Gary Dretzka
Leonard Klady
David Poland
Doug Pratt
Ray Pride

Cannes: Day Five & Six

There was no doubt about it. Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival was dedicated to one film and one film only. Sure, other films appeared in competition and at sidebars and especially the market, but nobody cared much. You see, George Lucas was due to arrive in town to screen the final installment of his Star Wars prequel trilogy. It's the reason nearly every billboard along the Croisette has one of two images, Darth Vader or Anakin Skywalker dueling Obi Wan Kenobi. It's the reason the Carlton Hotel is wrapped in ads promoting Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. It's the reason the line outside the press conference room began forming two hours in advance of the press conference Lucas was scheduled to attend.

Lucas, however, wants everyone to know it was not his intention to steal the thunder from any of the films in competition at the 58th annual Cannes Film Festival. "I'm happy I don't have to compete with those films because I probably wouldn't win," Lucas said. "It's nice to be able to be recognized and have the film be recognized without being in a contest. I'm not a big one for contests. Just being here is an honor. I hope all the films feel that way."

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith is one of the most anticipated films here in Cannes this year. And to think, just four years ago such a Hollywood blockbuster would never have been chosen for the official selection. When Shrek turned up at the Palais in 2001 however, all that began to change. Lucas brought Episode II to Cannes in 2002 and the following year The Matrix Reloaded packed everyone into the Lumiere.

With Episode III Lucas ties up the back story of the Star Wars saga. I'd tell you the storyline, but I don't want to give anything away. Of course, I'm kidding. If there is anyone in the universe that doesn't know what Episode III is about, they must be living in the most remote regions of Naboo. In the climax of the three prequels, Anakin Skywalker continues to be a confused young Jedi. His thoughts are torn between his training as a Jedi and his love for his new wife, Padme. When Padme becomes pregnant, Anakin has visions that she will die during child birth. Chancellor Palpatine uses this fear to bring the young Jedi under his wing and to slowly seduce him to the dark side of the force. I don't want to give away the end where Anakin conducts a lengthy light saber battle with Obi Wan Kenobi and is transformed into Darth Vader. Doh! But you knew that anyway.

For the evening premiere screening, thousands of fans gathered outside the Palais, blocking the Croisette where they were restrained by metal barricades. Every major actor in town to promote their films showed up for the gala and marched up the red carpet where they were greeted on either side not only by paparazzi, but also by two phalanx of Storm Troopers. At the top of the steps that lead up to the Lumiere Theatre, Darth Vader stood in full costume. An orchestra was stationed off to one side playing selections from all the Star Wars films. Every once in a while the sound of Darth Vader's breathing could be heard blaring over the loudspeakers as smoke wafted into the air to complete the effect. By far it was the most extravagant red carpet ceremony I have ever seen here in Cannes.

As the final credits rolled on the film Lucas and his actors received a 25 minute standing ovation, comparable to the one given Fahrenheit 9/11 just a year ago.

Samuel L. Jackson, who plays Mace Windu in episodes II and III, joined fellow cast members Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen, Anthony Daniels and Ian McDiarmid for the event. The actor has been in Cannes once before with the Palm d'Or winning Pulp Fiction. Jackson said he was incredibly excited to be back at the festival. "It seems as though each time I'm here I have a different of success when I leave," he explained, before throwing out a sarcastic joke. "Hopefully this will be another jump start to my career."

Speaking of jump starting careers, Sharon Stone was in town for the day to hold a press conference for Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction. Even though Stone hasn't really been a box office sensation for quite some time now, she still can attract the media's attention. Just about everyone with a press badge was down at the Nikki Club at the Carlton hotel yesterday afternoon where we were packed into a tiny room like sardines and left to sweat it out for more than an hour before Stone showed up 45 minutes late to start the press conference. She was flanked by director Michael Caton-Jones, co-star David Morrissey and producer Mario Kassar. (As if anyone really wanted to talk to them.)

Stone gracefully avoided answering any questions, though I'm sure she fooled some people into thinking she was giving them good quotes. Indeed, there was little there was not a single worthy quote that came out of the conference, especially since it ended after only 13 minutes! I can't tell you how angry journalists were when they saw Stone marching up the red carpet fifteen minutes later (in a completely different dress) for the premiere of Star Wars. Today were there any pictures published of Stone at the press conference? Not a single one. But there were plenty of her posing with Storm Troopers.

Two other highly anticipated films were premiered in Cannes on Monday evening from Cannes regulars David Cronenberg (who was last at the festival with Spider) and Lars Von Trier.

By Saturday evening word began to spread like fire on gasoline that Cronenberg's latest, A History of Violence, was not only good but very mainstream considering much of the filmmaker's previous work. This caused the Sunday evening press screening to be packed quite early.

The film is a dark tale, (what a shock) that stars Viggo Mortensen as a loving husband and father who runs a diner in a small Indiana town. Then, one day. . . oh yeah, that's right ...Cronenberg personally asked members of the press not to give away any of the plot. When prodded about what we could tell you, he decided to do my job for me. "I remember with The Crying Game, Neil Jordan begged the press not to give away the secret and they honored that," the filmmaker reminded the journalists present at a mid-day press conference. "You can certainly say that Viggo's character Tom Stall seems to be mistaken for a gangster by a couple of gangsters from Philadelphia and that they won't go away. They won't leave him alone, so he has to begin to take matters into his own hand to dissuade them."

