Chaos at Cannes After 'Unacceptable' Mishap at Pedro Almodóvar Screening Sparks Riot
It seems Cannes just can't keep it together. After causing a stir by welcoming back Johnny Depp, hundreds of Cannes Film Festival festivalgoers were reportedly turned away from seeing director Pedro Almodóvar's short film "Strange Way of Life."
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, it was only the first day of the festival and things seem to have gotten a bit chaotic at the Almodóvar premiere.
Ticket holders for the 3 p.m. event were told to arrive by 2:25 p.m. for the premiere and a special 'rendezvous' with the filmmaker. "But around 3:30 p.m., security officials notified the considerable number of people who were still waiting in line — including Los Angeles Times film critic Justin Chang, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang and two Hollywood Reporter journalists — that the theater was at capacity and they needed to leave," THR reports.
No clear explanation was given for how such a situation could have happened, given that a digital system was used to account for ticket holders. Outraged, fans "descended upon security officials minding the gate. One security official was overheard acknowledging that the situation was 'unacceptable,'" THR reports.
Other ticket holders were concerned that they would receive a "strike" against them for missing the screening that they had RSVP'd to attend. If festivalgoers receive three strikes, their credentials are then revoked.
"But many were just aggrieved about being prevented from seeing a highly anticipated film from a major auteur — a 31-minute gay Western starring Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal, the U.S. distribution rights for which Sony Classics recently acquired," THR reports.
Although outside the theater was chaos, inside the crowd went wild for the film. The crowd gave a teary-eyed Hawke and Almodóvar a standing ovation after watching the film.
See the moment below.