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Sundance Diary: Best of the Fest

Friday January 27, 2006 01:00 PM EST

Jan. 24: Little Miss Hit

Sundance Diary: Best of the Fest| Sundance Film Festival, Toni Collette

Toni Collette

Jeff Vespa / Wireimage

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, 194 films are unspooling – and the first hit has already emerged from Park City, Utah. The hilarious road movie Little Miss Sunshine has been snapped up by Fox Searchlight for a reported $10 million.

The Friday screening of the film, which stars Toni Collette, Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear as a dysfunctional family traveling to a children's beauty pageant, was interrupted repeatedly by applause and finally drew a standing ovation. Expect this gem to turn up in multiplexes this summer.

On the festival's opening night (Jan. 19), the Jennifer Aniston film Friends with Money – also starring Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand – received a warm reception from audiences and critics. The ingratiating comedy about four longtime pals, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener (Lovely and Amazing), is slated to hit theaters in April.

Sundance Diary: Best of the Fest| Sundance Film Festival, Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow

Jeff Vespa / Wireimage

But you don't need to go to an exclusive party to spot a celeb in Park City. Expectant mom Gwyneth Paltrow went to the Eccles Theater on Sunday night for the world premiere of The Science of Sleep by writer-director Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). And Robert Downey Jr., a black knit ski cap pulled down over his forehead, showed for the first screening of his new film, A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, at the Racquet Club Theater.

Sundance Snapshots

• When the cast and crew of Off the Black, an affecting little drama about an umpire (Nick Nolte) who befriends a high school baseball player, introduced themselves, Nolte joked: "I was a grip."

Jessica Biel, who rode horseback while playing a 19th-century Hungarian countess in The Illusionist, said she let a stunt person take over in scenes with speedy galloping: "I didn't want to break my neck," she said.

Paul Giamatti, who is also in The Illusionist, said he took his role as a Viennese police inspector because "I got to smoke a pipe and wear a cool hat."

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