Cannes Film Festival kicks into full swing for 75th anniversary
CANNES, France — The Cannes Film Festival is gearing up for a bumper 75th anniversary edition with a selection of big Hollywood names, buzzy newcomers and previous Palme d’Or winners – a splashy return even as the conflict in Ukraine looms over festivities.
“I honestly think this is one of the best Cannes line-ups in years,” said Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter.
The festival runs from May 17-28, resuming its traditional calendar following two years of pandemic disruptions. It was canceled in 2020, and last year moved to July, when it was held under strict COVID protocols.
This year, the parties are back and Hollywood heavyweights will include Tom Cruise’s Top Gun Maverick – bringing the star to Cannes for the first time in three decades – as well as Baz Luhrmann’s Elvis biopic, starring Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.
“It’s tradition to have our American friends – let’s not forget that the Cannes Festival, in 1939 and in 1946, was practically co-built, co-invented by France and Hollywood,” festival director Thierry Fremaux told a press confer-ence.
Actor Forest Whitaker will be on hand to receive the festival’s Honorary Palme D’Or for lifetime achievement.
David Cronenberg will mark his return to horror films with Crimes of the Future, featuring Viggo Mortensen, Kristen Stewart, and Lea Seydoux.
Asia will have a strong showing, despite the absence of China, with films by Park Chan-wook and Hirokazu Kore-eda in competition and Squid Game actor Lee Jung-jae premiering his new film Hunt.
“Everyone wants to sort of come back for this moment, sort of this re-awakening of cinema here in Cannes,” said Roxborough.
The festival opens on Tuesday with a zombie film, Final cut, by French filmmaker Michel Hazanavicius, who changed the title from Z, like Z to strip out a reference to the letter which has become associated with the war in Ukraine.
The festival banned official Russian delegations from the event but will feature Tchaikovski’s Wife by exiled Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, who has been outspoken about the war.
Also screening is Mariupolis 2 by Lithuanian director Mantas Kvedaravicius, 45, who was killed in Mariupol, the Ukrainian city heavily bombarded by Russian forces, nearly a month ago while working on the film. His fiancée Hanna Bilobrova, who finished the project, will present it.
Another Ukrainian entry is a debut film from Maksim Nakonechnyi, Butterfly Vision, the story of a young Ukrainian woman who returns to her country after being captured then released in a prisoner swap.
“We will be thinking a lot about film, but we will never stop thinking about what is happening in Ukraine as well,” said Fremaux who was peppered with questions about the festival’s position on the war. — Reuters
Rust producer says movie will be completed — Hollywood Reporter
A producer of the movie Rust, whose set saw the fatal accidental shooting of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins last year, said the movie will be completed, the Hollywood Reporter reported on Monday. Hutchins was killed in October when a revolver that actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with during filming in New Mexico fired a live round that hit her and movie director Joel Souza. Souza was wounded but survived.
“We’re confident we’ll be able to complete the movie,” Anjul Nigam, one of the producers, was quoted as saying by Hollywood Reporter.
A representative of Nigam did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Last month, the state of New Mexico fined Rust Movie Productions the maximum amount possible, $137,000, for what it called “willful” safety lapses leading to Hutchins’ death. The company said it disagreed with the findings.
Baldwin, also a producer on the film, has been named in several lawsuits filed in connection with Hutchins’ death, including one by her husband.
Baldwin, 64, has denied responsibility for Hutchins’ death and said live rounds should never have been allowed onto the set of the Western film at Bonanza Creek Ranch.
The actor also has argued in court papers that an indemnification clause in his contract shields him from personal liability. — Reuters
Johnny Depp’s attorneys challenge Amber Heard on abuse claims
ATTORNEYS for actor Johnny Depp began their questioning of Amber Heard in the couple’s defamation trial on Monday and challenged the Aquaman star’s claims that she suffered physical abuse before and during their brief mar-riage.
Depp’s attorneys introduced photographs of Heard making public appearances on red carpets and The James Corden Show shortly after times that she said Depp had struck her with his hands, on which he usually wore heavy rings.
The pictures shown to jurors appeared to reveal no injuries. Heard said the harm, which included what she thought was a broken nose, was not severe enough to be visible or was covered up by makeup.
Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, for $50 million, saying she defamed him when she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse. Heard has countersued for $100 million, arguing that Depp smeared her by calling her a liar.
At the start of cross-examination of Heard, an attorney for Depp asked Heard if she had abused Depp and was further harming him with false allegations.
“I could never hurt Johnny,” Heard said.
Earlier, Heard told jurors that she filed for divorce from Depp in 2016 because she worried she would not survive physical abuse by him. She said she realized the relationship was beyond repair after he threw a cell phone that hit her in the face.
“I knew I had to leave him,” she said. “I knew I wouldn’t survive it if I didn’t.
“I made the decision to file for divorce,” she added. “It was hard because I loved Johnny so much.”
The pair wed in February 2015 and their divorce was finalized about two years later.
Depp has testified that he never hit Heard and argued that she was the abuser in their relationship. He said she threw a vodka bottle at him in early 2015, severing the top of his right middle finger.
Heard said she did not cause the finger injury and said she only hit him to defend herself or her sister.
She also denied Depp’s allegation that she had left feces in a bed at one of his homes following a fight on her birthday. A security guard had testified that Heard told him the feces were a “horrible practical joke.”
Heard said she did not commit any prank that day, adding that she was “not in a pranking mood.”
“I had just been attacked on my 30th birthday by my husband, with whom I was desperately in love and knew I needed to leave,” she said.
The legal case centers on a December 2018 opinion piece by Heard that appeared in the Washington Post. The article never mentioned Depp by name, but his lawyer told jurors it was clear Heard was referencing him.
Depp, once among Hollywood’s biggest stars, said Heard’s allegations cost him “everything.” A new Pirates of the Caribbean movie was put on hold, and Depp was replaced in the Fantastic Beasts film franchise, a Harry Potter spinoff.
Heard’s attorneys have argued that she told the truth and that her opinion was protected free speech under the US Constitution’s First Amendment.
Closing arguments are scheduled for May 27.
Less than two years ago, Depp lost a libel case against the Sun, a British tabloid that labeled him a “wife beater.” A London High Court judge ruled that he had repeatedly assaulted Heard.
Depp’s lawyers filed the case in Fairfax County, Virginia, because the Washington Post is printed there. The newspaper is not a defendant. — Reuters
