Things are picking up and will continue to do so over the next 16 hours or so as the 2013 Cannes Film Festival lineup will be announced at approximately 2 AM PST tomorrow (4/18) morning. However, word on some of the films making the cut is already starting to come in.
First for the official word straight from the Festival’s Twitter feed (via The Playlist) is that Sofia Coppola‘s The Bling Ring will open the Un Certain Regard selection.
Based on the Vanity Fair article “The Suspects Wore Louboutins” by Nancy Jo Sales, The Bling Ring tells the story of a group of teenagers obsessed with fashion and celebrity that burglarize celebrities’ homes in Los Angeles. Tracking their targets’ whereabouts online, they break-in and steal their designer clothes and possessions. Reflecting on the naiveté of youth and the mistakes we all make when young, amplified by today’s culture of celebrity and luxury brand obsession, we see through the members of the Bling Ring temptations that almost any teenager would feel. What starts out as teenage fun spins out of control and leaves us with a sobering view of our culture today.
The film stars Emma Watson, who is the focus of these pictures considering their source, alongside Israel Broussard, Katie Chang, Claire Julien, Taissa Farmiga, Leslie Mann, Gavin Rossdale, and real-life Bling Ring victim, Paris Hilton.
Next comes “confirmation” from Jeff Wells at Hollywood Elsewhere that both Joel and Ethan Coen‘s Inside Llewyn Davis and Nicolas Winding Refn‘s Only God Forgives will be part of the Official Selection.
The last time the Coens had a film in the official selection it was No Country for Old Men, which would go on to win four Oscars including Best Picture. As for Refn, Drive played the fest in 2011 as part of the official selection and Refn actually went on to win Best Director that year.
Refn reteams with his Drive star Ryan Gosling as well as Kristen Scott Thomas in Only God Forgives and many thought Drive was close to winning the Palme d’Or in 2011… Can the reportedly ultra-violent Only God Forgives do it this time?
Here are the trailers for all three films and stay tuned, I’ll have much more on the festival very, very soon.
