The Hollywood Reporter has just published a semi dubious piece about what films might play at Cannes Film Festival this year (which runs May 13-24). Most of it is speculation, frankly. It basically breaks down into a) what they’ve already heard rumblings about/what seems poised to appear and b) guess work that any of us could do, c) something in the middle that sounds like “maybe” with not enough info behind it to be 100% legit, but is more than just a guess. Let’s break it down.
Poised To Play At Cannnes/Probably/Likely:
– Johnnie To’s thriller “Vengeance,” which stars veteran singer/actor Johnny Hallyday as a hit man in Hong Kong.
– Belgian director Jaco van Dormael’s sci-fi fantasy “Mr. Nobody” starring Jared Leto, Diane Kruger, Sarah Polley and Rhys Ifans,
– French environmental campaigner and broadcaster Nicolas Hulot’s documentary “The Titanic Syndrome”
– Jan Kounen’s “Coco and Igor” and starring Anna Mouglalis
– Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds”
– Lars Von Trier’s “Antichrist” starring Willem Defoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg
– Fatih Akin’s “Soul Kitchen” starring Moritz Bleibtreu and Birol Unel (“Head On”)
Total[ Educated-Guess] Speculation:
– Jim Jarmusch’s “The Limits Of Control“
– McG’s “Terminator Salvation”
– Jane Campion’s “Bright Star,” about the poet John Keats starring Ben Whishaw (“I’m Not There”)
– Francis Ford Coppola’s “Tetro,” about an Italian immigrant family starring Vincent Gallo
– The omnibus drama, “New York, I Love You” with shorts directed by Bret Ratner, Scarlett Johansson and Natalie Portman
Maybe
– “Coco Before Chanel” which stars Audrey Tautou
– Ken Loach’s “Looking for Eric,” about French soccer legend Eric Cantona
– Pedro Almodovar’s “Abrazos Rotos” (Broken Embraces) starring Penelope Cruz
– New French films from Xavier Giannoli, Christophe Honore, Bruno Dumont, Marina de Van, Gaspar Noe and Alain Cornea
To that we’ll add, late last year, it was rumored that both Drew Barrymore’s roller-rink teen dramedy “Whip It” starring Ellen Page and Terrence Malick’s “The Tree of Life” with Brad Pitt and Sean Penn would play at Cannes. If Tarantino does complete ‘Basterds’ in time he should remember his new nemesis, Isabelle Huppert, is this year’s Cannes Jury head. We’ve covered many of these films in our Most Anticipated Films 0f 2009 list which features over 70 films, so if you want to know more, chances are there’s something there.
