A Cannes first: Festgoer in 'Panda' suit

Costumed man breaks dress code, climbs Palais steps

By PAMELA MCCLINTOCK

The Palais red-carpet has seen countless stars and film fans in eye-catching costumes over the years, but Thursday saw a first: a festgoer in a panda suit.

Ever the showman, DreamWorks Animation's Jeffrey Katzenberg arranged for the costumed man to climb the Palais steps, without giving a heads-up to festival bigwigs.

The fest has strict rules and regulations on its dress code, but Katzenberg broke decades of tradition for the "Kung Fu Panda" world premiere.

It's pretty hard to get the hordes of photographers to stop (even momentarily) from focusing on reigning Queen of Cannes Angelina Jolie, but she, Jack Black and Dustin Hoffman happily yielded the spotlight. Katzenberg was glad to have the film's English-language voice stars there, but wanted the movie itself to be represented, too.

Fest organizers didn't flip, with one attendee saying film festival director Thierry Fremaux even smiled.

Of course, it also helped that DreamWorks Animation and Paramount made sure the panda was off the red carpet fairly quickly.

Read the full article at:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117985846.html

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