Don't you just wish every director would do that? It would save journalists like me so much time.

Since the word violence is in the title, Cronenberg makes sure to provide plenty of it and as is his cinematic style, he doesn't shy away from being incredibly graphic. "Sex and violence have always done very well for me," he lauged. "It's like bacon and eggs. And if you look at the history of cinematic violence you'll see that there's a long one. There's always a sexual component in violence and there is a violent component in sexuality of any kind. To me that's a natural thing to explore."

But Cronenberg took umbrage with journalists who suggested that he may have overdone any of the violence. "What we did in this movie about violence was ultra responsible," he said. "It was a serious discussion about the nature of violence and the impact that it has on society and families and human life and on human bodies as well." I would tend to agree with him as the violence is peppered throughout the film in key moments and is no worse than what one sees in an action film.

A History of Violence, which also stars Ed Harris, Maria Bello and William Hurt, has its lighter moments as well. As the press audience laughed at a moment of levity during a suspenseful scene, a foreign journalist yelled into the large Debussy Theatre, "You fucking critic assholes! Why don't you take this seriously".

According to Cronenberg, that was not the kind of debate he was hoping to provoke. "I think you can be funny and serious at the same time," Cronenberg argued. "I think you can have a serious comedy and yes this movie is quite funny, there's no question about it. There is a real tension in some scenes between the serious aspects of it, the very serious emotional aspects of it, and the funny aspects."

On the other hand, Cronenberg didn't want to spoon feed his audience, which is the quality that Mortensen likes most about the director's work. "Most filmmakers, the last thing they want you to do is think for yourself," said the actor, who was last in Cannes in 2001 to promote Lord of the Rings at an event outside the festival. "It is easier when a politician or filmmaker tells you what to think. But it's more rewarding when you are allowed to think for yourself."

Though he shot his film in his native Canada, Cronenberg says that his film has more of an American tone to it and not because of the violence. "The specifics of this were American but the commentary on violence is quite universal," he said. "Every country has a history of violence. Every country was founded on violence. Every nation exercises its self determined right to commit violence against other countries and even its own citizens there is not one country that can claim that it doesn't."

Lars Von Trier's Manderlay also has an American tone to it. Like Dogville, the film's predecessor which screened in Cannes at the 2003 festival, the film is set in America. Lars Von Trier has never been to the United States, though that doesn't stop him from setting many of his movies there.

"America is a subject because such a big, big part of our lives has to do with America," said Von Trier, who doesn't like attending the press conferences in Cannes. "In my country it is overwhelming what has to do with America. I must say I feel there may just as well be American troops in Denmark because so much is American. We are a nation under influence. And also under a very bad influence from America right now because I think Mr. Bush is an asshole. America is kind of sitting on the world, there is no question about it. It is sitting on the world and therefore I am making films that have to do with America because America fills about 60% of my brain. So in fact, I am an American. But I can not go there to vote, because I am from a small country. So I just sit there and analyze and make films."

Like Dogville, Manderlay was filmed on a soundstage in the filmmakers Native Denmark using the Dogma style that Von Trier has made famous. There is one giant set, few props and no walls between the buildings represented in the small town of Manderlay. Nicole Kidman played Grace, the main character in Dogville. But despite promising to star in all three films, dropped out of Manderlay. Instead, Von Trier relies on the Bryce Dallas Howard (who starred in The Village) to take up the role.

(Editor's note (5:30p Monday): We got a correction from Sweden on one detail... "Manderlay was filmed at Film i Väst studios in Trollhätten, Sweden, as was Dogville." Our apologies for the mistake.)

In the second installment of what is intended to be a trilogy, Von Trier sets Manderlay in 1933. Grace and her father leave Dogville, Colorado and head south ending up on a roadside in front of the Manderlay plantation in Alabama. An African-American woman knocks on the window asking for help. One of the slaves on the plantation is about to be whipped and she hopes that Grace, her father and his henchmen can prevent it. When Grace discovers that the plantation is still keeping slaves, she uses her father's gangsters to help earn their freedom. When the matron of the plantation dies a few minutes later, Grace stays behind to help make sure the African-American workers are given their freedom and help with the upcoming planting season. You just know that nothing good is going to come out of this.

If this all sounds a little twisted and boring. . . well, unlike Dogville which was three hours long, Manderlay kind of drags at just under two and a half. Even so, the writing is outstanding, and the themes about racism in America are also interesting.

'I've gotten a lot of good advice about what not to say at this press conference," said Von Trier after his film screened earlier Monday morning for the press. "There is one thing that I think really kills any debate in any country and this is really true in American and that is political correctness. That stops any discussion. I think it's a fear of talking. If you have political correctness than you all agree and politics is about not to agree."

Von Trier does his best to end the film with a positive message, and in the next breath for the final credits plays David Bowie's "Young Americans," as it did in the first film, this time over pictures of lynchings and Klu Klux Klan rallies.

Day One
Day Two
Day Three
Day Four

May 16, 2005
- by J. Sperling Reich