Hobbies and interests.
Day three
Thursday May 16
Thursday came upon us much faster then we hoped it would. We weren't suffering from hangovers... just a lack of sleep. We hurriedly got dressed and left the house at 8:10. The screening which we were to see was at 8:30, so we were in dire need of either a bus or taxi. Buses were not visible. I believe it had something to do with a holiday, and so we desperately walked as quickly as our blistered feet would allow us. If it were not for a cab which I was able to snag at a light, we would not have made the start of the film. As we were driving toward the theater, the driver asked us if we had the phone number for the cabs. This is something else a bit different in Cannes; you don't hail a taxi so much as telephone call it and it will arrive wherever you are. All the taxis were Mercedes complete with a cellular phone. The French certainly know how to do something in style.
The Palais. The enormous complex of movie
theaters where so many films play during the Festival.
(I'm the strange guy in the middle)
We arrived at the theater, said thank you to our driver, and then sat down to what was an abominable film. We, and some Japanese buyers, were the only people in the theater, so I wasn't able to see what other opinions of this film were. After the film, we rushed toward what our main goal was... The Moving Pictures party tickets. We arrived at the Noga Hilton and after showing our badges got to the elevator leading to the negative floors. Once on the lower level, we joined a mass of people working there way to the Moving Pictures door.
Inside the office, I saw Julie again. She was not appearing very happy with all the people thronging around her. I had yet to see what the elusive Henry looked like and I hated having to ask her. Then I heard someone say something to someone else and use the name Henry. I had spotted my quarry. A line of people stood in front of me all vying for a moment with a man who held a laptop computer, a cellular phone and a look like he was trying to get out. He seemed nice enough as he listened to people. I nervously waited and finally got to him.
"I see we're holding the court of Henry here"
I said, hoping to sound light about the whole thing.
He smiled and I continued.
"I'm going to ask you the same thing that everyone else is asking...
I have a feature in the market... my first... and Curb entertainment,
my distributor turned me on to this party... It would mean a lot to me
if you could somehow give me a ticket."
Henry listened intently yet with the urgency of four other things going on.
"Oh you know Carole then? he asked, referring to the president of Curb Entertainment.
"Yeah."
"Are you going to be seeing her by any chance before the party?"
"Yeah, actually I'm supposed to have lunch with her later today" I replied.
"Well, I haven't gotten her tickets to her yet. If you could do that..."
"Sure that would be no problem" I said, holding back the stammer as best as possible.
"Yeah" he continued. "As you can see I'm pretty crazy right now. If you could get tickets to her and, I could just give them to you now, along with yours... Let me call her"
Did he say along with mine??? I'm getting a ticket... I'm getting a ticket, I thought to myself... Holy shit...
He dialed up a number to the Carlton to talk to Carole.
Of course, I had never spoken to her about this party, I had heard about it from a photographer, so I was hoping that she wouldn't say "What do you mean we turned him on to this party"?
"Hi Carole, It's Henry from Moving Pictures. I have Stefan (looking at my badge) Avalos... yeah... he's going to drop off your tickets, okay? I gave him one for himself and his friend.... okay... bye...
He hung up and said "I really appreciate you doing this"
I shook his hand firmly and replied " Henry... you just made my week. Thanks"
He smiled and gave me four tickets. Three for the company and one for myself and a guest.
In addition to the ticket, we needed a pin to get into the party. These secured, we headed up the elevator and then finally out of the Noga.
Once outside, I danced around like an idiot for a brief moment, and then we calmly started our walk to the Carlton.
At the Carlton, we climbed the steps instead of taking an elevator, to Curb entertainment's suite. We walked in and I handed the tickets to Carol... "Personal delivery for Carol" I said jokingly.
She smiled and expressed her appreciation for our personal delivery. Then asked if we were still on for later.
"yup"
We left and headed back downstairs. At the stairs, we slowed because of a crowd of reporters swarming somebody at the bottom. We waited patiently and finally saw that it was James Spader. The movie, Crash, Which he stars in, was making quite a stir at the festival... so, where he went, the reporters went. They all soon headed for the Elevators and we headed our way for the glass doors at the far end of the huge foyer.
