HFPA members attending the film festival were among the international press invited to the Majestic Hotel in Cannes to see previews of three of Harvey Weinstein’s movies he hopes will be Oscar contenders.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master, David O. Russell’s The Silver Linings Playbook and Quentin Tarantino’s Western throwback Django Unchained are not yet completed but are all due for release before Christmas.
Before rolling the footage Weinstein (left) boasted: “These are some of the best films we have ever been associated with , if not “the best”.
The Master stars Joaquin Phoenix in a return to films, along with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in a complex plot dealing with a Scientology-related religion. The Silver Linings Playbook is an original screenplay by Russell about a former resident of a mental institution (Bradley Cooper) who tries to mend relationships with his family and fiancee (Jennifer Lawrence). Robert DeNiro and Chris Tucker co-star.
Tarantino’s provocative western stars Jamie Foxx as an ex-slave out for revenge and Oscar winner Christoph Waltz as a diabolical travelling dentist who has a giant tooth atop his covered wagon. Leonardo DiCaprio, Don Johnson, Kerry Washington and Samuel L. Jackson co-star.
About four minutes each of the first two were shown and a never-before-seen 10 minutes was unveiled from
Django which is still is in production for another month and may be adding a couple of co-stars. At one time Sacha Baron Cohen was slated to participate but had to drop out as did Kurt Russell because he was committed elsewhere.