King of Cannes: A Journey into the Underbelly of the Movies [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I found this book randomly in my local library, and being fascinated by the film industry I decided to give it a go. So glad I did. Clever and colorful, this book details the logistics and lunacy of aspiring filmakers running the gauntlet that is Cannes. I was inspired and touched by the subjects, awed and entertained by their tenacity and turmoil, and laughing throughout. A great read for anyone even remotely interested in the movie biz.

While often amusing, documentary maker Stephen Walker's account of his attempted manipulation of a handful of filmmakers at the Cannes Film Festival is ultimately a fundamentally dishonest book. Despite making a memorable if over-directed 'Everyman' documentary on veterans of the Somme, the author proved hopelessly out of his depth when faced with an industry that failed to conform to his often facile preconceptions. Walker set out to mock a group of hopefuls trying to launch their careers for comic effect, only to be occasionally frustrated in his attempts to manoeuvre them into stereotypical situations by (most of) the filmmakers' inherent professionalism and dignity. Absurdly uninformed on his subject and held in growing contempt by his own production team, he cut one duo of filmmakers out of the programme because, to his dismay, they had a successful series of meetings, only to be blown out himself by another who turned out to be a major award winner who saw through him in moments.
While often telling stories against himself and stressing his own inadequacies as a documentarian (he makes no bones about not knowing the first thing about his subject), it's often to cover up worse transgressions. In the resulting TV documentary, 'Waiting for Harvey,' one of his 'victims' produced a video tape shot before their meeting detailing exactly how Walker was going to try to get easy laughs out of his attempts to sell his feature, hitting the nail on the head with astonishing accuracy, but whereas Walker admits to all kinds of minor offences, you'll find no mention of his unmasking here - maybe his ego couldn't handle it.

It's an easy, gossipy read, but don't mistake it for the truth.

If you're a film buff with a "Saturday Night Live" kind of humor, King of Cannes is the book for you. This lusty tale of an outrageous wannabe film maker fairly explodes with wisecracks, double entendres, and anatomical references.

Related in diary form, these are the angst loaded revelations of Stephen Walker, a British film maker who gives added meaning to neuroses and is obsessed with not only going to but making a splash at the Cannes Film Festival.

Walker wants to make it big with a documentary. He attributes this drive to his "mum," a mother who "brought him up in a house of locked doors. The downstairs loo was always locked. If my mother was in the kitchen, she'd lock the door to her bedroom."

Well, you get the picture.

Just why restricted access to the rooms in his house spawned an interest in documentaries remains unexplained.

There is much in King Of Cannes that remains unexplained, but it is often hilarious as Walker bamboozles a backer into investing cash in a proposed film. Walker's intention is to document the experiences of four unknown but ambitious film makers who will stop at nothing to succeed at Cannes. He wants "the most dangerous, the most unhinged, the most daring, the ones who kill their grannies to get their movies made or sold."

With no performers, no story and 74 days until Cannes, Walker's quest for inspiration and cast members takes him to the Berlin Film Festival, which he finds as appealing as a brick shopping center and the films shown less than interesting - bizarre but uninteresting.

Dublin's Film Festival is also unrewarding, but the pubs are warm and friendly.

Walker's road to Cannes is more than rocky, but once there he is surrounded by total lunacy. He participates in meetings that resemble The Mad Hatter's Tea Party, discovers which pavilions have free booze or gratis Ray-Bans, and finds an indescribable cast of characters. There is Zonca, a French director, the "next Truffaut," who takes ten minutes to mount the twenty-two red carpeted steps to the entrance of the Palais as he savors his "orgy of adulation."

Of course, there are Brits, such as the creative group who motor to Cannes in a van decorated with a mammoth marijuana leaf. Their hope is to find funding for a film titled "Amsterdam." Another Englishman commandeers a vacant phone booth for his office.

An Oxford graduate and film director, Walker lives in London. In reality, he has completed a documentary on Cannes, "Waiting For Harvey."

He writes, "I'm waiting for Harvey Weinstein to buy the rights so I can make the movie of the book of the movie. Who knows? Maybe I'll get to Cannes."

If he does, it is hoped that he'll keep a diary.

- Gail Cooke