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☆ Alan Menken on ‘The Little Mermaid’ and the Mixed Blessing of Disney Fame
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Sarah Bahr | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

What was it like working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on new songs for “The Little Mermaid”? I gave him a little Caribbean tune thinking he would lyricize that, and in fact, he rapped over it! In 1997, David Horn, now the executive producer of PBS’s “Great Performances” series, told The New York Times, “When there’s a Sondheim musical, everyone refers to it as a Sondheim musical. When it’s something Alan has done, they refer to it as a Disney musical.” Do you still mind your shows being known as Disney musicals? I sometimes would have a little resistance to simply being characterized as “Disney composer Alan Menken” because I already had a huge hit with “Little Shop of Horrors” before I went to Disney.

☆ Wes Anderson, Ken Loach among contenders for Cannes Film Festival's top prize
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Press conference for the film "Asteroid City" in competition - Cannes, France, May 24, 2023. Director Wes Anderson speaks. REUTERS/Yara NardiCANNES, May 27 (Reuters) - Veteran directors Wes Anderson, Ken Loach and Wim Wenders are among those in the running for the Cannes Film Festival's coveted Palme d'Or at Saturday's closing ceremony, with 21 films in competition for the top prize. This year has a record seven female directors in the running for the top prize, which only two women have previously won - Jane Campion in 1993 and Ducournau in 2021. More than 14,000 participants from over 120 countries crowded the film market this year, surpassing 2019's previous peak of 12,500.

☆ France's Triet wins Cannes' Palme d'Or for 'Anatomy of a Fall'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

BERLIN, May 27 (Reuters) - French director Justine Triet won the 2023 Cannes Film Festival's top prize, the Palme d'Or, on Saturday for her courtroom drama "Anatomy of a Fall". Triet becomes the third female director to have won the prestigious prize. Reporting by Miranda Murray; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Orlando Bloom at Cannes for 'Gran Turismo' story of gamer-turned-racer
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "Gran Turismo" - Cannes, France, May 26, 2023. Geri Halliwell-Horner and Orlando Bloom pose at the Carlton Pier. REUTERS/Eric GaillardCANNES, May 26 (Reuters) - Actor Orlando Bloom and former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell-Horner were at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday to promote "Gran Turismo", based on a true story about a video game player who used his skills to become a professional racing driver. Archie Madekwe, who was in the 2019 folk horror "Midsommar", plays Mardenborough, who now races in Japan's Super GT series, in the film distributed by Sony Pictures. "You have this very honest, real and true-to-life story, which is, I think, something everyone can relate to," he said.

☆ 'Anatomy of a Fall' border collie fetches Cannes Palm Dog in fiercest contest yet
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Mindy Burrows | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - The Palm Dog Awards - Cannes, France, May 26, 2023. Stan, a Border Collie, receives the Palm Dog award on-behalf of the dog named Snoop of the film "Anatomie d'une chute" (Anatomy of a Fall). Messi played Snoop, a role which the jury said required a range of skills and emotions from its doggie actor, making the border collie a worthy winner of the main Palm Dog prize. "It's probably the greatest award ever, so we are truly, truly overwhelmed," said Jussi Vatanen, who stars alongside Alma Poysti in the tragicomedy about a budding romance. The Palm Dog awards have honoured the top dogs on screen since 2001, with categories added this year including Mutt Moment and Highly Commended Canine.

☆ Isabella Rossellini graces Cannes for Italian grave robber drama 'La Chimera'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "La chimera" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 26, 2023. Director Alice Rohrwacher, producer Carlo Cresto-Dina, cast members Alba Rohrwacher and Isabella Rossellini pose. REUTERS/Sarah MeyssonnierCANNES, May 26 (Reuters) - Film legend Isabella Rossellini graced the Cannes Film Festival's red carpet on Friday for the premiere of Italian drama "La Chimera," director Alice Rohrwacher's third attempt to take home the top prize against 20 other competitors this year. Set in the 1980s, "La Chimera" follows the ups and down of Arthur and the grave robbers, known as tombarola, as they look for ancient tombs with any antiques they can sell illicitly. "Where I grew up it was common to hear stories of secret finds, clandestine digs and mysterious adventures," the Italian director said on the film's website.

