As the first high wattage wave of stars and executive talent propelled the Cannes festival’s first weekend, TheWrap Editor-in-Chief Sharon Waxman had all the scoop from inside Saturday’s “power latenight” gathering at the Bar du Cap, while Brad, Angelina, and Sean Penn stroll the carpet here.
Across the strip from the faux Paris in Las Vegas, the Cosmopolitan of Las Vegas continued to plant an upscale flag in the desert, snagging Lauryn Hill on Friday night during her “spring glasnost” after several years of seclusion.
As a host of entertainment venues go increasingly electronic, big-name live music – like 2011 breakouts Robyn and Mumford and Sons, and Ben Harper later this year – continues to set it apart. Playing the intimate outdoor venue at the Boulevard Pool, she took the crowd through both Fugees, solo hits, and her late father-in-law Bob Marley’s catalogue at the unique outdoor spot.
I’m told that the polished property received multiple filming requests a day during the rapidly concluding TV pilot season, but that so far they have been very discrete in approvals.
In Hollywood, Nicki Minaj was also holding down a stage solo. She won over a big crowd and made a new friend in Jennifer Hudson (waiting in the wings) while rocking the Samsung Infuse 4G launch event at Milk Studios on Thursday. There were new political buddies also. Olivia Munn (now contributing to “The Daily Show”) and David Arquette took over one of the VIP tables planted down the center. Arquette showed a political side while in Washington for the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner and subsequent death of Osama bin Laden news that broke on the following day.
A few blocks away, there were also tunes coming from the newish Redbury Hotel. Grammy winner Raphael Saadiq performed a hush-hush set on
Thursday night, his birthday eve. It was a social outing of sorts for the cast from the forthcoming film “Beyond Us,” as stars Julia Stiles, Melissa George, and Taye Diggs (right with Saadiq) all came together. After getting a surprise cake at the end, Saadiq told the group, “I thought I got that one by you this year.” (Photo by Jason Strauss.)
At the Lupus LA Orange ball on Thursday honoring Paula Abdul and Debbi & Roger Cowan, all ears were ready to hear Abdul talk about her return to Simon Cowell’s side on “The X-Factor.” However, at the same time that the “Band from TV” (James Denton, Greg Grunberg, guest Teri Hatcher, and more) were playing the Beverly Wilshire ballroom, other casting news was breaking: Ashton Kutcher’s move to “Two and a Half Men.” Kutcher himself was at an anti-slavery event at the Skirball at the same time unwittingly making his public debut as a CBS “man”.
Earlier in the week, the 63rd Israel Independence Day Celebration also had to contend with breaking news. While the Consulate General of Israel prepared to honor a slate including former governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ben Silverman, and Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Schwarzenegger’s separation news dominated the day’s headlines, forcing the ex-Gov to address the issue directly from the podium. Jason Bateman presented to Silverman; the man that Schwarzenegger helped “recall” and alter replace, Governor Gray Davis, was also in the room.
