Guillermo del Toro delivered a surprise performance at Sundance Monday night, wowing an intimate crowd hosted by Netflix in honor of the festival’s retrospective screening of his feature directorial debut Cronos.
And what a show it was. The Oscar-winning filmmaker has a brief history of breaking out into song at film festivals. In 2022, he joined Gael Garcia Bernal on on a Cannes Film Festival stage but this was much more intimate and extended. Del Toro was backed by a four man mariachi band and didn’t just belt out a few tunes — he delivered nearly a full concert with at least seven songs, even coming back for an encore as the crowd enthusiastically chanted, “Uno mas!”
Attendees included the Oscar winning filmmaker team behind Everything Everywhere All At Once The Daniels and producer Jonathan Wang (in Park City for the world premiere of The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist), producers Janet Yang and Jamie Patricof, Netflix’s Oscar nominated The Perfect Neighbor filmmaker Geeta Gandbhir, actor Elijah Wood, Hollywood and festival insiders and select media. Aside from the music and festival gossip, the main course and hot commodity at the dinner gathering was a menu provided by Michelin-starred Holbox out of L.A.
Currently on the awards season rounds for his epic Frankenstein for the streamer, the filmmaker is on a break from the flurry of black-tie events to make a special Sundance appearance in honor of a special screening of his debut, Cronos, which premiered at the 1994 Sundance Film Festival. Frankenstein snagged nine Oscar nominations including best picture, best adapted screenplay for del Toro, best supporting actor for Jacob Elordi, makeup and hairstyling, original music, sound, production design and costume design.
Tuesday’s showing at the Ray Theater — one of the Park City Legacy Program events designed to highlight special moments from years past to mark the final Sundance in Utah before it moves to Boulder, Colorado — will also feature an extended Q&A with del Toro. The film will be presented in newly restored 4K from Janus Films.
Written and directed by del Toro, Cronos stars Ron Perlman, Federico Luppi, Tamara Shanath, Margarita Isabel and Claudio Brook. It tells the story of an alchemist who creates a device that can give its user eternal life. Four centuries later, the alchemist, now a ghostly white, is killed by debris from a falling building. Enter an unsuspecting antique dealer who comes across the device, only to discover it can restore his youth, even if immortality comes with gruesome consequences.
The Park City Legacy program, scheduled for the fest’s second half on Jan. 27-30, encompasses screenings of past festival favorites and standout titles spanning a variety of genres. It is poised to be a nostalgia bonanza with talent (directors and select cast) from each title making the trek to Park City for the showings.
The program spotlights special anniversaries and will feature brand-new digital restorations of Little Miss Sunshine from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, House Party from Reginald Hudlin, Half Nelson from Ryan Fleck, American Dream from Barbara Kopple and Mysterious Skin from Gregg Araki, as well as a recent restoration of Saw from James Wan. The series will also feature an archival screening of the late Lynn Shelton’s Humpday.
The Park City Legacy program includes special talks as part of the Beyond Film series, which offers artist and filmmaker conversations on cinema, legacy, culture and more. A number of those events will be held at Main Street’s iconic Egyptian Theatre, one of the first Sundance venues. Next year, it will celebrate a milestone 100 years as “the jewel of Main Street.”
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