US News

Franceypants at Cannes

DUALLY NOTED: Singers Florence Welch (left) and Lana Del Rey, who both have songs in “Gatsby,” arrive in style for the fest.

DUALLY NOTED: Singers Florence Welch (left) and Lana Del Rey, who both have songs in “Gatsby,” arrive in style for the fest. (WireImage)

(Getty Images)

(
)

Driving rain and dancing flappers greeted crowds yesterday at the Cannes Film Festival in France, where Leonardo DiCaprio and his “Great Gatsby” co-stars were showered with applause.

DiCaprio officially opened the glitzy 12-day bash, even as critics on both sides of the Atlantic were mixed about the latest take on the Roaring ’20s classic.

DiCaprio, who stars as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s enigmatic millionaire Jay Gatsby, also led fellow cast members Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire for a photo op ahead of the opening of the French Riviera festival.

Among the stars who dazzled on the red carpet was actress Nicole Kidman, who sashayed in wearing an an off-white gown embroidered with spring flowers.

“I’m going to blow away,” Kidman quipped as her dress billowed in the wind. “I feel like Mary Poppins.”

Kidman is part of a nine-member judging panel that will decide which of 20 featured films will win the Palme d’Or for best picture.

“Gatsby” is not in the competition.

The panel is led by director Steven Spielberg, who received a standing ovation. “I expect to be surprised, I expect to be moved,” Spielberg said, referring to the 20 movies vying for awards presented on May 26.

Others on the panel include director Ang Lee and actor Christoph Waltz.

Among the most anticipated films at the festival is “Behind the Candelabra,” a Liberace biopic directed by Steven Soderbergh, 50, who has announced his retirement. The film, which stars Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, came close to being shelved because it was “too gay,” Soderbergh said.

Other big names in competition include Joel and Ethan
Coen, with “Inside Llewyn Davis,” and Roman Polanski, with “Venus in Fur.”

The opening ceremony also drew actresses Isla Fisher and Julianne Moore
and model Cindy Crawford.