Later that day, we met with Carol again and had a chance to sit down with her and talk about the film currently in the market as well as a new project that I have been working on. I pitched her briefly and she read the synopsis. She said she wanted to see the script and asked the budget.
All in all, our meeting with her was brief but what I was hoping for. Before we left, Marianne asked her what is worn to these parties. Carol told us that what we were wearing was fine. With that we left.
THE NIGHT OF THE PARTY
We went home and took a much needed nap. The party started
at 10:00 so we figured on sleeping till about 9:00, then walking to Cannes
and catching the special buses that were going to the party.
9:00 came and went and finally, about 9:45 or so, we left the house. We
started walking quickly but then heard a horn honking repeatedly. We turned
around to see Laurent, the son of the woman we were staying with, waving
from a tiny car, stopped at a light. The car scooted through the light
when it turned green and stopped next to us.
"Do you need a ride?" Laurent asked.
We hopped in and took off.. Laurent, a hip 22 year old who has lived in Cannes all his life asked us where the party was. We showed him the ticket and he told us that this was quite a distance from Cannes... but that they would drive us there. This was indeed a stroke of luck. Actually, it wasn't. Laurent had searched us out in the hopes of finding a good party for the evening. He asked us if we had any extra tickets, but didn't seem too concerned when we didn't have any.
The techno music pulsed in the car as we raced toward the party. It was about a fifteen minute or so ride along an ocean drive before we started seeing signs of the party. In the sky we could see searchlights. I started getting excited. We went over a hill and we saw where the party was.
Growing up in the United States, you don't generally see castles except in the movies. This was an honest to god castle. Not the kind of thing you see in Disney world, but the kind of thing you see in swashbuckling movies.... A big, stone, immense... castle. Out of it, stabbing everywhere in the sky, were the searchlights we had seen before. The police were barricading the area so that people couldn't get near with cars, etc. We showed the ticket and were allowed to get a little closer. Finally we had to stop and walk the rest of the way. Laurent said he was going to try to get into the party and then cheerfully waved goodbye.
We walked toward the castle and got into the line of people that stretched from the door and into the street. After waiting about 15 minutes, we found ourselves at the entrance and finally walking into the enormous courtyard that was surrounded by huge walls; Walls meant to keep enemies out... or uninvited party guests. A reggae band played in one area of the courtyard and about 500 people surrounded that area, dancing madly. We worked our way through the party and into a Great Hall. A long bar was set up, and that became our goal. As we had found out, drinks in Cannes were outrageously expensive. Here they were free, so everybody was making sure that they weren't going to leave this party without having taken advantage of that fact.
We walked around the castle, trying to see as much of it as possible. This didn't happen because of it's size. However, we did find the turrets. When we got tired of the noise generated by the band, or the disco, or the people walking around, that's where went. The turrets are a treacherous climb, however once you have made it, it is an amazing experience. From the top of these, you could look around and see that the castle was right against the Sea. In the port were all kinds of sailing vessels, from small boats to the large super-yachts. Turning around 180 degrees, you would see the walls of the castle and the beams of light shooting into the sky from the spotlights. Beyond that, the hills and mountains of Cannes and the surrounding area, with the lights of the towns doing there wonder. And above, stars... Generally there would be about six people relaxing at the top of these towers at any given time. These, along with the walkways along the edges of the castle, were the places to meet people. One of the comments that was made, and one I will remember, was "What does it feel like to know that right now, you are at the most incredible party in the world?"
All in all, this was indeed the most incredible party I have ever been to...bigger... the setting more extravagant... the people, truly international...
Probably the most foreign element of the party though, was the proliferation of press; complete with video cameras and lights. It is a strange realization, that the press can go anywhere in these situations and that they are what makes Cannes and the rest of the movie business seem so glamorous. They are also what makes a party like this seem, not quite right...
