Angelina Jolie has really rocked the sexy pregnant mom fashion at Cannes up until now. She’s usually seen in cleavage-baring long dresses with exotic prints, looking effortlessly beautiful. Earlier today she wore a black pants suit that also exuded casual chic. But somehow she decided that the best look for her big premiere was a giant gray mumu with sequins at the bustline and her hair in a fussy puff. Don’t get me wrong, I wish I looked as good on my best non-pregnant day as Angelina does here, but it just doesn’t look like her and it’s slightly off. It’s as if she let someone else style her and kind of gave in to conventional fashion wisdom for pregnant women - hide the bump, elevate the hair - instead of letting her own look shine through. And Brad is also suffering from a bit of the too-stiff look. It’s kind of nice seeing them slightly miss on the red carpet for once. Despite being richer, skinnier, more attractive, and with better accessories than I ever hope to have, they don’t look perfect for every occasion.

Angelina plays a mother searching for her lost son in the film, and she may be going for a matronly look at the Cannes premiere in honor of her character. She said that the role reminded her of her late mother, Marcheline Bertrand, who died of ovarian cancer last January:

“My mother was very passive in many ways and very, very sweet, but when it came to her children, she was a lion.

“So in many ways, Christine reminded me of my mom, and it was a way to kind of revisit my mother after her passing and spend time with her.”

[From US Weekly]

Thanks to WENN for these photos.

Pregnant with twins Angelina Jolie, 32, and screen legend and multiple Oscar-winning director, Clint Eastwood, 77, posed together for a photocall for their film The Changeling, which is in competition at the Cannes film festival and premieres there today. Angelina wore a long black pantsuit and peep toe heels with a tight shirt that showed off her pregnancy. The Changeling is set in Los Angeles in 1928 and tells the story of a mother’s quest to find her missing son. It also stars John Malkovich as an ally of Angelina’s character. It doesn’t premiere in the US until November 7, 2008, which may be an attempt to increase the film’s chances for an Oscar nomination.

Last night Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had dinner with with a group of celebrities that included Clint Eastwood, Mick Jagger, and director Brett Ratner. A waitress at the restaurant praised the group as being “super nice.”

Thanks to WENN for these photos.

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.

Former bad boy Colin Farrell has a lot of eyebrows raised in his direction over his recent extreme weight loss. He says that he did it for his role in the upcoming film Triage, and even had a passage at the ready to explain his gaunt look to reporters.

Why is Colin Farrell looking so thin? At a recent press conference in Spain, the usually fit actor stunned reporters with his appearance – not to mention what he said. “I lost weight because my role demanded it,” Farrell told reporters simply of his upcoming film, Triage. “It was all very healthy.”

The actor also referred to the Scott Anderson novel on which Triage is based, reading the sentences that inspired his dramatic weight loss: “He went to the bathroom to shave. Once his beard was gone he saw that his face had become drawn. He pressed at the hollows beneath his eyes, the pronounced nubs of his cheekbones.”

“Amen,” director Danis Tanovic followed, breaking the tension. Everyone – including Farrell – laughed. Farrell spent five weeks in Alicante, Spain, filming Triage, in which he plays a war reporter in Bosnia in the early 1990s. The actor also spoke of his great respect for war reporters “spending time in war zones to tell stories that capture the imagination – as well as for their wives and girlfriends.”

[From People]

I suppose that’s an acceptable reason for an actor, but holy cow. Talk about method acting. Farrell really took it to an extreme – his face is more than drawn. It’s gaunt. He’s also been demonstrating a bit more bizarre behavior, at least according to Page Six.

Colin Farrell may be taking his war-photographer role in “Triage” too far. The lusty leprechaun has lost so much weight for the part, he’s almost unrecognizable, and he was spotted Tuesday in New York acting loopy. “He was looking at ties in Bloomingdale’s and faking a Spanish accent to the cashier,” said our spy. “He was rail thin. One customer asked ‘Are you Colin?’ And he said, ‘Who’s that?’ in a weird fake voice and stormed off.” Farrell’s rep said “he’s in Spain shooting a film.”

[From Page Six]

Thank you so much, ever helpful Colin Farrell rep. We’re well aware he’s shooting a film in Spain. However due to a wonderful little invention called the airplane, that doesn’t mean that he can’t be in New York for a day or two. So just saying that he’s in Spain is certainly not a denial or an explanation. It’s just a wussy way of giving a “no comment.” I am totally going to spend the rest of today sitting outside of Bloomingdale’s in an attempt to spot Colin Farrell. Or a homeless drug addict. Because I could easily mistake one for the other at this point.

Picture note by Celebitchy: Header image is from Mr. Paparazzi via The Sun.

