Friday, March 29, 2024

amFAR Cannes Falls $5Mil Short of Last Year, No Sharon Stone, Reduced to Robin Thicke, Dita von Teese, Faux Celebs

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UPDATE: amFAR’s Cannes gala raised less than it did last year, although it’s hard to say– on purpose. Now they say they raised $30 million euro. Last year they say they raised $35 millon– dollars. Who knows? But one amFAR leader confided in my source that it was less than last year.

Anyway, according to the 2013 form 990 amFAR files with the government, they have over a dozen execs making well upwards of $100,000 a year. Sacre bleu! Their leader Kevin Frost takes home just under $500,000 a year. Not bad, amFAR! Charity begins at home! That doesn’t include how much it costs to fly these people around, ferry them around in chauffeur driven cars etc.

EARLIER The parade of gowns is underway in Cannes, as amFAR tries to keep its Cinema Against AIDS going another year. Sharon Stone is a no show. But Robin Thicke, whose popularity is on the slide since his divorce and “Blurred Lines” debacle, is right there on the stage. The Europeans, Asians, and Arabs don’t know about the whole Marvin Gaye thing, you see.

Stars like Sienna Miller and Jake Gyllenhaal, who are on this year’s Cannes jury, are there at the Eden Roc. Marion Cotillard is also present. But largely it’s models, models, models. Also, faux celebs who have nothing to do with cinema– like Paris Hilton and Kendall Jenner– are creating buzz on the red carpet. That’s what amFAR has been reduced to.

A few actors– like Leonardo DiCaprio and Frances McDormand– skipped the red carpet completely. Photographers have been hunting them down and shooting them as if they were on a celebrity safari.

Mary J. Blige is scheduled to perform. Charlie XCX or MCM or something is also there. Later amFAR will announce some overblown number for their night’s take.

The most photographed celebrity: Dita von Teese, who’s still doing burlesque striptease. She’s the Ann Corio of the last generation.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
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