Around 4:00 AM, the party started winding down. People who had hooked up with other people walked in the gardens toward various entrances and the last of the Stoli Vodka Bar (a bar which served nothing but chilled vodka) was being cleaned out. I walked around taking in the grandeur of the castle a last time, and bumped into Laurent... a very drunk Laurent.
"A... you made it" I exclaimed as we hugged.
"Yes yes, it was easy. A man collecting tickets at the door was selling
them at another door."
I got a laugh out of that. After a moment or so of talking, we split up;
Laurent, to try to hook up with a woman, and Marianne and I, to find how
to get home.
The Trip Home After The Party
Buses were supposedly coming to get people back to Cannes, but I saw no sign of them. We started getting concerned as we headed out to a road. Between the two of us we had 20 francs. Not enough for a taxi ride. At the Bus stop we saw a group of about seven people also waiting for something. It turned out to be a bunch of very drunk Croatians who had somehow latched on to a Croatian distributor. He asked us how much money we had and between four of us we came up with 60 francs. We hailed a taxi and crammed into it, leaving four or so people at the stop, too fend for themselves. The ride back to Cannes was comic, as I alternated between watching the street and listening to the Croatian distributor gripe about movies.
"Ve doo da beeg moovies, baht I wahnt to allzo du da prasteege feelms... da beeg moovies lihke Die Hard and de owthers... foock dem... day are sheeet."
The road moved under us at 75 miles per hour.
He asked what film I did and when I told him, The Game, his eyes lit up.
"Oh yess... weth Micheal Duuglees?
I had to explain to him that my film was a different, smaller film than the Michael Douglas film, and that mine had been made two years before his.
This was the third time I heard about this Michael Douglas movie, so I am curious about it. Before Cannes, I hadn't heard of this other "Game" movie.
Finally we arrived back at the Croisette. We bid farewell to our Croatian friend and started a hellish walk back to LeCannet. The walk went on and on until I finally took my shoes off and gave them to Marianne, who took her high heels off. This is another memory I will have for a long time... walking through the streets of Cannes at Five in the morning in Dress socks... What a great way to end an amazing day.
Friday May 17
To be accurate, Friday started with us arriving at the house where we were staying, as the sun was turning the sky into a morning color. We decided not to do anything at Cannes that Day. We were supposed to go to an art show in St. Paul later in the day and we needed some sleep. Besides, we had "kicked ass" at the party. We had made a couple connections.
At about 2:00 Pm we woke and quickly dressed and RAN for the train station. We scored a taxi and made it to the station, bought tickets and hopped a train to Nice with a cozy 3 minutes to spare. I think the train was pleasant... I don't remember too much of it... I think I was asleep. 45 minutes later we were picked up at a station by Marianne's friend Kali (the woman who made our stay in Cannes possible) and then we were off to St. Paul.
I won't go into this day too much because it is not really Cannes Film Festival related. However, I will say that I think that anyone who goes to the South of France should go to this most amazingly beautiful town. It is perched on a mountain, surrounded by a wall. It can never be expanded because there is nowhere to go. All the buildings in this town date back to the 14th century. The streets are alleys, approximately 15 feet wide or less. It is a magical town, impossible to describe briefly. The art show was in a church. The music was a kind of techno chant; the art, very modern. It was an interesting mix of old and new.
St. Paul- An ancient town in the mountains. (the
tower
in the center of the town is the tower mentioned below)
The one thing that I will mention is that toward sunset, I walked out of the church and looked up at the tower, and saw something I have never seen. The sky, as the sun was setting, had changed colors (as all skies do) however... it had changed to a color that I have never seen before. I can't describe the color except that it reminded me of the Pantone blue used for Chroma key. With the bell tower in front of this, I felt very much like I was looking at a composite shot. It lasted for about two minutes before the colors returned to colors I had seen before. This was indeed a magical town. We ate dinner in a restaurant that felt as if it were a watercolor painting and eventually worked our way back to Cannes.
Fountain in the middle of St. Paul (notice how
the "streets" are mere alleys. This is what the
majority of the village is like.