining them was Johnny, the loquacious killer from the movie.
Self-Proclaimed Queen of Sundance, Lisa Barlow
➼ Lisa Barlow does not suffer from a lack of ambition. Discussing who she’d like to see as future members of the SLC Housewives sisterhood, Jennifer Lawrence, Angelina Jolie, and Victoria “Posh Spice†Beckham were among the names surfaced. Andy Cohen, if you’re reading this, you have some calls to make.
➼ Barlow also discussed getting “duped†by Monica.