The head of the new Cannes jury this May is…Steven Spielberg. It’s sort of amazing after four decades of blockbusters, Oscar nominees, and “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg is finally coming to the Croisette.  In announcing the appointment, Thierry Fremaux says the director of “Lincoln” actually accepted two years ago. But he’s always so busy! So what happened? “Robopocalypse” got pulled off its schedule for a new script. Spielberg has time on his hands. So we lucked out. Now a jury must be organized. It will be interesting to see who Spielberg picks to help him look at all those movies.

From the press release:

“Steven Spielberg accepted in principle two years ago”, declared Thierry Frémaux, General Delegate of the Festival. “He was able to make himself available this year to be the new Jury President and when meeting him these last few weeks it has been obvious he’s excited about the job. Because of his films, and the many causes he holds dear, he’s year-in year-out the equal of the very greatest Hollywood filmmakers. We are very proud to count him among us.”

“The memory of my first Cannes Film Festival, nearly 31 years ago with the debut of E.T., is still one of the most vibrant memories of my career, Spielberg goes on. For over six decades, Cannes has served as a platform for extraordinary films to be discovered and introduced to the world for the first time. It is an honor and a privilege to preside over the jury of a festival that proves, again and again, that cinema is the language of the world.”

I like Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, but their personal foundation has always bewildered me. It’s hard to say what the purpose of it is, especially since they started a school in Calabasas, California that teaches, among other things, Scientology curriculum. Their personal foundation gives nothing to the school.

But every year they  give a lot of money to Yesha Ministries of Philadelphia, an evangelical Christian church with strong ties to the black community.

Altogether, they gave away $411,020 in 2011. The Smiths’ biggest donee was Yesha, for $100,000. But then, strategically, they still manage to spread around a few dollars to Hollywood leaders’ favorite charities and funds. For example, Will and Jada gave $25,000 to the Simon Wiesenthal Center and $10,000 to Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation. They even gave a nod to The Friends of Yitzak Rabin ($250).

The Smiths gave $1,000 to a Scientology fund, thus taking care of Tom Cruise. It’s a steep drop from their initial checks to the cult back in the mid 2000s.

I give a lot of credit to the Smiths for how they spread the money around. The total is a lot of money. And even thought we think of movie stars as having zillions of dollars, Will hasn’t released a blockbuster in several years. Not that the Smiths are hurting for funds. But that they thought this out so carefully speaks volumes about them- -even if you don’t agree with all their choices.

They are loyal to charities in the Baltimore-Philadelphia area. They support black causes, and those in the arts–like $25,000 to Debbie Allen’s vital dance academy and $10,000 to the Tyler Perry Foundation. And they are really into education: money to Harvard Foundation and a bunch of smaller groups.

There’s also no bloat. The Smiths pay Jada’s aunt, Karen Evans, $68,000 as administrator–and the sole employee. Evans suffers from Lupus, so donations are made to fight that disease. But otherwise expenses are small– they only paid $400 in legal fees in 2011.

Now that everyone has cut the Oscar show into little pieces, let me weigh in. I was at the head of the red carpet for the pre-show, in the audience and enjoying the new Dolby Bar so my perspective is different. I didn’t watch the show on a TV until tonight, when I finally got to replay it. But I’ve sat through almost 20 Oscar shows, and I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff– from Eddie Murphy’s abrupt departure when he lost, to Bill Murray trying to outplay Sean Penn, to James Franco and Anne Hathaway’s hodgepodge that went so badly.

Sunday’s show, I thought, was the most entertaining, best organized ever. It was as if Craig Zadan and Neil Meron rolled the Grammys and the Tonys into the Oscars and came up with the ultimate awards broadcast. The only thing that didn’t really work was the James Bond celebration–no Bonds. Very strange. But the producers knew that — and Shirley Bassey was simply spectacular. Her voice reverberated through that crazy auditorium with stunning drama. What a pleasure.

The other musical numbers were each spectacularly successful. Jennifer Hudson, I think, is not even close yet to being as big a star as she will be. The “Les Miserables” segment was mesmerizing– and my two picks to click from that movie, Samantha Barks and Aaron Tveit, exceeded all expectations. Adele and Barbra Streisand were each so exquisite, it’s sort of amazing that they — and all these other people- were on one stage.

What about Seth MacFarlane? Considering how subversive his humor is, I was surprised how much he was trying to be Bob Hope. He also has a very good singing voice. Some of the material was way off base– Mark Wahlberg and Ted were off base (who came up with that?) and the “Boob” song was not to everyone’s taste. But Oscar shows are full of cringe-worthy moments. These were no worse than ones in the past.

There’s a new crew at the Academy– Hawk Koch, Dawn Hudson, Christina Kounelias and Jasmine Madatian. They worked like dogs for months, and turned the whole Oscar experience into something modern and lively. I loved it, and so did the audience. The ratings were up, which was the payoff. And Michael Douglas said something to us at the Vanity Fair party that kind of summed it up. He remarked: “Some of the people who’ve never been here before, like the foreign film nominees, told me they were surprised how warm the show was. That we’re like a family.”

Douglas was right. It came across. Bravo.

PS Everyone sang live. Quite an accomplishment. Watch the videos. Crazy good. Lisa Kasteller, Jennifer Hudson’s publicist, was kind of agog later. She said she’d been in the wings with Jennifer– “And then she just went out and sang like that. It was amazing. Like it was nothing.” And the audience went nuts.

One more thing: maybe all the snarky stuff is because for once the dresses were all hits. Our favorites in person: Jane Fonda– hands down the best–followed by Jennifer Lawrence, Jennifer Garner, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, and Salma Hayek.

And best tuxedos? Both Daniel Day Lewis and Alan Arkin were cleaned up and put in smashing penguin suits by hot New York menswear designer Domenico Vacca. His regular suits, ties, and shirts are much desired, and very, very ‘in.’

“SealTeam Six” and “Zero Dark Thirty” each told different perspectives on the killing of Osama bin Laden. Now I am told by sources that there is a film deal moving forward for Phil Bronstein’s cover story in Esquire about the man directly responsible for ridding the world of Osama bin Laden. The saga of the unidentified shooter– the man who actually carried out the killing of bin Laden–has made headlines.

In Esquire, “The Shooter”– one of the famed Navy Seal Team Six– claims that he returned to the US to find he would have no insurance or other benefits. This was in part due to his own early retirement. His real name is not revealed.

But the story took off like wildfire. My sources say a production company called Zulu 7 have secured the rights to Bronstein’s work. They’ve also signed the rights to the life story of  The Shooter himself. The Shooter can’t be reached, and the Zulu 7 principals– Paul Bernard and “A.K. Waters”–declined comment. Interestingly, Waters may be a pseudonym for someone with deep background connections. “AK Waters” was the name of Bruce Willis’s Special Ops commander in the 2003 film “Tears of the Sun.”

If the saga of “The Shooter” goes into acceptable script form, you can only imagine the directors and actors fighting to make this movie. So stay tuned. “Zero Dark Thirty” has been a hit at the box office with a female protagonist. But “The Shooter” will be quite a different story– and more poignant as it will flesh out a backstory for this man and his family.

Who should play the Shooter? Willis himself maybe? Woody Harrelson? Jeremy Renner? Justin Bieber?