Archive: May 20, 2007 - May 26, 2007
Michael Moore Has Got to Go
You know who else works their more slim bums off at Cannes? The publicists. God bless 'em. The press like to whine like babies with an empty bottle, but it's a hard job, wrangling directors, actors, and journalists -- when you have them all in the same space for...
By Bill Booth | May 25, 2007; 11:46 AM ET | Comments (4)
Hardest Working Press in the World Wearing Shorts.
Let's hear it for the international entertainment press corps, the hardest working professionals at Cannes (seriously), all that writing and blogging and videotaping and interviewing and crashing the buffet line. I mean, you have wine with lunch and try to work. Harder than it looks. Seriously, the Washington press...
By Bill Booth | May 25, 2007; 11:00 AM ET | Email a Comment
Paul Wolfowitz and Anna Nicole Smith
As news of the Wolfowitz departure from the World Bank swept through the press center at the Cannes Film Festival... Just kidding. Martians could could abduct Hillary and we wouldn't hear about it unless Michael Moore was helming. We get our news from Variety and the Hollywood Reporter and Cannes...
By Bill Booth | May 25, 2007; 7:24 AM ET | Email a Comment
Marjane Satrapi and 'Persepolis'
Marjane Satrapi plops down at a table and reaches for a slice of bread. "I'm starving!" She's the author of the graphic novels, beginning with "Persepolis," which have sold more than a million copies around the world. The cartoon illustrations -- in stark black and white -- tell the story...
By Bill Booth | May 24, 2007; 1:17 PM ET | Comments (1)
Clooney. Pitt. Damon. 'Ocean's Thirteen' Ahoy
The "Ocean's Thirteen" battleship USS International Publicity pulled into Cannes harbor this morning. After the morning press screening, the hallway critic's Insta-Buzz (copyright pending) seemed to be that the latest installment was better than the second one and not as fresh as the first. In "O13," George Clooney, Brad Pitt...
By Bill Booth | May 24, 2007; 10:43 AM ET | Comments (2)
Critics Rave: It's an Ontological Roller Coaster Ride!
"Maloin lives a simple life," begins the film synopsis. "He comes face to face with issues of morality, sin, punishment, the line between innocence and complicity in a crime, and this state of scepsis leads him to the ontological question of the meaning and worth of existence." Wait, this isn't...
By Bill Booth | May 23, 2007; 10:49 AM ET | Email a Comment
Ari, Vince, Drama, Turtle and E.
The boys from "Entourage" arrived at Cannes to film scenes for an upcoming episode about Vince and the crew coming to Cannes. HBO rolled them out of bed for a photo call and a press conference at the Hotel Majestic. The emcee introduced us to Jeremy Piven, which he pronounced...
By Bill Booth | May 23, 2007; 7:11 AM ET | Email a Comment
Fan Mail!
Got a lot of emails from readers about the piece on Michael Moore's new documentary "Sicko." A couple of favorites... Bill Booth, you ignorant, slimy, redneck (expletive). How dare you doubt that Michael Moore is telling the truth about American health care being a sick joke. Why you are so...
By Bill Booth | May 23, 2007; 7:02 AM ET | Comments (1)
Dear Expense Account People
Hopped on the press van for the tootle out to the Hotel du Cap for a mini-press conference with Angelina Jolie. After our audience with Madame Jolie, one of my colleagues, the sophisticated Paris-based European Arts & Entertainment Correspondent for Newsweek, Dana Thomas, whispered in my ear: "Are you crazy?...
By Bill Booth | May 22, 2007; 12:51 PM ET | Comments (3)
Angelina Jolie. Daniel Pearl. Mighty Hearts.
Going to interview Angelina Jolie and director Micheal Winterbottom tomorrow, but saw today their film "A Mighty Heart," about the kidnapping and death of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002. The film is told from the perspective of Mariane Pearl, Danny's wife, and it is a...
By Bill Booth | May 21, 2007; 1:47 PM ET | Comments (3)
The Director's Cut.
After we got our 11 minutes with Javier and Josh, the Coen brothers plopped down at our table. Joel is the tall one, in darker sunglasses, with better teeth. Ethan talks more and makes eye contact. They said they were drawn to "No Country for Old Men" because the story...
By Bill Booth | May 21, 2007; 1:36 PM ET | Comments (1)
Javier Bardem. Psycho. Lover.
Sat down over a plate of green beans by the sea with Spanish actor Javier Bardem, who plays a psycho killer with a page boy hair cut in the Coen Brothes' new film, "No Country for Old Men," which is based faithfully on the Cormac McCarthy novel about a drug...
By Bill Booth | May 21, 2007; 12:44 PM ET | Email a Comment
