Celebrity triumphs, weird moments and dramas at glamorous French film festival

The Top 10 celebrity triumphs, weird moments and dramas at the glamorous French film festival at Cannes.

The Top 10 celebrity triumphs, weird moments and dramas at the glamorous Cannes Film Festival.

1. What’s the buzz?

Emma Stone avoids a bee while with Austin Butler, left, and Pedro Pascal. Picture: AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko

The most unexpected arriviste on this year’s Cannes red carpet was a diva of a different stripe: a tenacious bee that tried to come for Emma Stone as she attended the premiere of her upcoming film Eddington. Wincing as she tried to avoid its wrath (and a sting), Stone was chivalrously protected by her co-stars Austin Butler and Pedro Pascal.

2. Pedro Pascal bares arms

Pedro Pascal at the photo call for the film Eddington. Picture: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP

Speaking of Pascal, the internet’s favourite “zaddy” once again delighted his legion of thirsty followers by showing up to a photo call in a sleeveless shirt, showcasing sculpted biceps that would be the envy of any 50-year-old man. No wonder he chose to bare them.

3. But what they really want to do is direct …

Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson. Pictures: Getty/AFP/AP

One key trend at this year’s festival? A trio of notable actors – Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart and Babygirl star Harris Dickinson – were on hand to premiere their directorial debuts. Despite its famously hard-to-crack crowds, early critical reaction to all three films was largely positive.

4. Isabelle Huppert stuns in “brat” green

Isabelle Huppert arrives at the Kering Women in Motion dinner at the film festival. Picture: Lewis Joly/Invision/AP

French acting legend Isabelle Huppert, 72, wowed the fashion set with a daring, neon-green fringed dress from Balenciaga. As one cheeky follower commented on Huppert’s Instagram post showcasing the look: “huppert is BRAT”, a reference to Charli XCX’s zeitgeist-y dominance with the same colour in 2024.

5. Denzel Washington’s red carpet run-in

Denzel Washington argues with a photographer next to US singer and actor ASAP Rocky. Picture: Sameer Al-Doumy/AFP

The actor, who was on the Croisette to promote Highest 2 Lowest, his fifth big-screen collaboration with director Spike Lee, did not take kindly to the notoriously pushy paparazzi at Cannes. He was spotted in a tense exchange with the snapper, wagging his finger as he apparently asked the man to stop touching him.

6. Surprise!

Angelina Jolie attends the Eddington red carpet. Picture: Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images

It’s Angelina Jolie She didn’t have a new film to promote; instead, the actor and humanitarian made a surprise appearance at the festival this year – her first in a decade – as part of a whirlwind visit that included an appearance at a dinner hosted by jewellery brand Chopard.

7. Surprise again!

Asap Rocky and Rihanna leave after the screening of Highest 2 Lowest. Picture: Bertrand Guay/AFP

It’s Rihanna (and her baby bump). Just days after revealing she is pregnant for a third time by unveiling a baby bump at the annual Met Gala, Rihanna slipped into the festival on the arm of her partner ASAP Rocky (who also appears in Lee’s film Highest 2 Lowest), clad in a turquoise Alaïa dress.

8. Nicole Kidman doubles down

Marianna Brennand, left, winner of the Women In Motion Emerging Talent 2025 award and Nicole Kidman, winner of the Women in Motion 2025 award. Picture: Lewis Joly/Invision/AP

The hardest-working actress in showbiz – or, at the very least, the most well-travelled – was honoured with the 2025 Kering Women in Motion Award, which is dedicated to women who have made a groundbreaking impact on the big screen. Kidman, who in 2017 pledged to work with a female director every 18 months, revealed during her speech that she has, in fact, collaborated with 27 women across film and TV projects in the eight years since: “Once you go looking, they are just waiting to be found. So I continue that pledge today, but not just with female directors. I continue it with female writers, female cinematographers, female crew members.”

9. Alexander Skarsgard goes full BDSM

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgard. Picture: Miguel Medina/AFP

Leather trousers. A tight white graphic tee featuring a leather boot about to step on a man’s open mouth. And perhaps most provocatively, a pair of thigh-high leather Saint Laurent boots worn with a classic black tuxedo. Alexander Skarsgard happily leaned into the method dressing trend while promoting his upcoming film Pillion, a kinky exploration of a sub/dom relationship between two men (played by Skarsgård and Harry Melling, better known to millions as Dudley in the Harry Potter film franchise).

10. Halle Berry (sort of) defies the festival’s new dress code

Cannes jury member Halle Berr. OPicture: Andreas Rentz/Getty Images

Jury member Halle Berry got around the event’s divisive new guidelines for red-carpet dressing (no nudity and “no voluminous outfits, in particular those with a large train”) by ditching the maroon Gurav Gupta gown she’d initially planned to wear – but had to ditch because its train was too long – and instead pulling it on for a Chopard event that was unaffiliated with the festival.