Long queues formed outside the Palais des Festivals this afternoon in Cannes as attendees mobbed the building waiting to pick up their credentials. Marilyn Monroe presided over the scene; the now familiar image of the legendary actress blowing out a candle is this year’s official image/poster of the 65th Festival de Cannes, which kicks off tomorrow evening with the debut of Wes Anderson’s Moonrise Kingdom , the first of 12 nights of red carpet premieres. While Marilyn adorned the facade of the Palais, the hive of festival activity, a quick stroll down the seaside Blvd de la Croisette revealed a tiny surprise at least perhaps for those who return year after year. There are surprisingly little in the way of gaudy movie ads covering some of Cannes’ beachfront hotels, usually a festival staple. Even the historic Carlton Hotel at the center of the Croisette, which is usually peddling any and all so-called movies from anything playing in the Official Selection to the Cannes Market or — hey, even if it’s not in Cannes, who cares — would cover its ornate facade. But unless crews are simply behind in their schedule, the hotel was surprisingly free of its usual tacky ads. What happened? True, the economy is flat in France and with today’s inauguration of the country’s first socialist president this century, speculation has arisen in Europe whether Germany and their Gaullist partners will be able to maintain a united front for austerity. And of course, the political crisis in Greece has meant a steady decline in the Euro. Perhaps not great for Europe, but a small windfall for hordes of Americans attending the festival. But this is Cannes and the marina is still packed with zillion dollar yachts and the cafés are still jammed with people buying over-priced fare. But perhaps there has been some shift. Deadline reported that studios are cutting back on galas, preferring cheaper regional fetes to the estimated $1.5M to $3M price tags that Cannes can command. So, maybe those normally ubiquitous treats featuring the latest project starring Paris Hilton or Jean-Claude Van Damme or whoever will be less of a visual assault this year. Still, the Carlton is not ads-free. The ever-ubiquitous dictator himself, Sacha Baron Cohen , greets guests with his military finest. Tom Cruise ‘s mug adorns the hotel’s outdoor café for his December thriller One Shot , directed by Christopher McQuarrie (incidentally, he is also the writer for Top Gun 2 ) and Spidey, as in The Amazing Spider-Man , sits squarely near the hotel’s roof. Of course, it’s not just the Carlton that cashes in on their prime location blaring out their sponsors’ wares for top doll– err, euro. Brian De Palma’s Passion received some recent press after an image of stars Rachel McAdams and Noomi Rapace moving in for a smooch hit the internet. Their sexy rendezvous covers two floors of a nondescript Croisette building, while Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained reigns over a prominent spot very close to the Palais in front of the chic Majestic Hotel. A quick scan at the credits confirms that Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel L. Jackson are in fact still starring in the film… Stay tuned for more reports from the Cannes Film Festival. Follow Brian Brooks on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
The Film : Being John Malkovich (1999), available today on Blu-ray and DVD via The Criterion Collection Why It’s an Inessential Essential : It’s strange to think that a film with John Malkovich’s name in its title isn’t really considered to be “a John Malkovich movie.” Instead, Being John Malkovich is understandably normally associated with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman and director Spike Jonze, both of whom really broke out thanks to BJM ’s success. While Jonze reveals on The Criterion Collection’s new audio commentary track that he and Kaufman were dead-set on getting Malkovich for the film, Being John Malkovich could really be about any celebrity. At the same time, that’s one of the many things that’s funny about Being John Malkovich : It’s a metaphysical black comedy about what people projecting things onto celebrities that don’t necessarily have anything to do with those celebrities. Malkovich just happens to be the guy whose mind Schwartz (John Cusack) and his vampish colleague Maxine (Catherine Keener) invade after they inadvertently discover a miniature portal into his head, and so his comic performance is consequently often overlooked in discussions of the film. He’s the biggest butt of Kaufman and Jonze’s jokes (I love when Maxine casually insults him by saying that he has a “too-prominent brow”), but he also reaffirms his fantastic comic timing, as when he cops a feel after ineffectually cooing to Maxine, “Shall we away to the boudoir?” Malkovich also demonstrates a deceptively subtle knack for physical comedy, like when he gives a buffoonishly perplexed look after being told by a date that he’s “creepy.” In a moment’s time, he scratches his head and tucks his lower lip beneath his teeth. It’s pretty hilarious because it’s done with such sly conviction. How the DVD Makes the Case for the Film : Criterion includes a number of great little behind-the-scenes on its new two-disc DVD set. In an interview with comedian John Hodgman, Malkovich reveals that when he was first given the script, “I saw the title and didn’t really think much about it.” He then initially turned the project down at the behest of his producing partner Russ Smith, who wanted Kaufman and Jonze to make the film “about” someone other than Malkovich. Later, Malkovich was taken aside again by Francis Ford Coppola and introduced directly to Jonze, whom Coppola said “everyone would [eventually] be working for.” According to Malkovich, after he signed onto the project, Kaufman