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This year’s Sundance Film Festival officially begins on Thursday and runs through Feb. 2 in Park City, Utah. The annual gathering is the premiere showcase for independent film and has launched modern classics including “The Blair Witch Project,†“The Big Sick,†“Little Miss Sunshine,†“Call Me By Your Name,†“Manchester by the Sea†and “Brooklyn.†Even “Get Out†had its first screening (in a secret surprise show) at the festival.
The Times will be on the ground monitoring the daily buzz, breakout stars and newsmakers with regular reports. But before we land in Utah’s snowy streets, we picked 10 famous faces we’re excited to see back again for this year’s festival.
Our first, Tessa Thompson (seen above in the Times’ Comic-Con studio), has quickly become one of the most exciting — and unpredictable — actresses in Hollywood today. She’s no stranger to blockbusters thanks to her role as Valkyrie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, keeps Michael B. Jordan’s “Creed†on his toes in the “Rocky†spinoff series, and still makes ample time to star in independent films. She’ll be at this year’s festival with “Sylvie’s Love,†a period romance set against the changing worlds of black music.
And nine more:
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Lin-Manuel Miranda
“Hamilton†mastermind Lin-Manuel Miranda has connections to two documentaries at Sundance this year: “Siempre, Luis†about his father, Puerto Rican activist Luis Miranda, and “We Are Freestyle Love Supreme,†about Miranda’s improv hip-hop group.
(Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
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Elisabeth Moss
Emmy-winning actress Elisabeth Moss has been a Sundance fixture for years now. She returns in the title role of “Shirley,†an unconventional biopic about “The Haunting of Hill House†author Shirley Jackson.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Glenn Close
Hitting the screen for the first time since her Oscar-nominated turn in “The Wife,†Glenn Close stars opposite Mila Kunis in “Four Good Days†about a mother helping her daughter overcome a drug addiction.
(Michael Nagle / For The Times)
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Dee Rees
A Sundance veteran, director Dee Rees returns with her third festival film, the Netflix drama “The Last Thing He Wanted,†starring Anne Hathaway, Ben Affleck and Willem Dafoe.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Ethan Hawke
Call him a Sundance legend: Ethan Hawke’s latest drama is “Tesla,†a quirky biopic from director Michael Almereyda about the eccentric inventor.
(Kirk McKoy / Los Angeles Times)
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Steven Yeun
Steven Yeun has been to Sundance before with projects including “Sorry to Bother You,†but his star turn in the hotly anticipated coming-of-age drama “Minari†could be his brightest yet.
(Jay L. Clendenin / Los Angeles Times)
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Laverne Cox
Busy Laverne Cox is appearing in two projects at this year’s festival: one narrative (the horror satire “Bad Hairâ€) and one nonfiction (“Disclosure: Trans Lives on Screenâ€).
(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)
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Gloria Steinem
Even among boldfaced names like Taylor Swift and Hillary Clinton expected at this year’s festival, feminist trailblazer Gloria Steinem is sure to stand out at Sundance 2020, which will feature the world premiere of Julie Taylor’s “The Glorias,†a wide-ranging look at Steinem’s legacy in which she’s played by multiple actresses including Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander.
(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)
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Benh Zeitlin
Pictured here in 2012, we mostly just want to see what Benh Zeitlin, the Oscar-nominated wunderkind filmmaker behind “Beasts of the Southern Wild,†looks like today. He’s finally set to unveil his second feature, the “Peter Panâ€-inspired “Wendy,†which Searchlight will open theatrically on Feb. 28.
(Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)
