Mike Marsland//Getty ImagesThe Cannes Film Festival is about to get into full swing, and there's already trouble on the Riviera!
First, Penélope Cruz failed to show up to a press event Monday promoting Nine, a musical with Nicole Kidman and Fergie. Harvey Weinstein explained that Cruz—slated to attend, and in Cannes for Broken Embraces—had so skip due to "some kind of food poisoning."
She wasn't the only one feeling sick—plenty of moviegoers were queasy after Sunday night's screening of what's sure to be the fest's most talked-about film, Lars von Trier's Antichrist. Ripe with graphic sexual violence, the movie scored a round of boos, and many people walked out.
As stars Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Gainsbourg, who play a couple grieving the death of their young son, were preparing to walk the red carpet Monday night, reviewers were calling Antichrist "one of the biggest debacles in Cannes Film Festival history" (Jeffery Wells) and a film that "goes beyond malevolence into the monstrous" (Roger Ebert).
So who's having a good time here? Well...
Saturday night, the mood was a bit more chill at the postpremiere party for Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee's comedy starring Demitri Martin as the motel operator who wound up being a force behind the scenes at the '60s biggest moment. Celebs in attendance included Martin, Lee, costar Emile Hirsch and Tilda Swinton.
Sunday afternoon, at the Taking Woodstock press lunch, Hirsch explained his potential next project—a version of Shakespeare's Hamlet:
"I think the play would work better with "a younger Hamlet, a younger Ophelia" and as "a supernatural thriller."
After dropping visions of Elsinore, 90210, Hirsch also noted it was easy to get into character to play a Vietnam vet for Lee in taking Woodstock: "I kinda already had the long hair and the beard and the combat jacket was similar to the one I have. It wasn't me trying to reach some look, it was me getting to look like I look when I'm not acting. "
The next few days will be big for both serious press and paparazzi, with Pedro Almodovar's Broken Embrace, Sam Raimi's Drag Me to Hell and Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds set to debut—which means red carpets and press conferences for stars like Cruz (who will no doubt be restored to health by Tuesday night), Alison Lohman and Brad Pitt.
We'll have more from Cannes—including Jim Carrey's snow-in-the-South-of-France promotion for A Christmas Carol—soon, so keep it here at E! for all the news from Cannes.