Sundance Lineup Looks Very Sundance-y; And Here Come the Meaningless Precursors...

It’s Wednesday night, and you are officially more than halfway through the work week, so congrats!

Last night, thanks to L.A. Magazine’s deputy editor Jasmin Rosemberg, I had the pleasure of attending the L.A. premiere of Cord Jefferson’s American Fiction, which I truly believe has the right stuff to potentially win Best Picture this year. I’d seen the film before and loved it the first time, but it was just as delightful on second viewing, and Sterling K. Brown is absolutely wonderful. It’s the kind of movie that would make a very worthy winner of the SAG Award for Best Ensemble, just sayin’.

After the premiere, where I ran into one of Hollywood’s hardest-working publicists, Brooke Blumberg, I stopped by McDonald’s (no shame or apologies here) before heading home to watch a new episode of Surviving Barstool, which continues to be fantastic.

In today’s newsletter, you’ll find stories about next year’s Sundance Film Festival, the National Board of Review, and the late, great Norman Lear, plus my Oscars power rankings for Best Production Design. Read on for more… and tell a friend if you think this newsletter offers something new and interesting.

Sundance’s 2024 Lineup Looks Oh So Very Sundance-y!

Sundance unveiled its 2024 lineup on Wednesday, and, at first glance, it sure is Sundance-y. The festival is celebrating its 40th anniversary, so I thought it might be a bit more glossy than usual, but it’s possible that the strikes impacted things a bit.

The star of the show appears to be Steven Soderbergh, which is fitting, given how he broke out in Park City with Sex, Lies, and Videotape. The director is debuting a new psychological thriller/horror movie titled Presence, which stars Lucy Liu and features none other than Julia Fox.

Kristen Stewart will provide a bit of heat in the snow, as she has multiple movies in the lineup, including Love Lies Bleeding, one of four films from A24 that will be screening at the festival. The Sebastian Stan film A Different Man is another. Mr. Sundance this year appears to be Justice Smith, who also has multiple films in the lineup this year, including the Midnight title I Saw the TV Glow.

It’s Sundance, so naturally, there are a handful of promising documentaries. This year’s subjects include Christopher Reeve, Luther Vandross, Sue Bird, Devo, and Lollapalooza, but will any have the same impact as, say, Hoop Dreams, 20 Feet From Stardom, or even this year’s standout, Still: A Michael J. Fox Story?

If I’m able to get to Park City, the #1 movie on my must-see list would be the ensemble-driven Bay Area movie Freaky Tales, from Half Nelson filmmakers Ryan Fleck and Anna Boden.

But there are definitely some notable omissions from the lineup, such as Jeremy Saulnier’s Rebel Ridge and Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers, whose star Zendaya would certainly up the wattage in Utah. I suppose there’s still plenty of time for Sundance to make some last-minute additions.

Sundance is my favorite film festival, so whether or not I’m able to attend in person this year, bring on the indies!

Here Come the Meaningless Precursors…

It’s that time of year, folks! When awards pundits far and wide try to convince themselves of the meaning — nay, the staggering importance — of precursors such as the Gothams and the Critics Choice Awards, etc.

The latest group to strike? The National Board of Review, which named Martin Scorsese’s 3.5-hour opus Killers of the Flower Moon its Best Film of the Year. Scorsese was also named Best Director, while star Lily Gladstone was named Best Actress. Elsewhere, The Holdovers duo Paul Giamatti and Da’Vine Joy Randolph were named Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress, respectively, and Best Supporting Actor went to Mark Ruffalo for Poor Things.

Overall, that’s a strong crop of acting winners, and even though I didn’t love Killers of the Flower Moon, I certainly respect its artistry and understand how Scorsese could be named Best Director. But let’s not go whipping ourselves into a frenzy now that KOTFM has won the top prize from NBR and the New York Film Critics Circle.

