By David Poland poland@moviecitynews.com
'Sunshine' Sets at Upper West Side Premiere
The Reeler also crashed last night’s official New York premiere of Little Miss Sunshine–not to be confused with the “opening-night preview screening” that unspooled a few months back at BAM, and certainly not to be confused with the world premiere that so enraptured a Sundance ’06 crowd that standing-O’d it to a $10 million sale. This was the Broadway-media-phalanx, if-I-can-make-it-there-I’ll-make-it-30-minutes-late Gotham remix. With a gold carpet in place of a red one.
Oddly, it all seemed so final–like a wrap party for a half-year spent over the moon. Is this, in fact, the last premiere?
“This is the last premiere,” Little Miss Sunshine co-director (and all-around nice guy) Jonathan Dayton told me. “We’ll do a little bit more traveling, but it’s hard, because the great thing is that when we get to go out and watch the film with new audences, that’s always fun.”
“It keeps it really fresh in a way, because you’re watching with total strangers,” said Valerie Faris, Dayton’s wife and directing partner, foreshadowing what would become the sentiment of the evening. “They’re not even necessarily film enthusiasts. So that’s been really rewarding, and you know, hopefully, we want it to find its audence. People who like what it is, and–”
“And it’s certainly not for everyone, you know,” Dayton said. “It’s been great that there’s been so much buzz about it.” On cue, his cell phone rang. Dayton checked the caller ID. “602. This is my best friend from high school.” He excused himself.
I asked Faris which of their colleagues and peers they had consulted with as part of their publicity-marathon training. “We talked to our friends Mike Mills, who directed Thumbsucker, and Bennett Miller,” she said. “Both of them just said, ‘Sleep as much as you can now–beforehand. You’ll just be exhausted.’ ”
Near the wall of the lobby, Dayton plugged his free ear. ” You’re where?” he asked his caller. “OK, we’re coming in right now.”
“But, you know, it’s weird,” Faris continued. “I think maybe because our film is a comedy, and everytime you watch the end of the movie with people it’s such an energy charge, I haven’t been that drained by this process yet, I guess.”
Dayton stepped back up. “It’s a very good problem to have,” he said.
“But a few bad reviews could really do me in,” Faris said.
Which makes it even harder for me to be down on Sunshine itself, which seemed little more to me than a fetish party of quirks–five rich performances in search of a story (and Alan Arkin in search of an Oscar nod) and about three indie-ready road-trip montages too many. That’s all my conscience will allow me to say; I will be doing no doing-in today. Or maybe I just did. Damn.
Anyway, fuck it. Little Miss Sunshine opens Wednesday in New York, go see it, tell me I am wrong, etc.