Tracy Morgan hospitalized at Sundance Film Festival

Morgan and fiance Megan Wollover walk the red carpet at an awards dinner in Park City, where the actor reportedly later collapsed. (JIM URQUHART - REUTERS) Comic actor Tracy Morgan has reportedly been hospitalized in Utah after collapsing Sunday evening during an event at the Sundance Film Festival.

The “30 Rock” star, 43, was immediately taken to the Park City Medical Center after falling unconscious following his acceptance of the Spotlight Initiative Award, People magazine reported. The honor was presented to Morgan at an event hosted by the Creative Coalition.

Although both People and the Hollywood Reporter have cited sources at the dinner who say Morgan appeared to be inebriated, a spokesperson for the Medical Center said there was no evidence of drugs or alcohol in his system.

Morgan’s rep also denied in a statement that the actor had been drinking that evening, and said the actor was hospitalized “from a combination of exhaustion and altitude.”

“Any reports of Tracy consuming alcohol are 100% false,” the statement said.

The outspoken actor and “Saturday Night Live” veteran has diabetes and underwent a kidney transplant in 2010. In 2005 and again in 2006, he was arrested for drunken driving, incidents that he has said convinced him to sober up.

He is at Sundance to promote the film “Predisposed,” directed by screenwriter Ron Nyswaner, which premieres at the festival on Friday and co-stars Morgan, Jesse Eisenberg and Melissa Leo.

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Nat Geo buys ‘Chasing Ice’ documentary after Sundance screening

“Chasing Ice” looks at climate change across the globe. (Jon Tigar) Five years after photographer James Balog turned his 2007 National Geographic magazine melting glaciers-themed cover story into an epic five-year photography project about climate change, Washington-based National Geographic Channel announced Thursday the network purchased has television rights for Jeff Orlowski’s feature documentary “Chasing Ice,” which follows Balog’s adventure.

In “Chasing Ice,” screened at the Sundance Film Festival this past week, Orlanski tracks Balog as he embarks on a project known as the “Extreme Ice Survey,” an experiment that placed time-lapse cameras across three continents to capture massive ice melting across the planet, and the effects of climate change.

“This documentary is one of the highlights of the Sundance slate and an obvious fit for our distinguished global brand and we are pleased to work with the filmmakers to help present their wonderful and important film,” Nat Geo’s EVP of programming Michael Cascio said in the announcement.

In addition to his 2007 cover story, Balog’s long history with Nat Geo includes a book published by the company’s books division in 2009, and another photo spread in a 2010 issue of the magazine.

Nat Geo Channel was the subject of a recent executive shake-up. In November, Howard T. Owns — a founding managing director of Reveille Productions, the company behind shows including NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” and “The Office” — took over as president of National Geographic Channels US.

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