The Cannes Film Festival got off to a solid start Wednesday night with the premiere of Pixar’s Up. Tilda Swinton was one of the biggest names on the red carpet, and I think we can officially say that she’s now wearing make-up for her most of red carpet appearances. Hooray! Her outfit even looked amazing, some sort of layered maroon dress/cardigan thing that looked lovely. But her hair! Oh, God, that hair. Isn’t that the haircut Marines are given? The shaved bottom half and kept longish at the top? Perhaps I think that’s a Marine cut because I see it so often on NCIS.

From what I can tell, Bollywood goddess Aishwarya Rai just came to party, considering she’s not in any of the films premiering at Cannes and she’s not a judge. She’s still one of the best dressed women thus far.

The evening gowns glittered, the red carpet was unfurled _ and the 3-D glasses were at hand as the 62nd Cannes Film Festival opened Wednesday with the soaring animated adventure “Up.”

“Up’”s delighted filmmakers from Pixar Animation joined the crowd of stars and cineastes on the red carpet in this French Riviera resort and said being invited to Cannes was a dream come true.

“We’re just a bunch of animation geeks from northern California on the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival,” said a beaming John Lasseter, Pixar’s creative maestro.

Edward Asner, who voices “Up’”s main character, did not come to Cannes. But his counterpart in the French-language version, crooner Charles Aznavour, was there.

Lacking star power from the “Up” voice cast, the biggest name on the red carpet was Academy Award-winning actress Tilda Swinton.

Inside, Roxy Music singer Bryan Ferry serenaded the crowd with a version of Aznavour’s “She,” before Aznavour declared the festival officially open.

Organizers were hoping “Up” would provide a buoyant start before the festival plunges into 12 days of movies that take in passion, murder, Korean vampires and a band of Nazi-hunters led by Brad Pitt.

Members of the jury, led by French actress Isabelle Huppert will be wrangling over which auteurs _ from a slate that includes Pedro Almodovar, Ang Lee, Quentin Tarantino and Ken Loach _ should receive Cannes’ coveted prizes. But on Wednesday, Huppert was in a gentle mood.

“I don’t think we are here to judge,” she said. “I think we are here to love films _ and to see what we love more than others.”

Huppert is one of only a handful of women ever to head the jury at the world’s most prestigious film festival. She said the numbers didn’t bother her: her predecessors _ who include Sophia Loren and Liv Ullmann _ were “women who count for a lot.”

Fellow juror Hanif Kureishi, the British screenwriter of “My Beautiful Laundrette” and “The Mother,” was more concerned with another omission.

“I’m not aware we’ve ever had a black or Asian president of the jury,” he said. “It will be interesting to see when that will occur.”

Scores of celeb-watchers waited patiently outside Cannes’ waterside film complex Wednesday, hoping for a glimpse of the stars _ any stars. Few knew who was due to arrive, but most didn’t seem to mind.

“I want to see Angelina Jolie on the red carpet,” said Corinne Besnier, who traveled hundreds of miles (kilometers) from Reims in northern France. “And Johnny Hallyday” _ the French rock star who plays a killer in Hong Kong’s director Johnnie To’s “Vengeance.”

Hundreds of brightly colored helium balloons festooned the building in honor of “Up,” the story of an old man and a young boy who float off to South America in an airborne house.

There’s weightier fare among the 20 films in competition, including Tarantino’s World War II epic “Inglourious Basterds,” with Pitt as leader of a group of Jewish soldiers hunting down Nazis.

The lineup looks strong, but festival organizers and industry attendees are apprehensive about how the global recession will affect the event. Festival director Thierry Fremaux said he expects attendance to be up slightly from last year, but Vanity Fair magazine has canceled its annual Cannes party, and some soirees are rumored to have swapped champagne for sparkling wine.

[From Huffington Post]

As HuffPo mentioned, French actress Isabelle Huppert is the jury’s president this year, taking over from last year’s president Sean Penn. In a weird twist, Robin Wright Penn is on the jury this year too. Last year, Sean said publicly that his goal was to reward and recognize political films, but Huppert has already stated her difference in opinion. She told the media that her number one rule for recognizing a film was “the importance of the humanist ambitions and esthetic intentions of movies.” So, it looks like the Nazi bloodfest of Inglourious Basterds isn’t going to make the cut!

