Cannes film festival director Thierry Fremaux and German media executive and President of the Cannes Film Festival Iris Knobloch. AFP via Getty Images Cannes VIPs got a jolt they weren’t expecting at Variety’s bash honoring festival director Thierry Frémaux.
I had just entered the rooftop event at La Terrasse by Albane, atop the JW Marriott, and was making my way to the back when I heard the sound of breaking glass followed by the ground underneath me shaking violently. I immediately thought it was an earthquake or an explosion and watched as revelers pushed their plus-ones towards peril while shielding themselves.
“It was straight out of ‘Force Majeure,’” said director Noah Wagner who marveled at how Hollywood types behave in a panic. Still, some did rise to the occasion like Sony Pictures Classics co-president Michael Barker, who selflessly jumped into action.
“There are too many people in that area. Get to the center!” he shouted as he helped me up to an elevated platform secured by an inner wall, which he assured me could bear weight — unlike the dais near the rooftop’s edge where Frémaux had been poised to speak. Some guests made a dash for the exit.
One rattled publicist insisted that he would use the stairs to descend the hotel’s five stories rather than chance the elevator. Admittedly, I thought that was a tad dramatic because the waitstaff was carrying on with their duties, even entering and exiting the area where the makeshift platform had just collapsed. That didn’t stop one fleeing industryite from referring to the group as “survivors,” as though we all had just made it through Astroworld.
“How scared were you if you stopped to grab the Louboutin gift bag on the way out?” observed one guest who stayed. Within minutes, order was restored, and Variety leaders kept a stiff upper lip, ushering the crowd to an adjacent pool area, where the bash continued. An unfazed Frémaux accepted his honor and remarked, “Cannes is not my Cannes. It is our Cannes.” Misadventures included!
After that, Variety president and co-EIC Ramin Setoodeh told the crowd the magic words, “The bar is open. Have a great night.”
Among those who stayed and partied on was Red Sea Film Festival managing director Shivani Pandya Malhotra and Netflix awards-season doyenne Lisa Taback. (Proving that Taback really would risk life and limb for a leg up on next year’s Oscars race!)
Interestingly enough, the JW Marriott was built on the site of Cannes’ old Palais, (where festival premieres are held). Perhaps the disruption was merely a case of the film gods revolting over Frémaux programming a 25-year retrospective of “The Fast and the Furious” this year, as he’d done for Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey” and other classics.
Hours later, Vin Diesel, in a black blazer with the words “Fast Forever,” noted the unlikelihood of his presence at the fest, by quipping, “I’m only here once in my whole life.”
My ultimate takeaway: there’s no shortage of drama queens in Hollywood.
