“[Cannes] is the only red carpet thing I look forward to,” Kristen Stewart said yesterday at a lunch for her film Café Society, which opened the 69th annual film festival here on Wednesday night. “Because you never have to take pictures alone—you’re always with your cast—so it doesn’t ever feel like you’re selling [something].” In this case, that’s true: Woody Allen’s latest project is already bought and paid for by Amazon, which has no less than five films here this year, more than any other studio. (“The figure they were offering was so tremendous,” Allen said at the same lunch, “that even the people from Sony [Pictures Classics, his usual distributor] said, ‘You have to take that.’ ”) With Cannes off and running and going into day three, here are a few notes on the festival.

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1. If the world is made up of good Woody Allen movies and bad Woody Allen movies, this one is pretty good. Amazon gave Allen about twice his normal budget and the result is beautiful, thanks in great part to veteran Italian cinematographer Vittorio Storaro, who shot Apocalypse Now. The first half of the film is a love letter to 1930s Los Angeles in the way that we’ve seen Allen movies similarly treat Rome and Paris; the second half finishes in the familiar territory of Manhattan. The protagonist is played by Jesse Eisenberg—probably the most suitable stand-in for Woody Allen that there ever was or ever will be—who is rejected by an L.A. ingenue (Kristen Stewart) and marries a Waspy New Yorker (Blake Lively), only to realize years later that he’ll always be in love with Stewart’s character. I left thinking that Eisenberg could end up having a career a little like Woody Allen’s, too.

2. While Café Society was perfectly delightful, the opening night ceremony itself was something of a debacle. Emceed by actor Laurent Lafitte, the hour-long affair featured an inexplicable cameo by Catherine Deneuve; a room-silencing rape joke about Woody Allen (especially cringe-y because of the Ronan Farrow op-ed in The Hollywood Reporter); and a calamitous rendition of “Purple Rain” that was more of an insult to Prince than a tribute. The whole thing felt like something dreamed up by Pedro Almodóvar, who happens to have a film premiering next week.

3. Festival director Thierry Frémaux has dubbed Kristen Stewart the “Queen of Cannes.” Not only does she star in Café Society, but she will appear once again on the red stairs next week for the debut of Personal Shopper, her second collaboration with director Olivier Assayas. Their first film together, Clouds of Sils Maria, earned Stewart the first César to be won by an American actress, so expectations are high for this premiere on Tuesday. While most actors are planning their quick escapes from the South of France, Stewart is settling in for the long haul. “Yeah, I practically live here,” she said at lunch.

4. The big movie yesterday was Money Monster, the first truly commercial and thoroughly entertaining movie from Jodie Foster that played here out of competition. The plot centers on a Jim Cramer–like television financial guru (George Clooney) whose studio is threatened by a man armed with a pistol and explosives (Jack O’Connell), who has gone broke after following the show’s investment strategy. Julia Roberts plays a TV producer at the end of her rope, and newcomer Catriona Balfe gives a memorable performance near the film’s climax.Money Monster opens in theaters today, but it gave Cannes a reason to double down on glamour—Clooney! Julia! Where’s James Corden?—right from the start.Roberts even went barefoot on the red carpet.

5. Money Monster also provided Clooney with a press conference opportunity to denounce presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. “There’s not going to be a President Trump,” Clooney said, sounding a little like a candidate himself. “Fear is not going to be something that drives our country.” The on-the-nose plot of Money Monster reflects the kind of anger that has given Trump so much momentum, but according to George, everything is going to be all right. Exhale. And now onto day three.

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Talk about a stunner! Julia Roberts hit the red carpet for the premiere of her film Money Monster during theCannes Film Festival today, and the actress has never looked better.

InStyle’s June cover star shined in a plunging black gown that featured structural off-the-shoulder sleeves, which she topped off with a dazzling Chopard emerald and diamond necklace along with diamond studs. Roberts kept her signature strawberry-hued locks down in loose waves, exuding Old Hollywood glamour. But the best part? She went sans shoes for the premiere. Surprisingly, this marks the first time the actress has ever attended the annual fest, but she seemed like an old pro. Roberts shared several laughs with old pal and co-star George Clooney as they walked the carpet and posed for photos together.

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Samir Hussein/WireImageRoberts opened up about her debut appearance at Cannes in our June issue, where Editorial Director Ariel Foxman asked her why she’s never been. “Have you ever watched it on television? It looks terrifying. It looks as scary as someone saying, ‘OK, so this is the position that you’re going to play in the Super Bowl for 2017,'” Roberts said. “I’ve kind of avoided it. I mean, the first time I ever went to Asia was for a movie, Eat, Pray, Love. I’m a late bloomer.” She also added that she was apprehensive about such a lengthy red carpet walk: “It seems like you have to walk a very long distance and then a lot of stairs.”

But this isn’t her first winning look of the day. This morning, Roberts attended a photo call for the movie wearing a pinstripe jumpsuit over a crisp white shirt.

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The TV Week Logies is a celebration of Australian TV and recognising the incredible homegrown talent we see every night on the telly, but it’s also a chance for the actors to tell people their new projects.

Last night we chatted to a few celebs and got the gossip about upcoming TV shows and what we can expect!

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Funnymen Fitzy and Wippa will be coming on board as hosts to revive the show 20 to 1. The comedy duo will be reviving the clip show once hosted by Bert Newton. Covering all things pop culture, sport, music, TV, movies and current affairs, we’ll be seeing it on TV at the start of June.

Scotty Cam told us a little about the new season of The Block! They’ve bought property in Port Melbourne and begin shooting in two weeks. They’re down to 20 couples at the moment so they’ll have a tough few weeks ahead to select the final contestants.

Bert and Patti Newton are teaming up and joining the all-star cast of Follies in Concert at the Melbourne Recital Centre on May 24 and 25! Patti said about the exciting news: “It’s an amazing cast with Lisa McCune, David Hobson, Nancy Haig. We’ve only got a cameo in it but it’s great.”

John Jarrat is returning for the third time as the terrifying outback serial killer Mick Taylor in the mini series Wolf Creek coming to Stan May 12. Co-star Lucy Fry told us: “You’ll be scared shitless for the first 20 minutes.” John followed up with “You’re not going to be disappointed. When we asked him if it was hard getting back into character, John said it was like riding a bike. “The first [film] was hard, then I worked it out and I realised I didn’t make a mess of it and people accepted the character I came up with so I knew it worked. After a while, it’s like riding a bike.”

We’ll be seeing The Block’s Dee and Darren Jolly on our screens again! Dee said last night: “The house we’re [building] is also being filmed on 9Life and there’s some other shows coming up on 9Life that you might see me on too!”

New Bachelor Richie Strahan and host Osher Günsberg walked the red carpet together “Very well, it’s all exciting, isn’t it?” Unfortunately, the two kept their lips sealed on when we can expect it to be coming to TV. “I will say one thing, this is the most fun, funniest shoot of all seasons of The Bachelor. The girls are super smart, super funny, we piss ourselves every night we watch the cocktail parties.”

Unfortunately we won’t be hearing much of Richie’s mutterings of ‘cool bananas’ this time round, instead he told he’s been saying ‘crikey’ a lot!

Jessica Marais told us a little about the new Channel 10 show The Wrong Girl. Based on the book by Zoe Foster Blake, Jessica plays the role of Lily, a woman navigating life and love and all that’s in between. “I just love going to work every day. It’s a completely different thing obviously to Love Child and I’m having so much fun working with such a great cast. I’m loving working in Melbourne, I think Melbourne the city has a very different vibe to Sydney and it’s almost like a third character in the show. I just laugh at work all day.”

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