So – best laid plans and all! Intended to be studious and get up bright and early to go see the new Jane Campion film featuring Aussie actress Abbie Cornish who is dating Ryan Phillippe.
Well – I did get up but I couldn’t leave the apartment as it was raining cats and dogs. Bloddy typical!! There is always one day like this. So I busied myself indoors until it subsided a little and until the shops were open for me to buy a brolly. I went to Monoprix – supposedly the cheap as chips option only to find umbrellas marked at 34 EURO!!!!!!! You have to be kidding me! I finally found one for 10 euros and that did the job. The morning was spent working, researching and chasing interviews and parties only ro have my scheduled time with Ryan Phillippe and Malin Akerman revoked as the publicist didn’t want ‘too much publicity’ at this stage!! So in that case I won’t mention what film they were here to tout. Surely they risk ‘too much publicity’ if journalists from the national newspapers and film magazines get the interviews??? The mind boggles….
Anyway – got a free lunch today which is always good. Lifestyle resort Nikki Beach were hosting a ‘champagne brunch’ to launch their new range of leaisure clothes (bikinis, kaftans and the like) and Joel madden was scheduled to DJ so I thought we may get to have a brief chat with wifey Nicole Ritchie. No such luck. Joel was a no show – so therefore was Nicole. Other invited guests failed to make an appearance too. There were goodie bags including a lovely scented candle and a Nikki Beach CD but NO CHAMPAGNE AT THE CHAMPAGNE BRUNCH!!
Actually – I lie – a selection of underfed swimwear models did get dosed with a bottle of piper on the beach after they walked the runway. The guests – and the freezing cold models – probably would have preferred to have been treated to that bottle of Piper. I know I would!
The food was gorge though with sushi for starter and wild bass for entrée but it’s hard to stuff your face when these microscopic beauties are gyrating in swimwear beside your table. I felt guilty for eating and felt like I should be feeding them!
Advised by a NI editor that I should get pictures of myself with celebs for a feature I was finding myself in something of a predicament until I spotted Damon Wayans lunching with his posse only two tables away. After bracing myself for the humiliation (I mean – Damon Wayans – really???) I sauntered over to ask if I could get my picture taken with him apologetically stating my position. He looked at me blankly only to respond. ‘Well – ok – as long as I don’t have to stand up or do anything.’’ OK. So as if from nowhere my friend Lindsay appears with my very average digital camera – I pose uncomfortably and the pain is over. But – horror of horrors! We discover afterwards Lindsay never took the picture – or it didn’t save!! I have just debased myself for nothing!! Linsday was then able to inform my that she had just witnessed Wayans’ buddy taking a wee in the sink in the communal toilets. Lovely!! It’s all class and sophistication here in Cannes, I tell you.
By the way – even Wayan’s and his gang weren’t drinking champagne. The credit crunch is clearly hitting everyone!
After the ‘champagne brunch’ (minus the champagne) I legged to the Palais to watch the new Ang Lee movie Woodstock – entitled Taking Woodstock and satrring Eugene Levvy and Liev Schreiber – Naomi Watt’s other half – in a dress. It was pleasant enough.
Then it was time to get showered and changed for the evening parties. We again went to Terrazza Martini for the launch of French lifestyle magazine L’Officiel. Cool songstress VV Brown was performing live with her band as part of a whirlwind visit to the festival before heading home to prepare for appearances this summer on the festival circuit including Bestival and Glastonbury. I got to interview VV and she was really lovely and boy can that girl perform!
After several more martini cocktails we were off to meet an old friend who was visiting the Riviera for a few nights. Still no big celebrity sightings. Cannes Is noticeably quieter and more subdued this year but its still a lot of fun!
The Queen Bee
Saturday 16 May 2009
Day 2 - Better Late Than Never?
The Queen Bee must apologize unreservedly for the irresponsible lapse in her duties. Let me make it up to you and get you up to date on the last couple of day’s events.
So following my last blog my faithful plus one and I headed out in our hottest little cocktail dresses to the opening night of the Terrazzo Martini (the Martini Terrace). The lovely little venue on the beach benefitted from the liquid talents of said beverage and the team of dedicated barmen (all of whom were quite handsome indeed I might add) kept the martini and gin based cocktails flowing all evening. The event being hosted there was organized by film trade magazine Variety and was called Billion Dollar Producers and honored legendary French writer/producer and director Luc Besson (The Big Blue, Fifth Element, Nikita and Leon). Also in attendance was Heroes actor Jimmy Jean-Louis who plays The Haitian accompanied by his petit French girlfriend who was clearly bemused and a little bored with the attention her man was getting from admirers. Jean-Louis is appearing in a new film by Besson – hence the link. My night was brightened further due to an impromptu meeting with Michael Fassbender (who played Bobby Sands in Hunger) who had popped by to do a television interview with a French TV show before nipping off to the Fish Tank premiere in the Palais. The poor man may be beginning to think I am stalking him having bumped into him and interviewed him last year in Cannes and then in London on the red carpet but nonetheless he gave me a big hug and stopped for a quick chat. He has another premiere next week – Inglourious Basterds – and is leaving the Cannes craziness for a few days in between before that tornado hits the town!
