While at the Sundance Feature Film program, Anderson already had a deal with Rysher Entertainment to direct his first full-length feature, "Sydney", retitled "Hard Eight". After completing the film, Rysher re-edited it. Anderson, who still had the workprint of his original cut, submitted the film to the 1996 Cannes Film Festival, where it was shown at the Un Certain Regard section. Anderson managed to get the version released, but only after he retitled the film, and raised the $200,000 necessary to finish it. Anderson, Philip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, and Gwyneth Paltrow contributed to the final funding. The version that was released was Anderson's and the acclaim from the film launched his career. The film follows a senior gambler, who takes a homeless man under his wing, while he becomes romantically involved with a troubled waitress. It also featured Philip Seymour Hoffman as an arrogant gambler, beginning a five-film collaboration between the pair. In his review of the film, "Chicago Sun-Times" critic Roger Ebert wrote, "Movies like "Hard Eight" remind me of what original, compelling characters the movies can sometimes give us."