Shown are Tilda Swinton, Elizabeth Banks, Aishwarya Rai, Robin Wright Penn, Asia Argento, and Shu Qi of “UP.” Credit: WENN.com

Barbie is getting a facelift. Sort of. In the grand recent tradition of “celebrity Barbies,” Mattel is going to introduce an Indian Barbie. They are naming her “Bollywood Barbie” and they will base her looks on Bollywood (and Hollywood) actress Aishwarya Rai. Rai may be familiar to Western audiences through her role in Pink Panther 2 and as one of the faces of L’Oreal. She’s absolutely gorgeous, with a beautiful face and figure - and she’s famous for her striking green eyes.

Bollywood superstar Aishwarya Rai is set to win the ultimate beauty accolade – a Barbie doll modeled on her celebrated face. Rai sprung to fame when she won the Miss World contest in 1994, which spawned a lucrative modelling and acting career.

She made the transition to Hollywood with starring roles in Bride and Prejudice, Mistress of Spices, The Last Legion and more recently in Pink Panther 2 alongside Steve Martin.

She became the face of L’Oréal cosmetics in 2005 and is one of only two Indian film stars to have their waxwork image displayed at Madame Tussaud’s. She formally became a member of Bollywood’s “royal family” when she married actor Abhishek Bachchan, the son of India’s most popular star Amitabh Bachchan.

Now she is set to join the ranks of Hollywood immortals and pop divas like Beyoncé Knowles, Elizabeth Taylor, and Diana Ross, who have all had “celebrity Barbies” modeled on them.

Rai’s representatives were yesterday reported to be in negotiations with the toy manufacturer as it plans to transform the iconic doll into a Bollywood star and sell it throughout India.

If successful, the new Barbie will have Miss Rai’s striking green eyes, and wear outfits created by India’s top designers.

[From The Telegraph]

Argh! They’re only doing Bollywood Barbie in India. That sucks. Aren’t there enough little girls in America and Britain who want to have a Bollywood Barbie? Or are they only supposed to idealize blond hair and vacant, dead eyes?

I will give Mattel credit for using Indian designers to create Bollywood Barbie’s clothes. That’s really cool. I wonder if Bollywood Barbie will have a sari? Will she have a removable bindi? That would be cool, but can you imagine how small that dot would have to be?

Here’s Aishwarya Rai at the Berlin Film Festival’s premiere of ‘Pink Panther 2′ on February 13th. Images thanks to WENN .

The first reviews are in for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, which had its much-anticipated premiere at Cannes yesterday, and they’re mixed. A critic for Britain’s Telegraph calls it “creaky” with bad dialog but admits that it has rollicking good special effects. The overall consensus is that it’s a lot of fun, but that the plot leaves something to be desired.

The Pirates of the Caribbean films weren’t well reviewed either, but there was plenty of action and eye candy and they sure cleaned up at the box office. The fourthIndiana Jones movie is likely to do the same.

Here’s the latest trailer. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull is out in the US and in most countries on May 22:

And here are pictures from the premiere yesterday, including Cate Blanchett, Shia LaBeouf, Natalie Portman, Salma Hayek, Harrison Ford and Calista Flockhart, Aishwarya Rai, Linda Evangelista, Billy Zane and Kelly Brook (who are probably back together) and Goldie Hawn. Cate Blanchett always looks gorgeous.

The stars were out for the opening festival at the Cannes film festival, and they sure were gorgeous. The first film to open the 12 day film festival on the Riveria is Blindness. The film by Brazilian director Fernando Meirelles is based on a 1955 novel in which an entire city goes blind after an epidemic. Julianne Moore plays one of the few people who is unaffected and retains her sight. She tries to hide it from the rest of the city as society breaks down from the effects of the change. Blindness also stars Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, and Gael García Bernal.

The 9 person jury at Cannes includes Natalie Portman and is headed by Sean Penn. Penn didn’t miss a chance to rip on US President George Bush while talking to the press at the event. It’s likely that he was asked directly about it, and he is quoted by Reuters as saying “When somebody operates without a brain and without a heart, they kill hundreds of thousands of people around the world.” I dislike Bush as much as the next person, but there are much better ways of phrasing that. It’s lame to personally attack someone in such a blunt way when you can state more compelling reasons for disliking the guy. Bush definitely has a heart and a brain, he just choses when to use them. When it involves money, they’re easily switched off and immune to suffering, death and general havok-wrecking. Reuters notes that Penn then smoked a cigarette “in defiance of French anti-smoking laws.” You would think he would be afraid of setting that ridiculous hair on fire.

