By Belinda Goldsmith
CANNES, May 19 (Reuters) - Film stars come to Cannes topromote themselves and their projects - so where better tolaunch a wry documentary bemoaning the seeming dominance ofcelebrity pulling-power over content?
With parties, pitching and paparazzi already in overdrive atthe world's premier movie market, director James Toback onSunday showed "Seduced and Abandoned", the story of how he andactor Alec Baldwin talked to directors, investors and studioheads at Cannes last year to seek funding for a film with noA-list star.
They never intended to make the film, but its seeminglybankable plot about a spy and a journalist in Iraq turned out tobe no compensation for its lack of big names.
Baldwin himself was dismissed as a mere television actor,and the female star, Canada's Neve Campbell, star of the"Scream" films, was said to have little box office power.
"Money follows stars," says Toback in the documentary,acquired by Time Warner's HBO.
As well as being the world's top cinema showcase, Cannesbrings together up to 40,000 professionals to buy and sell filmsand seek funding for projects, but many of these never see afilm.
One investor tells Toback that he doesn't even read scriptsbut decides whether to back a project based on the starsinvolved, as the marketing of a movie has become more importantthan its content.
Small wonder, then, that the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio,Justin Timberlake and Emma Watson are not merely promotingfinished movies showing in the 12-day Cannes festival, but alsotaking advantage of the limelight to talk up their new projectsand seek distributors.
CELEBRITY AS SUBJECT
And Baldwin and Toback are not the only ones takingcelebrity and its occupational hazards as their subject.
Former "Baywatch" star David Hasselhoff, 60, was in townwith his 32-year-old girlfriend Hayley Robert to promote"Killing Hasselhoff", his yet-to-be-shot film about a man whohires a hitman to kill a celebrity - Hasselhoff himself - to winmoney in a bet.
Paris Hilton, never shy of publicity, attended a party forSofia Coppola's film "The Bling Ring", premiered in Cannes, inwhich she plays a cameo role as a gang of celebrity-obsessedteen burglars break into their idols' homes, including Hilton'shouse.
DiCaprio and director Martin Scorsese announced their nextmovie venture, "Silence", while Timberlake and his wife JessicaBiel held a disco-themed party for buyers of "Spinning Gold",their planned biopic of record executive Neil Bogart.
Jennifer Lawrence, who won the Oscar this year for bestactress, was working the floors with Australian actor LiamHemsworth to promote the second and third "Hunger Games" movies,which start shooting in September.
Kung Fu star Jackie Chan rolled in with China's big screendarling Fan Bingbing talking about next year's comedy actionfilm, "Skiptrace".
Elsewhere, actresses Liv Tyler, Jane Fonda and Eva Longoria,models Cindy Crawford and Cara Delevingne and pop singer and DJBoy George were among those partying and pressing flesh aroundCannes to talk up their projects, or merely using theircelebrity status to be "brand ambassadors".
Beyond promoting films and careers, Cannes does provide atleast a few occasions to put celebrity to more altruistic use.
Sharon Stone, Jessica Chastain, and Janet Jackson are all onthe guest list for Thursday's annual amfAR gala to raise moneyfor AIDS research, where the bill of performers includes ShirleyBassey and Duran Duran.
