"What Just Happened?" just happened...

By Steven Zeitchik and Gregg Goldstein

One of the most expensive movies ever to come to Sundance played to one of the most distributor-heavy screenings ever to hit the festival on Saturday night.

Buyers from pretty much every major company turned out for Barry Levinson's "What Just Happened?," the serio-comic study of a studio producer (played by Robert DeNiro) plagued by personal and professional issues over the course of one turbulent week. The movie is loosely based on producer Art Linson's memoir.

The movie, which is co-repped by Cinetic and CAA, entered the festival with buzz that it could sell for a significant sum and could possibly even go to a studio division hungry for material during the strike.

According to a source close to one of the filmmakers, previous projections of a budget well over $30 million are inflated.

"It was $23 million. I saw the papers," said the source.

Besides the many film execs, the screening also included outgoing Time Warner CEO Dick Parsons, who in an interview recounted a number of the comedic bits with evident enjoyment.

When asked whether he thought Warner Bros. could board the project, Parsons said. "I really think it's more of a New Line kind of movie."

Reactions among a number of buyers surveyed as they exited the theater were mixed. Sales negotiations were expected to go into the night, with someone close to the project assuring that "it will go fast."

2929 Entertainment, which produced the film, will seek to replicate its Cannes feat, when it sold James Gray's period cop-drama "Who Owns the Night" to Columbia for a reported $11.5 million.

The negotiations for the distribution rights of "What Just Happened?" may end up being as colorful as the film's chaotic portrait of the industry. "I don't think the film is satire," said Linson. "It's real."

UPDATE: Also on Saturday night, bidding was heating up for the documentary "American Teen," with prices said to be in the $3 million range, according to sources. Nanette Burstein's narrative docu about a group of high-school seniors in Indiana played extremely strong at its Library premier Saturday afternoon, with a heavily enthusiastic audience response.

Searchlight topper Peter Rice was also seen approaching Burstein after the film, while Par Vantage execs were spotted at the film's afterparty at the Marquee.