Sundance star power, but at what cost?

BY ANTHONY KAUFMAN

Robert De Niro, Bruce Willis, Tom Hanks, Josh Hartnett and Mary-Kate Olsen — they‘re usually not the actors we associate with films seeking a distribution home. But let‘s face it, it‘s Sundance-time, a conspicuous reminder that indie film today is as much about A-list stars as artistic vision. (And yes, all of the aforementioned celebs have Park City-bound pictures).

Now more than ever, say industry insiders, recognizable talent has become a necessity for the financing and distribution of non-Hollywood movies. And even if big-name actors are passionate about a project, they‘re not going to work for scale and they‘re not going to sign up without scheduling hassles and lengthy negotiations.

Cassian Elwes of the William Morris Agency, which packaged such Sundance films as The Last Word (Winona Ryder, Wes Bentley) and The Year of Getting to Know Us (Lucy Liu, Sharon Stone), says the demand for stars has increased as a result of financing formulas. “Casting is critical for banks, traditional financiers and equity players with sophisticated advisers, who are all looking to the ‘package‘ in terms of the cost relative to the stars, and what they believe is the break-even point,” he says, “and whether they can actually make money.”

Especially among films where international presales are an integral piece of the financing pie, name casts are essential. “In order to get the financing, we had to have a name that warranted the budget,” says Charlie Corwin, a producer on Austin Chick‘s August (which stars Hartnett). “These names have specific values,” he adds. “The sales agents will give you a number — Josh Hartnett is worth x dollars in Scandinavia — and those projections are what attracts and ultimately what closes your financing. It‘s a necessary precondition.”

For actor Paul Schneider‘s directorial debut Pretty Bird (Billy Crudup, Paul Giamatti), producer Daniel Carey says that foreign sales and equity financiers both “needed to be comfortable with the cast,” he says. Though the film‘s financing was already in place (thanks to a fund set up by Carey‘s company), “even regardless of casting,” Carey says, “from a foreign sales perspective, there‘s a very strong reluctance internationally to back first-time directors.”

That‘s because veteran financiers need to have a backup plan. “Your most reliable downside protection is star power,” explains CAA‘s Micah Green. “Even if you make a great independent movie, if it doesn‘t click with buyers, then a star director or cast can ensure distribution and a financial return. Without star power, you absolutely run the risk of being left without a deal.”

Getting actors to sign onto an indie film is no piece of cake, either. For one, they cost money. They‘ll negotiate creative deals, and charge less than their Hollywood rate, but the possibility of name actors working for scale is “80 precent myth,” says Lynette Howell, a producer on Daniel Barnz‘s feature debut Phoebe in Wonderland (Felicity Huffman, Patricia Clarkson, Elle Fanning). “It‘s not just about the rate,” says Howell. “There are a lot of actors out there who will work for less money, whether it‘s scale, Schedule F [$65,000], $150,000, but who will take a participation in the movie? They‘re saying, ‘If I‘m lending my name and brand, then I want a piece; if it‘s successful, then we‘ll all benefit.‘ That‘s how you get these casts.”

For example, Josh Hartnett has back-end participation on August; says Corwin, “He‘s being compensated as an actor and producer.” Celebs Tom Hanks and Charlize Theron have also lent their talents to Sundance entrants — The Great Buck Howard and Sleepwalking, respectively.

According to Micah Green, most deals are mutually beneficial to both sides, giving actors juicy award-worthy roles and making the film doable for producers. “Usually on the smaller movies, producers are giving talent profit participation rather than gross revenue,” he says. “This is an ideal structure for the financier; even if the talent commands 50 precent or more of the film‘s profit, the fact that they are minimizing their fees and forgoing their gross can result in mitigating the film‘s risk significantly, if not entirely.”

However Green says he‘s also occasionally seen independent film deals where financiers have paid talent a huge upfront fee. This, he says, “neutralized the market value the actors brought to the project” in the first place.

Even if stars are taking points, “sometimes you have to offer way above scale,” admits Igor Kovacevich, producer of Johan Renck‘s Downloading Nancy (Maria Bello, Jason Patric, Rufus Sewell). “We try to pay as much as we can, but we‘re quite aware of how much we can afford.”

Originally set up with Holly Hunter, William Hurt and Stellan Skarsgård, Downloading Nancy also faced the familiar problem of cast scheduling conflicts. “It was a balancing act with our financing,” says producer David Moore, “and at some point, we had to say this isn‘t going to happen because [the actors‘] schedules didn‘t match.”

Scheduling is particularly difficult with name talent because agents don‘t like to commit their clients to low-budget films too far in advance. “Whether their clients want it or not,” says Howell, “they‘re still trying to get [them] bigger movies. The agents are playing a game with you and they‘ll string you along as long as possible in case something bigger comes along.”

On Phoebe in Wonderland, for example, Felicity Huffman was on board the project for years, well before her Desperate Housewives and Transamerica acclaim. With Huffman committed in spirit, the producers pushed hard to get the script read at CAA, where Huffman shares an agent with Patricia Clarkson, who also soon joined up. However, explains Howell, “Even though they were committed to it on an emotional level, it was definitely not easy to get those women to commit financially.” This created an “interesting period,” she calls it, when the production had to push forward, even though they didn‘t have a confirmed star. “It was frightening,” she recalls. “We didn‘t sign Felicity‘s deal until a week before shooting.”

Producers and agents agree that bigger name actors are more available now to work in idiosyncratic films as Hollywood focuses on fewer prestige films and more tent poles. “To be blunt, the studios are not making interesting movies, so actors have to look at the independent world to do compelling work,” says Occupant Films‘ Keith Calder, producer of Jonathan Levine‘s Sundance-bound and CAA-packaged The Wackness (Ben Kingsley, Famke Janssen, Mary-Kate Olsen).

While doing small, yet memorable character roles has become increasingly attractive to A-list actors (check out Bruce Willis‘s résumé recently), as Calder says, having stars in an indie “can go two ways,” he says. “They can go along with the spirit of the movie and understand what they‘re doing, or they realize, ‘Holy shit, I don‘t have the same size trailer,‘ and then it becomes a disaster.”