This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2010, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
With the release of the slate of competitive and non-competitive films in the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, Hollywood observers are looking at a couple of movies that were expected to make the cut but didn't.
One is Gus Van Sant's latest film, "Restless" (the trailer for which can be seen by clicking on the image above).
IndieWire's Anne Thompson reports that Columbia Pictures pulled the drama, a romance starring Mia Wasikowska ("Alice in Wonderland") and Henry Hopper, to reposition it for a possible summer or fall release — and possibly a debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
(It's not uncommon for a movie to make the Sundance list and then get pulled. Last year, the festival was set to debut "Betty Anne Waters," but at the same time the festival was about to announce the slate, the movie was picked up by Fox Searchlight. The distributor pulled the film from Sundance, retitled it "Conviction," and released it this fall in the hopes of drawing Oscar buzz.)
Another title that drew speculation was "The Beaver," the delayed film directed by Jodie Foster, starring Mel Gibson as a troubled man who uses a beaver puppet to deal with life.
Summit Entertainment has announced it will release the film next spring, after pulling a fall release date because of Gibson's well-publicized personal problems. Some thought the studio might try to use Sundance as a launchpad, but the film wasn't submitted, The Los Angeles Times reports.