Tempers soured yesterday afternoon as a hundred members of the press were turned away from the first European press screening of footage from Armageddon — the latest Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster starring Bruce Willis and Liv Tyler. 
 

Besieged Buena Vista staff announced that the Olympia Theatre was full and handed out tickets for a second showing scheduled at 8 o'clock yesterday evening. At the packed press conference on the Plage Le Galion that followed the screening, Bruckheimer, Willis, Tyler, director Michael Bay and co-star Steve Buscemi faced questions from the media fray. Bay and Willis played down accusations that the new film may be similar in plot to the recently released Morgan Freeman starrer Deep Impact. "You have to bear in mind that today's screening was really just an extended commercial for our film," said Willis. "It wasn't the finished product."  

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Canal+ covers Cannes 

For those of you who've cruised down to the Martinez Beach in the past week and stared in wonder at a stage that nightly plays host to bands, talking heads and puppets that look an awful lot like real people – here's an education. All are the property of Canal+, Gaul's leading paybox, who for the past seven  years have added colour to Cannes by transplanting some of their most successful programmes to the Croisette. 

A team of 300 technicians, interpreters, journalists and musicians is on hand this year to make sure that  things run smoothly. And they do. According to a Canal+ spokesperson, the paybox earns its highest numbers of the year for the shows that air during the festival. 

Les Guignols de l'Info, a biting programme which uses amazingly accurate marionettes to satirise the day's news, has been imported to Cannes for the quinzaine. Victims this week included Tony Blair, Jacques Chirac and Bill Clinton doppelgangers who joined up for a chorus of All You Need is Love, with the French president hopelessly out of rhythm.

Nulle Part Ailleurs, a two-part talk- show, boasts the most prestigious guests of any programme sent out over the waves during the Festival. Guests this year have included William Hurt, Bill Pullman, Lenny Kravitz, Dan Aykroyd and the Smash-ing Pumpkins. 

For Friday's closing show, all the stops have been pulled. Jean Reno  will be on hand to talk about Godzilla and, as a special event, Michael Schumacher – who is in the area for this weekend's Grand Prix – will make  an appearance with Ferrari director Jean Todt. 
Nancy Tartaglione 

Mario's in town to promote his latest, Love Kills. But he  first came here with his father – also a director. 
 

When did you first come to Cannes? 
With my father to promote an indie film called Identity Crisis, which I wrote and he directed. 

What is your most memorable Cannes experience? 
That same year, a woman with robust styrofoam implants mistook my father for Sammy Davis Jnr and invited him to her yacht. I urged him to go, and ruined my daddy's reputation for ever. 

What is your favourite Cannes film? 
Do the Right Thing. 

What is your greatest Cannes regret? 
Ordering champagne on the terrace of the Carlton. 

What is your greatest extravagance in Cannes? 
Éordering champagne on the terrace of the Carlton. 
What do you most enjoy about Cannes? 
People watching. 

What do you most dislike about Cannes? 
Having to justify your name on their guest list. 

What do you consider your greatest Cannes achievement? 
Receiving champagne on the Carlton Terrace and drinking it after I realised how much it cost and then getting Menachem Golan to pick up the bill. 

Which word or phrase do you  
overuse in Cannes? 
"Which party are you guys going to?" 

Would you like to be invited to sit on the Cannes jury? 
Absolutely. 
. 
If you could only have been involved with one film in your career, what film would it have been? 
Panther. 

What was the last film you paid to see? 
The Big Lebowski. 

Who makes you laugh other than your accountant? 
My dad in drag. 

Petit Carlton or Carlton Terrace? 
There's that champagne again!