Neither of these groups is the Academy, just as SAG, the DGA. the PGA, and the WGA are not the Academy, either. I’m telling you, having participated in an Oscar vote once or twice as a Variety reporter back in the day, when Peter Bart would have the senior staff collectively vote to fill out his ballot — voting for the Oscars is a totally different experience than voting for any other award. Just because you vote a movie Best Picture at the PGA Awards doesn’t mean you’ll necessarily vote for the same film a week or two later when it comes time to fill out your Oscar ballot.

There’s just a different weight to it. A different sense of how history will remember — and judge — the winner. So no matter what happens with various critics groups and guild awards over the next couple of months, just know that the Oscar race will remain wide open… until I say so, of course.

And now, here are my latest Oscars Power Rankings, which forecast who’s up and who’s down each week…

Oscars Power Rankings: Will Academy Voters Be Seduced by the Production Design of Poor Things?

Best Production Design

1. Poor Things

2. Barbie

3. Oppenheimer

4. Killers of the Flower Moon

5. Maestro

6. The Color Purple 

7. Wonka

8. Napoleon

9. Saltburn

10. The Zone of Interest

Analysis: I hope you read all of my witty little captions here at The InSneider, but do you see the one above? It’s 100 percent true. Regardless of how you feel about Poor Things, which appears to be a divisive film, you have to give it credit for its below-the-line craftsmanship. Sure, the headlines will center on Emma Stone’s fearless performance and the film’s sheer audacity, but no less impressive are its lush cinematography, stunning costumes, and detailed production design.

It’ll be a tight race, don’t get me wrong. Barbie will give Poor Things a run for its money here, and Oppenheimer may very well coast to victory, anyway. And you can’t count out Killers of the Flower Moon, either. I certainly reserve the right to reverse course when we revisit this category a month or so from now, but for now, those four films feel like the easy nominees to me.

As for that fifth slot, I think it’ll go to either Maestro or The Color Purple, and I’ll give Bradley Cooper’s Netflix movie the edge for now since I still haven’t seen what Blitz Bazawule and Co. have put together at Warners, where Wonka may very well prove to be another tasty contender.

This is a competitive category, as films like Napoleon, Saltburn, and The Zone of Interest would all make for worthy nominees in any other year. But for now, I’m going with the ravishing Poor Things while acknowledging that the smart money is likely on Oppenheimer.

Bits and Bobs (A Daily News Roundup)

• Death of a TV Titan - Norman Lear died last night at the age of 101. He lived an incredible life and left an indelible mark on television, revolutionizing the TV sitcom in the ‘70s before settling in as one of the sweetest old men Hollywood has ever seen. I can’t say that any of Lear’s shows are near and dear to my own heart, but I fully respect his contributions to the medium. R.I.P. to a true TV legend.

• Sequels and Spinoffs Galore - There have been a ton of rumors lately about various sequels and spinoffs. I don’t know what’s real and what’s not at this point, but it’s sad to think that studios and streamers will be focusing on those kinds of films after the strike, given the contraction that’s about to occur. Instead of The Accountant 2, which is supposedly in the works at Amazon, we need original stories — you know, like The Accountant was. I mean, is Mel Gibson really going to direct Lethal Weapon 5? Why not just reboot Lethal Weapon at that point? As great as Top Gun: Maverick was, does Tom Cruise really need to take to the skies again in 2026? I was hoping that, post-strike, Hollywood would emerge with a different set of artistic priorities, but I’m sensing that few lessons will have been learned.

• More Spider People! - The great Jennifer Lopez has set her sights on her very first musical, as she’s attached to star in a feature adaptation of the 1993 Broadway musical Kiss of the Spider Woman, based on the novel by Manuel Puig that served as the basis for the film of the same name starring William Hurt in an Oscar-winning performance. Set in an Argentinian prison in 1981, the musical follows Luis Molina, a gay hairdresser sentenced to eight years for allegedly corrupting a minor. To escape the horrors of his confinement, he fantasizes about a woman named Aurora and imagines her in various movies, including the role of a “spider woman” who can kill a man with a single kiss. the film hails from writer-director Bill Condon, whose track record is pretty strong, seeing as how he directed Dreamgirls. This sounds like an interesting project for J-Lo, and certainly better than some generic streaming movie like Shotgun Wedding, though, for the record, she actually managed to make that one kind of fun.