That was it for celebrity sightings. We did meet a lot of other interesting filmy type people and went on for drinks in the bar at the luxurious Majestic Hotel after being refused entry into the Abu Dhabi film party! The cheek! A couple of overpriced glasses of house rose later and it was off to bed for some beauty sleep!
The Queen Bee
So following my last blog my faithful plus one and I headed out in our hottest little cocktail dresses to the opening night of the Terrazzo Martini (the Martini Terrace). The lovely little venue on the beach benefitted from the liquid talents of said beverage and the team of dedicated barmen (all of whom were quite handsome indeed I might add) kept the martini and gin based cocktails flowing all evening. The event being hosted there was organized by film trade magazine Variety and was called Billion Dollar Producers and honored legendary French writer/producer and director Luc Besson (The Big Blue, Fifth Element, Nikita and Leon). Also in attendance was Heroes actor Jimmy Jean-Louis who plays The Haitian accompanied by his petit French girlfriend who was clearly bemused and a little bored with the attention her man was getting from admirers. Jean-Louis is appearing in a new film by Besson – hence the link. My night was brightened further due to an impromptu meeting with Michael Fassbender (who played Bobby Sands in Hunger) who had popped by to do a television interview with a French TV show before nipping off to the Fish Tank premiere in the Palais. The poor man may be beginning to think I am stalking him having bumped into him and interviewed him last year in Cannes and then in London on the red carpet but nonetheless he gave me a big hug and stopped for a quick chat. He has another premiere next week – Inglourious Basterds – and is leaving the Cannes craziness for a few days in between before that tornado hits the town!
That was it for celebrity sightings. We did meet a lot of other interesting filmy type people and went on for drinks in the bar at the luxurious Majestic Hotel after being refused entry into the Abu Dhabi film party! The cheek! A couple of overpriced glasses of house rose later and it was off to bed for some beauty sleep!
The Queen Bee
Thursday 14 May 2009
Cannes Film Festival - Day 1 - Up, Up and Away!
Well – finally after months and months of careful planning – and it nearly all going to hell in a handbasket at the very last minute due to a rash (an allergy to Jaffa Cakes I never realized I had) and a broken suitcase – I got here!
The Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday in the glorious Riviera sunshine and the place was swarming once again with delegates, producers, press and tourists – all trying desperately to pretend they are more important than most of them really are. The majority of people also seemed to by carrying huge balloons in red, blue, yellow and green to celebrate this year’s opening film – the Pixar 3-D animated film Up about an old man who decides to ‘move house’ - quite literally - with the help of 10,000 balloons. Haven’t had a chance to see it yet I’m afraid as for me the first day was spent running around like a mad thing cultivating 8 blisters on the soles of my feet, running from PR company to PR company in the usual battle to get signed up for interviews with ‘the talent’. 10% of the time it yields fruit but 90% of the time the blisters are the only thing to show for my effort. But that is Cannes and I must confess I love this annual trip regardless! Anyways – I have successfully lined up a number of interviews and later in the week will be speaking to Eric Cantona and Ken Loach amongst others so not too shabby! Yes it is hard on the old feet but it is worth it when you get to partake of the free booze on the beach which I was to enjoy later yesterday evening after getting all my preliminary errands out of the way.
PR Company DDA PR hosted a drinks reception on one of the beautiful private sections of the beach and long-lost pal from the US and I hot-footed it down there to get a good seat – giving the feet a necessary rest as by this time they were now numb with pain as I had switched to towering heels for a bit of evening glamour (and I am a shorty so it was very necessary). About seven glasses of rose later we knew the barman by name and he knew our orders equally well and we were mingling like pros with the rest of the guests. We spent part of the evening with the director and producer (they are also the screenwriters) of a one-day-hopefully-to-be-released British film – the name of which I can’t print as it is a profanity beginning in F and ending in K with a U and a C in between. We saw a fast-paced intriguing promo trailer which the guys had with them and it looks really cool from what I could see. Bit of a Guy Ritchie influence to it (as in Snatch and Lock Stock – not the other dreadful stuff) I thought but the writers didn’t agree. It’s one to look out for if they get a distributor and it’s about the music industry. Will find out more about and give the low down at a later date.
