Amitabh Bachchan, DiCaprio declare Cannes Film Festival open

Cannes: The Cannes Film Festival got off to a blockbuster, if stormy start, as Baz Luhrmann's 'The Great Gatsby' opened on a soggy French Riviera. Amid heavy rain, dancing flappers flocked down the Cannes red carpet on Wednesday night, bringing a touch of the Jazz Age to the Croisette. 'Gatsby' stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire helped give the festival's opening day a strong dose of star power. At the opening ceremony, DiCaprio, joined by his 'Gatsby' co-star, Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan, declared the 66th Cannes officially begun.

Over the next 12 days, dozens of the world's most artistically ambitious films will premiere on Cannes' global stage. But Wednesday was a day for blockbusters both the big-budget 'Gatsby' and Hollywood's most accomplished director of spectacle: Steven Spielberg. Spielberg is serving as jury president at this year's Cannes. His presence here is a rarity (he's had films at Cannes before, including 'E.T.' and 'Sugarland Express', but never had a movie in competition), and he was received like a visiting head of state, a king of cinema.

The 'Lincoln' director received a standing ovation at the opening ceremony and was serenaded with a performance of 'Miss Celie's Blues' from his 1985 film, 'The Color Purple'. He heads the jury that will decide the prestigious Palme d'Or, given to one of the 20 competing films, with entries ranging from the Coen brothers ('Llewyn Davis'), Alexander Payne ('Nebraska') and Steven Soderbergh ('Behind the Candelabra'). This year's jury is an intimidating, starry bunch, including Nicole Kidman, Ang Lee and Christoph Waltz. "Everyone sits in judgment of us," Spielberg said. "So it's our turn."

Luhrmann's 3-D adaption of F Scott Fitzgerald's novel, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, is this year's festival opener, a choice that surprised many since the film opened last week in North America. Cannes typically takes precedence over release schedules, but 'Gatsby' sails to the Croisette after a robust weekend haul of $51.1 million. 'Gatsby' plays out of competition at the festival, but Spielberg should have his hands full with a slate lacking any obvious favorite. Internationally-respected filmmakers like Roman Polanski ('Venus in Fur'), Asghar Farhadi ('The Past') and Jim Jarmusch ('Only Lovers Left Alive') are to premiere their films in competition.

Every year, the Cannes jury president is psychoanalysed to help predict the Palme d'Or winner. This year is no different, with onlookers guessing that Spielberg will either gravitate toward the kind of warm-hearted films he's best known for, or seek to deliberately contradict that assumption with a more audacious choice. The international jury also includes Romanian director Cristian Mungiu, Scottish filmmaker Lynne Ramsay, Japanese director Naomi Kawase, French actor Daniel Auteuil and Bollywood star Vidya Balan.

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