PIX IN THE CANNES
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) – With “Entrapment” firmed for a prominent slot either as the opener or in a special screening and the Oscar Wilde adaptation “An Ideal Husband” a good possibility for closing night, the lineup for the Cannes Film Festival is approaching final shape.
Nonetheless, many decisions for the May 12-23 event were still being made over the weekend. Any number of producers and directors were hoping to receive word from festival chief Gilles Jacob by Friday, but were being kept on tenterhooks as he sorted out choices and scheduling priorities in preparation for Thursday’s announcement of the full slates for the Competition and Un Certain Regard sections.
Although quite a few of the titles have been known for some time, Jacob and his staffers seemingly have come closer to the wire than ever in making final selections this year, partly to keep their options open but also because some expected films weren’t ready or were found to fall short of expectations.
As of Friday, U.S. representation in the Competition division looked to comprise Tim Robbins’ “The Cradle Will Rock,” a look at Orson Welles’ theater days; Jim Jarmusch’s ”Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai,” a tale of a hitman starring Isaach de Bankole and Forest Whitaker; David Lynch’s ”The Straight Story Di; and possibly John Sayles’ “Limbo.”
Also said to be in are Atom Egoyan’s “Felicia’s Journey” from Canada; Raul Ruiz’s “Time Regained Di; Chen Kaige’s “The Assassin,” with Gong Li, which has been considerably recut since its lackluster showings in Japan and China late last year; Nikita Mikhalkov’s “The Barber of Siberia” with Julia Ormond and Richard Harris; Aleksandr Sokurov’s “Moloch,” about Hitler and Eva Braun; Italian veteran Marco Bellocchio’s “The Nanny,” starring Valeria Bruni Tedeschi; Pedro Almodovar’s “All About My Mother,” which opened Friday in Spain; Bruno Dumont’s ”Humanity” and Leos Carax’s “Pola X,” starring Catherine Deneuve, both from France; and Takeshi Kitano’s “Kikujiru” from Japan.
Also firm are Mexican veteran Arturo Ripstein’s “Nobody Write to the Colonel,” a new film from Egyptian auteur Youssef Chahine, and a portmanteau Iranian feature with three directors, one of whom is Moshen Makhmalbaf.
Seemingly poised for inclusion but unconfirmed as of Friday were two films from English directors, Peter Greenaway’s “8-1/2 Women,” a story about a brother with eight women and a midget starring Toni Collette, Amanda Plummer and Polly Walker, and Michael Winterbottom’s “Wonderland,” which weaves together several tales of South London.
As for special screenings, including midnight shows, in the Official Selection category, Jon Amiel’s “Entrapment,” starring Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Oliver Parker’s “Ideal Husband,” starring Cate Blanchett, Gabriel Byrne, Minnie Driver and Rupert Everett, will definitely be on the Croisette. The latter opened in the U.K. Friday, while the former bows stateside April 30.
Also set are Ron Howard’s domestic flop “EDtv Di; Steven Soderbergh’s “The Limey,” with Terence Stamp and Peter Fonda; and Daniel Myrick and Eduardo Sanchez’s Sundance horror sleeper ”The Blair Witch Project.” Kevin Smith’s “Dogma” remains a possibility for a special slot.
Among the previously bruited films that will not be turning up on the Riviera for various reasons are Alan Parker’s ”Angela’s Ashes,” Ang Lee’s “Ride With the Devil,” Anthony Minghella’s “The Talented Mr. Ripley,” Roman Polanski’s “The Ninth Gate,” Mike Leigh’s “Topsy Turvy,” Patricia Rozema’s ”Mansfield Park,” Giuseppe Tornatore’s “The Legend of the Pianist on the Ocean,” Istvan Szabo’s “The Taste of Sunshine,” Lasse Halstrom’s “The Cider House Rules,” Scott Hicks’ “Snow Falling on Cedars,” Jane Campion’s “Holy Smoke” and two films recently made by Chinese helmer Zhang Yimou.
Invited to the Un Certain Regard sidebar are David Mamet’s ”The Winslow Boy,” which world premieres this week at the San Francisco Film Festival; “Harem Suare,” from Ferzan Ozpetek, the Turkish helmer of “Steam: The Turkish Bath Di; Aussie filmmaker Christopher Doyle’s “Away with Words Di; Shane Meadows’ ”A Room for Romeo Brass,” Damian O’Donnell’s “East Is East,” Jasmin Dizdar’s “Beautiful People” and Lynne Ramsay’s ”Ratcatcher,” all from the U.K.; Wang Xiaoshuai’s “Vietnam Girl,” from China; Chen Kuofu’s “The Personals,” from Taiwan; and a new film from Portuguese helmer Cesar Monteiro.
The Directors Fortnight won’t be making its lineup announcement until a week after the Official Selection category is made public, and is therefore keeping many of its options open. Two U.S. titles looking likely are Alex Winter’s “Fever” and Frank Whaley’s Sundance entry “Joe the King.”
The lone title known for the Critics Week is Aussie actor John Polson’s debut feature, “Siam Sunset,” starring Linus Roach.
Well, at least they’re not totally eliminating Dogma from the articles yet. Some outlets had announced Dogma as a shoe-in, but Kevin himself never confirmed this. Sounds right now that it’s likely the film WILL be shown at the festival, but the chance of it being in competition is still very questionable. We’re still hopeful, since we firmly believe that Dogma is PERFECT Cannes material. It would be a shame if the film were overlooked. Also, let us just tell ya that “The Blair Witch Project” is going to change horror cinema once that sucker sees release (hopefully in a better way than “Scream” did). What a powerful, frightening flick. Like Dogma, that one really belongs in some competition as well. We’ll keep ya posted.
