In addition to their portrait, each celebrity autographed an HP Photosmart printer. Here are some of the things they wrote on the printers.
Amber Tamblyn “Lots of Love & Change in the New Year”
Michael Rapaport “NYC 2006 “Special” Sundance Film Fest. Peace! Peace!”
Terrence Howard “What would you do if you were not afraid?”
William H. Macy “Habitat for Humanity – Oh Yeah”
To whet your appetite, here’s a picture of the printer they signed: Photo by Jemal Countess - © WireImage.com
Image courtesy of WireImage.com
I guess the unexpected will always occur at an event like Sundance. When I first arrived, I had no idea of an amazing project that was about to come my way.
Kevin Mazur, a highly respected music and celebrity photographer who was in Park City with WireImage to photograph celebrities at the People Magazine Luxury Lounge, plans to have a book of his photographs published this later this year. All Access will document his years photographing the top musicians in the industry. Prior to publication, he wanted to have a 20 page mock up produced for talent consent purposes. I was asked to help Kevin to get the mock up printed while at the Festival.
more after the jump . . .
Jennifer Aniston and Catherine Keener with Friends with Money director Nicole Holofcener
“Alpha Dog” Nick Cassavettes, director, Anton Yelchin, Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster and Justin Timberlake Photos by Jeff Vespa - © WireImage.com
Images courtesy WireImage.com
Guy Pearce
John Waters
Michael Rapaport
Rufus Wainwright
Kevin Smith
Wilmer Valderrama
Photos by Jeff Vespa - © WireImage.com
Looks like they had a great time at Sundance! Thanks for sharing your blog with us.
Lucy Liu
William H. Macy
Aaron Eckhart
Gina Gershon
The Beastie Boys
Laura Prepon
Terrence Howard
Matt Dillon
Amber Tamblyn
Toni Collette
Nick Cave of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds
Terrence Howard, Best Actor, Hustle & FlowMatt Dillon, Best Supporting Actor, CrashCatherine Keener, Best Supporting Actress, Capote
Felicity Huffman, who signed a portrait and printer in last fall’s auction to benefit DATA and the American Red Cross, was nominated for Best Actress for Transamerica.
Cross posted on Marketing Roadmaps
Well, Sundance opened with “Friends with Money” and closed with “Alpha Dog.” There has to be a message in there somewhere – perhaps more than one. :-)
The awards were given last night – FilmBlab has the list and all the corporate sponsors and beautiful people are packing up and going home. Returning Park City to the residents, skiers and boarders that normally make up the winter population.
It was nice to see so many films by and about women: the afore-mentioned “Friends with Money,” “Stephanie Daley,” and “Come Early Morning” among them. And to hear about films like “Little Miss Sunshine” that almost didn’t get made…. and then hit big. I’m also looking forward to “Thank You For Smoking,” the uncut version. :-)
Now that the film festival is over, the work on the HP Charity Auction to benefit Habitat for Humanity began in earnest. My job, as I’ve mentioned before, was to reach out to the online fan bases of the celebrities who participated. They are, after all, pretty likely to want to bid on a signed poster and autographed photo printer of their favorite star.
Here's the complete list as of January 29th.
Here’s another photo from the shoot that we really liked Photo by Jeff Vespa - © WireImage.com
Well, the film festival may be over now, but the buzz is really just beginning. Check out this week’s People magazine where some of our favorite WireImage photographers’ pics are displayed prominently in a four-page spread about Sundance.
In that spread, the William H. Macy photograph was taken at the HP Portrait Studio by Jeff Vespa – mentioned here by Alison Watterson in a post last week. Also, by my count, I see seven or eight photos by Kevin Mazur, another WireImage photographer I had the pleasure of meeting.
I was given a great tour of Kevin’s studio – located in the Luxury Lounge. What an amazing place – and his techniques for getting the celebrities to relax and open up are among the best in the industry. You can easily spot Kevin’s photos by the very simple environment – white backgrounds and natural lighting. And, incidentally, Kevin is big fan of HP printers and uses them professionally. He even spoke at a dinner for the attendees of our Graphic Arts Summit last Wednesday in Park City. Anyway, check out his pics in People – I think they are awesome.
v While visiting Kevin’s studio and having dinner with his team later in the evening, I met Bethenny Frankel, the runner-up on Martha Stewart’s Apprentice. Besides being on The Apprentice, Bethenny is the owner of Bethennybakes.com, a low-fat, wheat-, egg-, and dairy-free cookie company in New York. I haven’t actually tried her cookies – although for the sake of this blog, I’m certainly willing to give it a go. I’ve heard that they taste pretty yummy – even with all those ingredients taken out. Bethenny was here at Sundance checking out the scene, doing a bit of networking , brainstorming on new business opportunities and giving away cookies to the stars.
Oh, and in case you were wondering – Bethenny says the experience on The Apprentice was amazing, although not necessarily enjoyable at the time. She says the constant stress really started to take its toll on her. Just as I imagined it would …
Terrence Howard at the premiere of "Neil Young: Heart Of Gold" Photo by George Pimentel - © WireImage.com
Daryl Hannahat Uggs at Village at The Lift Photo by Barry Brecheisen - © WireImage.com
I’m sure everyone has a pretty clear idea of what a signed celebrity portrait looks like (and don’t worry, we’ll be posting the images next week after the festival is over). But, how exactly does someone autograph a printer?
Well, wonder no longer!! Here are a few pics of the signed 475 compact photo printers.
