Yesterday not one, but two publications reported on the screening of Son of No One at Sundance, saying Katie Holmes’ performance elicited “a collective groan” and mass “exodus” from the theater. The problem? None of this actually happened.
In an angry defense of Holmes, Roger Friedman of Showbiz 411 explains how the bogus gossip traveled from The Hollywood Reporter, to Us, and on to many other gossip sites, including our own Dirt Bag roundup. The fact that most celebrity gossip is BS and half-truths shouldn’t surprise anyone, but what’s odd about this story is the size of the lie and the lack of motive.
Dozens of people attended Monday’s screening, but Hollywood Reporter writers Daniel Miller [see update below] and Jay A. Fernandez weren’t among them. That’s unclear on first reading, but it seems this entire report comes courtesy of “one observer”:
Sundance 2011 can chalk up its first bomb … Though the theater wasn’t full, the room was crowded with acquisitions execs wanting an early look at the film. Reps from Samuel Goldwyn, Paramount, Summit, the Weinstein Co., Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Group, IFC Films, Morgan Creek, Screen Media, Miramax and Relativity made it into the theater by the film’s opening credits.
Some of them, however, were gone well before the end credits. In addition, enough regular audience members left early for one observer to describe it as an “exodus.”
The negative response went beyond the walkouts. One viewer’s attempt to begin applause after the lights came up drew almost no takers.
Later Us picked up the story, explaining that the early exits were due to a mistake by the projectionist, and adding this:
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