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.
INFINITY POOL
Section: MIDNIGHT
Director: Brandon Cronenberg
Screenwriter: Brandon Cronenberg
Logline: James and Em Foster take off to an all-inclusive beach getaway in the fictional state of Li Tolqa to help jump-start his writer’s block. Their lazy days are spent relegated to their pricey resort, isolated from the surrounding land. Gabi introduces herself and her partner, Al, as she’s a fan of James’ last novel, and they would like to spend some time together with the Fosters. The couples plan a secret daytrip outside the compound that ends in a fatal accident with James to blame. For a hefty price, there are loopholes to aid foreign travelers convicted of crimes there, which is how James is first introduced to a perverse subculture of hedonistic tourism.
Panelists: Cronenberg, Mia Goth (Gabi), Alexander Skarsgard (James) and Cleopatra Coleman (Em)
Distributors: NEON
First Screening: January 21, 11:55. MST, The Ray Theatre
Theatrical Release: Jan. 27
Key Quote: Cronenberg wrote the movie before his previous 2020 Sundance premiere, Possessor. “I started writing a short story a number of years ago, about the first execution scene, this idea of alternate reality fictional country, where people are executed for certain crimes, but they can have a double made of them to stand in for the execution. The story was about the one situation. Then as I was expanding it, I kept going back to memories I had of a resort I stayed at many years ago. They would bus you in at night…You’d be dropped in this weird resort compound surrounded by razor wire fence,” says the filmmaker.
Click above to watch the panel video, and track all of our Deadline Studio content here.
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.