Signed by Laura Prepon
Signed by John Waters
Signed by Joel Madden
Photos by Todd Williamson - © WireImage.com
I have an earlier model (from the previous auction!) and I have to say the brushed metal front on the 475 is pretty cool.
Kevin Smith, director of Clerks and Dazed and Confused, Dogma, Chasing Amy, etc., wins the prize in my mind for writing the best comment on the hp475 printer. (He signed it for our eBay charity auction.) It says, “Print Fake Money with This.” I guess the image quality is just that good. HP of course, does not endorse using its printers for such illegal activity. Photo by Todd Williamson - © WireImage.com
Other printer musings:
Terrence Howard wrote his comment backwards, so you have to read it in the mirror to know what it says.
Jessica Biel drew a mountain range – signifying the mountains around Sundance.
Jennifer Aniston wanted to make her printer signing special after being told that it would potentially fetch more money for charity. She asked Catherine Keener what to do, and then herself suggested the Aerosmith wings that she ended up using.
The Beastie Boys drew dogs, doing what they do, or doo as the case may be. You gotta love it!
Wilmer Valderrama and Jack Osbourne at Blender Sessions Presents Broken Social Scene Photo by Chris Weeks - © WireImage.com
Laura Prepon Seen around town Photo by John Sciulli - © WireImage.com
Rufus Wainwright at Oakley Photo by Jason Squires - © WireImage.com
John Waters Photo by Ken Levine - © WireImage.com
Paris Hilton Photo by John Sciulli - © WireImage.com
Working hard at the Portrait Studio. Left to right: Geoffrey Gilmore, Director of the Sundance Film Festival, Jeff Vespa and Karen Cage Photo by Todd Williamson - © WireImage.com
And partying hard at the Blackberry party for “A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints” Photo by Kevin Mazur - © WireImage.com
Jessica Biel Photo by George Pimentel - © WireImage.com
Lucy Liu and Josh Hartnett At a "Lucky Number Slevin" Party Photo by Jason Squires - © WireImage.com
Selected News Stories
From AP: Gore campaigns at Sundance with global-warming documentary
From the Daily Bruin (UCLA): Unraveling Sundance
Today’s Blog of Note
Cinematical Check out all their reviews
Bonus Link: from the BloggersBlog, a list of blogs covering Sundance.
Aaron Eckhart, Rob Lowe, William H. Macy and Jason Reitman "Thank You For Smoking" Premiere Photo by Fred Hayes - © WireImage.com
Amber Tamblyn with her father Russ Tamblyn SAG Indie Brunch Photo by Fred Hayes - © WireImage.com
Mike D, MCA and AD Rock of The Beastie Boys promoting a documentary Photo by Soren McCarty - © WireImage.com
Catherine Keener and Daniel Abol Pach "God Grew Tired Of Us" Premiere Photo by Clayton Chase - © WireImage.com
Gina Gershon "Dreamland" Premiere Photo by Clayton Chase - © WireImage.com
Joel Madden of Good Charlotte "Fast Future Generation"M Photo by Randall Michelson - © WireImage.com
John Hiulcoat, Director, Tom Budge, Cast, Danny Houston, Cast, Nick Cave, Music, and Guy Pearce, Cast "The Proposition" Premiere Photo by Eric Neittzel - © WireImage.com
You can see the image of The Police that will be in the HP Charity Auction on eBay on the wireimage site.
And here’s an image of Stewart Copeland signing the poster: Photo by Randall Michelson - © WireImage.com
Wilmer Valderrama Photos by Jeff Vespa - © WireImage.com
Two words can describe the fashion here at Sundance – furry boots and denim. Hmmm – that looks like four words. Anyway, you get the picture. Everyone is wearing denim tucked into furry, wedge boots. The newsboy cap is also a favorite as are layered sweaters and shirts. The bottom line is it is cold here, no big surprise I know, but it is cold, so whatever it takes to keep warm and look good is the rule.
As I write, Gina Gershon walks in wearing jeans, wedge-healed fur boots, a white fur-hooded ski jacket, and a leather newsboy cap. In my mind, she’s the epitome of Sundance style. She just finished signing the 475 printer for the eBay Charity auction.
To check out all the fashion at Sundance before it makes the magazines, go visit my friends at WireImage, where their podcast shows you what everybody’s wearing.
If you read my post from yesterday on Jeff Vespa, then you read about his mother, also known as "Mama Vespa", and her fabulous cooking. It turns out that she is here doing the catering for the WireImage studio and it's an interesting story.
We had a couple come in to the HP Snapshot Chalet and they wanted to know what we were doing. They were from New York and had been coming to the Sundance Film Festival for eight years.
I explained to them that we were taking pictures with the Egyptian Sundance backdrop. The husband said that he hated to have his picture taken. For 24 years he had not smiled in one picture. I said, "I bet I can get you to smile!" He replied that it hadn't happened in 24 years, so it was unlikely. The wife said that she would appreciate whatever I could do. I told him about our sweepstakes contest and explained that they needed four photos to be able to enter. I told him we were looking for good-looking smiles and that contest winners received an HP camera/printer bundle. When we snapped the photo, we had them say, "You could be a grand prize winner!" And wouldn't you know he was smiling! They asked for three copies because afterall it was the first photo with him smiling in 24 years.
Unfortunately, they didn't win the sweepstakes that day, but it would have made a great ending to the story, wouldn't it?
