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SALT LAKE CITY -- Stars of screen, television and rock and roll were all together for the Salt Lake City premiere of the Sundance Film Festival Friday night.
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Friday's premier film, "The Music Never Stopped," is based on a real case study of a man who could only relate to life through a certain type of music. The writers, director and cast say it has a message which they believe the film festival will help them spread.
The film follows the struggles of a young man with a benign brain tumor who only connects with the world through the music of his teenage years, the 1960s.
Popular actor J.K. Simmons plays the father. He's "Chief Pope" on TNT's "The Closer," and is also a Sundance veteran -- third time, being the charm, he says.
"They've already made a deal to have the movie distributed," Simmons said Friday night. "The other two times I was here were with really, really nice movies -- hundreds of people saw them. This one, I think, will do a little better than that."
Emmy winner Julia Ormond plays a music therapist.
"The character that I play is based on a wonderful woman called Connie Cimino, and she was basically doing cutting-edge musical therapy based on the belief that music helps to you to tap into a different side of the brain," Ormond explained.
Some of the music that helps the young man was created by rock band The Grateful Dead. Two of the band members came to Friday night's premiere, remembering meeting the real young man whose life this film is based on.
"We were part of this movie, what was it? Twenty-five, 30 years ago? More? And then we just found out we were part of it, and now we're here to be part of it officially," said musician Bob Weir.
"In real life, before the screenplay and all of that, the character in the movie had visited our stage and was transformed by the power of music," musician Mickey Hart said. "This is what the story is all about."
There are more Sundance screenings in Salt Lake, Ogden, the Sundance Resort and, of course, Park City.
E-mail: cmikita@ksl.com