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "How to Have Sex" in competition for the category Un Certain Regard - Cannes, France, May 19, 2023. However, there was a slight hiccup: Molly Manning Walker was not in the room when the award for her debut feature was announced. The first Sudanese film to be included in the Cannes official selection, "Goodbye Julia," took the freedom award. Director Mohamed Kordofani thanked the Sudanese people for their support as well as for not giving up. "Un Certain Regard" is a competition focused on arthouse films that runs parallel to the main competition, the Palme d'Or, which will be announced on Saturday.

☆ Japan's Kitano says he held back in bloody samurai film 'Kubi'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CANNES, May 26 (Reuters) - Japanese director Takeshi Kitano said that he held back in showing too much blood and gore in "Kubi", his new ultraviolent samurai film that features beheadings faster than can be counted. Kitano said that the violence reflected how battles were fought at the time and that the film actually held back. "The way they fought ... it's very barbaric, so we tried to limit ourselves from showing too much," said Kitano. The samurai of "Kubi" are, in Kitano's eyes, not so different from the yakuza crime syndicate members portrayed in his previous film that showed at Cannes, 2010's "The Outrage". The samurai are trying to get to the top of the food chain by being the toughest fighters, "but they are not smart.

☆ Ken Loach at Cannes: 'don't know' if 'The Old Oak' will be last film
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-26 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "The Old Oak" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 26, 2023. Director Ken Loach and wife Lesley Ashton, Screenwriter Paul Laverty, Producer Rebecca O'Brien, and cast members Ebla Mari and Dave Turner pose. REUTERS/Yara... Read moreCANNES, May 26 (Reuters) - Ken Loach said on Friday he does not know if "The Old Oak," the 86-year-old British director's attempt to win the Cannes Film Festival's top prize for a third time, would be his last. "Oh, I don't know, I live day by day," said Loach, who turns 87 in June. Loach told The Hollywood Reporter last month that "The Old Oak," which premiered on Friday, was likely his last feature.

☆ Stars at Cannes take break from red carpet to support AIDS research
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CANNES, May 25 (Reuters) - Celebrities including Queen Latifah, Jeffrey Wright and Heidi Klum escaped the Cannes Film Festival's crowded Croisette Boulevard for a night to attend a fundraiser for AIDS research at a secluded luxury hotel in the nearby resort town of Antibes. In addition to Rexha, Gladys Knight, Adam Lambert and Halsey entertained the high-paying guests while Queen Latifah played host for the evening that included a fashion show and auction. The goal of the luxury evening was to raise money on behalf of amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, which also supports HIV prevention, treatment education and advocacy. [1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - The amfAR's Cinema Against AIDS 2023 charity gala - Antibes, France, May 25, 2023. Queen Latifah and Eboni Nichols pose.

[1/2] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Perfect Days" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 25, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesCANNES, May 25 (Reuters) - Most directors would be thrilled to have one film shown at the Cannes Film Festival. The result, "Perfect Days", premiers on Thursday, starring acclaimed Japanese actor Koji Yakusho as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo. Cannes organizers liked the "spontaneous" work, which came together in just a few months, and wanted to show it, Wenders said. By comparison, "Anselm" is more of an experience than a film, Wenders said.

☆ France's Breillat back to breaking taboos at Cannes with 'Last Summer'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Caption : The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "L'ete dernier" (Last Summer) in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 25, 2023. Director Catherine Breillat, cast members Lea Drucker, Olivier Rabourdin, Clotilde Courau, Samuel Kircher and producer Said Ben Said... Read moreCANNES, May 25 (Reuters) - French director Catherine Breillat's new erotic thriller "Last Summer," premiered on Thursday night, bringing her taboo-breaking style to the Cannes Film Festival. Lea Drucker, who won France's top Cesar award for best actress in 2019's "Custody," stars as Anne, while newcomer Samuel Kircher plays Theo. Olivier Rabourdin, from "Taken" and "Midnight in Paris", is the husband, Pierre. Breillat called that film her most accessible work, as it was "completely unlike the films I usually make in that it does not break any taboos".

☆ Finland's Kaurismaki back in Cannes competition after over a decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Kuolleet lehdet" (Fallen Leaves - Les feuilles mortes) in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 22, 2023. Director Aki... Read moreCANNES, May 22 (Reuters) - Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki is back in competition for the Cannes Film Festival's top prize after more than a decade with his 20th film, "Fallen Leaves," which premiered on Monday. Under a sweltering afternoon sun, Kaurismaki, 66, was joined on the red carpet by his lead actors Alma Poysti and Jussi Vatanen. Written and directed by Kaurismaki, "Fallen Leaves" is his first feature in six years. "Fallen Leaves" is Kaurismaki's fifth competition title at Cannes.

