Sundance, Spurlock-style

By Gregg Goldstein

As I discovered last year while flying one row behind "Four Eyed Monsters" auteurs Susan Buice and Arin Crumley, on-location Sundance reporting can begin the moment you hit LaGuardia.

Often you just encounter familiar buyers and agents, but even non-direct Delta flights to Salt Lake City can bring indie celeb sightings. On a sleep-deprived Wednesday morning, I found myself removing my shoes and jacket behind Morgan Spurlock (of diet docu "Super Size Me" fame), along with his wife (and "Super" co-star) Alexandra Jamieson and their one-year-old son Laken.

The pair was juggling gray plastic containers on the X-ray machine ramp like Lucy and Ethel on the chocolate candy factory line, with Laken on her hip and a stroller by his side.

"Can you help me grab these baskets?" she asked. "No problem, - I'm from the Hollywood Reporter, so maybe I can also do a short interview with you later," I said. "Then you'll have to grab the baby too," she said, smiling.

If the ten-day, Weinstein Co.-funded celebration of their work was going to their heads, it didn’t show. Spurlock is returning to the fest with another seriocomic documentary, "Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden?" marking his first visit since "Super" won him a directing award there in 2004. He said “Osama” will likely hit theaters in April, but wouldn’t reveal if he caught him, as was speculated below.

When asked if Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto's claim that Bin Laden was dead (made just before her recent assassination) was referenced in the film, he said it wasn’t but that there is much similar speculation. For the conspiracy theorists, the Bhutto clip:

Spurlock and Jamieson seemed friendlier than any couple getting through the airport with a kid in the morning should be, but I felt guilty making them a captive audience before they even reached Utah. I said we could possibly talk later if they liked, then walked several yards forward to get an egg sausage and biscuit sandwich at Burger King.

Seconds after ordering, the fact that I’d left a modern-day health food messiah to consume fat-laden, artery-clotting food sent me into a shame spiral. "At least it wasn't McDonald's," I repeated to myself, shoving empty packages into the non-recycled trash.

Saw them swinging their son around at the boarding gate, but avoided bothering them out of courtesy and guilt. I headed for the gate in a few minutes, and heard familiar voices halfway down the entry ramp. They were right behind me, stalking me like Ghosts of Breakfasts Past. We said hello and went our separate ways to Harvey-sponsored first class and THR-style coach.

Deplaning in Atlanta, I decided to keep giving them some space, but in a few minutes Laken came toddling towards me at full speed, Mom chasing after him. As with Bin Laden, they were clearly not going to leave me alone.

"The first time I was here was amazing, meeting all these great filmmakers, but I was in a daze and couldn't appreciate it," said Spurlock. "This time I'm going to see a lot of movies and really soak in the experience."

"My mom will be in town babysitting, so I'll finally get to see a movie in the theaters." Jamieson said. "What was the last one we saw, 'Transformers?" he asked. "Yeah." Ah, a critically acclaimed director has a chance at real cinema and chooses junk food for the eyes and ears?

Suddenly I felt a bit better.

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