ONTD

Sometime late this month (or at the beginning of the month of December) the Sundance Film Festival will start unveiling the line-up for their 2012 edition. In an effort to give our readers a heads up on what we'll most likely be seeing at the fest, I've put together yet another predictions list. Caution: I cast a wide circle with a total of 80 predix so I'm bound to get some wrong, but as I've proven in prior years, I'm spot on with at least half the titles you'll find here.One of the most common questions I receive is: how do I know what'll be at the fest and where do I get my information? The answer: I've been going there seven years straight, been privileged to share professional relationships with those in the indie and foreign film sphere, but unless you're one of the programmers led by John Cooper, then no one really can say what'll be at the fest -- although. I've noticed some trends and observations about the potential class of 2012 - which I make a point of highlighting below and for the several Sundance hopefuls, I'd like to share one of the better articles (written by Yelling to the Sky's Victoria Mahoney) about the process being rejected. Here's our 80 Sundance Film Festival predictions for 2012.

2 Days in Paris premiered at the Berlin Int. Film Festival in 2007 and we think there is no reason why 2 Days in New York won't be presented there as well. Technically out of the way is her 2011 film Skylab, which was shown at San Sebastián, so my thinking is this shot in the U.S sequel without a North American distributor might want to logically make a first pitstop in Park City.

Part one grossed just over 4 million in art-house box office receipts for Samuel Goldwyn, with a NYC-backdrop, zany cast of chracters from different backgrounds including Chris Rock in the line-up this rom com could easily grab a Premieres section showing.

Gist: Scripted by Delpy, 2 Days in New York centres again on French woman Marion (Delpy), who has broken up with Jack and now lives in New York with their children. Her Parisian family come to visit her, but the cultural differences between her eccentric father and new American boyfriend will turn out to be explosive. Meanwhile, her sister has had the "good" idea of bringing an ex-boyfriend from Paris and there is the pressure of an upcoming photography exhibition.

Sundance tends to add films to their line-up that have a musical element -- it could allow for a film like California Solo, a drama toplined by Robert Carlyle to make the cut. Produced by Mynette Louie (Children of Invention), Marshall Lewy's sophomore pic could crack the U.S Dramatic Comp or Premieres category line-up. A fierce perf from Carlyle could help secure a spot.

Gist: A former Britpop rocker (Carlyle) who now works on an organic farm gets caught driving drunk and faces deportation after living in Los Angeles for 20 years. In his efforts to stay in the U.S., he must confront the past and current demons in his life.

Lee Toland Krieger made his Sundance debut with the drama The Vicious Kind back in 2009, and we think this rom com Black List script mentioned screenplay by thesps Rashida Jones and Will McCormack has a good chance at nabbing a Premieres showing. Celeste and Jesse Forever features a parka friendly ensemble of Elijah Wood, Eric Christian Olsen, Ari Graynor, Friends with Benefits & I Love You, Man (pic above) co-stars Jones and Andy Samberg along with Park City staple Emma Roberts in the lead.

Gist: Written by Jones and Will McCormack, this revolves around a young divorcing couple (Jones and Samberg) who try to maintain their longstanding friendship while pursuing other relationships.

An item we could easily see in the U.S Dramatic Comp, Jay Gammill's quirky dramedy Free Samples comes equipped with familiar Park City faces Jess Weixler, Jesse Eisenberg and Jason Ritter (Jesse and Jason co-starred in The Education of Charlie Banks - see pic above, legend Tippi Hedren and on the tech side had cinematographer Reed Morano (Frozen River, Little Birds).

Gist: Scripted by Jim Beggarly, Weixler stars a a law school drop-out who fills in as a server as a friend's food truck, where she doles out free samples of ice cream. The job tests her patience, and while she figures out what to do with her life, she finds herself being courted by a young man (Eisenberg) whom she barely remembers from the night before.

t has been a long time coming for David Riker's sophomore to arrive - like Derek Cianfrance we're talking more than a decade between 1998's La Ciudad and next year's The Girl. Riker did make a blip at the fest for co-writing the award winning Sleep Dealerand this border crossing drama was workshopped at Sundance in 2007 and was one of the 2009 Sundance NHK Filmmaker Award winners. This should receive a U.S Dramatic Comp. showing.

Gist: A young mother (Abbie Cornish) from South Texas is thrown into an unexpected and life-changing journey when her attempt to smuggle immigrants across the border goes terribly wrong.

A major supplier of Sundance films (Little Miss Sunshine, SherryBaby, Sunshine Cleaning and Our Idiot Brother) over the years as a producer at Big Beach, if there is a venue where Marc Turtletaub should show off his filmmaker it would be in the condo hills of Park City. Problem isn't the heavy star-studded cast or the comedy's logline but the actual timing -- they'd have to work overtime to have Gods Behaving Badly ready for the fest as shooting appears to have just wrapped.

