Los Angeles, March 2 (IANS) Organisers for the prestigious Cannes Film Festival hope that Hollywood will decamp the festival. Though their ambitions could collide with a new spirit of economising that’s making studios hesitant about shelling out the hundreds of thousands of dollars it takes to pull off a Riviera bow.
Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Fremaux has barely gotten over his jet lag after a whirlwind trip to Los Angeles this month, but he’s already planning a return visit as he attempts to pull together one of the most formidable lineups in the 76-year history of the event, reports ‘Variety’.
He’s made it clear to studio executives that he would love to highlight both their blockbusters and their awards contenders, and though formal offers have not been made or accepted, this year’s Cannes has the potential to match or even surpass the 2022 edition — which played host to Tom Cruise and ‘Top Gun: Maverick’; and Austin Butler and Tom Hanks with ‘Elvis’ — in movie star moments.
As per ‘Variety’, Apple is weighing sending Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon’ to the festival, and with it a cast that includes Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Jesse Plemons. Focus is expected to hit the Croisette with Wes Anderson’s ‘Asteroid City’.
The ensemble film boasts a cavalcade of stars, including Hanks, Margot Robbie, Scarlett Johansson and Tilda Swinton. Anderson, who has an apartment in Paris, was in Cannes 2021 with ‘The French Dispatch’, which played in competition.
In 2008, ‘Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’ and the filmmaking team of Harrison Ford, Steven Spielberg and George Lucas staged the titular archaeologist’s return to the big screen by unveiling the movie at Cannes.
Disney, which is releasing the latest sequel, ‘Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny’, is considering a return trip for Ford and company.
‘Variety’ further states that Warner Bros. has discussed sending Greta Gerwig’s ‘Barbie’ starring Margot Robbie and Ryan Gosling, but the film is more likely to launch nearer to Barbie’s Malibu home. Even if the studio skips the fest, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav will touch down in France.
–IANS
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