“It’s a shame,” a studio exec told Variety‘s Nicole Laporte and Ian Mohr in a story about the peril of screening big-studio films at the Cannes Film Festival. “Cannes is a way to get so much exposure in one weekend and accumulate good will in the media. You work for this your whole life, and then the critics make it so awful.”
I’m assuming this studio exec is referring to X3 and The Da Vinci Code, in which case this argument is ridiculous. If they don’t want to make the experience awful, they shouldn’t make the movies awful. And how dare they expect to go to Cannes — the world’s foremost celebration of art cinema — and get a free ride with their artless, mindless, pandering blockbusters. They’re trying to exploit the event’s prestige and aura of quality with products that are aggressively quality-free and, for that, they deserve to be bitch-slapped accordingly. Good work, critics!
With their recent hostility toward press of all kinds, the studios are getting more and more like the White House. They adamently believe that, if the critics don’t have anything nice to say, they shouldn’t say anything at all, which is odd because the critics don’t even appear to have any effect on the box office of these movies. In reality, I think the execs’ complaints have less to do with box office than their own egos. Their soulless enterprises generate mansions, expensive cars, and high-priced trophy wives…and that’s still not enough for them. They also want credibility and the respect of the critical establishment, which is totally absurd.
This executive seems to be confusing empty, meaningless ambition for ambition’s sake, with filmmakers who actually care about the movies they are making. Basically, this exec is saying, “I want my fantasy experience of Cannes to come true, where Cannes is at my disposal as a PR tool, but I won’t bother to understand how Cannes works or look into the history of the festival.” Cannes is known for harsh, reactionary viewings of films. Just because a film’s out of competition does not make it immune.
That said, I agree with the exec that many filmmakers work their entire lives for an experience like Cannes. Many go home hurt and disillusioned, but if a filmmaker has truly risked putting an original vision out there and has made the film they want to make, they know that Cannes is the harshest of arenas, and they should take the critics’ reaction with a grain of salt and try to understand why their vision is disliked or misunderstood. Filmmakers who are hurt by the reactions to their movies, but who ultimately believe in their visions and stand by the films they’ve made, can leave with their integrity intact and benefit from constructive criticism. Execs who aim to please everyone, but then complain when their product is inferior, should rethink their rationale for debuting a film at Cannes.
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