Cannes Film Festival 2019: Zombie flick kicks off fest

The Cannes Film Festival opened Tuesday with one of the glitziest line-ups in years as Hollywood stars and studios return in strength to the world’s biggest film jamboree.

Spanish star Javier Bardem and French actress Charlotte Gainsbourg declared the 12-day marathon open, before sitting down to watch the first movie — The Dead Don’t Die — with it’s small army of A-list stars led by Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Chloe Sevigny, Tilda Swinton and pop idol Selena Gomez.

The cast of the zombie flick send-up of Donald Trump’s America by art house favourite Jim Jarmusch also takes in Steve Buscemi, Danny Glover and music legends Iggy Pop, Tom Waits and Wu-Tang Clan guru RZA.

Having watched its Tinseltown thunder stolen in recent years by Venice, which US studios have used as their Oscars launch pad, this time Cannes is putting its much smaller rival back in its place.

Quentin Tarantino brings auteur heft and star power to the party with the premiere of his epic Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, a quarter of a century after he lifted the Palme d’Or — Cannes top prize — for Pulp Fiction.

The panorama of Charles Manson-era Los Angeles stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a television Westerns star and Brad Pitt as his stunt double. Margot Robbie also appears as actress Sharon Tate, who was murdered by the cult leader’s followers.

Rambo V and Rocketman

Almost as big a coup was persuading Elton John to launch his warts-and-all musical biopic Rocketman on the Croisette out of competition, with festival director Thierry Fremaux hinting that the singer will perform on his grand piano at the premiere.

The screening on Thursday is the first big blockbuster event at the festival, where Sylvester Stallone will also unveil a teaser for Rambo V: Last Blood.

Another headline-grabber, soccer legend Diego Maradona, is sure to create a stir when he turns up for a documentary on his rollercoaster career by the maker of the Oscar-winning Amy.

The festival has sparked controversy by giving a prize to veteran French star Alain Delon, with the Women and Hollywood group saying honouring a man who has admitted to hitting women “sucks”.

Tempers also flared after French taxi drivers protesting about online ride-hailing rivals blocked traffic at nearby Nice airport, holding up movie movers and shakers trying to reach Cannes.

Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, who heads the jury that will pick the Palme d’Or winner, also struck a political note Tuesday by condemning populist leaders like Trump, but without naming names.

“The world is melting and these guys are ruling with rage and anger and lies and making people believe that they are facts,” he told reporters.

“This (is a) dangerous thing we are returning to, to 1939,” he added, referring to World War II. “We know how this story ends if we keep with this rhetoric.”

Analysts, meanwhile, were upbeat about this year’s offerings.

“That Cannes has managed to get Rocketman is a very big coup because Paramount was historically one of the studios who were the most reluctant to show films at the festival,” said Christian Jungen, author of the book Hollywood in Cannes.

Studios have often been reluctant to risk their big-budget productions, fearful of a savaging from critics.

Cannes got Rocketman thanks to Fremaux’s friendship with Paramount boss Jim Gianopulos, Jungen said, who was head of Fox when it took Moulin Rouge to the Croisette in 2001.