More stars, even more starlets, strange films and slivers of things to come made up the theme of the last 24 hours.
Mad Max: Fury Road should have screened in competition given the unanimous positive reviews and deafening applause at the star-studded premiere where Charlize Theron wore a show-stopping yellow Dior dress with a six foot train. With that slightly shorter guy with the leathery face, known as one Sean Penn at her side, the actress ruled the carpet while her bearded co-star Tom Hardy obligingly wrote autographs for hordes of screaming fans and was the second famous person to break festival director Thierry Fremaux’s no-selfies rule last night. Salma Hayek had done the same just hours earlier at her press conference. Someone should tell Fremaux that clearly people and especially stars don’t give a hoot about rules like this.
Just a few steps from the Palais du Festival Harvey Weinstein held his annual presentation of upcoming films for a room full of worthy journalists at the Hotel Majestic. He included trailers of three Cannes films: Carol, the lesbian love story set in the 50s, The Little Prince, an animated version of the classic and Southpaw, the boxing drama starring jury member Jake Gyllenhaal (who is the reason it wasn’t entered into competition for fear of a conflict of interest). The Bradley Cooper starrer Adam Jones (one is hoping for a better title) looked promising with Cooper in the role of an over-ambitious chef. And Christoph Waltz plays yet another snarky character in Tulip Fever with Swedish breakout star Alicia Vikander who introduced her film, as did Gyllenhaal and Sienna Miller who yet again plays Bradley Cooper’s wife. Personally I cannot wait to see the Weinstein’s latest acquisition, the other boxing drama Hands of Stone, but that will have to wait ‘til the spring of 2016. Everyone, of course, was eager for a glimpse of the movie that had already created the most buzz – The Hateful Eight. Harvey saved the best for last and introduced the Tarantino-western with the words: “I’ve been married to Quentin Tarantino for 22 years: the best marriage of my life.”
The rest of the night was ruled by parties. Warner Bros. held their exclusive Mad Max-after party at Club Albane on top of the Marriott, while the newly remodeled Grand Salon at the Carlton was taken over by the HFPA and The Hollywood Reporter where – after a cocktail reception – stars like Michelle Rodriguez (who had changed out of her Zuhair Murad gown and into a stunning black suit) and Jane Seymour dined at a beautiful banquet table with sparkly decor by Swarovski. Salma Hayek and John C.Reilly went to a private cast dinner with their director Matteo Garrone, and way past midnight stars and bigwigs retreated to the bar of the Hotel du Cap. 40 minutes outside of Cannes and far enough away from the madness of the Croisette, the Du Cap is not just a sanctuary – unless you know someone who stays there, don’t even try to get in – but also a place where deals are made ‘til the wee hours of the morning. Not surprising if you consider that the Cote d’Azur’s most luxurious hotel is mostly frequented by Hollywood people who flew in on their private jets and battle their jetlag by partying late. Director/producer Brett Ratner is as much a Du Cap-staple as Elie Samaha and actors like Antonio Banderas and Naomi Watts. The latter made it an early night since she wanted to put her two sons to bed who came with her to France. Quite unlike Nicholas Hoult who enjoyed the very late night on the terrace despite the rain.
This morning early risers rushed to see Yorgos Lanthimos’ dystopian tale The Lobster with Colin Farrell and Rachel Weisz, then ended up in an hour-long line in front of Salle Bunuel to get into A Tale of Love and Darkness, Natalie Portman’s directorial debut, or fought the crowds in an even longer line for Woody Allen’s newest, Irrational Man. More about all these films and their stars in tomorrow’s diary.
Elisabeth Sereda

Banquet table at the
HFPA/The Hollywood Reporter Party Cannes Today