HOLLYWOOD — The Los Angeles Film Festival wrapped up, appropriately enough, with “Happy Endings” Sunday night.
“How can you not end with this?” said fest programming director Rachel Rosen. “The title and the film just fit the occasion.”
Happy to see the pic being launched was Lions Gate prexy Michael Paseornek, while director Don Roos confessed he prefers screening his films at festivals (it premiered at Sundance) “because these are the smartest audiences.”
Co-star Tom Arnold also looked back fondly on Sundance at the Palomino after-party, saying he loved it “because you don’t have to dress up and my wife loved it because there was the most swag in the history of the world.”
The night before, no one was spared when George Clooney accepted the fest’s inaugural Spirit of Independence kudo by skewering everyone from presenter Sam Rockwell to the night’s sponsors and studio suits.
“We’d like to thank you for coming to Sam’s intervention,” were Clooney’s first words.
Surmising that the Warners presence in the room meant they’d finally forgiven him for his role in the demise of the Batman franchise, Clooney lamented that he could have been dark and mysterious, but helmer “Joel Schumacher told me Batman was gay.”
Clooney then chatted with Elvis Mitchell about his desire to make films that tackle social and political themes, cracking, “If you’re selling out and you’re doing ‘Ocean’s Eleven,’ it’s not a bad deal.”
