When Stella Artois invited us along to the 64th International Cannes Film Festival, I was obviously rather excited but had I known all of the amazing things that I’d get to do and see while I was there, I think ‘excited’ would be somewhat of an understatement. We were invited as part of the Jacques d’Azur short film where Stella have created a fictional character to become the ‘King of Cannes’. Jacques is famous for being the man that all woman want to be with and who all men want to be. Throughout the process which has now been going on for a few months, they have picked a member of the public through an audition process to become Jacques and the movie which has now been filmed will be premiering at Cannes this coming weekend.
To coincide with the project, Stella constructed Jacques d’Azur’s house on the beach opposite the Carlton Hotel which was the base for our stay in the beautiful French Riviera. I had no idea what to expect when we arrived at the resort. I’d seen photos obviously of the famous Palais red carpet steps and the Carlton Hotel which was always the centrepiece for advertising but seeing it in person was a whole different matter. Arriving at the hotel surrounded by top of the range Mercede, Ferrari, Bentley, Rolls Royce, Maybach, Lamborghini etc etc etc was rather surreal but something that we’d soon get used to as pretty much every car which drove past was on of the above apart from the official Renault’s employed for the event which were some new type of electric model.
Pretty much as soon as we arrived, we were given a Stella (of course!) and a rather fancy buffet lunch and it wasnt long before we noticed that our table was overlooking another occupied by Rob Lowe. This would be the beginning of our celebrity spotting for the next few days. It wasn’t long before we had to get ready to head off to our first premiere which was French movie, Polisse (in competition) which deals with the rather difficult subject looking at the French Child Protection Unit. Craig is currently writing his review as I type so you’ll be able to check that out in due course.
Before heading off to the premiere, we were invited back down to Jacques house on the beach dressed in our finest before heading off and also to be told that a certain a-lister would be coming down to get a perfectly poured Stella! That a-lister has the name Robert De Niro! We were told not to take any photos of the legendary actor but I completely flouted that rule and took this rather rubbish photo from 10 feet away but at least it proves I have been in the same room as the man! What a legend!
Unfortunately we were a little too late to walk the red carpet before the premiere but going into the Palais was spectacular. The cinema is simply amazing with state of the art sound and the screen is a monster. Looking up the stats, it only holds 820 people but I think that’s because the seats in there are pretty much the biggest and most comfortable I’ve ever sat in at a cinema! Seats are always very important to me! Gotta be comfy! That evening, we then went back to Chez Jacques for the the Little White Lies party where loads of UK people were hanging out and it was great to meet new people and get to know some of those that I’ve met before even better. It’s all about the networking!
The following day I think the main topic of the day was food. I don’t think an hour went past where we didn’t get to eat some spectacular meal! I love the branded puddings! Following an amazing breakfast, Craig and I went along to our second screening for an Israeli movie called, Hearat Shulayim which is also in competition to win the Palme d’Or. It tells the story of an Israeli scholar who has spent 30 years studying the Talmud who’s life isn’t going quite to plan while his son who is in the same line of work is doing rather better and the rivalry between them. Again, Craig will be providing a review of this one for your viewing pleasure. I found it rather intriguing and did enjoy it although found it a little slow in places. He’ll go into far more depth than that (hopefully!).
The highlight of the weekend however probably has to fall to the Saturday night when we attended the Kanye West private party hosted by Red Granite Pictures on the Stella beach location. Along with the members of our party, those in attendance included Jamie Foxx, Leonardo DiCaprio, John Hamm, Bradley Cooper, Fisher Stevens and Rosario Dawson. You may have already read my post on the evening but if not, you can find out much more about it here along with watching the video of the moment when Jamie Foxx jumped on stage to perform Gold Digger with Kanye West! It was rather awesome and is an evening I will never forget!
I always say on these press trips that although the experience is wonderful, the best part for me is meeting new people who love what they do as much as I do. I was really only there for one full day but in that time I met so many amazing people. I just thought I’d give them a big-up here so that you can get following them on twitter if you’re not already. Lu (Whos Jack Magazine), Laura (Whos Jack Magazine) Michael (Asylum) Ann, Ed (freelance photographer), Ed (MSN Movies), Lucy (MSN Celeb), Sarah (MovieFone). They’re all top chaps so make sure you check out their publications and follow them on twitter. You can see the entire motley crew in this photo here.
Our trip to Cannes was fantastic but far too short and we’re already planning next year so that we can be there for the entire two week period as being back in the UK and watching all the tweets from Cannes is far too difficult! Thanks to much to Stella Artois for sending us over and keep your eyes peeled on HeyUGuys for more from Jaques d’Azur over the next few days and when the movie premieres at the festival on Saturday.
