Breaking Baz: Moments Of Time With Harrison Ford In Cannes; Stumbling Into A Party With Leonardo DiCaprio
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James Stewart once remarked that if you’re any good as a movie actor then audiences will follow you because what you’re doing is giving them “little moments of time that they’ll never forget.”
That’s generally true. In fact, my moviegoing philosophy is based on the conversation Stewart had with Peter Bogdanovich eons ago that elicited that quote. I seek the little moments that will stay with me, even in bad movies.
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It came to mind as Thierry Fremaux hailed Harrison Ford as one of the greatest film actors in screen history during a tribute at the Cannes Film Festival ahead of the world premiere of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.
The festival presented a reel of Ford’s greatest hits and, in an instant, I was a teenager again queuing up at the Richmond Odeon to see American Graffiti. A year later it was The Conversation though I hadn’t known Ford was in it — my interest was in Gene Hackman. And how smug were we who snagged invites to the press showing of Star Wars. I worked a week of night shifts at the Fleet Street News Agency enabling me time off to attend the screening.
And we were off on the roller-coaster ride that is Harrison Ford’s career.
Force 10 from Navarone, Apocalypse Now, more Star Wars, and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark. That latter was press-screened to a lucky audience of 1,000 on a Sunday morning. How we lapped it up.
On Thursday, hours before Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny unspooled at the Palais, Ty Young, a second-year student at the University of Georgia studying entertainment and media, and a bunch of his pals, were in line hoping for last-minute tickets to the gala. He was in a tux and one of his friends wore an ancient Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark t-shirt. It was their first time visiting Cannes.
I gave Ty my Deadline business card and asked him to let me know how he and his group got on.
They were lucky to get tickets for the movie though several people cheated and cut in line. After navigating a mob on entry, they got to see the picture, which Ty said was a “great experience.” He didn’t tell me whether it was any good or not, and that didn’t matter. He had an experience that he’ll never forget.
And sometimes we journalists take for granted the access that we have to these events. I try not to. I too had a great time at the new Indiana Jones film. It’s a big, old-fashioned Hollywood blockbuster that you have to see on a giant cinema screen. A little bloated here and there, and occasionally incomprehensible, but, for me, the Jimmy Stewart maxim kicked in and I had moments of time I’ll never forget.
That’s absolutely all down to Harrison Ford. He has gravitas. A studio executive sitting in the row behind me observed that Ford knows “his sweet spot.”
I asked the man to explain that to me.
“Harrison knows what he’s good at, he knows what he’s comfortable doing; you know, the kind of characters that work for him. For instance, The Fugitive, that worked for him. The Indiana Jones movies, the Star Wars pictures. Blade Runner! Working Girl. He generally gets it right in terms of what works and now he’s got this extraordinary body of work and a lot of it, not all of it, has stood the test of time,” the exec told me.
As the credits rolled for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, I jumped outta my seat and raced to where Ford and all the dignitaries were sitting. I watched Ford as his director James Mangold gushed about working with him. His lips trembled and he struggled to hold back tears.
I was moved too too as I thought of all those moments of time I’ve spent with Ford at the movies.
Disney titan Bob Iger looked moved as well.
“Are you happy, Bob?” I asked. He nodded in the affirmative.
A very happy Bob Iger after #IndianaJones premiere at #Cannes2023 pic.twitter.com/J8YQ7kJFHb
— Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) May 18, 2023
I caught up with Iger at the after-party at the Carlton Beach and he still felt happy. I asked if I could snap a photo of him looking happy and he nodded approval, but first, he agreed for someone else to take a photo of him with Karlie Kloss. “What’s more important than having your photo taken with a beautiful woman,” he joked.
Saved At The Hotel Du Cap
I hopped into a cab outside the Carlton and scooted off to the Hotel du Cap, as you do, for the Women’s Stories Gala hosted by the Red Sea International Film Festival and Vanity Fair Europe.
The party at the hotel’s fabled Eden Roc pool deck and bar was winding down but, hey, there’s Leonardo DiCaprio and Toby Maguire, Eva Herzigova, Gurinder Chadha, Paul Mayeda Berges and emerging talent Fatima AlBanawi, Sara Ali Khan, Mila Al Zahrani, Tara Emad and Razane Jammal and Jade Osiberu.
I always laugh when I see Leo out and about trying to hide behind a baseball cap. It’s funny because the cap and all that palaver makes him stand out.
RELATED: Vanity Fair & Red Sea Film Festival’s Women’s Stories Gala Cannes After Party – Photo Gallery
Back in the day, Eddie Murphy would complain about crowds following him when he was out on the town accompanied by half a dozen bodyguards, all of them wearing sunglasses. I told him it’s hardly surprising you’re being pursued when you and your posse are parading around town in aviator Ray-Bans! Dustin Hoffman told me: “Hide in plain sight as you are, you’re harder to spot.”
People at the party were having a good time. The DJ was blasting out some danceable tracks.
The level above the pool has some steps that are fine by day but perilous at night if you misjudge your footing. I did and stumbled. Desperate to save the face (such vanity!), I sort of pivoted as I fell and my right hand and buttocks took the weight.
To my utter surprise, the young women who’d been dancing plus some dudes I’d taken for rich lay-about types rushed to my aid and helped me up. Along with two of my colleagues, I was ushered to a seat.
Someone offered to get me a vodka which I declined. Though I did have a cranberry and grapefruit, my drink of choice, along with tea, I pointedly hasten to add! A big thank-you to those who saved the face.
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