Cannes Man (1997)

Cannes Man: Directed by Richard Martini. With François Petit, Robert Hockley, Luana Anders, Jack Ong. The Cannes Film Festival. It’s where deals get made, producers get laid, and stars get paid. It’s where all the movie industry meets to buy and sell all the movies on the planet. And it’s where the art of the deal can be filled with more laughs than the deal itself. Sy Lerner is the quintessential movie producer, when he makes a bet that he can take any kid off the street and turn him into a superstar overnight using the universal language of the festival: hype. He meets Frank Rhinoslavsky and turns him into ‘Frank Rhino, one of the hottest screenwriters to hit Cannes since Faulkner and Hemingway.’ It’s not long before celebrities and producers are lining up to meet this hot young star. Dennis Hopper, Treat Williams, Johnny Depp, John Malkovich and more, all want to meet the ‘next Quentin Tarantino.’ Sy charms them with his own particular blend of hype and substance, and by the end of the festival, has lined up one of the great casts of all time. But Sy Lerner still has a few tricks up his sleeve for his wife, Frank Rhino and the myriad of people that have invested in this nonexistent, non-scripted film. He drops dead. And all the money the invested in his film goes up in smoke. But in the end, Sy Lerner has pulled the ultimate con, making him truly the one and only, ‘Cannes Man.’

“Call it a parody or a mockumentary. It reminds me a lot of Trading Places. Two old farts: Sy Lerner (Seymour Cassell) and his buddy (Jim Stark) bet that Sy canu0026#39;t make a star out of anybody. Frank (Francesco Quinn) just delivered some goods to Lloyd Kaufman and was just roaming around when the friend picked him for Sy to develop. All Frank had to do was smile and look good, an Sy did all the work.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe action takes place at Cannes, so there are stars and producers and directors aplenty around, and Sy is conning them all. The nice thing is that it is Cannes and there is plenty to see other than stars. There are legs all over the place.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe bet is over on the last day of Cannes, and Frank doesnu0026#39;t get it. He was just a pawn. heu0026#39;s a loser.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eO, well, It is another movie on the way to seeing all of Johnny Deps, and there is a nice pair in the middle.”