• Quiet Riot - There’s a limited series about the “Russian feminist protest art collective” Pussy Riot in the works at STX Entertainment, which feels about five years too late. It’ll be based on the upcoming memoir by Nadya Tolokonnikova, who created the movement and took on one of the world’s most powerful dictators — Vladimir Putin. Obviously, Pussy Riot does a lot of good in the world, I just think that their Hollywood moment has passed…

• Keeping the Faith - Veteran producer Jon Erwin and former Netflix and YouTube exec Kelly Merryman Hoogstraten have launched a new indie studio that caters to “faith and values-oriented audiences,” per Deadline. It’s not a bad play, given how that audience has been traditionally underserved. That’s why hit movies like Sound of Freedom tend to come out of nowhere — even the media overlooks these ticket buyers.

• Light Up the Scoreboard - Check out the trailer for Snoop Dogg’s Pee-wee football movie The Underdoggs, which looks like the kind of harmless sports comedy that I grew up on.

• Would You Like to Play a Game? - Netflix and Studio Lambert are now accepting casting submissions for Season 2 of Squid Game: The Challenge. Do you have what it takes to compete?

• Congrats - To Marie Sheehy, the longtime WME comms queen who has been promoted to SVP at Endeavor, where she’ll oversee communications for Endeavor’s Representation segment. That means WME (and its sports and fashion businesses), 160over90, IMG’s licensing business, and Endeavor’s nonscripted content business. Marie joined the William Morris Agency back in 2005 and she has served as WME’s chief spokesperson since 2017, so she’s seen some stuff, from the merger with Endeavor to WME’s acquisition of IMG to Endeavor’s acquisition of UFC to the launch of Fifth Season. She has also assisted in crisis communications for WME clients as well as WME’s since-resolved dispute with the WGA. She’s very busy, so I’ll forgive her for rescheduling our lunch next week :)

• Farewell - To Lisa Kasteler, who announced that she’s retiring from Wolf Kasteler at the end of the year after 50 years in PR, and 32 years at the firm she co-founded alongside Annett Wolf. She’s leaving to become the Executive Director of the Matthew Perry Foundation, as Perry was her client for 28 years. I’m sorry for her loss, but I’m glad that she has committed herself to carrying on the Friends star’s message. It was certainly a pleasure working with her during my time in the trenches.

Trailer Time: Max’s 2024 Preview Looks Excellent Thanks to High-Profile HBO Shows

Max released a sexy promo for its 2024 slate and beyond, and I’m not sure who can compete with HBO.

We’ve got two-time Oscar winner Jodie Foster in True Detective: Night Country, Oscar winner Kate Winslet in The Regime, and future Oscar winner Robert Downey Jr. (I’m not buying all the Charles Melton talk) in The Sympathizer. That’s a hell of a trio on its own, and that’s before I mention Colin Farrell’s spinoff series The Penguin or comedy series The Franchise from Armando Iannucci and Sam Mendes.

Then you’ve got returning hits like House of the Dragon, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Hacks, Industry, and watercooler series The Jinx, plus new seasons of The Sex Lives of College Girls, Tokyo Vice, and Somebody Somewhere, and reality content from Conan O’Brien and Jerrod Carmichael.

Meanwhile, 2025 brings new seasons of Euphoria, The Last of Us, And Just Like That, and The White Lotus, plus the creepy new series Welcome to Derry: From the World of It, which serves as the mic drop on this promo, given its connection to the billion-dollar film franchise.

That’s a stacked slate, so you’ve gotta hand it to Casey Bloys, who is welcome to slip into my DMs anytime he wants…

That’ll do it for me, folks!

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