The Deadline Studio at Sundance Film Festival runs January 20-23 at Hotel Park City, where the cast and creatives behind the best and buzziest titles in this year’s lineup sit down with Deadline’s festival team to discuss their movies and the paths they took to get to Park City.
DIVINITY
Section: NEXT
Director: Eddie Alcazar
Screenwriter: Eddie Alcazar
Logline: In an otherworldly human existence, scientist Sterling Pierce (Scott Bakula) dedicated his life to the quest for immortality, slowly creating the building blocks of a groundbreaking serum named “Divinity.” Jaxxon Pierce (Stephen Dorff), his son, now controls and manufactures his father’s once-benevolent dream. Society on this barren planet has been entirely perverted by the supremacy of the drug, whose true origins are shrouded in mystery. Two mysterious brothers (Moises Arias and Jason Genao) arrive with a plan to abduct the mogul, and with the help of a seductive woman named Nikita (Karrueche Tran), they will be set on a path hurtling toward true immortality.
Panelists: Stephen Dorff (actor), Jason Genao (actor), Bella Thorne (actor), Karrueche Tran (actor), Moises Arias (actor)
Sales Agent: CAA
First Screening: January 21, 8:45 p.m. MST, Egyptian Theatre
Key Quotes: “I think I can speak for all of us that Eddie’s short The Vandal really captivated, what it is his vision could be. And we all wanted to be a part of something that was maybe close to as special. I know that me, Karrueche and Jason got together and saw a bunch of storyboards before we ever saw a script. And then on set, this film sort of unfolded. It wasn’t necessarily that there was 120 pages on the table.”
“There was a script. I mean, it was 30 pages…but it evolved. It was kind of a work in progress. As far as my character, I saw Vandal, like Moises said, and I found him to be original. I hadn’t seen a short like that, so we talked during Covid and wanted to make a movie. He talked to me about this character, Jaxxon, and kind of built the character. Then, he started sending me some pages — very few, very few. Then, we…did makeup tests and we were in Joshua Tree doing the first big part of the shoot. And it evolved. It was a very unorthodox kind of way of making a movie. But Eddie’s unique, and in a time where most movies are regurgitated and the same thing, I like to try to do different things.” — Stephen Dorff
“[It was] a very unorthodox set. I liked that. I feel like we’ve all been working a really long time, and it’s nice to kind of be thrown into something that is so, so different than what you’re expecting.” — Bella Thorne
“I feel like [the hope is for the film] just opening up a conversation to whatever it that [viewers] feel… I think everyone’s going to have their own interpretations of death and afterlife and rebirth, and I think that’s what’s most interesting, just to hear what people have to say, regardless of whether they hate it or love it. I think it’s just going to do really well, and I’m super excited.” — Karrueche Tran
Click above to watch the panel video, and track all of our Deadline Studio content here.
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The 2023 Sundance Film Festival takes place from January 19-29. Follow Deadline’s complete coverage of the deals and the doings in Park City here.
