Day 8: And God Created Scarlett Johansson

“In Cannes, you have to talk to everyone! This is the golden rule on the Croisette during the festival period. Journalists, advertisers, agents and up-and-coming actors exchange professional numbers and e-mails hoping to find “useful” people, as Camille, public relations officer for the written press, explains. For six months, far from her native Brittany, she has been trying to create a network to impress her boss, a “real French-style Miranda Priestley” says the young woman while rummaging through a luxury bag that cost her two months of salary. But do we really talk to everyone during this festival? For two days, Alina, a homeless woman, has been hanging out not far from the park of the Palais des Festivals. Talkative and friendly, she greets passers-by who don’t even glance at her. Even under the sweltering sun of the Côte d’Azur, the coldness of some is felt…

The invisible
“Normally, I sleep next to the palace at night, which has been impossible for me for 10 days”, explains the one that no one would want to see near the security perimeter. Homeless people scatter in Cannes during the festival period, the police direct them indirectly towards the less frequented streets. We hide them but they are there. If the films presented in official competition often recount the atrocities and the unsaid of our societies, the tragic destinies are not only on the big screen during this fortnight… “You are the first person to say thank you to me, so thank you. In another register, Maria*, cleaning lady at the Martinez hotel, works hard to be able to provide for her needs with dignity. “No one ever spoke to me except to ask me the direction to the exit. If, once, a great blonde actress, I no longer have her name… In short, she told me that I had a beautiful smile! “says the forty-year-old forced to take two buses to be able to come to work. Cannes are also small hands that make life so comfortable for the powerful. Who ignores them royally. To then tell their stories in the cinema… Logical!

Actor Adrian Brody and his partner designer Georgina Chapman. A couple that makes people talk… Photo Loic VENANCE / AFP

Eva, anything but a diva

Far from the stories of Mr. and Mrs. Everybody, at noon, the press is invited for a question-and-answer session with the team of The Idol, a series produced by HBO and whose first two episodes were screened the day before. at the end of the evening after a climb of the noisiest steps. The Weeknd, discreet singer with decent acting, joins the room with apprehension while his acting sidekick, Lily-Rose Depp, lands sunglasses on his nose. By removing them, one can only notice the disturbing resemblance to his mother, Vanessa Paradis. After about thirty minutes, a handful of journalists slip away discreetly, unimpressed by a series that has been violently criticized by critics for almost 24 hours… A few meters away, the stakes seem less for the organizers of the new panel of Women in motion from Kering. On the menu, Eva Longoria discusses the role of women and minorities in front of and behind the camera. The mythical desperate housewife is a great regular at the festival where she comes every year as a muse for L’Oréal. Arriving against a background of crackling flashes, the actress-turned-director settles into this suite facing the sea.

Eva Longoria for Women in Motion. Picture KR

A committed Hollywood figure, she denounces the lack of representation of people from marginalized communities and the prejudices against women directors. “If a woman’s film fails, we won’t give it a second chance. If a white man sinks a feature film at 200 million dollars, he will have a second one, ”she explains in front of the 30 journalists who cash. A possible return of Desperate Housewives? The question burns everyone’s lips. “We couldn’t do the same things again in the current climate,” she replies, returning at length to the role that changed her life…

Crazy red carpet
A few hours later, we find Eva Longoria at the bottom of the steps for her very first climb. On the program of the day, Hollywood as it no longer exists. “I literally camped out for this! enthuses Samantha, an absolute fan of Tom Hanks. Coming to present Asteroid City by Wes Anderson, the latter made up for his delay by heading towards a delirious fan zone before appearing visibly very irritated, pointing the finger at a member of the festival staff. A lively moment of tension that will quickly be shared in the media and on social networks, this gentleman still has 2 Oscars.

Tom Hanks, visibly very upset when he arrived on the red carpet. Photo Antonin THUILLIER/ AFP

In the aftermath, Scarlett Johansson, as renowned for her class as for her sponsor, arrives after 18 years of absence, sublimated in a candy pink Prada dress, a nod to another actress from the film who is missing, Margot Robbie, who will play Barbie this summer on the big screen… If the latter seems busy, Adrian Brody never fails to make people talk about him. In a relationship with Georgina Chapman for several months, the ex-wife of fallen producer Harvey Weinstein… Escándalo! The press loves it, the public wonders. A trifle can become a controversy on this red carpet which awaits a Tilda Swinton who will not come and who is finally satisfied, not without pleasure, with the presence of Steve Carell. “Not very glam, him! retorts Martine who still cannot recover from having been able to photograph a Scarlett Johansson revealing an impressive tattoo on her back and who, the same evening, will appear on the arm of her husband, comedian Colin Jost, dressed in a dress short lime green, widely commented on and criticized by English-speaking fashion journalists who do not understand this lack of taste and this (tragic!) reversal of the situation… They will get over it.

The sublime actress Scarlett Johansson arriving at the screening of “Asteroid City”. Photo Patricia DE MELO MOREIRA / AFP

*Name has been changed