Here's Murtada speculating about which lovely ladies might appear at the Cannes Film Festival.
There is one thing that is certain to happen at Cannes every May. Marion Cotillard appears on the famous steps, resplendent in Dior couture, to represent a film in competition. She knocks everyone's socks off with her performance, then invariably fails to win best actress from the jury. It happened with Rust and Bone (2012), The Immigrant (2013), Two Days One Night (2014) and Macbeth (2015). Is there a Cotillard/Cannes awards curse?
This year she will have two more chances to lose, and cement the legend of the curse...
Both Xavier Dolan’s It’s Only the End of the World and Nicole Garcia’s From the Land of the Moon (pictured above), are expected at the croisette. Lea Seydoux, Vincent Cassel and Gaspard Ulliel star in the former. Louis Garrel is in the latter, which was recently bought by Sundance Selects for US release. They’ve secured a best actress Oscar nomination the last couple of years (Cotillard and Charlotte Rampling). Could they make it three? That would make Cotillard the first actress to be nominated for three non-English speaking performances. That's more likely than a best actress win at Cannes!
Kristen Stewart also has possibly two films headed to Cannes. Already confirmed to open the festival out of competition is Woody Allen’s Cafe Society. The film, set in Hollywood during the 1930s, also stars Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively, Steve Carell and Parker Posey. Stewart is the headliner in Olivier Assayas’ drama about the Paris fashion world, Personal Shopper. Old Hollywood, Fashion, period costumes, Cannes- Stewart might be the actressexuals dream incarnate.
After winning the Cannes red carpet last year in that canary yellow Dior, Charlize Theron might shut down those steps again this year. She’s a director of an aid agency in Africa entangled with a doctor played by Javier Bardem in Sean Penn’s The Last Face which is heavily tipped for a competition slot.
Warren Beatty’s long gestating untitled Howard Hughes picture was recently acquired for distribution by Fox. Does that mean it will premiere at Cannes? We certainly hope so, if only to see Annette Bening make her Cannes debut. She skipped the festival when The Search premiered there in 2014. Alden Ehrenreich and Lily Collins are the leads but we will only have eyes for The Bening.
Other favorites who might be headed to Cannes include veterans Isabelle Huppert (Elle), and Juliette Binoche (Slack Bay), and newcomers Ruth Negga (Loving), Elle Fanning (The Neon Demon) and 2-time Cesar winner Adele Haenel (The Unknown Girl directed by Cannes favorites Jean Pierre and Luc Dardenne).
Finally, 90s pop culture nostalgia might get a moment at Cannes 2016. Two of the biggest stars of that era, Jodie Foster and Julia Roberts, will walk the same red carpet on May 12th. Foster directed and Roberts stars in Money Monster, which is confirmed to premiere out of competition, in the same week it hits theaters in the US. That might become the photo op of the festival, specially with George Clooney in the middle. It will be hard to top this moment from last year but Julia, Jodie, George we implore you to try!
Which films would you like to see make this year's festival? And who would you like to see join George Miller in the jury?