The annual guessing game about which movies will appear in the Cannes film festival Competition section received an unwelcome jolt yesterday, A false list, purporting to be the real thing, was “leaked” by the Blog du Festival de Cannes.
As post-April Fools Day jokes go, it was très méchant, serving no one’s interests.
Thierry Frémaux, the festival's director, denounced the list of 24 films as “lies.” It included new films directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, David Cronenberg, Jacques Audiard, Terrence Malick, and 103-year-old Manoel de Oliveira. It also hinted that the five surviving members of the Monty Python team would reassemble on the Croisette for the unveiling of “A Liar’s Autobiography – The True Story of Monty Python’s Graham Chapman.”
"The selection is in my head," Frémaux told Deadline’s Nancy Tartaglione. "It's disgusting to play with such a thing. There is a code of conduct for Cannes and it must be respected. Those who don't respect the code will never come back to Cannes."
The blog announced that the roster was temporarily leaked on the festival website.
"No list was leaked from our website," reported Gérald Duchaussoy of the Cannes press office. "No technical error or mistake was made on our side."
The competing films will be officially announced at the Cannes press conference on April 19.
Cronenberg’s “Cosmopolis” seems a good bet and Anderson’s “Moonrise Kingdom” will definitely be screened. Cannes organizers announced on March 9 that Anderson’s comedy-drama, which is about the search for a boy and a girl who have run away from a New England town in the 1960s, had been chosen to open the world’s biggest film bash on May 16.
That means likely Cannes appearances by the film’s stellar cast, including Bruce Willis, Bill Murray, Frances McDormand, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, and Jason Schwartzman, not to mention the young leads, Jared Gilman and Kara Hayward.
The blog also repeated the speculation that “Cosmopolis”’s Robert Pattinson and “On the Road”’s Kristen Stewart will also show up. If they do, they’ll probably want to run away, too, once the paparazzi strikes.
Below: the trailer for "Moonrise Kingdom"