Curated playlist
Sundance Film Festival award winners
- Derek ConnollyDerek Connolly wrote a Star Wars film that was never made. His draft became The Rise of Skywalker.
- Christopher NolanChristopher Nolan has no smartphone and no email address. He hand-delivers his scripts to the actors he wants.
- Kevin SmithKevin Smith maxed out credit cards and sold his comic books to make Clerks. The film raised $27,575 and won at Sundance.
- Amy AdamsAmy Adams finished work on a Steven Spielberg film in 2002 and then went a full year without a job. Careers that stall that early rarely end up looking like hers. Adams was born on the 20th of August 1974. She has since won two Golden…
- Robert RodriguezRobert Rodriguez paid for his first feature by joining medical testing studies. El Mariachi cost $7,000 in 1992.
- Stanley TucciStanley Tucci Jr. gave a college classmate a nickname that the man has carried ever since. The classmate was Irving Rhames, and the nickname was Ving. Tucci handed it over while the two of them studied acting together at a state university…
- Melanie LynskeyMelanie Lynskey has been described in The New York Times as "polite almost to the point of pathology." The writer, Alexis Soloski, added that offscreen the actress is unnervingly nice. Onscreen, she noted, Lynskey specializes in taking…
- Rian JohnsonRian Johnson shot his debut film, Brick, at his old high school. It cost roughly $450,000 and grossed nearly $4 million.
- Ryan CooglerRyan Coogler, the American filmmaker, once handed a bank teller in Atlanta, Georgia a note that got him handcuffed. It happened in January 2022. He wore a hat, sunglasses and a face mask. He wanted to withdraw $12,000 in cash from his…
- James MangoldJames Mangold studied acting because his CalArts teacher urged him to. It gave him a feel for performance.
- Justin SimienDirector Justin Simien paid for a film trailer with his own tax refund. Fans then gave $40,000 toward a $25,000 goal.