Sundance bigwigs, including Robert Redford and festival director Geoffrey Gilmore, have done what they can to discourage the celebrity- and paparazzi-laden sideshow that's become a real distraction from the Sundance Film Festival.

In fact, Redford calls such behavior "sad and unfortunate," insisting that it detracts from the festival's true artistic intentions.

But despite their best efforts, the so-called star-gazing continues to remain as big a presence as the films themselves.

And a lot of the 100-plus features selected for this year's Sundance Film Festival won't exactly prevent the celebrity focus.

The festival's Premieres section features the romantic comedies "500 Days of Summer" (starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel), "Adventureland" (Kristen Stewart and Ryan Reynolds) and "Spread" (Ashton Kutcher and Anne Heche).

The all-star thriller "Brooklyn's Finest" features Richard Gere, Don Cheadle, Ethan Hawke, Wesley Snipes and Ellen Barkin. The likeminded "The Informers" boasts a cast of Billy Bob Thornton, Kim Basinger, Mickey Rourke and Winona Ryder.

Meanwhile, "Endgame," "In the Loop" and "The Messenger" have stars as well — William Hurt, James Gandolfini and Woody Harrelson, respectively,

Even the opening night premiere film, the clay-animated "Mary and Max," features Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the voices of the title characters

And then there's the adaptation of "I Love You Phillip Morris," which stars Jim Carrey and Ewan McGregor.

But films playing in the dramatic and documentary competitions aren't exactly small potatoes:

Pierce Brosnan and Susan Sarandon are the stars of the U.S. Dramatic Competition selection "The Greatest."

"The Office" star John Krasinski wrote and directed an adaptation of David Wallace Foster's "Brief Interviews With Hideous Men," which is also in competition.

And "Arlen Faber" teams Jeff Daniels and Lauren Graham, "Big Fan" stars comedian Patton Oswalt and "Taking Chance" is a Kevin Bacon vehicle.

Not to be outdone, the World Cinema Dramatic Competition features "An Education" (Emma Thompson and Peter Sarsgaard) and "Five Minutes of Heaven" (Liam Neeson).

Spectrum films may bring Mariah Carey, Mary Tyler Moore and Robin Williams to the festival. (They are the stars of "Push," "Against the Current" and "World's Greatest Dad," respectively.)

"I Knew It Was You," which is playing in one of Sundance's shorts program, features Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Robert De Niro, Francis Ford Coppola, Sidney Lumet and Gene Hackman.

And a Sundance Collection presentation of the 1989 drama "sex, lies and videotape" is expected to reunite the stars of that film, James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher and Laura San Giacomo, as well as director Steven Soderbergh.

It should be mentioned that not every one of these actors and filmmakers will be attendance. But the festival usually does draws big names — and sometimes hangers-on, such as Paris Hilton, who was in Utah last year for the parties.

E-mail: jeff@desnews.com