cannes 2008
Blame France for the New Screenwriting Diddy
10:25AM Defamer Hollywood | He can rap! He can act! He can produce (music AND plays)! He’s the dapperest of gentlemen ever to be accused of assault, bribery, shootings, sweatshop labour, a fatal stampede and making coats out of dogs! And now Diddy has a new occupation: screenwriter. According to the always reliable entertainment news service WENN, Diddy was “so inspired” by this year’s Cannes Film Festival that he decided to venture into feature writing. But wasn’t the festival like two days ago, you ask? Yes, yes it was. Apparently, Mr. Puffycombs wastes no time making his brand new dreams come true. More »
Sharon Stone’s Bold ‘Karma Tectonics’ Theory Infuriates Chinese Quake Victims
3:40AM Defamer Hollywood | When Sharon Stone wasn’t joking about Sean Combs’s crack budget last week at the Cannes Film Festival’s high-powered amFar benefit, she took a few minutes on the red carpet to play amateur seismologist for the international press. That went about as well as you’d expect when, only seconds into discussing the humanitarian crisis facing China after the May 12 earthquake that killed more than 67,000 people, Stone attributed the tragedy to… karma? More »
Nick Nolte Tells All to Nick Nolte in Stirring New Documentary
4:10AM Defamer Hollywood | While the Cannes cognoscenti revel in the unblinking confessions of Mike Tyson in his eponymous documentary currently screening there, another opus of self-reflective, crazy-arse candor has found increasing traction at the festival as well. Like Tyson, Nick Nolte: No Exit reportedly features an unadulterated one-on-one session with its subject, but boosts the stakes with the added integrity of an unprecedented Nolte-on-Nolte grilling: More »
Today in Cannes Hell: Spike Lee vs. The World, ‘Che’ Unveiled and Mouthbreathing Over Penelope Cruz
2:55AM Defamer Hollywood | Only a few days remain before Cannes ends and we can roll our bleary eyes from the backs of our heads. In the meantime, the rubbernecker in us can’t help but take an interest in Spike Lee’s latest sortie against the Hollywood establishment — this time as personified by Cannes darling Clint Eastwood, whom Lee railed against while promoting his upcoming Afro-centric World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna:
Woody Allen’s Seething Hatred For Ryan McStupidface Reynolds May Have Led To Scarlett Johansson’s Cannes Absence
10:20AM Seth | There’s now another take on the story circulated yesterday by the Daily Mail claiming Scarlett Johansson’s diva-like demands ultimately resulted in the actress failing to appear at the premiere of Woody Allen’s new movie. From the LAT:
Today in Cannes Hell: Indy, Indy, Indy! (And Harvey and Woody)
3:35AM Defamer Hollywood | The first-in-the-world hype accompanying Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull’s premiere at Cannes appears to remain the only story of interest to most festivalgoers, with everything from live-blogs of the screening to more meditative reads (”I was bored out of my mind,” writes A.O. Scott) peppering the spectrum of feedback. Of course there’s always Harvey Weinstein, who continues his Cannes dealings with impunity despite our corporate death sentence leveled last week. And people actually seem to like Woody Allen’s latest! It’s the ’80s all over again!Lily Allen Is Doing Greeaassshht
12:29PM Clem Bastow | Since I’ve not had time to code that “Lily Allen has had a tough year so far” generator I’m sure I’ve mentioned many times before, I’ll have to type it again: Lily Allen has had a tough year so far, and seems to be dealing with it in a manner more suited to pre-”marriage has changed me” Robert Downey Jr. than the sunny young thing she used to be.
In Cannes – for, um, the Film Festival, I guess? – it appears Lily is having a right royal time, getting her cans out, partying on, and generally drinking too much and passing out. And the whispers on the street suggest that Lily’s party time may be up.
Go team awesome!!
It culminated on Thursday in her apparently performing an alcoholic faint in a taxi on the way back to her hotel; her father – in town to promote his new film about Princess Diana and Dodi – held her by the scruff of the neck as if she were a sleeping puppy.
A few hours previously, after enjoying vodka and lychee cocktails at a screening of the movie How To Lose Friends And Alienate People, she was to be found face down on her table next to a rather splendid floral arrangement.
It’s one thing to enjoy a party but on this occasion the singer, hailed as one of the brightest young talents of recent years, seemed intent on becoming completely obliterated by alcohol – and it was an alarming sight.
You know, normally I scoff at the Mail’s hysterical coverage of celebrities’ downfalls (all the better to sell papers with, after all), but in this instance I’m inclined to side with them.
The photo of Lily passed out at the table – with a still smoking fag between her fingers – should be ringing all sorts of alarm bells, but instead it seems dad Keith thinks it’s all a right laff! Good on ya, dad!
More » 
Today in Cannes Hell: ‘Blindness’ Still Bad, ‘Indy 4′ Making Few Friends and Egregious Oscar Hype
6:00AM Defamer Hollywood | The pandas have been euthanized and Sean Penn is still lighting up despite you on the first full day of the Cannes Film Festival, which we continue to study from our vantage point in the salt mines. We continue to wince at the reaction to the opening-night film Blindness, whose bad buzz we were nervous about back when the festival waited forever to announce its selection. Variety’s Justin Chang piled on this morning — “Blindness emerges onscreen both overdressed and undermotivated, scrupulously hitting the novel’s beats yet barely approximating, so to speak, its vision” — with an only slightly happier James Rocchi following suit at Cinematical. Then there’s the anticipation for Indiana Jones and Whatever the Fuck, whose anxious makers are taking precautions to dodge the lynch-mob on their own tail:
