It was a star-studded opening weekend for the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, maybe the most star-studded since the pandemic. A slew of weekend premieres and parties brought out the likes of Benedict Cumberbatch, Lily Gladstone, Carey Mulligan, Chloe Sevigny, and Joel Edgerton (who is already getting trophy talk for his performance in Train Dreams, which is in direct violation of my totally real rule that we do not talk about the next awards season until after Cannes). Also, just for Lainey, Callum Turner turned up alongside Alia Shawkat and Chloe Sevigny for their film, Atropia. 

 

But the biggest name of Sundance so far is…well…I would normally say Jennifer Lopez, except Bill Murray and Conan O’Brien also showed up, so depending on your priorities, the biggest star at Sundance so far is either JLo, Bill Murray, or Conan. (For me, it’s Conan.)

 

JLo attended the premiere of Kiss of the Spider Woman alongside her co-star, Tonatiuh, and director, Bill Condon (she also gave a surprise performance at TAO). She wore a sheer spiderweb dress, so theme dressing is alive and well in 2025. Ahead of the film’s Sunday night premiere, still images featuring JLo were released:

 

I don’t hate it! Even though I am already maxed out on musicals anticipating Wicked: For Good later this year, I am very curious about Condon’s remake. I’m actually looking forward to it. 

As for the elder statesmen of comedy who came out to Park City, Bill Murray was there for an invite-only event hosted by film critic Elvis Mitchell, and Conan was there with Rose Byrne for the premiere of If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which is written and directed by Mary Bronstein, but is produced by Josh Safdie, and the early reactions from Sundance are that it’s a darkly dramatic film befitting a Safdie brother producing it. Byrne is getting a lot of hype—as she always should, she’s fantastic—but Conan is also getting some good buzz for his dramatic turn as a therapist. Andy Samberg declined to campaign for his dramatic role in Lee, a year from now, will Conan do the same? 

 

In the short term, Conan’s got the Oscars in just six weeks. Hot Ones host Sean Evans was also in Sundance, teasing some saucy plans for the Oscars. He says he’s going, which makes me wonder if Conan is pulling him in for a bit. Given Conan’s own instantly legendary turn on Hot Ones, I would not be surprised if Evans ends up participating in the show somehow. Sean Evans also just acquired Hot Ones as part of an investor group who bought it from cash-strapped Buzzfeed. I’m glad he’s getting a slice of that pie, it drives me nuts when creators don’t have ownership of the digital titles they make popular (see also: Ryan Bergara and Shane Madej and Buzzfeed Unsolved. No wonder they wanted to launch their own streaming platform). The way Buzzfeed operates reminds me very much of how comic book publishers screw writers and artists out of ownership of the characters they create.

 

Anyway, Sundance is off to a busy start. So far, no one film has had a mega-breakout moment, but with The Economy™️being like it is, I’m not sure we’re going to see massive deals made. Business will be transacted, but you can practically hear the belts tightening around town. Though trophy talk will persist unabated, though, especially since Kieran Culkin and Jesse Eisenberg rode A Real Pain’s Sundance momentum all the way to Oscar nods this year. Buckle up for another JLo Oscar run.