☆ Mia Wasikowska brainwashes students in Cannes entry 'Club Zero'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/3] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Club Zero" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 22, 2023. REUTERS/Gonzalo FuentesCANNES, May 22 (Reuters) - Onetime Hollywood rising star Mia Wasikowska was at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday for the premiere of "Club Zero," which stars the Australian actor as a manipulative teacher and is director Jessica Hausner's second try at winning a Palme d'Or. "Club Zero" is Vienna-born Hausner's second film to be in the running for the film festival's top prize, after 2019's "Little Joe" that marked her English-language debut. In the film, new teacher Miss Novak (Wasikowska) leads a course on conscious eating for a group of teenage boarding school students that asks them to make increasingly drastic changes to their eating habits, with the goal of reaching "Club Zero." "Club Zero" is the latest in a series of independent films that Wasikowska has signed onto in the past few years.

☆ Jennifer Lawrence-produced Afghan documentary premieres at Cannes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Anatomie d'une chute" (Anatomy of a Fall) in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 21, 2023. "Jen's first response was to find an Afghan filmmaker and give them a platform," Ciarrocchi told The Hollywood Reporter. They eventually found director Sahra Mani, whose 2019 documentary "A Thousand Girls Like Me" looked at a sexually abused woman's quest for justice. On Sunday, "Bread and Roses," Mani's documentary about the daily lives of three women after the Taliban's resurgence, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in a special screening. The safety of the camera crews and the people filmed was of top priority, said Mani, who currently lives in France.

☆ 'May December' director: women pay higher price than men for breaking rules
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( Mindy Burrows | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Press conference for the film "May December" in competition - Cannes, France, May 21, 2023. Director Todd Haynes and cast member Natalie Portman attend. REUTERS/Eric... Read moreCANNES, May 21 (Reuters) - Todd Haynes' new romantic drama "May December" shines a critical spotlight on the way women who break society's rules are held to much stricter standards than badly behaving men. Haynes told Reuters on Sunday. "There are incredibly problematic aspects to how this relationship began, which this film works toward a confrontation of toward the end," Haynes told journalists.

☆ 'Killers of Flower Moon' star says Native Americans need allies like Scorsese
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/4] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Photocall for the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" Out of Competition - Cannes, France, May 21, 2023. In the film "Killers of the Flower Moon", which premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Gladstone plays Mollie Burkhart, a member of the Osage Nation whose family members die under suspicious conditions in 1920s Oklahoma. Because of his global reputation, Scorsese was uniquely placed to dispel the myths that have prevailed, she said. Referring to deceptions that have prevailed, Gladstone asked: "Why the hell does the world not know about these things? In the film, Gladstone marries her white driver Ernest Burkhart (Leonardo DiCaprio), whose uncle is the "King of the Osage Hills" William Hale (Robert De Niro).

☆ 'Firebrand' puts spotlight on Henry VIII's sixth and final wife
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-21 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Firebrand" (Le jeu de la reine) in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 21, 2023. Cast member Jude Law poses. REUTERS/Sarah... Read moreCANNES, May 21 (Reuters) - For Brazilian director Karim Ainouz the prospect of making a film about King Henry VIII's court was particularly exciting, partly because it focuses on Catherine Parr, the wife who survived Henry. "Firebrand," which is competition for the Palme d'Or, stars Alicia Vikander as Catherine, Henry's sixth and last wife as she navigates Tudor court politics towards the end of his life. "The pain he was suffering was excruciating," said Jude Law, who plays the king.

☆ Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman anchor Cannes competitor 'May December'
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/5] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "May December" in competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 20, 2023. Director Todd Haynes, cast members Julianne Moore,... Read moreCANNES, May 20 (Reuters) - Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore anchor director Todd Haynes' attempt at a fourth Palme d'Or in the drama "May December," which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on Saturday night. Her life begins to unravel when Portman, a Hollywood actor, shows up to prepare for a role as Moore's character. Both Moore and Portman have won Oscars for best actress, 2015's "Still Alice" and 2011's "Black Swan," respectively. "May December," which was shot in just 23 days, is Moore's fourth time working with Haynes.

