Money Monster is a collaboration between 3 Oscar winners, all of whom were in Cannes last night for the premiere. Click here to see those photos. Because this post is dedicated to the one and only Julia Roberts.
As already mentioned, it was Julia’s first Cannes. She made her first trip up those famous red steps…without shoes on. This is notable because in Cannes they have a strict dress code about women’s footwear and there was controversy last year when festival organisers turned away women in flats. So many are interpreting Julia barefooting it to be a statement about the festival’s policy which… it may have been a statement but will it really change anything?
She’s Julia Roberts. JULIA ROBERTS. What Julia Roberts is allowed is not what everyone else is allowed. I was assigned to cover Cannes for etalk several years in a row, in the press bleachers, shooting red carpet footage. Nobody was looking at me. And I got scolded for wearing sandal-flats one year. If I was there today and decided not to wear shoes, and I told the shoe police that “Julia Roberts did it last night”, you think they’d be like, “oh ok, go ahead”? F-ck no. Are you Julia Roberts? would be the question. And the answer is f-ck no.
Julia may have been sending a message about female feet but, come on, it’s Julia. And Julia was also, always, making it about JULIA. She is so reliable that way. From the feet to the flirting – it wasn’t just George she was giggling with and holding onto, it was everyone: Jodie Foster, Dominic West, when you’re around Julia, she’s going to make Julia the centre of attention by cuddling up to everyone around her. It’s a hard move to argue with. Because they’re receiving spillover attention from her, warmed in the sun, while she remains the sun, as the rest of them orbit around her.
And then, of course, the dress, as many of you have pointed out, it does evoke a memory:
It was the role that turned her into JULIA ROBERTS, a very smart choice. Because it’s familiar. It’s as familiar as that vein on her forehead that we’ve been watching for 25 years. I love that vein.
And a quick note on Danny Moder because I mentioned yesterday that I hadn’t seen him in any photos – turns out he’s in the background but he’s there, see below, in the corner:
