Day 2 of the Cannes Film Festival definitely belonged to the cast of Fruitvale Station, which received a standing ovation after the film’s premiere here this evening. I was lucky enough to see the film at Sundance earlier this year, when it was called Fruitvale, just before the indie movie picked up the Grand Jury Prize (along with that terrific documentary Blood Brother). I bumped into lead actor Michael B Jordan at the Grey Goose pre-Oscar party earlier this year, and he was still on a high from the great buzz January’s festival created. I have a feeling it’s only going to grow even more now, after Cannes.
(Pic: Cannes Film Festival)
Most of my Day 2 at Cannes was actually spent in Antibes, a short but oh-so-scenic drive from Cannes, at the Hotel Du Cap where I waited to interview the cast of The Great Gatsby. The hotel is a gem on the French Riviera.
The interviews went well enough, what with the rain playing havoc on my hair and wedges. No matter how many times it has rained during my previous Cannes trips, I never seem to get my packing just right. This shortcoming was made even
more apparent to me while sitting opposite the immaculately presentable Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan – both in Saint Laurent, both with hair perfectly in place, come what may.
I also got to speak to Florence Welch, who contributed a song to the soundtrack of the film, Over the Love. She spoke about how out of place she felt attending the premiere last night, and sitting right in the front row next to Carey Mulligan. “But I’m not actually in the movie,” she kept protesting. “I think Baz (Luhrmann) thinks I am. But I’m not!,” she laughed, before spotting the director inside another cabana across from where we were doing our interview. “Baaaaz!” she called out.
Of course the highlight was chatting to Leonardo DiCaprio about his role as Jay Gatsby. I was quite surprised that with his role in introducing Jay-Z and Baz that he still hasn’t heard the soundtrack. More than that, I was interested to hear him reveal he still has the same dreams and goals now as a 38-year-old as when he was 15. As he was talking about that, I remembered him in Growing Pains, and thought, he really has come a long way from his “Luke” days.
The Great Gatsby opens in South Africa on Friday.
