CANNES - Snippets from the Cannes film festival Friday:
Fox sucks up Kiwi vampires
20th Century Fox has snapped up a New Zealand vampire film, "Perfect Creature", extending Kiwiland's reputation as a new haven for fantasy filmmaking following "The Lord of the Rings" series, according to the trade mag The Hollywood Reporter. The movie depicts a future world in which humans and bloodsuckers coexist -- but one of the night crawlers goes back to his homicidal roots.
Faith before film for Madonna
Madonna turned down a spot on this year's Cannes film festival jury -- because she didn't want to miss her weekly Kabbalah meetings, Britain's Daily Mail reported. "We talked about her being on the jury, but her religion meant this could not happen," chief film selector Thierry Fremaux told the paper. The US singer and sometime actress takes part in meetings of the fringe Jewish movement each Saturday in London, where she lives.
Sex and drugs an easy ride for Colin Firth
Colin Firth, the stitched up Mark Darcy in "Bridget Jones's Diary" and its sequel, found it easy to playing a pill-popping bisexual for his latest movie, "Where the Truth Lies", presented at Cannes. "A role like that is not usually a stretch for most actors," he quipped after a showing of the film, which also stars Kevin Bacon and which is in the running for the Palme d'Or.
Julian McMahon is on a role (or three)
Australian actor Julian McMahon has signed on to play a Hollywood director taken hostage while scouting an abandoned prison in "Prisoner", a movie that will consolidate his breakthrough from TV to film, Variety reported. McMahon, a onetime model and son of a former Aussie prime minister, will be seen next as the villain in "The Fantastic Four", and has been rumoured to be on the short list to play the next James Bond.
Malcolm McLaren mix for Cannes party
Malcolm McLaren, the former manager of the Sex Pistols who went on to a musical career of his own, will be the guest DJ for one of Cannes' many parties, this one on the beach.
Stars of the very small screen
Five young short-film directors picked up awards at the Cannes film festival Friday... for making movies for mobile phones. Elsa Barrere led the French pack to pick up the 8,000-euro first prize for her four-minute "Cliches".
05/13/2005 14:39 GMT