Gossip in the press lounge: everyone's talking about the reported $10-12 million that Paramount has allegedly plunked down last night for Little Miss Sunshine (no deal has formally been announced yet). The received wisdom is that the deal was half-done before the festival even started – and that Paramount, afraid that another studio would come in and best them, offered way too much money. A behind-the-scenes indie film legend was overheard saying that a certain Hollywood reporter had already branded it "this year's Happy, Texas" – that is, the film that will be acquired for way too much, and then fail to do the kind of business that could even recoup its investment. But the indie legend disagreed – he's a fan of Steve Carell's performance in the film, and he said that, if anything, Sunshine could be this year's Napoleon Dynamite - that is, Paramount probably payed to much for it, but commercial prospects look very, very good. The film was directed by Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, first time feature makers perhaps best known for their video for The Smashing Pumpkins' Tonight, Tonight, which was inspired by Georges Mellies' A Trip to the Moon. Steve Carell and Greg Kinnear star, but neither is here to promote it – I was told by someone who tried to get the two together for an interview that the actors "hate each other's guts."