“Choke” - Preview
One of the best parties I attended up at the Sundance Film Festival was for the movie “Choke” based on the Chuck Palahniuk (”Fight Club”) book.First a little about the party. It was held at ‘Hyde’ which is an ultra-exclusive Los Angeles lounge on Sunset Blvd. owned by Brent Bolthouse and Sam Nazarian. Up in Sundance ‘Hyde’ was a part of the Village at the Yard complex and the door was being run by the infamous Jennifer Rosero (who looks good for 48 years old and 18 years of being the ‘Queen of Mean’ at the hottest night clubs in Hollywood…)
Despite having to wait 20 minutes (relatively low compared to most mind you…) in below freezing temperatures (as opposed to waiting on Sunset Blvd. where the actual Hyde is located) to get in the club was popping with the tunes of DJ and actor Danny Masterson (”That 70’s Show“) at the decks. He and actress girlfriend Bijou Phillips are regulars at Chris Kantrowitz’s Park City villa for the Sundance Film Festival.
In addition the party hosted by producer Beau Flynn’s Contra Film’s had Quentin Tarantino (talked my ear off as well everyone else in the place), Woody Harrelson (looking relatively sober and talking to a cute blonde when we chatted for a few), Audrina from MTV’s “The Hills“, Eric Balfour (”The O.C.” and “RX“), Michael Rappaport, Sam Rockwell, Clark Gregg and Paris Hilton (on this night she didn’t fall from the couches, instead Bijou Phillips fell from a table…)
The party was hopping and I guess there must have been some people from Fox Searchlight because only hours afterwards a bidding war erupted for rights to the film and ultimately Peter Rice’s Searchlight announced that they picked up the rights to “Choke” for $5 million.
Since that time, the Clark Gregg directed film has announced a theatrical release date of August 1, 2008. The film stars Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston, Kelly Macdonald (”No Country for Old Men” and “Trainsportting“) and Brad Henke. The plot line revolves around a sex-addicted med-school dropout who keeps his deranged mother Ida in a private mental hospital by working as a historical re-enactor.
At night, Rockwell’s character runs a scam where he deliberately chokes in upscale restaurants and forms relationships with the wealthy patrons who “save” his life from choking.
The film is truly original and the “Fight Club” voice can be felt throughout….
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