- guardian.co.uk, Friday April 2 2004 15.21 BST
Opening at Cannes: You know what the French do to horses
Wolfgang Petersen's Troy looks set to have its first public screening at this year's Cannes film festival, according to a report in Variety. The big budget Homeric epic will premiere on May 13, the second day of the festival.
Based on Homer's account of the Trojan wars, Troy marks Hollywood's return to the lavish sand-and-sandal epics of old. Brad Pitt heads a cast of thousands as the Greek warrior Achilles, while Orlando Bloom co-stars as Paris. Other players include Eric Bana as Hector and Sean Bean as Odysseus. Newcomer Diane Kruger plays the pivotal role of Helen, the face that launched a thousand ships.
The 57th Cannes film festival kicks off on May 12 with the premiere of Pedro Almodóvar's Bad Education and closes on May 22 with a screening of De-Lovely, Irwin Winkler's biopic of Cole Porter, with Kevin Kline in the lead role. This year's jury president is Quentin Tarantino.
