CANNES -- Raoul Ruiz's "Trois Vies et Une Seule Mort" ("Three
Lives, One
Death") unites for the first time Italian icon Marcello Mastroianni and
Chiara, his daughter by Catherine Deneuve. And for the first time, the two of
them did the round of print- radio- and tv-interviews in joint appearances.
Amazing how Chiara, who is the spitting image of her father, suddenly -- and
subtly -- became her mother's daughter: different hairdo, different color.
Asked whether she was afraid, or impressed, to play opposite her famous
father (as she had done with her no-less-famous mother), Chiara replied.
"Impressed, yes. Always. Afraid, no. You see, I didn't have to meet my new
partner; I'd known him for quite a while."
Looking like the proud papa that he is, Marcello Mastroianni gleefully threw
a dart at American actors who, from one interview to the other, go on about
"how they suffer for their art."
"What's there to suffer about? They pick you up in a limo, take you to the
set, you wait in a mile-long trailer, you mug for a second or two in front of
a camera -- lucky if you so much as open a door -- then you're limoed back to
your hotel, and at the end of the week they pay you a ridiculous amount of
money. Tough, ain't it?"
Isn't that what Robert Mitchum used to say -- and nobody believed him?
----------------------------------------
"Heard anything yet?"
The Croisette is abuzz with the wildest rumors, as everyone is playing the
Winners Game. The consensus is that Mike Leigh's "Secrets and Lies" and Lars
von Trier's "Breaking the Waves" will get the two top prizes, though no one
knows in which order.
Best Actor? Not a huge choice. Maybe James Spader in "Crash", but he already
got it for "sex, lies and videotapes". Maybe Harry Belafonte in "Kansas
City", but he's more, like, supporting. More probably Daniel Auteuil (who has
two films in competition displaying quite a range), with or without his
"Eighth Day" partner, Pascal Duquenne.
As far as Best Actress is concerned, there are too many strong contenders.
Frances McDormand as the pregnant cop in Joel Coen's "Fargo"? Emily Watson in
"Breaking The Waves"? Chinese superstar Gong Li in Chen Kaige's "Temptress
Moon"? Jennifer Jason Leigh and/or Miranda Richardson? Deneuve in "Les
Voleurs"?
More importantly, will David Cronenberg's "Crash" go back to Canada
empty-handed?
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