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Our Man in Cannes: Summer plans of the stars
CANNES, France — It looks like the heat wave and the summer lull are taking a toll on celebrities in Hollywood.
Scott Speedman and Rachel Blanchard, two of the principals in Atom Egoyan’s “Adoration,” say they’re going to spend the next month or so traveling Europe, rather than returning to L.A. “I’m sending my clothes back home, packing a knapsack for my travels, and I’m going solo,” said Speedman, who plays an uncle who raises a teenager whose parents were involved in a fatal traffic accident in “Adoration.”
Looking fit and tan, Speedman talked to reporters during a luncheon at the Carlton Beach. (The Carlton Hotel, fyi, is one of the most exclusive establishments on the Croisette and was the site where Cary Grant’s “To Catch a Thief” was filmed.)
Blanchard also showed up to meet the press and said she was planning to spend most of June traveling Europe with friends.
Both stars bemoaned the current state of the industry and said they were having to turn down numerous scripts because most of them were banal.
“You wouldn’t believe some of the stuff I’ve been sent,” Speedman said. “A lot of the scripts for indie productions are awful, and you typically have to go after scripts that you want,” he said. That was the case with Egoyan’s “Adoration,” which focuses on a teen who creates a false persona on the Internet to find out what happened to his parents.
Speedman said he read the script and lobbied Egoyan for a chance to play the uncle. “At first, I didn’t think Scott was right for the part,” Egoyan said. “I had an older man in mind for the uncle. But then I realized that putting someone as young as Scott in the role would make the character more interesting. Here’s a guy who gave up life in his 20s to raise a child.”
“Adoration” has been getting mixed buzz in Cannes, but some people think it has a chance at a major award.
The competition prizes will be announced Sunday.
The leading contenders for the Palme d’Or are: Arnaud Desplachin’s “A Christmas Tale”; Clint Eastwood’s “Changeling”; Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York”; Nuri Ceylan’s “Three Monkeys”; Steven Soderbergh’s “Che”; and the Dardennes brothers’ “Lorna’s Silence.”
I must, however, point out that I have never accurately predicted the Palme d’Or winner in the past decade. My pick this year is “Synecdoche.” Maybe I’m due.
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