I always saw Scarlett Johansson as very glamorous – yet very down to earth – sort of starlet. To hear her in interviews, she seems intelligent and appears to have depth rarely seen by celebrities her age. But apparently those qualities don’t preclude her from being a diva. She made such exorbitant demands of her accommodations at Cannes that the studio promoting her film “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” was unable to foot the bill. Scarlett chose to stay home rather than compromise.

Scarlett Johansson was left at home in New York after a film studio refused to pay for the star’s bloated demands to attend the Cannes Film Festival to launch Woody Allen’s latest movie. The French branch of Warner Brothers Films, distributers of Vicky Cristina Barcelona in France, had spent weeks negotiating with Johansson’s representatives about flying her to Cannes.

They were willing, and happy, to pay for flights, hotel, provide a limousine, arrange for designers to show her gowns and for her to share hair and make-up designers with costars [Penelope] Cruz and [Rebecca] Hall. However, Johansson demanded her own exclusive make-up consultant at a cost of 5,000 Euros a day, which was felt a tad too much for a four day trip where looking after the star’s tresses and powdering her nose would cost a total of 20,000 Euros.

Then there was the problem over an hotel. The film’s director and his leading ladies were delighted to be staying in the centre of Cannes to make it easier for them to attend screenings, public events and to do interviews for TV and press. Johansson wanted to be at an hotel way out in the sticks, some 25 to 30 miles away.

“It was crazy. Penelope and Rebecca were going to be working very hard and it wasn’t acceptable that Scarlett would be having to come in from that distance every day, most likely turning up late and it would have thrown schedules into a lot of confusion. Also, I think, while Woody’s terribly fond of Scarlett, he was a little upset that she wasn’t being a team player”, an executive connected to the film told the Daily Mail.

[From the Daily Mail]

Keep in mind the source is the Daily Mail, and they enjoy putting a particularly pessimistic and critical spin on any story they can. Yet Scarlett wasn’t at Cannes, even though she’s widely been reported to be Woody Allen’s newest muse. That’s quite the slap in the face to him. The film did get rave reviews, and many said it was a return to form for Allen. However she has agreed to do the traditional press and promotion for the film in the U.S.

Hopefully Scarlett won’t be demanding makeup artists that cost $10,000 a day for the press junket. Woody Allen famously said Scarlett wore too much makeup. Maybe he could send her some Maybelline and tell her to suck it up.

Here’s the rest of the cast of - ‘Vicky Cristina Barcelona’ at the film’s Cannes premiere yesterday. Header of Scarlett at Elle’s ‘Women in Hollywood’ 14th annual event on 10.15.08. Images thanks to WENN.

The Cannes Film Festival is in full swing, with Kung Fu Panda still getting the bulk of the press. Not only is Angelina dominating the festivities with her pregnancy, but saturating the area with people dressed as pandas is a pretty good way to make them pay attention to your film. Apparently Cannes isn’t quite the party scene it used to be, with studios foregoing a good amount of the former lavishness.

The party scene at Cannes is morphing into something a little strange, and hugely diminished, but maybe it’s just good riddance to stupid extravagance. Rumours abound that the primary reason that Blindness scored the opening night gala spot is because Telefilm Canada and other key sponsors were willing to fund the opening night party. There was a lavish dinner at the Carlton Hotel and a funky, late-night fete at the Carlton beach that was populated mostly with Canadians and the French.

The even less desirable closing night position on May 25th falls to Barry Levinson’s little regarded Hollywood comedy What Just Happened? This is a film that was apparently far from the first choice. But its backers agreed to shell out for the party. Hence it gets the out-of-competition closing spot.

Meanwhile, Paramount Pictures is keeping things low-key for the aftermath of Sunday’s premiere of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Variety reported that there will be a filmmakers get-together of just 250 — small by Cannes standards — with no media invited. The theory is that the Indy folks are trying to avoid the Da Vinci Code fate, when critics trashed the film, then celebrated, ruining Ron Howard’s red carpet and the after-party.

[From the Winnipeg Sun]

One of the biggest reasons everyone wants to go to Cannes (versus most of the other film festivals) are the prolific parties. Wait, isn’t it because Cannes is more prestigious? Well apparently it’s more prestigious because of all the parties.

Here are photos from days two and three of the Cannes Film Festival. Anne Consigny, Catherine Deneuve, Chiara Mastroianni and Emanuelle Devos; Sean Penn and Bono; Petra Nemcova; Jean-Claude Van Damme; Phoebe Price; Natalie Imbruglia; Rachael Leigh Cook and Daniel Gillies; and George Lucas. Images thanks to WENN.

Those of you hoping and praying that Tom Cruise’s mentally unbalanced antics would lead to his eventual banishment from Hollywood are going to be sorely disappointed. It seems that Tom’s temporary time in the naughty corner is over, and he’s back to big budget films again. He’s been cast in director Phillip Noyce upcoming film “28th Amendment.”