So today has been taken up so far with my first screening and press conference of the festival. Caught a wonderful British film from Red Road director Andrea Arnold – one of the few female directors in this year’s festival. The film stars Michael Fassbender who played Bobby Sands in last year’s Hunger and newcomer Katie Jarvis who landed the role when casting directors stumbled across her in a train station in Essex having a barney with her boyfriend across the station platform. The film is about a teenage hip-hop dancer who develops a crush on her mum’s new boyfriend (played by Fassbender). Really enjoyed the film and it was all the more enjoyable for the fact than Fassbender is shirtless in a number of scenes. The film is interesting, without getting all ‘film criticy’ in that it is very much filmed from the perspective of a woman with a mainly female cast so the women aren’t objectified but interestingly the lead male character is in a way. A switch from most Hollywood films.
So that’s the excitement so far – no celebrity spottings as yet but I think that will all change soon with the first of the big parties. It seems a little quieter here than other years – perhaps because of the recession or perhaps not as many people arrived for opening night as it was an animated film rather than a serious artsy film.
Anyway – I’m off to get something to eat and think about tonight’s activities. First stop is a Variety and Europacar event to Honor Billion Dollar Producers at Terrazzo Martini. Not sure what that is or means but will let you know tomorrow. Then perhaps on to the VIP Room where Bob Sinclair is performing later.
More tomorrow
XoXo
The Queen Bee
The Cannes Film Festival kicked off yesterday in the glorious Riviera sunshine and the place was swarming once again with delegates, producers, press and tourists – all trying desperately to pretend they are more important than most of them really are. The majority of people also seemed to by carrying huge balloons in red, blue, yellow and green to celebrate this year’s opening film – the Pixar 3-D animated film Up about an old man who decides to ‘move house’ - quite literally - with the help of 10,000 balloons. Haven’t had a chance to see it yet I’m afraid as for me the first day was spent running around like a mad thing cultivating 8 blisters on the soles of my feet, running from PR company to PR company in the usual battle to get signed up for interviews with ‘the talent’. 10% of the time it yields fruit but 90% of the time the blisters are the only thing to show for my effort. But that is Cannes and I must confess I love this annual trip regardless! Anyways – I have successfully lined up a number of interviews and later in the week will be speaking to Eric Cantona and Ken Loach amongst others so not too shabby! Yes it is hard on the old feet but it is worth it when you get to partake of the free booze on the beach which I was to enjoy later yesterday evening after getting all my preliminary errands out of the way.
PR Company DDA PR hosted a drinks reception on one of the beautiful private sections of the beach and long-lost pal from the US and I hot-footed it down there to get a good seat – giving the feet a necessary rest as by this time they were now numb with pain as I had switched to towering heels for a bit of evening glamour (and I am a shorty so it was very necessary). About seven glasses of rose later we knew the barman by name and he knew our orders equally well and we were mingling like pros with the rest of the guests. We spent part of the evening with the director and producer (they are also the screenwriters) of a one-day-hopefully-to-be-released British film – the name of which I can’t print as it is a profanity beginning in F and ending in K with a U and a C in between. We saw a fast-paced intriguing promo trailer which the guys had with them and it looks really cool from what I could see. Bit of a Guy Ritchie influence to it (as in Snatch and Lock Stock – not the other dreadful stuff) I thought but the writers didn’t agree. It’s one to look out for if they get a distributor and it’s about the music industry. Will find out more about and give the low down at a later date.
So today has been taken up so far with my first screening and press conference of the festival. Caught a wonderful British film from Red Road director Andrea Arnold – one of the few female directors in this year’s festival. The film stars Michael Fassbender who played Bobby Sands in last year’s Hunger and newcomer Katie Jarvis who landed the role when casting directors stumbled across her in a train station in Essex having a barney with her boyfriend across the station platform. The film is about a teenage hip-hop dancer who develops a crush on her mum’s new boyfriend (played by Fassbender). Really enjoyed the film and it was all the more enjoyable for the fact than Fassbender is shirtless in a number of scenes. The film is interesting, without getting all ‘film criticy’ in that it is very much filmed from the perspective of a woman with a mainly female cast so the women aren’t objectified but interestingly the lead male character is in a way. A switch from most Hollywood films.
So that’s the excitement so far – no celebrity spottings as yet but I think that will all change soon with the first of the big parties. It seems a little quieter here than other years – perhaps because of the recession or perhaps not as many people arrived for opening night as it was an animated film rather than a serious artsy film.
Anyway – I’m off to get something to eat and think about tonight’s activities. First stop is a Variety and Europacar event to Honor Billion Dollar Producers at Terrazzo Martini. Not sure what that is or means but will let you know tomorrow. Then perhaps on to the VIP Room where Bob Sinclair is performing later.
More tomorrow
XoXo
The Queen Bee
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