Gist: The story follows Greek gods living in a brownstone in New York City, where their paths cross with a young couple (Alicia Silverstone and Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Christopher Walken plays Zeus, Sharon Stone plays Aphrodite (see street pic above), Edie Falco is Artemis, Oliver Platt is Apollo, John Turturro is Hades and Rosie Perez plays Persephone.

Another title that just wrapped up production (see NYC outdoor pic above), Imogene does indeed look to be a longshot for the festival, but then I'm factoring in that filmmaking duo Shari Springer Berman and Robert Pulcini are habituals of the festival from American Splendor to The Extra Man and frequent Sundance visitors in producers Celine Rattray and Trudie Styler might want to introduce their first project under the Maven shingle at a fest they continually bring product to. A Premieres section showing is likely.

Gist: This centers on a moderately successful New York playwright (Kristin Wiig) who fakes a suicide attempt in order to win back her ex-boyfriend, only to be under the custory of her mother, a gambler.

First-time helmer Ted Koland's Minnesota-shot dramedy (featured on IndieWIRE - see the production pic above) happens to feature a good grab-bag of acting names (Justin Long, Tyler Labine, Addison Timlin, Frances O'Connor and Park City favorite Jess Weixler) and the logline sounds somewhat savoury - canceled wedding, followed by shock and surprise might come across as sincere, slightly dark and poignant. Depending on the film's tone, Lumpy might find itself in the Midnight section or Premieres category.

Gist: The best man at Scott (Long) and Kristin's (Weixler) Arizona destination wedding, Lumpy (Labine) is the life of the party, until a long, indulgent night leads to his untimely death. Forced to cancel their honeymoon and fly back to Minneapolis to arrange for his funeral, Scott and Kristin meet Ramsey (Timlin) and learn that Lumpy isn't quite who they thought he was.

Having worked with Franco before on Erased James Franco (short film which sees Franco re-enacts scenes from his filmography and reinterprets Julianne Moore's role in Todd Haynes' Safe) Carter's directorial debut continues with the notion of performance.Maladies will forever be known as the film that set Franco off towards a stint on General Hospital in 2010. With Catherine Keener and David Strathairn we see this as an almost sure bet in the Premieres section.

Gist: A talented and successful actor (Franco) retires at a young age due to a perceived mental illness. Now living in a small town with his deranged sister and his best friend, we watch as their Maladies intertwine.

d normally be weary of the results when a novelist gets behind a camera to adapt their own project, but Stephen Chbosky's first outing as a director (1995's The Four Corners of Nowhere) premiered at the fest and he should get to bring his sophomore project based on his 1999 novel. Will The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a novel about an unconventional thinker be unconventional in design? If so, then this might. along with its huge cast receive an invite to the fest's Premieres section.

Gist: Based on the novel written by Stephen Chbosky, this is about 15-year-old Charlie (Logan Lerman), an endearing and naive outsider, coping with first love (Emma Watson), the suicide of his best friend, and his own mental illness while struggling to find a group of people with whom he belongs. The introvert freshman who is taken under the wings of two seniors who welcome him to the real world.

Having John Hawkes cast in your film doesn't assure a playdate in Park City, but Hawkes plus having shown your first film (Late Bloomers) at the film festival way back in 1996 might help in spades to receive a sophomore showing showcase which would be the case for Julia Dyer's The Playroom. If included, this would surely be included in the U.S Dramatic Comp.

Gist: Four children in their attic hideaway make up a fantastic story, while downstairs their parents weave a drunken intrigue of their own. In a lyrical but gripping dual narrative, the story of the children’s life intertwines with the story they make up about their life–until the two stories collide and the delicate family structure collapses.

After blasting onto the indie scene with Saved! at the Sundance Film Festival's 2004 edition, helmer Brian Dannelly gravitated towards television and perhaps it make sense that his sophomore pic works from Glee's Chris Colfer's screenplay, and sees Christina Hendricks (Mad Men), Sarah Hyland (Modern Family) with Colfer toplining (see set pic above). I'd peg Struck by Lightning as a possible selection in the Premieres category and worth noting: cinematographer Bobby Bukowski.

Gist: This opens when Colfer’s character is struck and killed by lightning and then, in flashback, tells the story of how he blackmailed other high school students to contribute to a literary magazine.

Scott McGehee and David Siegel got their career starts at the festival with Suture (1993) followed by The Deep End (2001), but they haven't been back in a good decade. With a higher profile project - an adaption of a Henry James novel starring Alexander Skarsgård, Julianne Moore and Steve Coogan with Onata Aprile (from Cassevetes' Yellow) they have a valid reason to return. Filming on What Maisie Knew finished rather late in the year --- so this is perhaps a weak prediction guess but a welcomed one when you consider producer Daniela Taplin Lundberg's great relationship with the fest.

Gist: Scripted by Nancy Doyne and Carroll Cartwright, the film which is an adaptation of the Henry James novel is about Maisie, a six-year-old girl enmeshed in the bitter divorce of her mother (Moore), a rock and roll icon, and her father (Coogan), a charming but distracted art dealer. Skarsgård will play Moore's new husband.


Find the rest of the films at the source.