Everything That Happened at the Sundance Film Festival 2026

6 days ago 5

I’m thrilled to report that the cameo-strewn Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass is a very good time, provided you like the David Wain/Ken Marino school of comedy—silly, non-sequitur driven, sometimes self-satisfied. (Guilty as charged.) I had a great time watching it—maybe not as good a time as Wain and Marino did making it with almost all their friends from Wet Hot American Summer, but then again, who but them could?

The GDU Begins

I wasn't able to attend the screening (as I had a very important Alec Baldwin conflict), but I was able to make the post-premiere Q&A.

The energy in the theater was light; I could tell everyone had spent the runtime laughing (so hard they were crying, according to some users on X)!

David Wain, Ken Marino, Zoey Deutch, John Slattery, and a slew of cast members, including friends of Wain and Marino's from their NYU/Wet Hot days, came barreling onto the stage, ready to answer questions about their well-received comedy. One of the first questions asked? “Which came first, The Celebrity Sex Pass or The Wizard of Oz?” “As we kept working on the story, we were like 'Oh, we can use this kind of structure to guide us," said Marino.

(I didn't see the film, but the discourse while waiting for Ubers outside centered around: Who was who?!)

Deutch later talked about why she took the role, noting: “Well, I’ve been a fan of theirs [Wain and Marino] for a long time. And I had heard about the script from a couple different people…I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever read. And I begged him a for a part. And I signed on for 10 more of them. It’s actually the first 11 picture deal in history. Super lucrative.”

“The GDU begins,” David Wain quipped.

As Hillary noted above—the film seems to be a romp. (I love using the word romp, and it's most accurate here!)

This was a deeply moving film, Hillary. I feel like we were at two different screenings? Psych! It's a 100-jokes-per-minute comedy that audiences will devour.

Alec Baldwin Playing Chess at Sundance? Sure!

When I received an email invite for a “blindfolded chess match” against Alec Baldwin, I immediately hit reply. “I would love to go"—SEND

I pulled up to the privately-emailed address earlier tonight, a spacious, very-Utah house sitting at the end of a long driveway. (Ubers were confused, but that's nothing new this weekend. Uber chaos.)

After signing in, I was ushered into a living room, where match-goers were enjoying drinks and light bites. Then, it started.

Image may contain Judit Polgr Alec Baldwin Rory Kennedy Adult Person Conversation Interview Chess and Game

With his drink sitting next to him, Alec readied himself for the match against the star of Netflix's ‘Queen of Chess'—premiering here at Sundance later this week—Judit Polgár. Before blindfolding Polgár (to even the playing field), Baldwin quipped: “If I win, I get to buy Warner Brothers. If you win, you get to buy Warner Brothers," and “I have a whole Hungarian strategy.”

Then, with a Chess.com emcee on the mic that seemed to get on Baldwin's nerves (a hand gesture was made at one point), the match began. Baldwin bantered throughout, saying, “to be awarded the point, to make it more even…you must answer a movie trivia question…'Who directed Casablanca?'”

He put up a good fight, but the match was over before it begun. Polgár, as we're all soon to learn in the forthcoming doc, is a chess legend. (Chess Queen!)

After the match ended, the two took questions. Baldwin talked the entertainment business: “The great thing about this business…is the people you get to meet.”

And Sundance: “I'm a huge fan of Sundance. I can't believe Bob [Redford] is gone, he was always so kind to me.”

And later talked about his kids having a penchant for chess: “My three older boys, they play…They don’t hesitate, they give it to me…if I play chess with them…but I usually win." Then joked: “My kids can be very cruel…We go shopping the other day, and my kids are all born and raised in Manhattan…I said, ‘I think you should get this coat in this color.’ And my third oldest son looked at me and goes, ‘What do you know, you’re from Long Island.'"

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