Sundance gives HBO 'star' his biggest stage yet Mizzou grad Pete Jones unveils his 'Project Greenlight' film

PARK CITY, Utah - The Prospector Square theater is renowned for drawing large and enthusiastic crowds at the Sundance Film Festival. But even by Prospector Square standards, the Jan. 12 turnout for Pete Jones' directorial debut, "Stolen Summer," was one for the books. About 300 ticketholders formed a line that extended down the theater's long corridor and out the front door. Parallel to this ran another line of 300 wait-listers, some of whom spent hours hoping against hope for a seat at Sundance's hottest screening. Outside the theater, a throng of TV cameras greeted "Stolen Summer" producers Ben Affleck and Matt Damon and the film's stars: Aidan Quinn, Kevin Pollak, Bonnie Hunt ... and 32-year-old Pete Jones, a University of Missouri J-school graduate and one-time insurance salesman turned Hollywood insider. Usually a first-time director doesn't command this kind of attention. But Jones beat out 7,000 other amateur screenwriters in an Internet contest and was given a $1 million budget to make "Stolen Summer" while being shadowed by HBO cameras. The results are being shown on "Project Greenlight," a 12-week series that has become one of this winter's most talked about TV shows. As Hunt joked to a CNN reporter at the screening, "It was like being on 'Cops.' Every time you turn around there's a camera on you." From the get-go it was clear that "Project Greenlight" would reveal aspects of the filmmaking process rarely seen by the moviegoing public. And what an ugly, inefficient, ego-driven process it was. A co-star who was all but signed didn't. A scene below Chicago's el tracks was planned without the film's audio engineer, who would've pointed out the havoc that el trains wreak on an audio track. An outdoor shoot was rained out and the whole day lost because nobody arranged a backup shoot. A dangerous stunt had to be redone because the director of photography failed to photograph it. Through all this, "Project Greenlight" gave viewers the distinct impression that Jones was an affable, likable, hard-working guy who was in completely over his head. The crew seemed to acquiesce to the director's misguided whims far too often and bickered constantly among themselves. Until "Project Greenlight," Chris Moore was known mostly to industry insiders as the producer long associated with his friends Affleck and Damon. Thanks to HBO, he's now known as the blunt-talking, whip-cracking, perpetually disgusted overseer of "Stolen Summer," known for his colorful pronouncements (sample: "They're all chickens with their heads cut off and no bleeping idea what's going to happen next"). In the Prospector Square lobby, I asked Moore what he thought the audience's expectations would be for "Stolen Summer." "If they've been watching the show, they're probably really low," he said, hastening to add, "but that's OK because the movie's really good." At the front of the wait-list line stood Robin Rothstein, an aspiring screenwriter living in New York. She arrived at the theater at 1:15 p.m. for the 5:30 screening. For her perseverance she was rewarded with a ticket - the only wait-lister to get in. "I've been watching the show and finding it really intriguing," Rothstein said. "I know a lot of films have those problems, so I'm rooting for it to be good. I want it to be good." The best movie we can make "Stolen Summer" takes place in Chicago in 1976. A young Jewish boy is dying and his Catholic friend (based on a young Pete Jones) wants to make sure he gets into heaven. The script was nobody's first pick to win. The Project Greenlight judges - Affleck, Damon, Moore and key Miramax executives - compared it to an "ABC Afterschool Special." But after arguing for hours in a hotel room, the judges were deadlocked. So they called in three finalists for one more round of interviews. And that's where Jones, in a fine show of salesmanship, gave an impassioned speech ("let's make the best movie we can!") and sealed the deal. From the TV show's point of view, that was Pete's moment of glory. What followed was two months of humiliating setbacks. First, Jones learned that his script would cost more than $2 million to make, or twice his budget. He made sizable concessions but also got more money from Miramax. Next, Jones thought he had Marg Helgenberger sewn up as the film's co-star. But after no one got back to her regarding a minor schedule change, the "CSI" star bailed, setting off a mad scramble to sign somebody else. Bonnie Hunt came on board with hours to spare; on the TV show Jones emphasizes "how lucky we are" to sign her. Besides the fiascoes with the el train and the rainout, a scene with Hunt wearing 1970s clothes and driving a 1970s station wagon had to be sped up so viewers wouldn't see the late-model SUVs parked on the street. Most of a "Project Greenlight" episode dwells on this snafu. But those who were there say the HBO version of "Stolen Summer" is a highly selective account of the slip-ups and tensions that are endemic to the filmmaking process. "Most of the crew from the TV show came from reality TV," Jones said. "They were all coming from 'Fear Factor,' 'Survivor,' 'Temptation Island' ... I should've known that's how the show was going to be." "It's too bad HBO didn't have time to show everything," said line producer Pat Peach, adding sarcastically, "Like pre-production." Aside from the Helgenberger problem, that part apparently went well. But then, the evening news doesn't report the cars that didn't crash. Then came the cheers As the closing credits for "Stolen Summer" rolled, it appeared Moore's prediction had come true. The audience at Prospector Square clapped and cheered enthusiastically. They cheered when Jones thanked his wife in the credits and cheered again when he stepped to the front of the theater for a Q-and-A session "What advice would you give to aspiring filmmakers?" he was asked. "I would recommend no documentary crews following you," Jones said. Laughter, more applause. (Nearby, the "Project Greenlight" crew was rolling tape.) As the audience filed out, movie critics Roger Ebert and Richard Roeper stood in the lobby, taking note of the unusually positive buzz. The Sundance organizers scheduled two extra screenings for "Stolen Summer." "People kept coming up to me and saying, 'Wow!' " Jones said. "I think people really enjoyed the movie and started questioning the validity of the documentary." A week later I spoke on the phone with Rothstein, the woman who waited four hours to see "Stolen Summer." "I found it very tender and engaging in a lot of spots," she said. "Whoever edited that section with the el train did a brilliant job. I would never have known they had those problems. The acting is terrific." She did have "a lot of questions about the script," but overall, "it was pretty much what I expected." For someone who went in "rooting" for the film to be good, that's high praise. Miramax is releasing "Stolen Summer" March 1, while the memory of "Project Greenlight" is still fresh in the public's mind. Ironically, HBO's portrayal of Jones as a bumbling ingenue may be the best thing that happened to this film, endearing the chubby-cheeked director to thousands of moviegoers like Rothstein. This weekend's episode is no exception: Jones is blamed for making his child actors spend hours in freezing Lake Michigan during an interminable shoot. "I get beat up pretty bad," he said. To reach Aaron Barnhart, phone (816) 234-4790 or visit the TV Barn Web site at www.tvbarn.com. @ART CAPTION:Pete Jones premiered his movie "Stolen Summer" at Sundance; it opens in theaters March 1. See him Sunday on HBO's "Project Greenlight." @ART:Photo (color) @ART CREDIT:BRANDON HICKMAN