Prelude to a standing ovation: The Greatest (content)
Scenes before and after the Saturday afternoon Eccles premiere of Shana Feste's The Greatest, including tears, standing ovations and a Harvey sighting. (Plus, the Brosnan Ultimatum.)
[MORE IMAGES AND STORIES AFTER THE JUMP.]
The Eccles, part of a high school campus, is the largest theater in Park City. (Thus, Sundance isn't like high school; it is high school.) My favorite memory of a premiere here is Waking Life, which reportedly was projected off a hard drive just off a plane from Zurich without enough time for a run-through. (It went very, very well.)
Premiere screenings attract potential buyers, say, like Harvey Weinstein. (A moment before this, he was juggling a Blackberry as well.)
After the credits finsih, the audience hesitates. Applause and cheers... Feste steps to the lectern. And row by row, the audience stands. It could be the first time, it could be the last. What's the look on a filmmaker's face the instant she realizes the room is standing for her film, her cast, for her? Fear. Tears. A bit lip.
Susan Sarandon, the grieving mom.
Carey Mulligan, who on the basis of her charming, open, dare I say, American performance, you would not guess is a girl from Surrey.
Ordinary People is one of the influences Feste cites. John Bailey shot it; he was also the cinematographer of The Greatest.
Producers Lynette Howell and Beau St. Clair keep to the wings.
As the talent are shepherded from the Eccles to cars, Baz Bamigboye of The Daily Mail calls out for a special moment with the girl from Surrey. "Bazzz!"