☆ 'Zone of Interest' star: watching myself as Auschwitz commandant frightening
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

CANNES, May 20 (Reuters) - German actor Christian Friedel said on Saturday that watching himself as the commandant of the Auschwitz death camp in Jonathan Glazer's film "The Zone of Interest" frightened him. "The challenge in this project (was) for us to find authenticity in the situations," he told journalists after the film's premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday evening. Glazer said he wanted to show the capacity for violence in all people with the film, which was shot entirely at Auschwitz. "Zone of Interest" is Glazer's first film to compete at Cannes. Britain's BBC broadcaster and the Telegraph newspaper both gave the film perfect scores, with Telegraph calling the film "horrifying in its banality."

☆ Scorsese's eagerly awaited 'Killers of the Flower Moon' premieres at Cannes
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/7] The 76th Cannes Film Festival - Screening of the film "Killers of the Flower Moon" Out of Competition - Red Carpet Arrivals - Cannes, France, May 20, 2023. Cast members Tantoo Cardinal, Leonardo... Read moreCANNES, May 20 (Reuters) - Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon," one of the most anticipated premieres of this year's Cannes Film Festival, had the red carpet abuzz on Saturday evening as its star-studded cast attracted throngs of fans to the Croisette boulevard. Apple has teamed up with Paramount Pictures to release the film exclusively in theatres on Oct. 6 before streaming it - one of the preconditions of being eligible to compete at Cannes. Scorsese won Cannes' top prize with 1976's "Taxi Driver," starring De Niro. Reporting by Miranda Murray; editing by Clelia OzielOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ McQueen documentary juxtaposes Amsterdam's Nazi-occupied past with the present
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Hanna Rantala | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

"It's just putting things into context - how we're here, how did we arrive here today," McQueen told Reuters. Filmed during the COVID-19 pandemic, the documentary includes the street protests that erupted against the government's infection prevention measures and the celebrations afterward. Critics have described "Occupied City" as monumental, moving and as ranking among the great World War Two-themed films. The director's upcoming feature film, "Blitz," stars Saoirse Ronan and is also set during the World War Two. The Blitz in London was "very different to how we think it was," McQueen told Reuters, adding: "I'm hoping to show you."

☆ Cate Blanchett dons habit in Australian director's conversion tale
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-20 | by ( Alicia Powell | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Newcomer Aswan Reid plays the titular 9-year-old New Boy in the film by Warwick Thornton based on his own experience of walking into a church for the first time at the age of 11. "That's a genesis for a great movie," Thornton told Reuters on Saturday, before joking: "You know, written by child and directed by a grumpy old man is probably how it worked." Blanchett's nun sets about trying to convert the boy, who can seemingly heal wounds with his touch and starts bleeding from his palms, in a magical-realist conflict of spirituality. Deborah Mailman, who plays another nun, told Reuters that the film helps viewers understand the emotional gravitas of colonization: "It actually emotionally pushes you to that point of going, 'This is what it is, this is what happened.'" Reporting by Alicia Powell Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Lin-Manuel Miranda’s San Juan, Puerto Rico
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Danielle Pergament | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

“When I was a kid, my bond was really with my grandparents,” said Lin-Manuel Miranda, the songwriter, actor, director and producer. “I would go to Puerto Rico with my family for a month every year. “I didn’t stay in a hotel, I stayed in town, I ate Puerto Rican food. That’s different than being a tourist.”Over the years, Mr. Miranda has become one of the most prominent advocates for Puerto Rico. Next month, he will bring his musical “Hamilton” back to San Juan’s Centro de Bellas Artes Luis A. Ferré for two weeks, hosting a fund-raiser to support the Hispanic Federation and the Flamboyan Foundation, a charity devoted to educational equity in Puerto Rico.

☆ Emotional Harrison Ford reflects on his years as Indiana Jones
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

CANNES, May 19 (Reuters) - Harrison Ford teared up on Friday as he recalled his years playing Indiana Jones, after the Cannes premiere of what he has said will be his last outing in the blockbuster film franchise. "I love to work and I love this character and I love what it brought into my life," he told journalists at the festival. The new film, "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", pits the adventurous archaeologist against a former Nazi scientist, played by Mads Mikkelsen, who is searching for a dial that makes it possible to travel through time. That's what I looked like 35 years ago because Lucasfilm has every frame of film that we made together over all these year," Ford said. Ford, who first played Indiana Jones in 1981, told Total Film magazine last month that he would hang up the character's iconic bull whip and hat for good after this film, which will be released to wider audiences in late June.

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