FRANCE: GORGEOUS GEORGE CLOONEY THRILLS CROWD IN CANNES ARRIVING FOR SCREENING OF LATEST FILM 'O BROTHER'

Record ID: 389271

  • Title: FRANCE: GORGEOUS GEORGE CLOONEY THRILLS CROWD IN CANNES ARRIVING FOR SCREENING OF LATEST FILM 'O BROTHER'
  • Date: 13th May 2000
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) CLOONEY SAYING OF WALKING UP THE RED CARPET TO THE SCREENING: "It's intimidating, it's intimidating you walk up tghyere and it's a lot of people and it sorts of gets a little nutty but it was fine." (SOUNDBITE) (English) AMERICAN ACTRESS HOLLY HUNTER SAYING: Oh it was beautiful, it was a George Clooney kind of night he made a lot of women very happy.
  • Embargoed: 28th May 2000 13:00
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  • Location: CANNES, FRANCE
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVAEZZ6WPKAZPO7LYJN4DRQ908OR
  • Story Text: 'Gorgeous' George Clooney thrilled the crowds in Cannes and set many a heart racing, when he stepped on to the red carpet accompanied by co-stars John Turturro and Tim Blake-Nelson for the official screening of his latest film, "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" written and directed by brothers Joel and Ethan Coen.
    The stars of "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", one of only two American films in competition at the 52nd Cannes Film Festival, were joined on the steps of the Palais des Festivals on Saturday (May 13th) by co-star and previous Cannes winner Holly Hunter and wife of Joel Coen, the accomplished Oscar winning actress Frances McDormand.
    To the delight of hundreds of fans and photographers alike, Clooney cut a dashing figure as he mounted the steps to the festival hall but was noticeably unaccompanied.
    In his latest movie venture, the man who made his name in the hit U.S. soap "E.R.", George Clooney plays the role of one of three prisoners who have recently escaped from a Mississippi prison chain gang, in the Depression-era deep South. EverettUlysses McGill (Clooney), sweet and simple Delmar (Blake-Nelson) and the perpetually angry Pete (Turturro), embark on the adventure of a lifetime as they set out to pursue their freedom and return to their homes.
    With nothing to lose and still in shackles, they make a run for their lives and end up on an incredible journey filled with challenging experiences and colourful characters.
    However, they must also match wits with the cunning and mysterious lawmanColley who tracks the men and is bent on bringing the trio back to the prison farm.
    The screenplay written by Joel and Ethan Coen to "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is based on "The Odyssey" by Homer and is says Joel, a very American story, specific to a region and time while being based on a story that's familiar to everyone.
    While the film is somewhat comical, it's also driven by its musical content: "As we were writing the script the music, Ethan and I being long time listeners and big fans of this kind of music sort of earlier American roots music or earlier country music or whatever you want to call it it's really American Folk music that started to really inform the script and it began to take over the script more and more as we got deeper into it to the point where really at the end of the day the movie almost became a musical in our own minds in terms of how it was working and you know Ithink more than anything else sort of established the tone of the movie and the kind of feel of the movie in our own minds so yeh you're right in a way, I don't know if we'd call it a theme or whatever but it was very important in terms of the way we were thinking about the movie as a whole," said Joel.
    Despite giving it his best shot, however Clooney's voice just wasn't up to scratch, much to his amusement.
    "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" is not the first film the Coen brothers have screened at the Cannes Film Festival. Joel was named Best Director at the festival in 1991 for his film "Barton Fink" where the film also garnered the Palme D'Or Award for Best Picture and a Best Actor Award for John Turturro.
    After the cast and directors attended the official screening at the Palais des Festivals, a party was held in their honour at a villa in the hills above Cannes. Members of this year's Cannes jury including Kristen Scott Thomas, Jeremy Irons and director Sam Mendes were among the guests.
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