George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and other members of the all-star caper Ocean’s Thirteen made off with millions at Cannes ahead of the movie’s red-carpet premiere on Thursday.
The A-list cast raised $9,2-million at an exclusive charity bash on a yacht off this Riviera resort overnight for Sudanese uprooted by the savage conflict in Darfur.
Late on Thursday, they were to don tuxedos for the premiere of Ocean’s Thirteen, the third in a series of heist films directed by Steven Soderbergh in the mould of the ”rat pack” movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
The feature — to be released worldwide next month — was one of the most highly awaited entries in the official festival line-up, even though it was not in the race for the Palme d’Or prize. As well as Clooney, Pitt and Damon, the movie stars Al Pacino, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Ellen Barkin.
It follows Danny Ocean (Clooney) and his team of hustlers as they knock over in spectacular fashion a Las Vegas casino run by Pacino’s ruthless character. Played mainly for laughs, it features many inside jokes, as when Pitt’s character advises Ocean to try to keep trim (a reference to Clooney’s overweight role in Syriana), and Ocean shoots back that Pitt should ”settle down, have a couple of kids” (as he has, with girlfriend Angelina Jolie).
Jolie and Pitt have already been in Cannes for several days, promoting the in-competition A Mighty Heart. The movie, a true story about the widow of murdered Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, stars Jolie and is co-produced by Pitt.
Speculation was rife that Hollywood’s hottest couple would again walk the red carpet together for Ocean’s Thirteen, sending the gathered photographers into a frenzy of flashes.
The Darfur fund-raising and Jolie’s Oscar-ready performance in A Mighty Heart seemed to represent a trend at Cannes this year of Hollywood stars putting their celebrity on the line for worthy causes.
Late on Tuesday, Sharon Stone led another charity gala here, raising more than $7-million for Aids research. Leonardo DiCaprio was also at Cannes drumming up publicity for his ”green” documentary The 11th Hour, about the environmental damage being wrought by man.
The rush to commit to serious subjects went some way to crowding out Michael Moore, who this year presented his new documentary, Sicko, in an out-of-competition screening. — Sapa-AFP