Over the weekend, the best Cannes party I went to was for the Better World Fund at the glamorous new Hotel Carlton. More about that later.
On Saturday night, the rain came down and washed away Vanity Fair’s biennial gathering to benefit themselves. A few A listers showed up including Robert De Niro and Bryan Cranston. Jeff Bezos turned up with girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, who looked like she was dressed for a movie in space. (Maybe that’s going to happen?)
Otherwise, Vanity Fair laid out a lot of money at the Hotel duCap Eden Roc and got little in return. There were lots of “Who Are these people?” types — I’m sure they’re lovely — but most people had the good sense not to travel the winding roads of Antibes with a raging sky. Even the Vanity Fair website couldn’t muster up A list guest names, including instead Mia Wasakowska and Jeremy Harris. Where was everyone from the Scorsese movie, all the actors in town for various events like Salma Hayek, Cate Blanchett, Julianne Moore, Natalie Portman? Alas, editor in chief Radhika Jones looks like a deer in the headlights in photos. So do the guests since all the shots on WireImage look like they were taken while the subjects were coming in and out of the bathroom.
On Friday night. London PR man Charles Finch (son of “Network” star Peter Finch had better luck with the weather but couldn’t muster a very tony crowd. He honored “Indiana Jones” star Mads Mikkelsen not at the Eden Roc, where he’s always put on his dinner, but at Fred’s fish restaurant in Cannes. It was not a good look. Harrison Ford, aka Indiana Jones, showed up to toast Mads, and was then on his way. But what happened to the days of Mick Jagger that made these dinners so cool? Finch usually has a fashion sponsor, but not so this year as he was promoting his newsletter. (PS The Eden Roc is preparing for Monday’s Graydon Carter party for the 100th anniversary of Warner Bros. Maybe they were cleaning.)
Variety actually was strapped into a bed with the Golden Globes and co-hosted a party for up and comers, or something. Variety and the Globes’ owner are first cousins or corporate half siblings. But the Globes have been completely degraded by all their scandals. Last year they were shown on NBC and no one watched. So far they do not have a broadcast partner for their alleged show to be broadcast on January 7th. This past year’s host, Jerrod Carmichael, even insulted the Beverly Hilton, calling it “the hotel that killed Whitney Houston.” Luckily the Hilton can’t complain since they’re owned in part by the same company that owns the Globes, dick clark productions, and The Hollywood Reporter, namely Eldridge Industries (Todd Boehly).
Meantime, the much more legit Critics Choice Awards are all set for January 14th on the CW Network and maybe TBS.
