EXCLUSIVE: Two time Oscar winner had the shock of his life tonight in Cannes. While he and fellow juror Daniel Auteil were being interviewed live on talk show “Grand Journal,” an audience member shot a gun twice into the air–but kind of in the direction of Auteil. The gunman was wrestled to the ground quickly but not before shouting “I have a grenade.” No one was hurt and Waltz joined other diners immediately after at the Hotel duCap’s Eden Roc restaurant for an annual A list dinner hosted by publisher and filmmaker Charles Finch.

Waltz spoke to me exclusively at the dinner. He didn’t seem much fazed by what had happened, and hadn’t told anyone at dinner until I asked him. Maybe he was in shock. He recounted the events for me coolly. “I had a very good bodyguard who moved fast and got me out of there,” he said. Auteil did too.

The gunman was apprehended. “He was shooting blanks,” Waltz said. “We thought maybe it was a joke or something to do with Occupy Cannes. I think he was just crazy.”

The shooting was the second strange occurrence in two days in Cannes. It came after the much discussed Chopard jewelry heist, in which the famed jeweler reported that $1.4 million worth of their was ice was taken from the Novotel– an off the beaten track business hotel not on the Croisette. Reports are that thieves sawed through an adjoining room and removed an entire safe.

The Chopard story was the talk of the Finch dinner which counted luminaries like famed directors Bernardo Bertolucci and Wim Wenders, Harvey Weinstein, Liv Tyler, Waltz, rock star Bryan Ferry, director Paul Haggis, super producers Jeremyy Thomas, Cassian Elwes, and Eric Fellner, and so on. Many wondered why Chopard would have jewelry in a safe at the unglamorous Novotel in the first place. The answers were unclear, the gossips wagged that the whole thing sounded like a p.r. stunt.

The beloved head of Chopard, Caroline Scheufele, told the diners at her table that it was good p.r. but that it wasn’t a stunt.

Only in Cannes: while Sofia Coppola’s movie “The Bling Ring” about teenage jewel thieves was premiering at the Palais, thieves stole $1 million worth of jewelry from Chopard at a local hotel. Yes, this is a movie. But no it’s real life. The jewels belonged to Chopard and were intended for movie stars to wear on the red carpet. The heist was from a business hotel, the Novotel, which is not on the Croisette but up in “real Cannes” in the city’s business center.

While the thieves– who may be connected to the hotel from the inside–were busy sawing a whole safe from the hotel room, a Cannes Film Festival audience was watching Coppola’s film about teen girls and one boy who looted the Beverly Hills homes of D list stars like Paris Hilton and Audrina Patridge. How utterly strange.

And at the same time, Chopard went on like nothing happened. Indeed, $1 million of jewelry is nothing in this town this week. Today, Chopard hosted a lunch to kick off its new campaign for “green” red carpets and making sure all the gold they use going forward is properly mined and registered.

At the press conference and lunch were Livia Firth, wife of Colin, who is leading the gold campaign, plus Colin, Marion Cotillard, and Jane Fonda, who came by as soon she arrived in town. Three Oscar winners in a small room, plus Harvey Weinstein, and all the heads of Chopard. The Chopard people were so call–bless them– you’d never have known anything had happened. Also, they were showing off several hundred thousand dollars worth of new gold jewelry in cases spaced throughout the small room adjacent to the terrace.

So c’est la vie life goes on. And Chopard is insured. The burglars will be caught. And meantime, the company is intent on making sure that gold, like diamonds, becomes legalised in new ways that will benefit small mining companies in impoverished countries.

PS During the lunch on a terrace to at the famed Martinez Hotel, the weather changed quickly from blue skies and sunshine to menacing black sorm clouds coming in over the Mediterranean. The wind whipped up and a spontaneous blast of severe rain moved the proceedings inside within seconds. It turned out to be a squall, but what a blast. A dozen or so hue huge yachts in the Cannes harbor bobbed up and down like bathtub toys.