apparently cut “some of the worst jokes about me — meaning the most cruelest ones,” from the screenplay. “I like those jokes,” he tells Hodgman nonchalantly. “I think they’re really funny.” Ironically, while Malkovich says that the film, “isn’t at all about me, it’s about people’s perceptions of me,” he apparently suggested that Charlie Sheen play his character’s best friend in Being John Malkovich . (Kevin Bacon had apparently already turned down that role.) But Malkovich had never met Sheen until that point; he just “struck me as the kind of person I would go to in an existential crisis.” Other Interesting Trivia : There’s a really bizarre and hilariously unfocused audio commentary track on disc one, where Michel Gondry, who was originally supposed to direct the film (he would later work with Kaufman on Human Nature before their Oscar-winning collaboration Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ) talks about everything but the film. At one point, he calls Spike Jonze up and jokingly browbeats him to confess that he fell in love with Keener on set. This is after Gondry wonders aloud if the cameraman got a boner when filming a POV shot from Malkovich’s perspective while he has sex with Keener. Gondry dismisses the idea that Malkovich became aroused by Keener but still insists that the cameraman and the director must have gotten sprung. I wonder what Malkovich thinks… PREVIOUS INESSENTIAL ESSENTIALS The Last Temptation of Christ The Sitter Citizen Ruth The Broken Tower Dogville Night Call Nurses Strange Fruit: The Beatles’ Apple Records Jeremiah Johnson Simon Abrams is a NY-based freelance film critic whose work has been featured in outlets like The Village Voice, Time Out New York, Vulture and Esquire. Additionally, some people like his writing, which he collects at Extended Cut .
The children’s book creator inspired filmmakers and actors through his honesty and imagination. By Fallon Prinzivalli, with reporting by Ryan J. Downey Maurice Sendak and Spike Jonze Photo: Theo Wargo/ Getty Images Children’s book author and illustrator Maurice Sendak died Tuesday (May 8) as a result of complications from a stroke. He’s best-known for revolutionizing the children’s book genre with the surprising success of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Far from popular children’s fare like “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” or “Green Eggs and Ham,” the dark fantasy focused on Max, a rowdy boy in a wolf suit, and his adventures with the hairy beasts of his imagination. Sendak spread his influence from children’s books to the big screen when filmmaker Spike Jonze took on the ambitious project of turning “Wild Things” into a motion picture. Previously described as “unfilmable,” Jonze was sure to stay true to Sendak’s vision and yet bring his own ideas into the story and reflect how the book affected him. The author had much involvement in the project, acting as a producer and helping to steer Jonze in the right direction. “[Sendak] said from the beginning that you have to make it dangerous — make something that respects kids and doesn’t talk down to them, or if not, it wasn’t worth doing,” Jonze said in a featurette for the film. In an industry where beloved children’s films are routinely turned into money-making machines, Sendak focused on the children. His other credits include creating “Seven Little Monsters,” the children’s television series that followed monsters as they learned about life. He also acted as a co-creator and writer on the Nick Jr. hit show “Little Bear,” which follows a young bear and his adventures with his animal friends. But his classic story of Max and those monsters who “roared their terrible roars and gnashed their terrible teeth” spans its influence across generations, even inspiring the stars of “Where the Wild Things Are.” Lauren Ambrose, who voiced KW in the film, told MTV News, “I read the book as a kid; it was read to me. I read it to my kid now. One of my best friends from childhood has a giant tattoo of Max with a fork in his hand down her back. It was like a big, big deal, deeply embedded in our collective psyche. And also, on her back.” Forest Whitaker, who voices Ira in the film, echoed this sentiment, saying that he first read it as a kid and began to really appreciate the story as he got older, finally reading it to his own kids. He didn’t realize when he was younger that the popular book was made up of only nine sentences. “It’s weird, because I didn’t really count,” Whitaker laughed. “But I think, as a kid, I knew that the story was more in the pictures.” Following his adaptation of “Where the Wild Things Are,” Jonze co-directed the documentary “Tell Them Anything You Want: A Portrait of Maurice Sendak.” In a chat about that film — which includes intimate conversations with the author about his life — the director called Sendak an inspiration. “I find his imagination is certainly inspiring. I think that’s what really drew me to him,” Jonze explained. “But what I find deeply inspiring is his ferocious honesty and his fearlessness to be honest both as a person, as a friend and as a mentor in helping us make this movie. And the thing about him is, he has no ability of small talk or chitchat. He wants to engage in something real. He is who he is and he doesn’t have the energy to pretend to be someone else.”
You may not be able to watch the short film online anymore (Uh oh!), but you can watch this deliberately viral video promo of Jonze slapping Kanye in the face. Gotcha Media Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment
Spike Jonze directed this “short film” starring Kanye for “See You In My Knightmares.” If you're going to watch, you'll want to watch the end. Contribute: Add an image, link, video or comment
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