CANNES - Comparing The Cannes Film Festival to a three-ring circus doesn't paint a big enough picture. A much more accurate description is to call it The Film Olympics. Although the films in Competition at the Grand Lumiere are featured, there are always many more cinematic attractions to lure moviegoers into the theater.The Directors Fortnight is a separate panel created in 1969 that has "discovered" such greats as Spike Lee, Jim Jarmusch and Wim Wenders--all who happen to be represented in the film 10 Minutes Older--The Trumpet.
Huge crowds were turned away for the closing movie of the Directors Fortnight, Welcome to Collinwood, directed by the barely 30-year old brothers Anthony and Joe Russo. It's the first feature produced by George Clooney and Steven Soderbergh's new movie production company.
This Cleveland-set dramedy about a bunch of losers trying to pull off the perfect crime stars Patricia Clarkson (Six Feet Under), Andrew Davoli (The Sopranos) and hotter-by-the-minute Sam Rockwell (Charlie's Angels), as well as William H. Macy and, of course, George himself. As luck would have it, he was able to squeeze it in before shooting his directorial debut, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, based on the cult memoir of game show impressario Chuck Barris, in which he purports to have been a CIA hit man.
The feature's fete took place under a picture-perfect, nearly full moon at the beachside cabana bar in front of the Noga Hilton. When asked what the expectations are for Collinwood when it opens stateside in September, Rockwell merely cried, Spider-Man!" A producer quickly took over and said, "It's an honor just being at Cannes."
For the fourth time, diminutive director Roman Polanski has come to Cannes. Tonight he presents The Pianist, which stars Adrien Brody as a brilliant Polish musician who survives the Warsaw ghetto with the help of a German officer. It's a highly personal story for Polanski, who is himself a survivor of the World War II camps.
Andie MacDowell flashed her fantastic smile to everyone while she enjoyed the pre-Pianist party at the Carlton. Faye Dunaway looked ravishing as she sauntered down the red carpet. One question though--why is she wearing braces?
Life's so unfair! Sandra Bullock is having a special screening of Murder by Numbers, in which she and Ben Chaplin play homicide detectives hunting down two teenagers who commit the almost-perfect crime. What's the problem? It's happening at exactly the same time as the dinner celebration at the legendary Moulin de Mougins. C'est la vie…
Mixed feelings about the violence in Irreversible echoed along La Croisette as people mulled over this tale of revenge that's up for the Golden Palm Award. It stars the beautiful Italian actress Monica Bellucci (Under Suspicion), who's already hard at work shooting The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Reloaded.
But of course at Cannes, you never really bark up the wrong tree. Just ask French canine superstar Mutt Le Chien, who is plugging his new movie, The Dog That Ate Paris, a caper set in the high society world of the Paris and London fashion world. This friendly Lakeland Terrier has been running all over town with the likes of Renee Zellweger, Calista Flockhart, Thora Birch and Ivanka Trump, whose mom Ivana has her yacht parked in the Port and has been spotted at all the spots herself.
Ah, it's a dog's life in Cannes.