Come January, Todd Louiso is headed for the mountains.

        The Wasatch range in Utah, to be specific. That's the location of Park City, home of the Sundance Film Festival, the mecca for American independent filmmakers.

        Love Liza, Mr. Louiso's debut feature as a director, was one of 16 chosen out of 753 entries for the festival's most prestigious category, the dramatic competition. It will screen four times during the fest's run, Jan. 10-20, though specific dates are not yet set.

        An actor since he was a boy, Mr. Louiso, 31, is a graduate of Cincinnati's School for Creative and Performing Arts and the son of Children's Theatre artistic director Jack Louiso. In addition to stage work, he has appeared in more than a dozen films, including High Fidelity, Jerry Maguire and The Rock, and played a continuing role during the 1994 season of Chicago Hope.

        Love Liza stars Philip Seymour Hoffman (Magnolia, Almost Famous) as a man driven to self-destructive extremes by grief over his wife's suicide. “I wouldn't call it a black comedy,” said Mr. Louiso, “but it has a humor of its own.”

        Mr. Hoffman, 34, and the director are old friends; both started out in theater in New York. Mr. Louiso directed Mr. Hoffman in a prize-winning 1995 short The Fifteen Minute Hamlet, which also screened at Sundance. The script for Love Liza was written by Mr. Hoffman's brother, Gordy.

        “I know I'm biased,” said Mr. Louiso, “but I truly think this is the best thing I've seen (Philip Seymour Hoffman) in. I know it's going to sound stupid in print, but he's so different in this than anything else I've seen him in. He plays a regular guy in extreme circumstances. You don't usually see him in those roles.”

        Oscar winner Kathy Bates (Misery) co-stars.

        Ms. Bates signed on because “she just really flipped out over the script and the idea of working with Phillip,” said Mr. Louiso.

        “Most of the time you're going to be intimidated by somebody of her stature, but she's really easy-going,” he said. “I was really scared of her. But after a while, she's just Kathy, and it's great. You can talk to her about anything and say anything.”

        Production began in January, and shooting lasted 24 days in Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans. Key financing came from European media firms Canal Plus and Kinowelt; producers include Ruth Charny (Grace of My Heart) and Chris Hanley (Trees Lounge). Director of photography on the film is Lisa Rinzler (Pollock, Dead Presidents), and music is by Jim O'Rourke of Sonic Youth, whom the director met while working on High Fidelity.

        Other cast members include Mr. Louiso's new spouse, Sarah Koskoff, who played a recurring role on The X-Files TV series, and character actor Stephen Tobolowsky (Memento, The Insider).

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