The Sundance party crush continued into the week with overbooked venues buckling under the weight of some 40,000 extra bodies in town for the festival.
AFP
Slideshow: Sundance Film Festival
Monday's William Morris Independent/Details/Sean John party, celebrating five years of partnership for agents Cassian Elwes and Rena Ronson, had to be shut down an hour into the fete due to a fire marshal capacity check. Those who did manage to get in included Peter Fonda (news), Naomi Watts (news), Heath Ledger (news), Kevin Bacon (news), Outkast's Andre 3000 and the omnipresent Paris Hilton.
On Tuesday, Variety's 10 Directors to Watch bash lured more than 400 industryites to Deer Valley's Stein Eriksen Lodge, including thesps Kyle MacLachlan (news) and Jeremy Sisto (news) plus Sony Classics' Tom Bernard and Lions Gate's Mark Amin.
Later, the crowd moved down the mountain for still more receptions, including Lions Gate's "Eulogy" dinner, Benderspink/Thrive Records' bash; a fete for New Line's Mark Ordesky; and MAC's "We Don't Live Here Anymore" dinner, where producers and thesps Mark Ruffalo (news) and Watts were seen negotiating a deal for the pic in the coat check room.
The party scene got political on Wednesday with a Hollywood-and-politics brunch moderated by Ron Reagan, where speakers included Sean Astin (news). And John Sayles (news) hosted an event for the finalists in the MoveOn.org Voter Fund's "Bush in 30 Seconds" ad campaign contest.
"A gathering of filmmakers who aren't yet embedded in the corporate media seems like the perfect place" for the event, Sayles said.
Wed Jan 21, 7:00 PM ET
SHARON SWART
PARK CITY (Variety)