Shown at the opening ceremony at Cannes are Cate Blanchett, Natalie Portman, Eva Longoria (who’s still looking pregnant to me), Rachida Brakni, Aishwarya Rai, Gillian Anderson, Sean Penn (the hair!), Julianne Moore, Gael García Bernal, Mischa Barton, Danny Glover, and Bar Rafaeli.

Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan says his wife, 1994 Miss Universe Aishwarya Rai, comes first. When I read this headline I actually thought it was referring to their sex life, and given how much trouble Richard Gere is in for kissing Shilpa Shetty, wondered if India was getting very relaxed very quickly. Turns out he meant in a much more supportive, less spicy manner.

“You always give things first to the wife, and then you have,” the actor, son of Amitabh Bachchan, said, adding that this was how marriages worked among Indians.

He also added that Aishwarya isn’t pregnant.

“That’s incorrect … there’s no such good news. When there is, I will tell you,” he said, on the sidelines of an endorsement event late on Thursday.

New Zealand Herald

This very attractive couple are being called India’s Brangelina, except I’m kinda tired of Brad and Ange. Maybe because they’re a Bollywood power couple (they don’t like the derogatory term Bollywood), but neither Abhishek or Aishwarya have divorces, knives, adoptions, lesbian affairs or any of that juicy gear in their history. Actually, maybe Bollywood’s power couple have nothing in common with Brangelina at all?

Note by Celebitchy: Aishwarya Rai and Abhishek Bachchan announced their “Unforgettable” tour in a press conference in Toronto on July 7th. The Unforgettable tour will feature Bollywood films and will tour 18 different countries. It is expected to premiere in Toronto next summer. Bachchan said “If all goes well, and God willing, we will premiere the Unforgettable Tour in the city of Toronto because we feel that it is the best city to premiere the tour in.” Thanks to Right Celebrity for the news, and WENN for the header picture.

This may fall under the “who cares” news of the day, but it’s causing a sensation amongst the Bollywood scene in India.

Even though Aishawarya Rai has been denying for months that she’s in a relationship with her Umrao Jaan co-star Abhishek Bachchan, it does not explain why Aish recently snuck away with the Bachchan family to a prominent Hindu temple. Some reports are saying the family reportedly went to see an astrologer about Aishwarya’s horoscope (it’s not good) because it’s preventing them from finding an auspicious wedding date.

Family astrologer Chandramouli Upadhyaya, who met the Bachchans last night, said while there was no discussion on the marriage, they came to Varanasi to offer prayers to overcome a problem relating to Aishwarya’s horoscope.

There have been reports that the wedding plans of the two actors were getting delayed due to a problem in Aishwarya’s horoscope.

Tripathi, however, said he was not aware why the Bachchans had performed the prayers and that there was no specific ritual undertaken to reduce the influence of Mars on them.

Making sure the horoscopes of a prospective bride and groom are compatible is very important to Hindu marriage cermonies. If the stars aren’t aligned properly for the bride and groom, it could spell disasterous for the couple. The Bachchans are saying it was just a normal religous ceremony and had nothing to do with an upcoming wedding. Either way, what we do know is that she participated in all the religous rituals as a member of the family would, leading many people to believe, perhaps they are already married.

What I’m wondering is, if Aishwarya’s horoscope was really that messed up, why didn’t she go and do this religious thing with her own family? Unless, the Bachchans ARE a part of her family, or soon to be? Clearly Aishwarya is hiding something.

In the past, Aishwarya has been quoted as saying:

“Marriage is an institution I believe in. I think it is a beautiful institution, and definitely one I’ll happily be entering whenever God defines or decides, and an announcement will be made. It is not something I’d want to keep hidden or not let be known. I’ll definitely announce it.”

The question really is WHEN will she announce it. Below are some paparazzi photos taken at the temple showing Aishwarya with Abhishek Bachchan and his family, who are the most powerful celebrity family in Bollywood. Aishwarya is wearing no makeup in these pictures, which is humbling, because I was beginning to think she looked like a made-up diva all the time. Underneath it all, she’s got under-eye circles just like the rest of us.

all photos via aishwarya-forever.com