Russell Crowe set for Cannes opening

11 April 2012
The Weekender

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Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett are expected to lend some Hollywood glamour to the Croisette as Robin Hood opens the 63rd Cannes Film Festival today.


Ready for festival action: Russell Crowe is set to launch Robin Hood

Crowe, who plays the title role, teamed up once again with Gladiator director Sir Ridley Scott for the retelling of the myth, which will screen out of competition.

Blanchett co-stars as Marian, while British actors Mark Strong and Mark Addy also feature.

Other highlights of the 12-day festival include Woody Allen's You Will Meet A Tall Dark Stranger, which stars Naomi Watts, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Freida Pinto and Anna Friel, and Oliver Stone's Wall Street - Money Never Sleeps, both of which will also be shown out of competition.

British hopes are pinned on new films from Mike Leigh and Ken Loach, both previous winners of the Palme d'Or, the festival's top prize.

Leigh, who won the award in 1996 for Secrets And Lies and was nominated in 2002 for All Or Nothing, will be screening Another Year, starring Jim Broadbent, Lesley Manville and Imelda Staunton.

The ensemble comedy drama tells the story of a married couple, their friends and family over the course of a year.

Loach, who was honoured in 2006 for The Wind That Shakes The Barley, is a last-minute addition to the festival line-up.

His project Route Irish is a thriller and love story based around private security contractors in Iraq.

Both films are in the running for the main prize, but face competition from movies such as Fair Game, starring Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and Biutiful, the latest offering from Mexican director Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu.

Kate Beckinsale, Benicio del Toro and Indian actor and director Shekhar Kapur will join jury president Tim Burton on the judging panel for the prestigious award, won last year by Michael Haneke's The White Ribbon.

Other British films showing include Chatroom, by Japanese director Hideo Nakata, which will screen in the Un Certain Regard prize category.

The contemporary tale boasts a British cast, including Kick Ass star Aaron Johnson, and was given funding by the UK Film Council and Film4.

Stephen Frears, director of hit movie The Queen, will show his new film Tamara Drewe, starring Gemma Arterton in the title role, out of competition.

The film, also featuring Dominic Cooper and Tamsin Greig, is an adaptation of Posy Simmonds' graphic novel, which in turn was based on Thomas Hardy's novel Far From The Madding Crowd.

The festival runs until May 23.

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