The Cannes Film
Festival is in full swing
on the French Riviera right now.
21 films competing
for the prestigious Palme d'Or prize
and the glamorous event
as usual,
full of promising blockbuster movies
up and coming talent.
And, of course, Hollywood A-listers
like Leonardo DiCaprio,
Michael Douglas, Natalie Portman.
And there is a hint of controversy
as well
over the choice of the film
that kicked off the festival.
And I'm delighted now to welcome
from Cannes,
Scott Roxborough,
the Hollywood Reporter's
Europe bureau chief.
Scott, so lovely to reconnect with you.
The Cannes Film Festival
kicked off this week
and it got off to a controversial start.
Why are some people upset?
Yeah. Hi. Hi.
Good to see you.
Yeah,
the festival was a bit controversial
this year, particularly
because the opening film John de Berry,
which is a French film about
the
sort of the end of the
French royal family.
But the controversy was around
who was playing King Louis, which is
it was
Johnny Depp was cast for the lead role.
And of course, Johnny Depp
is a very controversial figure now
due to his very public legal disputes
with his ex-wife.
Amber Heard and allegations of abuse
against him.
It didn't seem to affect the way
that fans reacted to him.
And the French audiences never really
turned against Johnny Depp.
And many people saw his arrival here
and his presentation of this film
as an
as a as a sort of return
to the spotlight.
But a definitely was a lot of controversy
around this
in choosing this film to open the Cannes
Film Festival
and a lot of questions being asked
as to why they actually picked it.
And incidentally,
of course, that film directed by a woman.
And speaking of women,
we're seeing more
and more filmmakers in competition
at the Film Festival of Women,
but nowhere near parity.
Give us a sense of what role
women play in this festival.
How are organizers dealing with criticism
leveled at them
that there are not enough
female filmmakers at Cannes?
Do you see things changing
Well,
for cans level, things have changed
quite a bit.
There are six
women in competition, female directors
with films and competition.
That's the most there's ever been.
But as you said, it's
nowhere near parity.
It's just about 30%,
which is nowhere near 50.
The on on a sort of structural
level, Cannes has done
a few things as well.
The president of the Cannes
Film Festival,
The Big Boss, is a woman erotic novel.
The first time
a woman has had that position.
And she's been very vocal
about trying to get through gender parity
within the festival,
but they still got a long way to go.
I mean, I remember
just a couple of years
ago, Cannes was promising
to reach 50% parity
in terms of female directors
in competition by 20, 20.
It's now, of course, 20, 23.
And we're still a long way from that.
And it's trying to make progress
but a lot of people are saying it's
not doing nearly enough.
Now, Scott can be incredibly glamorous.
You got beautiful
people booted
and suited on the Red carpet,
a gorgeous gowns
going up those famous stairs.
But the film industry, on a serious
note, is going through
a very challenging time.
You know,
how do you see that
displayed at the festival?
What kind of role does it play?
Yeah, it plays a
huge role
because the film industry
is one of the reasons that Cannes exists.
It's not just a big film festival.
It's also a huge film market
where films are bought and sold.
And so
whatever is happening
in the international film industry,
you feel it here in in Cannes,
and of course,
the big issue on everyone's mind
right now is the ongoing writers' strike.
The Hollywood writers are on strike.
That means no
new films are being written.
That's having an impact here.
People are really concerned
that not just the writers,
but very soon the directors,
the Directors
Guild is also negotiating a contract.
And SAG the Screen Actors Guild
could also soon be on strike.
If that happens, the entire film industry
in Hollywood shuts down
and that will have a knock on effect
on the rest of the world.
So although everyone's celebrating
here, cinema in Cannes,
walking those red carpet steps and
and having a great time,
everyone's concerned
that the party could be over
very, very soon.
And my final question to you, Scott,
what are the hottest movies so far?
And of the films that you did see,
which is the best film in Cannes
that we should all check out?
Yeah, well, we had a
couple of sort of big Hollywood
films screened here.
Probably the funnest
was the new Indiana Jones
film, Indiana Jones
on the Dial of Destiny.
Basically everything you'd want
from an Indiana Jones movie,
the fifth entry
with Harrison Ford and the last.
He's 80 years old,
so he won't be coming back
for another Indiana Jones films.
That was a great
sort of entertaining movie.
But in terms of the film
that I think could win the Palme d'Or
and definitely the best film
I've seen year,
I'd have to go with The Zone of Interest,
which is a very tough film
set in Auschwitz about the Holocaust
from British director
Jonathan Glazer,
but a German, a language movie.
And it's very difficult to describe
in a short one or two sentences,
but it's just incredibly powerful and
moving and
and and wrenching really emotionally,
but done in a way
that I don't think I've ever seen
before in a Holocaust movie.
It's definitely sort of breaks new ground
for tackling the subject.
I think it probably will be rewarded
next week
come the come the Cannes Palme d'Or.
All right.
Scott Roxborough,
great catching up with you.
Thank you so much for getting up so early
for us.
We greatly appreciate it. Thank you,
Robert.
All right.