One of the sobering facts about the business of Hollywood is its disregard for the voice of wisdom. It's much harder for a 35-year-old to sell a movie idea than it is for a 22-year-old. It is, of course, counterintuitive: A 35-year-old most likely has more life experience from which to draw. If you want an example of just how counterintuitive this principle is, watch our conversation with Barry Levinson and Art Linson, who came to our set to talk about their movie What Just Happened? It is about two weeks in the life of a movie producer (played by Robert DeNiro) and draws upon a book Linson wrote about his own similar experiences. With Guber and Bart sharing the screen with Linson and Levinson (the film's director), there is about 150 years of cumulative industry experience on that stage. And the conversation reveals why we should have more regard in Hollywood for experience, and why the gray list is such a ridiculous and destructive guiding principle.

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It's been said that a high stress set leads to a good show. If that's the case, this'll be the best show ever. As I've written on this space before, shooting in a normal environment is stressful--shooting at a festival is like playing harmonica without a tongue. You're blowin' hard, but hitting all the right notes is tricky. (I have a tongue, of course, but I can imagine.) Tempers are short, people throw things, but fortunately for me anyway, all that matters is what's on the screen. We are at the Sundance Film Festival, and the show you'll see on TV will be very good.

(Editor's Note: Gary Marks, an executive producer with AMC's Shootout, is tracking his experiences doing the show from Sundance.)

We started with Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer, here for their film Transsiberian. It's a tight thriller and they are amazing in it, as a married couple. Emily and I have some good mutual friends, (Jared Harris and Emilia Fox, both great actors in their own right) and she is as lovely off screen as on. And Woody gave the type of interview that I think makes our show unique.

Next up, Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, and writer-director Martin McDonagh. Martin is the acclaimed English playwright who wrote Pillowman, which was nominated for many, many Tonys. It probably won a few, but I'm tired and this is a blog, so there's supposed to be mistakes. (But I will say, my friend Michael Stuhlbarg was in it and he was nominated for a Tony, so I've got that going for me.)

Continue reading "Sundance Producer's Diary: Woody Harrelson, Saffron Burrows, and the Open" »