Festival Predictions

2013 Sundance Film Festival Predictions: James Ponsoldt’s The Spectacular Now

Published on November 21, 2012

With post-production only beginning in late August, it might be too much of a rush job for James Ponsoldt to make it three for three at Sundance in 2013. His sophomore feature Off the Black (Sundance 06′) was followed up with/by Smashed, (in personal top 5 from last year’s edition) which paid off huge dividends for the filmmaker as he then lensed The Spectacular Now, a gig written by 500 Days of Summer scribes Michael H. Weber and Scott Neustadter and starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Smashed lead) alongside Shailene Woodley, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Brie Larson.

Gist: This follows a teenage girl (Woodley) who convinces an alcoholic high school senior that his philosophy of living only for the moment may not be all it’s cracked up to be.

Production Co./Producers: 21 Laps Entertainment’s Shawn Levy, Michelle Krumm, Andrew Lauren and Tom McNulty

Prediction: Premieres section

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Related Topics:2013 Sundance Film Festival, James Ponsoldt, The Spectacular Now

Eric Lavallée

Eric Lavallée is the founder, CEO, editor-in-chief, film journalist and critic at IONCINEMA.com (founded in 2000). Eric is a regular at Sundance, Cannes and TIFF. He has a BFA in Film Studies at the Mel Hoppenheim School of Cinema. In 2013 he served as a Narrative Competition Jury Member at the SXSW Film Festival. He was an associate producer on Mark Jackson's This Teacher (2018 LA Film Festival, 2018 BFI London). In 2022 he served as a New Flesh Comp for Best First Feature at the 2022 Fantasia Intl. Film Festival. Current top films for 2022 include Tár (Todd Field), All That Breathes (Shaunak Sen), Aftersun (Charlotte Wells).