And then there are the people who manage to do both.
After the jump, my Q&A with one of Sundances big winners.
*
- Winner here referring to Pellingtons all-around festival success, not any official Sundance awards.
I keep forgetting theres an actual competition buried somewhere in this snowbank.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY:Congrats on your massive, massive Sundance.MARK PELLINGTON:It was fun.
Walking in, which film did you think was going to be more successful?What is success?
Obviously,U2already had a distributor, andHenry Pooledid not.
Was that more of your baby?Yes.
So to be involved with them as part of their family was exciting and cool.
And I worked four years to try and get it made.
Obviously, this is the one that I have a deeper passion for.
Talk about those themes for us.It tackles really big things, but in a non-didactic or dogmatic way.
A hopeless man finds hope, and a faithless man finds faith.
When you exhibit it to people, its really out of your hands.
So when you get the call that it sold for $3.5 million…Its gravy.
Thats why I made it.
But to seeGeorge [Lopez]and all my friends, thats fun.
In a video, youre not really bound by narrative.
So [directing videos] is about compressed image-making.
Its implying that theres only negativity in the world.
Okay, were at war.
Weve been at war before.
Theres been corruption before, theres been fed-up s all the time.
But theres also been human kindness and love and connection, 24/7, every day, around the world.
So why cant you make a movie about that?
Now that youre a big fancy feature director Im not a big fancy feature director.
Are you done with videos?I will always do videos.
Love to do them.
Will never give that up.
Were you at theU2premiere screening?
People dancing in the aisles?It was great.
If youre a fan of U2, youll love it.
If youve ever seen them live, their lighting, their set, their show is amazing.
So to capture thatandthe energy of 80,000 people, thats a pretty religious experience.
Thats why we specifically chose Latin America.
The band hadnt been there in eight years, and [the fans are] nuts.
I mean, think about it.
Its like a totally different, religious, spiritual fervor that goes on.
Its in the blood.
Its in the DNA of the culture, differently than it would be in Eastern Europe or Australia.
Its inherent in the generational history of the culture, and its relationship to music.
