May
14
Cannes Opening Day
Kung Fu Panda star Jack Black woke up this morning knowing he had to cavort on the Carlton pier with 40 overstuffed pandas. Mike Jones did the honors with his Nikon Coolpix.
At the jury press conference, Sean Penn was mercurial and testy: over-the-top on his shove-it-down-your-throat political agendas, and yet an uncompromising artist, the sort of filmmaker that Cannes embraces. He's an idealist who cares deeply about his work and likes to champion the work of others. But he's not one to hide his feelings. Everything shows. So clearly, it was a long day for him.
First the photo call, the press conference, then the black tie ceremonie de overture, which is a long red carpet affair, where folks in their seats in the Lumiere get to watch the likes of Eva Longoria Parker, Penelope Cruz, Aishwariya Rai, Dennis Hopper, Blindness stars Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia Bernal, and the skeletal Faye Dunaway twist for the photographers.
Jury member Sergio Castellitto looked familiar: I had just seen him in The Chronicles of Narnia sequel, in which he chews into the role of Prince Caspian's nemesis, King Miraz. (BTW: this one is much better than the first, which I found bland and unbelievable, because the kids were so young. Prince Caspian will do gangbuster biz; the kids are older, the villains are nasty, the Narnia animals and characters are cool and there's more action. My fave scene is the opener, when Caspian speeds through a forest at night on horseback.)
The ritual of the jury lining up in a row on the Palais steps and greeting Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux at the top is always fun. Cannes feted Penn with vet folk singer Richie Havens, who did a foot-stomping rendition of Freedom, which even the cool French gala crowd clapped along with, led by Penn. "We will do our best," Penn told the crowd. "We will be sending home love letters to some of these films."
I slipped out before the film started and lined up at the Salle Bazin to see animator/director Ari Folman's Waltz with Bashir, an odd Israeli documentary that is gorgeously and effectively animated. Like the stylized Persepolis, the animation makes palatable scenes that would otherwise be horrific: hallucinatory flashbacks of Israeli soldiers on various campaigns in Lebanon, all leading to one long repressed memory of witnessing a 1982 massacre by Christian militia of Palestinians. The filmmaker makes a journey back into his mind by interviewing people who might remember what he has suppressed. Very strong film. Some of the animated characters' POV have a vidgame feel. Early distrib response is cautious. They'll check reviews and see where it goes.
Miramax's outdoor Blindness party at the Carlton Plage-where Europeans were following Sean Penn's lead and smoking like chimneys--featured a white fogbank entryway. That's where I snapped Danny Glover. I did not see Miramax topper Daniel Battsek, but did spot SPC's Michael Barker and Tom Bernard, the NYT's Tony Scott, the LAT's John Horn, Fernando Meirelles and Gael Garcia Bernal, PR men Jeff Hill and Mark Pogachefsky, Focus Features' Jason Resnick and The Toronto FF's Piers Handling and Cameron Bailey.
UPDATE: Greencine's indefatigable David Hudson is keeping up with all things Cannes. Here's Pete Hammond at Hollywood Wiretap.
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Then the ghost of Danny Glover appeared through the Antonioni mist...
Posted by: Edward Wilson | May 14, 2008 at 07:36 PM
"this one is much better than the first, which I found bland and unbelievable, because the kids were so young."
I was really tempted to be quite critical and snarky in my response to this statement, since the kids are pretty close to the age of the kids in the book. Then reason, and the fact that I am a Thompsfan, got the better of me.
While keeping the kids young keeps the adaptation from book to film "closer" to the book, it does often fly in the face of plausibility -- even to the point where it can significantly affect suspension of disbelief. Even though we are talking about a movie with talking Beavers, Ice Witches, Father Christmas, and Divine Lions, those are in many ways easier to accept than placing actual children in roles of danger. It's hard to make that plausible. THE PATRIOT was successful at this task, partly because it relied on the "worry" of the youths involved to add narrative tension.
I don't know how I feel about Prince Caspian being cast as 26 as a general rule, but 26 looks far more physically capable than 13-14. In fact, it was the mild aging up of the kids in SPIDERWICK that made that movie fun for me. There was no way that I would have believed the kids in that film could have survived if they had cast actors the same age as the characters, this is particularly true of the older sister.
Purists may scoff at your statement about the kids being too young, but once the veil of suspension has been pierced it's really hard to enjoy a film. Much better to cast "believable" young people than people the right age.
Josh Schwartz had similar comments when discussing why the actors in the OC were so much older than the characters.
Posted by: Christian Johnson | May 15, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Part of the problem for me with the first Narnia film was that I am an old diehard Narnia fan who grew up with the books and literally read them all over and over. As I watched Prince Caspian, I was waiting for the kids to realize the ruins they were exploring were Cair Paravel...it's one thing to read a book and believe that kids are battling with swords and so on. It's another to see it made real in a live action movie.
Posted by: Anne thompson | May 15, 2008 at 04:46 PM