Sundance 2007, Day Two
Q & A Session with the producer of Waitress.
We caught a screening of Waitress tonight in Ogden. Ogden is about 65 miles from Park City. We made the mistake of thinking it would only take us an hour to get there. A semi-trailer jack-knifed on the expressway in the canyons between Salt Lake City and Ogden snarling traffic for miles. We were 30 minutes late to the screening, but they let us in because of the accident in the canyons. Apparently, we weren't the only ones late to the screening. We were just extra late because we also managed to get slightly lost on the way there. That's what we get for trying to navigate the entire way there using the sad excuse for a map provided in the Sundance film guide.
Oh well, at least we got to drive there and back in a BMW 525xi. It was about 15 degrees outside when we left the theater so the heated steering wheel was definitely a boon. There's no denying that the 525xi is a nice ride. Although, I found it quite lacking when it came to power. The 215-hp 3.0 liter inline six had a hard time keeping up with the canyons in Utah. The additional weight of the all-wheel drive system and three passengers conspired to dampen the "ultimate driving experience". The engine also seemed to be lacking low-end grunt. The brakes also seemed to be hypersensitive and didn't have very good feel. It was nearly impossible to feather the brakes for a smooth stop.
Anyway, back to Waitress… I enjoyed this film. It was bittersweet and poignant. The writer and director of the film, Adrienne Shelly, also played one of Keri Russell's waitress co-workers. It was moving to see her play the part she wrote for herself in a film that her friends characterize as a labor of love. She unfortunately did not live to see her film premiere and get picked up for distribution at Sundance. The producer said that after speaking with Keri Russell they knew that she was the one they wanted for the lead role. Unfortunately, they made this decision right after Russell got her part in Mission Impossible III (That's a role which I still wonder about her taking. From what my friends that met her tell me, she seems to be trying to be less Hollywood and do things more along the lines of Waitress.) They had to wait six months for her to finish MI3. The producer of Waitress said they shot the entire thing in 20 days. It's amazing when you hear how quick the shooting goes for some of these independent productions. They were also able to get Andy Griffith to more or less come out of retirement to play the owner of the diner that Russell works at.
We have tickets to a screening of Interview tomorrow in Ogden. So, it'll be another long drive. But, the film sounds interesting. The majority of the action in the film occurs between Steve Buscemi and Sienna Miller.
