The Snowy and Showy Allure of Sundance

Several snowstorms have already rolled across Park City, Utah, blanketing the nearby resorts in white powder. But come Thursday, the sleepy mountain resort will be bracing for something more scarier than bad weather: independent filmmakers, Hollywood agents and studio marketing executives. The Sundance Film Festival, which runs through Jan. 28, is expected to draw 23,000 people this year, including more than 900 members of the media. In all, there are 115 feature films being screened along with 55 shorts and 18 projects in the online film festival. Sundance again will draw its share of celebrities this year, beginning Thursday with the opening-night premiere of director Christine Lahti’s “My First Mister,” a love story about a pierced teenager always dressed in black (Leelee Sobieski) and her middle-aged boss (Albert Brooks). Lahti, Brooks and Sobieski are all expected to attend. Of course, Sundance wouldn’t be Sundance unless restaurants and condos were filled with companies and agents looking to make deals with the filmmakers. And, when night falls, crowds are sure to swell the local restaurants such as the River Horse Cafe, Lakota, Grappa, Gamekeeper’s Grille and Cicero’s. What would Sundance be without celebrities? Well, aging rocker Mick Jagger, Elizabeth Hurley, Julianne Moore, Patrick Swayze and Forest Whitaker are some of the other celebrities expected to make appearances sometime during the festival. Julia Roberts is also scheduled to show up, organizers say, but not to promote one of her own movies. Instead, Roberts wants to show support for her niece, who has made a short film. But what really may have the paparazzi buzzing is the arrival (for the second straight year) of Courtney Love, who stars in “Julie Johnson.” You might remember that at last year’s festival, Love made headlines when she railed against the wife of a film critic who had taken her picture as she was leaving a restaurant, throwing the camera to the ground. The husband butted in with clenched fist, prepared to duke it out, witnesses said, but then Love’s boyfriend broke off the skirmish. Will there be a Round 2?

A New ‘Sound,’ With Martin and Aguilera

Two of pop’s hottest heartthrobs, Ricky Martin and Christina Aguilera, have teamed up for a duet of “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” a song on Martin’s current “Sound Loaded” album. The video premieres Tuesday on MTV’s “Making the Video” series, but don’t look for the record in stores: The song won’t be released as a single. Instead, the pulsating track will be added to future pressings of “Sound Loaded” (but not to any existing Aguilera album). In the past, that would have forced fans to buy a new copy of the album if they wanted to own the added track--in essence, punishing the loyal fans and rewarding latecomers. Martin and his label, Columbia Records, have come up with a solution: The track will be available for free downloading at Martin’s Web site, https://www.rickymartin.com, only to fans who already own the album. Putting the “Sound Loaded” CD into the computer’s CD-ROM drive will register with the Web site and allow users to proceed with the free download. (Martin’s low-tech fans can send a sticker that reads “Including the hits . . . : from their copy of the album to “Nobody Wants to Be Lonely,” P.O. Box 4000, Carrollton, GA 30117) and they’ll be sent a free CD with the new version.) Anyone who hasn’t bought “Sound Loaded” will be able to buy the version containing the duet starting in early February. “We don’t plan to release it commercially because of these great opportunities to get it to the fans for free,” said Columbia spokeswoman Claire Mercuri. Still, some in the industry think there’s a market for the single alone. “We wish the single was commercially available; we wish there were more singles generally,” said Tower Records Southwest territory regional director Bob Feterl. “That’s what kids want; that’s what kids can afford. It seems like the record companies think, ‘Why let them buy a single when we can get them to buy full-length [albums]?’ But I think the singles business fuels the CD business; I don’t think it’s in lieu of [album sales].”

--Compiled by Times Staff Writers