First Impressions...

Monday night Emily and I went into Cannes for dinner and a little sightseeing, but Tuesday I spent my first full day there. What a difference 12 hours makes! Monday night Cannes was still a quiet little resort town in the French Riviera. By Tuesday afternoon it was buzzing with activity! I decided to go into town alone that day for some "me" time and had a blast!

On the train ride in, I met two guys who have two films in market at the Festival. They are only in town until Friday to basically make sure their agent is doing his job, but they were really excited and hopeful that their movies will be picked up.

Once I got into town, I did some window shopping and walked the length of the Croissette (the main thoroughfare for the Festival). Everything is so beautiful here! The architecture, the beach, the people!

As I was wondering around, though, I started to notice that everyone wears this really cool look and walks as if they're headed to an important meeting. It's like they don't even notice where they are. Like they're too cool for the Cannes Film Festival, you know? I was walking and thinking to myself, "Holy cow, I can NOT believe where I am!", but I tried to keep my face neutral so as not to look like out of place. Maybe that's what everyone else was doing too. Surely they aren't really all that unaffected by their surroundings.

I ran into the guys from the train in the afternoon and we spoke for a few minutes. I also met an American couple outside of the Palais. It turns out the wife has a film showing at the Toronto Film Festival and is here doing publicity for it. They were the nicest couple! I saw them again later that night at the restaurant where I ate and we exchanged numbers. They are new to the Festival as well and don't have great access. I shared what I know about having to beg for tickets (more on this in the next post) and we agreed we would call each other if we got into any great parties.

All in all, it was a wonderful day. The best part, however, was on my way back through town, I noticed a commotion at the train station. There were people and media everywhere and police directing traffic. I went over to check it out. I decided something was definitely about to happen (even though I had no idea what it was) and I was going to see it (whatever it was!).

Sure enough, about an hour later (yes, I waited for an hour...what else was I going to do?), the stars from The Da Vinci Code pulled into the train station for their official entrance into Cannes. It was awesome! I saw Tom Hanks, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany, Ian McKellan, and Ron Howard. The crowd cheered the loudest for Jean Reno who is a huge star here. Tom Hanks' hair is still long and, I have to say, it looks even more odd in person. Paul Bettany is totally gorgeous. I didn't really see Ian McKellan that well at the time, but I got a great look up close when he passed me on the street late that night! He looks older in person, but very distinguished.

So, yesterday was a good day. :) The Festival officially begins tonight with the premier of The Da Vinci Code. I will write again ASAP about the experience at the premier and whether or not we got in!

Peace. Out.