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 From one end to the other of the broad La Croisette boulevard
which runs along the crescent-shaped sea shore, people party in
nightclubs, on hotel rooftops, in restaurants and in huge
tent-like beach clubs where bands pound out dance music and the
queues for entry get longer as the night goes on.
Other, more exclusive gatherings, take place on the mammoth
yachts anchored just offshore on the Mediterranean ripples.
For some, formal evening gowns and tuxedos remain de rigueur,
though casual chic is undermining tradition and there are some
who look like they are wearing the clothes they slept in.
None of this matters, seemingly to anyone, as long as you are on
the guest list, can get inside and can then engage in what
everyone else is up to - networking.
"It's for networking, and also one of the really hot girls is a
dancer and I know her quite well," said Sean Cronin of London,
who used to play the James Bond villains killed off in the first
10 minutes, when asked why he was attending a huge event for the
upcoming launch of "The Expendables 3" movie.
"Whenever you come to the Cannes Film Festival you network, you
try to meet people," Cronin said, adding that he is working with
two major production companies to film period dramas.
The networking was fast and furious all around the Gotha
nightclub on Sunday night. Hundreds of guests munched on
sausages and quiches and the crush was three deep at the bar for
the free Moet champagne until a bit before 1 a.m., when the
paying bar kicked in and the crush dissolved.
ASPARAGUS TO SPARE
Earlier in the week, at a party hosted by Hollywood producer
Harvey Weinstein in a hotel rooftop garden overlooking the
beach, the bay, the boulevard and the teaming masses below, the
fare was more elegant, including asparagus and artichokes. The
champagne reposed in cooled glass buckets on white tables but
the purpose was still the same - networking.
Weinstein, other guests said, had been there from about 7 p.m.
until 7:15 p.m., leaving behind a lot of as-yet undrunk
champagne and uneaten asparagus.
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But that didn't perturb Cassandra Kulukundis, co-producer of "The
Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby", for which Weinstein had bought
distribution rights, and who was delighted to talk up the movie to
anyone who would listen.
"I don't like parties, I don't like to get dressed up - people said
take a picture of me," said Kulukundis, elegantly dressed in a black
lace-topped gown for the occasion, which for her was to celebrate
the film being purchased by one of Hollywood's top powerbrokers and
being shown in Cannes.
"I like to stay behind the scenes and now I get to talk about the
film to people and to make them feel what I feel and that's why I
make movies," she said.
At yet another event, the after party for the "How to Train Your
Dragon 2" sequel to the animated film about Vikings and dragons,
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation, chatted with
guests while checking his mobile and Dean DeBlois, the film's
director, posed for photographs with well-wishers.
Actress America Ferrera, the voice of "Astrid" in the film, having
hours before been the target of a red-carpet crasher - who attempted
to lift her skirt before being ejected by security - took a seat out
of the limelight.
It was a scene that would have taken the breath away of Jessica
Heywood, 21, of Portland, Maine, who queued for "The Expendables 3"
party although she was not on the guest list.
Asked why she was there, Heywood, who is studying French in Cannes,
said, "I've never seen a celebrity before because no one ever comes
to Maine."
"I don't want to waste the opportunity."
(Additional reporting by Alexandria Sage; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)
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