Screen Talk: Sundance ready for a heady mix

Movie wheeler-dealers are gearing up for this year's Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, which gets under way on 15 January.

Among this year's titles attracting buzz is the opening film, Mary and Max, a claymation story by first-time feature director Adam Elliot. The Australian film is the story of an eight-year-old girl in Oz, voiced by Toni Collette, who becomes penpals with a 40-year-old New Yorker, voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman. Cinemagoers here can expect to see it sometime in the next year as it has already secured UK distribution.

One of the other titles looking to cash in on good early word of mouth is Armando Iannucci's political satire In the Loop, starring Steve Coogan and James Gandolfini, about the build-up to a fictional war by the UK and US governments. The cast includes Peter Capaldi, who grabbed small-screen kudos for Iannucci's BBC political comedy The Thick of It as the expletive-driven, fast-talking British spin doctor. The film's backers at the Beeb are at pains to point out that In the Loop is not a feature-length episode of that show.

But film-buyers should be wary of altitude sickness. Sundance is the festival where many Hollywood insiders believe the thin air (Park City is 7,000ft above sea level) contributes to a woozier, softer critical reception for quirky indie fare, and light-headed film executives subsequently overpay for titles. So a warm reception in a cold climate could also be waiting for Brit film-maker Duncan Jones (previously known as Zowie Bowie, son of David) who will be there with his film debut, Moon, starring Kevin Spacey. The film's producers include Trudie Styler, who'll probably be in town to support the premiere, with her husband Sting tipped to make an appearance.

Other highlights include Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds in Greg Mottola's Adventureland, a comedy about a college graduate who winds up working in his local amusement park. Mottola's credits include the cult comedy hit Superbad. One of the hottest dramas looks to be Antoine Fuqua's cop story Brooklyn's Finest starring Richard Gere, Ethan Hawke and Don Cheadle, while Ewan McGregor and Jim Carrey star in Glenn Ficarra and John Requa's comedy drama I Love You Phillip Morris, a love story set in a Texan jail. Billy Bob Thornton turns up in both The Informers, an adaptation of a Bret Easton Ellis novel directed by Gregor Jordan, and Manure, from brothers Mark and Michael Polish.

It promises to be a heady mix of films, with players on both sides of the Atlantic hoping Sundance heralds a better year for the independent film business than 2008 was.

Is Forest expendable?

The prospect of Oscar winner Forest Whitaker (right) joining the cast of fellow Academy Award winner Sly Stallone's latest writer/director project The Expendables is adding kudos to the Rocky star's ambitions. Stallone, who plans to direct the movie from his own script, is negotiating with the star to secure his services in the action film, due to start shooting next month.

Stallone and his backers have already secured the acting chops of Jet Li, Randy Couture and the British star of The Transporter franchise, Jason Statham, for the film, in which Stallone will also appear. The role Whitaker is in talks about is that of a CIA liaison officer for a group of mercenaries dispatched to South America on a clandestine mission to overthrow a dictator.

Stallone recently returned to box-office glory with his fourth outing in the Rambo franchise, which gunned down $155m from the worldwide market. And his outing in Rocky Balboa also gained him critical plaudits. But reports suggesting that Stallone is keen to cast his Demolition Man co-star Sandra Bullock have been dismissed by the backers as wishful thinking by fans.