Oscar noms and the unfortunate news of Heath Ledger took most of today’s attention away from Park City – but the 3 deals worth about 20 million dollars did manage to grab the headlines. Fox Searchlight Pictures plunked 5 million into Clark Gregg’s directorial debut Choke , Andrew Fleming’s late entry (and still unfinished version of Hamlet 2 got a thick payday for world rights via Focus Features and a picture which I thought was an MGM property (Mark Pellington’s Henry Poole Is Here) is actually an Overture Films project now (it got picked up for 3.5). For more on the opening of the wallets read this NYTimes article. IndieWIRE provides feedback on the U.S docs in Competition with Margaret Brown’s docu stirring up reactions in the audience. Pictured above: Alex Gibney’s portrait of Hunter S. Thompson with Gonzo.
