'The Incredible Burt Wonderstone,' 'Evil Dead' to premiere at SXSW Film Festival

Austin, Texas is about to get magical. The South by Southwest Film Festival and Conference announced Tuesday that The Incredible Burt Wonderstone — starring Steve Carell and Steve Buscemi as famed Las Vegas magicians and Jim Carrey as the “stunt” magician who challenges their supremacy — will have its world premiere on Friday, March 8 as the festival’s opening night film. Veteran TV director Don Scardino (30 Rock, 2 Broke Girls) is helming the film, from a screenplay by John Francis Daley and Jonathan M. Goldstein (Horrible Bosses). The comedy costars Olivia Wilde, Alan Arkin, and James Gandolfini, and opens wide in theaters the following weekend, on March 15.

The SXSW Film Festival, which runs from March 8 – 16, also announced a handful of world premieres (and one U.S. premiere) to its 2013 slate. They include:

• Evil Dead, the remake of the classic 1981 no-budget horror film from first-time feature writer-director Fede Alvarez, starring Jane Levy (ABC’s Suburgatory), Shiloh Fernandez (Red Riding Hood), Lou Taylor Pucci (Thumbsucker), Jessica Lucas (Cloverfield), and Elizabeth Blackmore (Legend of the Seeker).

• Drinking Buddies, an indie comedy from writer-director Joe Swanberg (V/H/S) about four friends — played by Olivia Wilde, Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick, and Ron Livingston — who test the boundaries of their friendships thanks to the addition of alcohol.

• Downloaded, a documentary about Napster and the explosion of digital downloading of music, from director Alex Winter (yup, Bill from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure).

• Good Ol’ Freda, a documentary about Freda Kelly, the secretary for the Beatles, from first time director Ryan White.

• Everyone’s Going to Die, a British film from the filmmaking collective known as “Jones” in which, well, I’ll just quote the official description: “A story where porn hotlines rub shoulders with sexy beavers on rollerskates; where the past is laid to rest, two lives are changed and nobody, finally, is going to die.”

• Spring Breakers, writer-director Harmony Korine’s sex-soaked college co-ed crime caper starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson, and Rachel Korine, which is having its U.S. premiere at SXSW.

Along with the film slate, SXSW will also continue its tradition of premiering highly anticipated TV series with a screening of the pilot episode of A&E’s quasi-Psycho prequel drama Bates Motel, followed by a Q&A with exec producer Carlton Cuse (Lost).

And actor and Texas-native Matthew McConaughey will participate in a “Conversation” about the turn his career’s taken away from Hollywood fare to more challenging indie films like Magic Mike, Killer Joe, Bernie, and Mud.

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