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Published May 18, 2015
Clooney's Darfur Millions | Naomi Campbell's Fireworks | New Line Guys
Clooney, Pals Raise Millions for Darfur
This morning on “Good Morning America,” producer Jerry Weintraub will announce how much money his new charity has raised for Darfur relief. It’s going to be in the millions and should be a fairly stunning number.
Last night, Weintraub — a favorite Hollywood survivor who produces the “Ocean’s Eleven” series for Warner Bros. — hosted a fundraiser here in Cannes on a spectacular yacht parked in Antibes Harbor. He was joined by the cast of “Ocean’s Thirteen,” which opens here tomorrow night.
George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle and Matt Damon — all partners with Weintraub in Not On Our Watch — were present, as well as Ellen Barkin, Scott Caan and Elliott Gould from the film’s cast.
I’m told OK! Magazine paid a lot of money for the exclusive rights to photos and interviews with the stars, and that the fee goes straight to the charity. Everyone wins.
Weintraub did a fine job organizing the whole thing, keeping the number of guests low and making sure paparazzi couldn’t get near the boat (I say boat, but it had many levels and something like 30 cabins!)
And, no, Angelina Jolie was not there. She was up at the Hotel du Cap, Brad Pitt told me, playing with their kids. Brad and I did talk about the movie he and Jolie produced, “A Mighty Heart,” which premiered here this week.
“We are nervous; it’s a hard sell,” he said. But that’s just a producer talking. “A Mighty Heart” deserves to be a hit and an award-winner. It’s that good.
Cheadle, by the way, told me he has finalized the plans to direct himself as jazz great Miles Davis in a biopic. Cheadle didn’t say which period of Davis’ life will be concentrated on.
“You can’t do his whole life in one movie,” he said. But the Oscar nominee knows his facts and figures — Davis’ definitive recording, “Kind of Blue,” still sells 50,000 copies a year. It was originally released on March 2, 1959.
And what of Clooney? He was wearing a tux — probably Armani — and looking a lot like Cary Grant. He can also be happy that the money raised (www.notonourwatch.com) is going straight to Darfur and that this group of Hollywood celebs is simply helping other humans in crisis. There is no ulterior motive, no cult religion or any other agenda except the saving of lives.
Naomi Campbell: Fireworks as Usual
Supermodel Naomi Campbell was in the middle of fireworks last night, but they weren’t the kind where the police are called to arrest anyone.
Campbell, looking stunning in an original dress by Azzedine Alaia, was given a fireworks show from a boat parked in the Mediterranean just off Cap d’Antibes as a birthday present from Da Grisogono jewelers to the stars.
Naomi watched the proceedings from the terrace of the Eden Roc restaurant — a triple-decked paradise adjancent to the Hotel du Cap — where Da Grisogono’s owner, Fawaz Gruosi, hosted his annual spectacular dinner at the hotel to celebrate diamonds, luxury, hedonism and excessive drinking of champagne.
It’s all very South of France, you know. Every table at the sit-down dinner — which we didn’t attend but caught up with at its conclusion — was named for a famous actress like Greta Garbo, Liza Minnelli, Goldie Hawn or Katharine Hepburn. Anna Nicole Smith and Pamela Anderson were not represented.
And that was probably just as well, since Kid Rock, Pamela’s ex-something or other, was present to DJ the post-dinner dance on the deck below. He was there with girlfriend, model May Anderson. It was only last July 29, 2006, that Kid, aka Bob Ritchie, married Pam in nearby St. Tropez. They were divorced what seemed like minutes later.
But Kid Rock is a trooper and a lot of fun (really), a nice guy who chose maybe harder rock for his DJ stint than most disco-happy Europeans were comfortable with. But many seemed unfazed, including legend Quincy Jones, who arrived with Campbell in an entourage.
There was also a hot, new, very tall and striking couple: Baby Phat designer Kimora Lee Simmons and several-time Oscar nominee Djimon Hounsou. They caused a stir, of course, as did Destiny’s Child singer Kelly Rowland, who put on a terrific full show with all her singers and dancers by the du Cap pool.
New Line Guys: All Those Nights Add Up to Knights
It’s the 40th anniversary of New Line Cinema, the company that gave us the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and "Rush Hour," among others.
This afternoon, co-chiefs Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne are going to receive the Chevaliers award from the French government for a lifetime of making movies. This is the equivalent of being knighted in Britain, only the food is a lot better.
Anyway, it’s pretty cool.
Shaye and Lynne celebrated last night by throwing a very elegant party at a lavish setting — the former Rothschild Villa, now known as the Cannes Public Library. The place was filled with fabulous people including actors Daniel Craig and Eva Green, comrades from “Casino Royale.” They co-star with Nicole Kidman in New Line’s upcoming “The Golden Compass.”
Another “GC” star, Sam Elliott, was there with his wife, the beautiful Katharine Ross. Ross is 67, has not had a drop of plastic surgery and is a testament to aging gracefully and elegantly. When you see her, “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” is playing somewhere in the background. They don’t make stars or movies like her or that — “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” that is — like that anymore.
Meanwhile at Cannes: Ivana Trump is everywhere, looking like a star. …
Potential distributors are saying they’re not sure how to market Julian Schnabel’s “Diving Bell and Butterfly.” They say the painter/director is difficult, and the subject matter is, too. Well, it’s a great, great film so someone had better figure it out. …
Beautiful Meredith Ostrom, who played Nico in “Factory Girl,” is here, and very much in demand. This girl could be big with the right management. And she’s smart. …
”Ocean's Thirteen” director Steven Soderbergh arrives today. ...
Also in town: Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell. He’s here to promote Quentin Tarantino’s "Death Proof," one half of the double feature "Grindhouse." "Death Proof" is going to be released in Europe on its own with new footage that makes it seem like a new film entirely. ...
Goldie, who just did a terrific guest day on "The View," is here lining up the financing for her first directing job. She’s going to guide herself through “Ashes to Ashes,” a comedy she co-wrote about a woman who takes her dead husband’s ashes to India for burial, and loses them.
https://www.foxnews.com/story/clooney-friends-raise-millions-for-darfur-at-cannes