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Nostalgia was the order of the day as the cast of Little Miss Sunshine reunited for a special screening of the independent comedy on Wednesday - 20 years after its original release.
Filmed on a shoestring budget of just $8million, Valerie Faris and Jonathan Dayton's directorial debut about a hopelessly dysfunctional family and their cross-country journey in a 1979 Volkswagen van became a box-office hit following its release in 2006.
The film made household names of its principal cast, notably 22-year old Paul Dano and ten-year old Abigail Breslin, and would make Sundance Film Festival history by winning the biggest distribution rights deal in the event's history following its initial launch on January 20 of that year.
Arriving in Utah's Park City Legacy on Wednesday, the annual ceremony provided a full circle moment for co-stars Dano, Breslin, Toni Collette and Greg Kinnear as they reunited for a special screening of the iconic film.
Now 29, former child star Breslin has established herself as a popular actress through roles in the Zombieland film series, August: Osage County, and satirical horror series Scream Queens.
Meanwhile, Dano, 41, is a Hollywood star with multiple BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations and a string of major film credits, notably 12 Years A Slave, The Batman, The Fabelmans and recent release The Wizard Of The Kremlin.
(L-R) Little Miss Sunshine stars Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Abigail Breslin and Greg Kinnear reunite for a special screening of the movie at the Sundance Film Festival on Wednesday
(L-R): Alan Arkin, Paul Dano, Steve Carell, Greg Kinnear, Abigail Breslin and Toni Collette in a scene from the 2006 film
His accolades include a BAFTA Best Supporting Actor nod for There Will Be Blood, a Golden Globe nomination and two Emmy nominations.
Australian star Collette, 53, had already earned accolades for her performances in Muriel's Wedding and The Sixth Sense before signing up for her role as fraught mum Sheryl in Little Miss Sunshine.
Likewise, Kinnear, 62, had featured in romantic comedy You've Got Mail and As Good As It Gets - for which he earned an Academy Award nomination - prior to accepting his role as Sheryl's motivational speaker husband, Richard.
The film's cast was rounded off by Steve Carrell - absent on Thursday evening - as Sheryl's scholarly gay brother Frank, and the late Alan Arkin as morally questionable grandfather, Edwin.
Little Miss Sunshine premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2006, where it was picked up by Fox Searchlight in a distribution deal that, at the time, was the biggest in the ceremony's 28-year history.
It went on to earn a total of four Academy Award nominations, including best picture, and won two - best supporting actor for Arkin, and best original screenplay for Michael Arndt.
The film's dysfunctional family sets out on a 800-mile trip in a VW van so that Olive, played by Breslin, can take part in the Little Miss Sunshine pageant in California.
The characters have to deal with several challenges and come to terms with aspects of their own lives while at the same time supporting Olive in her dream.
Twenty years on and Dano and Breslin have gone on to enjoy hugely successful film and TV careers in their own right
Breslin was just 10-years old when she played beauty pageant hopeful Olive in the hit film
(L-R) Michael Arndt, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Valerie Faris, Abigail Breslin, Jonathan Dayton and Greg Kinnear
Dano was cast as wayward son Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine. He has since earned multiple BAFTA, Emmy and Golden Globe nominations as a hugely successful actor
Producer David Friendly poses alongside Collette and Breslin at the Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2006
Australian star Collette had already earned accolades for her performances in Muriel's Wedding and The Sixth Sense before signing up for her role as fraught mum Sheryl
Little Miss Sunshine went on the earn multiple awards, including 13th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards for Kinnear, Carrell and Arkin (pictured)
Kinnear famously played Sheryl's motivational speaker husband, Richard in the hit film
(L-R) Michael Arndt, David Friendly, Albert Berger, Paul Dano, Toni Collette, Valerie Faris, Abigail Breslin, Peter Saraf, Greg Kinnear, Jeb Brody, Jonathan Dayton, Ron Yerxa and Michelle Hooper
Arkin, who won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Edwin, passed away at his home in Carlsbad, California, aged 89 in 2023.
Co-star Dano was recently savaged by director Quentin Tarantino for a perceived lack of screen presence, prompting backlash from the Hollywood acting community.
'There Will Be Blood would stand a good chance at being number one or two if it didn't have a big, giant flaw in it… and the flaw is Paul Dano,' Tarantino said.
'Obviously, it's supposed to be a two-hander, but it's also drastically obvious that it's not a two-hander. [Dano] is weak sauce, man. He is the weak sister.'
Greg Kinnear, Steve Carell, Paul Dano, Toni Colette and Abigail Breslin in a scene from Little Miss Sunshine
Bizarrely, the director claimed that Elvis star Austin Butler would have been a better fit for Dano's sinister role.
'Austin Butler would have been wonderful in that role. [Dano] is just such a weak, weak, uninteresting guy,' he continued.
Notably, Butler is seven years younger than Dano and would have been around 15 when There Will Be Blood was filmed, compared to Dano, who was around 22 and managed to play both a youthful Eli at the start of the film and an older, wearier version of the character last seen in the late 1920s.
Tarantino was subsequently bashed on social media for his 'classless' and 'insane' comments about Dano, while cinephiles mocked his list for having allegedly pedestrian film choices and excluding many of the foreign and obscure filmmakers that Tarantino once championed early in his career.
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