- Title: Big movies, 'weird mood' - Cannes gears up for film festival opener
- Date: 13th May 2024
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (MAY 12 2024) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) EUROPEAN BUREAU CHIEF AT THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER, SCOTT ROXBOROUGH, SAYING: "It's quite interesting, we do have a lot of these sort of old Hollywood icons. And Cannes has seemed to decide in the last couple of years that they want to really honour some of these people. We saw that Tom Cruise was here a couple of y
- Embargoed: 27th May 2024 12:49
- Keywords: 2024 Cannes film festival 77th Cannes film festival Cannes Cannes film festival Cannes films
- Location: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- City: VARIOUS LOCATIONS
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film,Editors' Choice
- Reuters ID: LVA008198012052024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: The excitement that usually builds sky-high in the lead-up to the Cannes Film Festival's opening night is being brought down to earth this year as rumours swirl of bombshell #MeToo allegations and a strike that could shut down the festival.
There is much to be excited about with this year's line-up, with Francis Ford Coppola's passion project "Megalopolis" and Emma Stone, fresh off her "Poor Things" success, teaming up with Yorgos Lanthimos again in "Kinds of Kindness" just a few of the big-name films that are having their premiere at the festival.
"The combination of being excited about the films and being concerned about disruption and maybe criminal allegations, that's combining into a very weird mood this year," Scott Roxborough, European bureau chief for The Hollywood Reporter, told Reuters on Sunday (May 12).
French newspaper Le Figaro reported last week that organizers have brought in a crisis management team to deal with any fallout from a supposed list of 10 industry figures accused of sexual abuse that could be released to coincide with the festival's opening ceremony on Tuesday (May 14).
According to Le Figaro, certain films could be dropped from the schedule or some of the accused could be asked not to attend the red carpet, depending on the degree of the accusation.
The festival did not respond to a request for comment.
On top of that is a potential strike by the festival's freelance workers over proposed changes to French labour law.
Against this tense backdrop, organizers have gone all out with one of the best line-ups in years, said Roxborough.
"You basically have a who's who of the best art house directors working today. The old folk and the newcomers, which is kind of what you expect at Cannes," he added.
For Roxborough, the sci-fi epic "Megalopolis," starring Adam Driver, which Coppola has been working on for decades and financed with his wine fortune, is the must-see film this year.
"It could be a massive flop or a tremendous hit but everybody, of course, is desperate, to see that movie."
Cannes has particularly given love to old Hollywood names in recent years, Coppola included, which is further evidenced by the uptick in honorary awards handed out to well-known names like George Lucas, Meryl Streep, Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford.
Part of it is because they won't be around much longer, Roxborough said, but the other side is Cannes' desire to bring the spotlight back to those actors who have been somewhat forgotten in the modern era of Marvel blockbuster movies.
However: "Despite a lot of the greybeards that will be walking the red carpet, the majority of really top-end stars will all be quite young," said Roxborough.
Some of the under-35 big names include Jacob Elordi, of teen drama "Euphoria," who is in Paul Schrader's competition film "Oh, Canada" as well as Anya Taylor-Joy as the titular Furiosa in the new "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga" and pop star Selena Gomez in the musical crime comedy "Emilia Perez."
(Production: Fedja Grulovic, Christian Levaux, Rob Lang, Tom Newey, Hanna Rantala) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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