Star may miss Cannes after catching virus
French actress Lea Seydoux may miss the Cannes film festival after she tested positive for COVID-19, a spokeswoman for one of her movies told AFP Saturday. The James Bond star is appearing in no less than four films at the world’s biggest film festival, including Wes Anderson’s star-studded “The French Dispatch”, which has already been heavily delayed by the pandemic.
Three are in the running for the Palme d’Or, the top prize at Cannes. Seydoux, who had already been fully vaccinated, is asymptomatic, the spokeswoman added. She may have caught the virus while working on her latest film. The 35-yearold, who shared the Palme d’Or in 2013 for her daring performance in “Blue is the Warmest Color”, was due to lend her star power for a series of red-carpet premieres in the coming week at Cannes.
As well as “The French Dispatch”, she appears in Ildiko Enyedi’s “The Story of My Wife”, Bruno Dumont’s “France” and Arnaud Desplechin’s “Deception”. A spokeswoman for one of the films told AFP that Seydoux had “tested positive. She has been vaccinated and is awaiting
instructions from her doctor” to see if she can travel to the festival, which ends next Saturday. Under normal circumstances, Seydoux will need two negative tests before she can attend.
Rumours have been rife in Cannes for days that a big star had caught the virus. But the festival’s director Thierry Fremaux said Saturday there “there was no Cannes cluster”. “Yesterday we did more than 3,000 tests (on festival-goers) and we have no positive cases. We are having to say this to show that the rumors of a Cannes cluster are unfounded,” he said after a screening. Thousands of industry movers and shakers from outside the European Union-including those who have been fully vaccinated-have been tested daily before being allowed into the Palais des Festival, where the premieres are mainly held.—AFP