After the credits rolled and Nicole Holofcener took her place on stage at Park City’s Eccles Theater alongside stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Tobias Menzies, the veteran filmmaker had a specific vision for how to frame what came next. Just like her movies.
She made a point of calling herself “old school” by skipping an iPhone scroll and instead reading out sheets of white paper filled with the names of her collaborators who worked on the Sundance Film Festival selection. You hurt my feelings. After all the shout-outs were gracefully delivered, she even joked, “Have I hurt anyone’s feelings yet?” in case anyone was left out – Holofcener hoped they would all sit on stage with their legs dangling over the edge, as they used to.
While Louis-Dreyfus turned down that piece, she took the first question thrown at her and explained what attracted her to a second collaboration with Holofcener, following their well-reviewed first performance on Enough saidstarring James Gandolfini.
After joking that it was “a money gig,” Louis-Dreyfus said, “First of all, the collaboration with Nicole as writer and director is, of course, irresistible.” It helped that she loved the story. “When Nicole and I had lunch and she told me about this premise, and as soon as she told me the premise, I was like, yeah, I’m doing this movie. It’s a very small thing about a very big thing, and that attracted me.
The film stars Louis-Dreyfus as Beth, a New York novelist who has spent years working on the follow-up to her somewhat successful memoir, sharing numerous drafts with her approving, supportive husband Don (Tobias Menzies). Beth’s world quickly comes crashing down when she overhears Don admit to her brother-in-law, Mark, that he actually doesn’t like the new book. Michaela Watkins, Owen Teague, Arian Moayed and Jeannie Berlin round out the cast.
Tobias Menzies, Nicole Holofcener and Julia Louis-Dreyfus at the You hurt my feelings world premiere at Sundance
Arturo Holmes/Getty Images
Today’s show marked a welcome Sundance return for Holofcener, returning to the party for the fourth time. While she had just told deadline that she doesn’t like being called a ‘tough’ she acted just like the comfortable and confident home common where she belonged. “Can we turn on the lights?” Holofcener asked Sundance officials as they answered questions from the audience during the Q&A. “I’m used to the old Sundance, and this is very different.”
It was a good thing they honored her request, as they rolled through some enlightening questions from the audience, including questions about improvisations, the future for Beth and Don’s marriage, Holofcener’s writing process, and how Louis-Dreyfus and Menzies were able to do it. find. old married couple” chemistry. (Louis-Dreyfus had to laugh because he offered her when it’s best to lie and when it’s best to tell the truth by saying “You should always tell the truth and never tell the truth do not tell.”)
Then, as the lights came on and eyes scanned the crowd for the next audience member with their arm in the air, it was revealed that Michael J. Fox was not only sitting for the screening, but had something he wanted to say. Fox — here in Park City for the debut of his documentary Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie which chronicles his life story from Hollywood superstar to Parkinson’s disease activist – offered more of a compliment than a question, saying how much he loved the movie and how much of his own life he saw reflected on screen when he was married to his wife Tracy 35 years.
Such reactions, whether they come from famous spectators or fans or passionate cinephiles, is what Holofcener has bet on throughout her career with films like Friends with money, beautiful and wonderful and Walk and talk. She has long been praised for her ability to zoom in on an aspect of personal relationships, sometimes broad but often niche, and hit the nerves in such a way that many can easily find themselves or their friends or their relatives in the characters.
In one of the closing comments, Holofcener said she was often able to get her work out into the world by bypassing the typical test screenings and focus groups and the like. “Even in the past with other studios, you get the lists and you get the numbers and comments and I basically just do what I want,” she said to a huge round of applause. “I’m lucky that’s the case.”
