FRANCE: CANNES PREPARES FOR THE 54TH FILM FESTIVAL WHICH OPENS WITH "MOULIN ROUGE"

Record ID: 387972

  • Title: FRANCE: CANNES PREPARES FOR THE 54TH FILM FESTIVAL WHICH OPENS WITH "MOULIN ROUGE"
  • Date: 8th May 2001
  • Summary: VARIOUS, OF AUTHENTIC CAN CAN DANCERS IN MOULIN ROUGE PERFORMANCE
  • Embargoed: 23rd May 2001 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE AND VARIOUS FILM LOCATIONS
  • City:
  • Country: French Guiana France
  • Reuters ID: LVA3XGZ0XLWCK4A7SHTL6MHOO5YW
  • Story Text: Film fever has erupted in the south of France for one of the biggest movie extravaganzas in the world...the 54th Cannes Film Festival.
    For decades it's been known for its glamorous combination of top movies as well as top movie stars and this year will prove to be no exception with Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor gliding up the famous red carpet on the festival's opening night.
    'Moulin Rouge' is likely to appeal particularly to the French audience because of its Parisian theme.
    The 54th Cannes Film festival is kicking off. It's a glamourous cocktail of hot new Hollywood films, many of them entered in competition, and leading figures from the motion picture business.
    The emphasis this year appears to be on well known directors who have had big hits here before, winning the Palme d'Or David Lynch, the Coen Brothers, and Ermanno Olmi. Francis Ford Coppola is making waves, too, with a director's cut of his classic "Apocalypse Now."
    The highest profile film kicks off the event : "Moulin Rouge", the musical from Baz Luhrmann, the director of "Strictly Ballroom" and "William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet." The movie stars Nicole Kidman and Ewan McGregor.
    It is set in theParisian nightclub of 1900. Luhrmann brings together gorgeousd period design and modern-eras pop tunes to create a unique comic/tragic movie. Kidman plays satine, the star of the 'Moulin Rouge', and the city's most famous courtesan. Ewan McGregor plays the writer, Christian, who finds himself plunged into this decadent world where anything goes except for falling in love.
    Other big entries include "The Man Who Wasn't There"
    from the Coen brothers, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Frances McDormand. David Lynch's "Mulholland Drive", described as a love story in the city of dreams, is eagerly anticipated, too. Lynch himself won the Palme d'Or in 1990 with "Wild at Heart."
    Also in competition from the USA is "The Pledge", Sean Penn's latest directing effort. It stars Jack Nicholson, playing a retired hoimicide detective, who is drawn into investigating a murder while on holiday in Mexico to celebrate his retirement.
    The movie also stars Robin Wright Penn, Benicio del Toro, Sam Shepard and Vanessa Redgrave. Penn's movie disappeared in the USA after a brief release at the beginning of the year but is no doubt using Cannes as the platform for an international release.
    One superstar who is getting the cold shoulder in Cannes this year is Jodie Foster. The French rejected her film "The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys" - in which she plays a one-legged nun because she abruptly turned around as the President of this Year's jury. She dropped out for a $12m acting job back home.
    Taking Foster's place as President of the Jury is Liv Ullman, the Norwegian actress and director. The jury includes notables such as ex-Monty Python stalwart and director Terry Gilliam, and the English actress Julia Ormond.
    The Festival also features "Un Certain Regard" strand, "A Certain Look", and it includes "The Anniversary Party", a movie made by and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming.
    Yet another strand is the Directors' Fortnight. Ethan Hawkes' "Chelsea Walls" stars his wife, Uma Thurman.
    As usual, the Cannes Film Festival features films from all over the world, with home-grown talent like the legendary director Jean-Luc Godard leading the challenge.
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