I hadn’t heard of Phillip Noyce and was hoping he was some crap-ass nobody, but he’s the guy who directed “Clear and Present Danger”, “Patriot Games”, and “The Quiet American.” So I think we can rest assured that this is no “Mousehunt” – the kind of film Cruise should be relegated to.

Tom Cruise is many things to many people. A prominent and upstanding member of the community to Scientologists, a completely overrated actor whose personality has veered towards the dangerously crazy to everyone else. Ok, so maybe just two things to two groups of people. One thing he definitely IS is a type-a personality. He’s a guy who likes to be top dog. Never has this become more blindingly clear than in his new film, The 28th Amendment where Tommy plays the President of the United States of America.

President Cruise. Seems eerie when you say it out loud, doesn’t it? Tales to frighten children with… “Did I ever tell you kids about the legend of President Cruise?”

*Aiiiieeeeeee!!!* The most horrifying thought ever

Cruise will play President Ben Cahill who is apparently the last person in the whole world to discover that the government is actually run from behind the scenes by a secret organization. Denzel Washington plays the head of the secret group.

[From Spill.com via ONTD]

Spill points out that it sounds like it could be a decent film, given the director and other cast members, but that it’ll be hard to guess if audiences can really enjoy it, given the presence of the tiny manic monster. I do find it hard to separate Tom Cruise the person from whatever character he’s playing anymore. When you watch a film, you want to totally forget that whoever you’re seeing is anyone other than their character. With Tom, you still sense the crazy bubbling up. You can really only temper that level of insanity so much. At some point you’re just sitting there waiting for him to jump on the president’s desk, throw all the papers in the air, and start tap dancing or something.

Here’s Tom and Katie at the “LACMA” Opening celebration on February 9th. Images thanks to WENN.

Sarah Jessica Parker looked a bit more refined and less Carrie-esque at the premiere of Sex and The City at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. She wore a nude-colored strapless gown with subtle ribbon detail at the top that looks familiar. (If a fashion-minded reader can remind me who wore a similar dress, probably in a darker color, I would appreciate it.) Cynthia Nixon stunned with sleek hair and a flowing black v-neck gown. Kristin Davis was in a deep green 40s style dress with a full knee-length skirt and Kim Cattrall wore a orange colored number with an odd patchwork of fabric pieces that didn’t flatter her.

Berlin’s Morgenpost (article is in German) noted that the four actress spent more then an hour on the pink carpet, and each arrived ten minutes apart. They are staying in four suites on different floors at the best hotel in Berlin, The Hotel Adlon, and arrived yesterday in ten white limos.

Thanks to WENN for these photos.

The first review for the Sex and The City movie is out, and without revealing any spoilers, journalist Will Pavia of the Times Online says he doesn’t get what the hype is all about and that it’s just like the series, except it’s 2 hours and 20 minutes of it. The guy admits that the women in the theater were hooping and hollering, though, and ate up every scene. Despite his reservations, it sounds like it’s going to be a hit:

There may be a problem with characters who shop with such conviction while the audience looks up from the trough of a credit crunch.

There may be a problem with stretching Sex and the City into a two hour and twenty minute film - it can feel like a never ending dinner party: however pleasant the courses, after a while you can hardly eat another one.

None of these problems seemed apparent to the women who sat around me in the cinema in Leicester Square, laughing and weeping in quick succession. After a while I began to reason like one of the characters: maybe the problem was me.

[From Times Online via We Smirch]

The London Times should have sent a woman there, because middle aged guys are not the ones who are going to see this film unless they’re in trouble with their wives/girlfriends/older daughters and need to put in some chick flick time to make amends.

If the audience was crying and screaming, it must have been pretty good. It takes more than star power and a premiere to impress a theater full of moviegoers. And what did this guy expect, something completely different from the series? People want more of Carrie and the gang, and it seems like it really delivers. We’ll have to see what the rest of the reviewers say. I bet it gets at least a 75% on Rotten Tomatoes once it’s out in the states. What matters more is the box office, though, and this film is probably going to clean up.

Here are stills from the film and posters, thanks to AllMoviePhoto, which may have mild spoilers.

The stars of the Sex and The City movie were out for the London premiere tonight. People Magazine notes that the eye-catching contraption on Sarah Jessica Parker’s head is a Philip Treacy hat. Treacy is an Irish designer known for his hat sculptures. She is wearing an Alexander McQueen gown that’s a little too prom-looking, and what’s up with those shoes? The outfit might work with neutral shoes that draw the eyes up. She’s not going for subtlety.

I’m not really fond of any of the other dresses. Kim Catrall’s gown is a pretty cut, but the fabric is very thick and I don’t like the way it flares at the bottom. Cynthia Nixon’s gown is lovely but too low cut and Kristin Davis’ dress is a little matronly, but is probably my favorite.

The Sex and The City movie will be out in the US on May 30th.