The Cannes images that offer a snapshot of stardom before smartphones
In 1976, when he was just 22, photographer Richard Blanshard was sent to the Cannes Film Festival. His first job was to take a picture of Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire at the H?tel du Cap, where they were promoting That’s Entertainment, Part 2. ‘Nobody else wanted to do it,’ he recalls. ‘It meant setting up a lab down there, processing the films, doing the prints. I thought: “I’ll give it a go.”’
The Daily Mirror was holding the front page for his image. After he took the shot, he got on his scooter and headed back to the dark room that he had set up in a caravan just outside Cannes, only to find that someone had put a spade through his electricity cable so he couldn’t print it. ‘I thought it was the end of my Cannes career,’ he admits.
In fact, it turned out to be the start of a rewarding 20-year relationship with the festival, at which Blanshard was regularly employed as a photographer by film companies, charged with capturing the great and good in their most candid moments. Muhammad Ali, Oliver Reed, Charles and Diana, Grace Jones, Johnny Depp, Richard Attenborough, Mick Jagger, Clint Eastwood, Sylvester Stallone: if they were at Cannes between 1976 and 1996, there is a good chance they found themselves in Blanshard’s viewfinder.
He has now collected the best of this archive into a retrospective book, Cannes Uncut: The Golden Years, a catalogue of more than 1,000 pictures, which serves as a snapshot of a world before smartphones put celebrities on edge. Cannes appears as a more relaxed place, where the stars would mingle with hoi polloi while the daily trade papers had an insatiable thirst for photography.
Because Blanshard was employed by the same production companies that employed the actors, he wasn’t considered one of the paparazzi, but a colleague.
‘I wasn’t an outsider coming in,’ he says. ‘That’s why I got pictures that nobody else would get.
‘I wanted to do the book because the festival has changed, it’s such a different place today,’ he adds. ‘With social media the stars don’t become part of Cannes any more; they almost hide… When I was photographing Cannes they would be out and about. Now they get shipped in for their two minutes and shipped out again.’
In time, Blanshard became more than just a chronicler. Those who didn’t know their way around the film festival would use him as a leg-up and a guide. Production companies would seek out his services as a way for new talent to start getting noticed. He shot directors Spike Lee and Baz Luhrmann at their first festivals. He also helped to draw attention to another young producer: Harvey Weinstein.
Blanshard’s work in Cannes helped lead to a long-lasting career in cinema as a stills photographer on major Hollywood films, including Braveheart and Mission: Impossible, as well as a cinematographer and director.
By the late 1990s he had stopped going to Cannes, as he says the festival started to become less informal and rapacious publicists began to assert more control over the stars. But those early years in Cannes retain a hold on him.
‘Cannes is still an amazing place with an incredible atmosphere, but the industry has changed,’ he says. ‘The festival has lost some of its charm. I miss it. I want the book to make people feel they wish they’d been there.’
Cannes Uncut: The Golden Years, by Richard Blanshard, will be published on 12 September (The History Press, ￡45)
Richard Blanshard’s favourite pictures, in his own words
Johnny Depp might be the most photogenic of all my subjects. Here he is at the party for Ed Wood. He was just hanging out – sitting on his own. There weren’t people hounding him. That’s what I like about these guys; they never felt it was going to be uncomfortable. It’s when Johnny looked great.
He’s a beautiful man. I photographed him over the years and you can see his looks changing.
I was at the H?tel du Cap photographing Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. There was an ongoing competition between them, friendly-ish. Stallone wanted to get one up on Arnie, so he decided to go for a walk in town. As soon as he got out of the car, the world went nuts and he was mobbed. He ended up stuck on the bonnet of his car because he had nowhere else to go. He did the hero pose.
This was at the party for The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill and Came Down a Mountain, which Hugh Grant was in. I think that was probably his first Cannes Film Festival. Elizabeth Hurley [his then girlfriend] came with him and they seemed happy. Hugh did everything he had to do. I think when people came to Cannes in those days it broke down barriers.
Muhammad Ali was such a quiet man and a gentle soul, although the people around him were real pieces of work. He sat down on the Carlton Terrace to have a coffee and World War III broke out – people went wild for him. He didn’t react at all. When anyone asked for a picture he would say ‘sure’. As a photographer, when you asked for a picture he knew what you wanted.
I was Bafta’s official photographer when Charles and Diana came to Cannes in 1987 – that was at the height of her fame. I photographed Diana a few times; she enjoyed these events. She was in heaven being in Cannes. But it was also a time when things weren’t going too well in their marriage – you could tell from their body language.
I photographed Richard Attenborough and David Puttnam many times over the years – David has written the foreword to my book. He was a photographer’s agent before he became a producer. This was [a few years after] Chariots of Fire had won all the Oscars and Colin Welland’s ‘The British are coming!’ acceptance speech.
Cannes was always a place to sell James Bond to the world. They always took the front of the Carlton hotel and would have a stunt or event, trying to one-up what they had done before. For Octopussy they got a load of girls in and had them pose with guns on the terrace. Here, they are drinking Champagne afterwards.
Here, Bob Geldof is being interviewed for Pink Floyd – The Wall, Alan Parker’s film in which he starred. Cannes changes people, they get so absorbed in the atmosphere.They would be invited, get on a plane and come on their own. They all thought they were lucky to be asked. Geldof didn’t even have a publicist with him.
This was when Robbie Coltrane was in town to promote Mona Lisa. He was having fun in Cannes – everyone did, from actors to musicans and painters, who would go just to hang out. But he was very hot on the sand in his suit; trying to look cool but dying from the heat. He didn’t bring the right clothes for his beach moment.
Oliver Reed was the naughty boy – this is him [centre] with actors Savannah Smith and David Carradine. Reed just came to a party to cause havoc. He would be drinking a lot and winding people up. It was in a nice way, but you never knew what to expect from Oliver or what he would do next.
Tom Selleck joined the Gypsy Kings at H?tel du Cap. He didn’t have a film in Cannes but he came to hang out. Carolco film studio flew in the Gypsy Kings just to play that night. These parties cost a lot of money – and until 2006 the H?tel du Cap didn’t take bank cards. Everything had to be settled in cash.
This is a B-movie actress – nobody famous. We were constantly being asked to photograph people you’ve never heard of. If I’m there officially, then suddenly others would come and people think, ‘Oh that must be interesting.’ You could take a cleaner from the Palais on to the beach and within 10 minutes you’d have 50 photographers.
This is taken at the H?tel du Cap for the Total Recall party. Grace Jones has grabbed hold of this film distributor and started dancing with him – it’s not orchestrated. She just turned up to the party. The H?tel du Cap is the place to hold your party, even though it’s not in Cannes [it’s in Antibes]. Everyone will want to be there.
