Alec Baldwin has apologized to Harvey Weinstein for bad-mouthing the indie mogul at the Cannes Film Festival.
Baldwin also opted not to appear onstage at Thursday night's amfAR gala in Cannes, out of concern that his public disagreement with Weinstein could be a distraction, individuals close to Baldwin and Weinstein told TheWrap.
Baldwin and Weinstein were among the several co-chairs of the glitzy "Cinema Against AIDS" party and celebrity auction, which traditionally closes out the big parties at the festival. Reports that Baldwin was going to emcee the auction were erroneous, but he was slated to appear onstage with another co-chair, Heidi Klum, for a segment of the show.
But according to Baldwin spokesman Matthew Hiltzik, the actor (left, arriving at amfAR with Hilaria Thomas) opted out of those duties and apologized to Weinstein for a tirade he'd made against the Weinstein Company chief at another Cannes party a week earlier.
Baldwin had been in Cannes for the entire run of the festival, shooting a documentary with director James Toback. The film, "Seduced and Abandoned," reportedly follows the two men as they attempt to get financing for another film; they shot scenes with a number of notable film-industry figures, including Martin Scorsese, and had reportedly had commitments from Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski and Bernando Bertolucci.
Early in the festival, Toback told the Hollywood Reporter that he and Baldwin planned to "aggressively solicit billionaires" at the amfAR gala, among other places.
But Weinstein had declined to be included, angering Baldwin. At a Calvin Klein/IFC party on May 17, Baldwin reportedly blasted Weinstein publicly, though accounts differ as to whether he called the exec "a douchebag" or "an asshole."
The tension between the two men led to Baldwin's withdrawal from his amfAR appearance, amid widespread speculation that it had been engineered by Weinstein. "You got these two guys who are a lot alike, except that one is Jewish and one is Irish," producer and gala attendee Edward Bass, who worked with Baldwin last year, told TheWrap at the event.
According to Hiltzik and the Weinstein Company's David Glasser, the two men resolved their differences before the gala — and when they arrived there, Baldwin apologized to Weinstein verbally and also gave him a note that read, "HW, my apology to you and congratulations on a successful event."
"Alec couldn't have been more gracious. We all lose our tempers sometime; trust me I have, too." Weinstein said in a statement." We all appreciated his generosity to everyone at amfAR." Weinstein appeared onstage during the gala with Brett Ratner (above).
Baldwin, who attended with his fiancée Hilaria Thomas, stayed for most of the show but left the gala before Weinstein did. His failure to take the stage confused many of those in attendance, who'd thought he was going to participate in or even host the show.
One guest, "Seduced and Abandoned" producer Michael Mailer, blamed Weinstein for Baldwin's non-appearance onstage. "I don't know what Harvey was thinking," he said to TheWrap. "They would have pulled another half mlllion to put on the table if Alec had been up there."
The event raised $11 million for AIDS research.
Additional reporting by Dana Kennedy
