Kristen Stewart: Cannes in a new way?

The Cannes Film Festival will announce its upcoming lineup on Thursday and there’s been speculation for weeks over which films might be featured. Cannes is always a spectacle, it’s never low on hype, but given what happened last year on the Croisette, the anticipation for 2025 is even higher than usual. 

Because remember, Anora, Emilia Pérez, The Substance, and Flow all premiered in Cannes. And award season is still fresh enough in our minds for us to remember how those films capitalised on their momentum from the festival all the way to the Oscars. Cannes, then, definitely had it over Venice and Toronto in 2024 – and for those of you asking, of course the festivals are competitive about this. The French festival, in particular, loves to be smug about it. 

Everyone wants to be accepted at Cannes, more so than ever. Which is why Deadline has described it as “a nervous waiting game”, even for big name celebrities who are trying to get to Cannes for the first time in a new way. These are people who’ve been, but in a different capacity. 

Like Scarlett Johansson – as an actor? Of course she’s been at the Palais. But as a director? Her feature film directorial debut, Eleanor The Great, starring June Squibb, has been submitted for consideration. Impressively, Harris Dickinson, who just broke out in Babygirl in 2024, has also submitted his first feature as a director; the film is called Urchin. 

And then there’s Kristen Stewart, also with her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water – the trades are predicting that she’ll be invited to present at Cannes but, again, now that we’re over a year out of the strikes, so many films are hoping for inclusion and there are more projects than there are slots. Will be interesting to see what the Cannes final lineup will be on Thursday and whether or not these well-known names in front of the camera can make the cut behind the camera too. Here’s KStew out and about in LA this weekend. 

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What else happened today…

The Breakthrough Awards happened over the weekend and the guest list was kinda like the Oscars – multiple Oscar winners in attendance – plus billionaires. There were multiple billionaires aka villains in attendance too. Gwyneth Paltrow, Oscar winner, is considered a villain by many, lol, and she showed up in a white Donna Karan dress from 2015. I’ve seen a few fashion critics, including the Fug Girls, criticise the way she’s wearing her hair. Which is funny to me because she normally wears it flat-ironed and I hate it so I appreciate that she tired something different, although it looks like she did it herself, as in amateurly because no professional would have left those iron lines visible. (Go Fug Yourself)

Maybe one of the reasons there were so many celebrities at the Breakthrough Awards is because the scientists who discovered and developed the hormone that’s used in Ozempic and Wegovy etc were honoured. I’m joking. About the celebrities, not the honour. A Canadian scientist, btw, was among them – Dr Daniel Drucker, University of Toronto. Meanwhile, people on Reddit are talking about scientific achievements that have been underrated. (Pajiba)

The Emancipation of Mimi turns 20 next week – even though Mariah Carey does not acknowledge time. This album must be acknowledged though, and Dominique Fluker pays it the tribute it deserves. (Refinery 29)

I know I’m a couple of weeks behind on this due to travel but I finally finished Adolescence this weekend and, like everybody else, wanted to read everything I could about the production and how people are reacting to it. Of course some of that reaction is gross. Like, ugh, the racism. Here is Estelle Uba’s excellent piece for Unbothered about how some people are willfully missing the point and why this should not be a distraction from the point. (Refinery 29)

Paige Bueckers finally has her title. So it’s worth revisiting this piece at The Ringer from last October, “The Evolution of Paige Bueckers” before enjoying this most recent one, “The Vindication of Paige Bueckers”. I f-cking love her and I can’t wait to watch her have her moment at the WNBA Draft. I also can’t wait to see what she wears! (The Ringer)