It’s nice to see the trio of kid stars from Harry Potter succeeding as young adults, Now it’s Emma Watson’s turn– Hermione, that is. She’s listed as part of the ensemble in Sofia Coppola’s “The Bling Ring,” which premiered here in Cannes on Thursday morning. And while all the cast members are quite good, Watson just pops out. She’s a star in the making, that’s for sure.

“The Bling Ring” is based on a true story– a bunch of spoiled middle class suburban Los Angeles teenagers broke into the home of C list celebrities–reality stars– and stole about $3 million in cash and other items including clothing and jewelry. Nancy Jo Sales wrote about in Vanity Fair, and now it’s a big screen movie.

This might be a throwaway film if it weren’t for Coppola’s exacting eye, and her precision in capturing a brain dead culture. This is Southern California at its worst. The parents are clueless and into cult like religions and faux spirituality. The kids aspire to nothing more than owning brand name items, becoming famous, having to work for nothing.

Watson plays Nicole who is not the ring leader of the group. That would be excellent newcomer Katie Chang as Rebecca. She’s a real find. Watson, however, is just a member of the group. But she plays the part as if she were Nicole Kidman’s daughter from “To Die For” with the same kind of unabashed venal enthusiasm for celebrity without substance.

Sadly, “The Bling Ring” saga– which happened in 2009– is no different than Less than Zero” or “Thirteen.” This chapter just notches it up a bit thanks to the internet and social networking. Coppola is like Joan Didion capturing not only the kids’ idiocy, and their parents’ but the studpidity of the celebs involved who left keys under their doormats, left doors unlocked,  and didn’t have alarm systems.

More bizarrely, Nicole–who along with the others is finally arrested and sent to jail–comes to do her sentence in the same cell block as one of her victim–Lindsay Lohan. This neat twist isn’t lost on Coppola, who knows exactly how to turn the knife.

Yes, “The Bling Ring” is a morality tale, but it’s also beautifully deadpanned satire. Coppola tells the story efficiently and never stops to pat herself on the back. There’s no winking. And as usual Leslie Mann, as Nicole’s mother, is kind of a divine being sent from comedy heaven. Because she’s Judd Apatow’s real life wife Mann doesn’t get enough credit. She really is Julie Hagerty’s Hollywood younger sister. They’d be hilarious in a movie together.

Little A24 is releasing “Bling Ring.” They made a nice hit out of “Spring Breakers.” This should do even better.

At the Cannes jury press conference today, Steven Spielberg let it be known he’s happy about one thing here. No campaigning. Spielberg just came through a brutal Oscar campaign for “Lincoln” and lost. “I think the great thing is that there’s no campaigning,” Spielberg said. “We’re going to be caucus-ing and deliberating and meeting. As you know, awards season in America is like a political cycle. We had the campaign for president of the United States of America. And the campaign for the Academy Award. There’s no campaigning here and that is like a breath of fresh air for me.”

I told you exclusively about Anne Hathaway‘s next movie, “Song One,” which starts shooting in June in New York. Hathaway won’t sing, but there will be music. Her character is involved with a rocker played by real life Brit star Johnny Flynn. Jenny Lewis of Rilo Kiley has written the music. The film is co-produced by Jonathan Demme and Hathaway’s husband Adam Shulman. Kate Barker Froyland wrote the screenplay and directs.

Now comes word that the new stars of Cannes, Worldview Entertainment, will handle the money end. Worldview is the brain child of a brother and sister who are finance whizkids, and the actual kids of another financial wizard. Sarah Johnson Redlich, 53, and Bill Johnson, 50, are the adult children of Charles B. Johnson, famed founder of Franklin Templeton Investments.

Worldview — with CEO and chairman Christopher Woodrow– is suddenly becoming a major player here in Cannes. They’ve already got a bunch of films either finished or in production, many playing here or being presented including Guillame Canet’s “Blood Ties,” James Gray’s “The Immigrants,” and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Jimmy P.” all in competition.

Over the weekend, Worldview will introduce themselves with a party on a yacht put together by New York nightlife queen Amy Sacco. And then, watch out for more deals.