Great Gatsby to open Cannes Film Festival

Plus: Disney is bringing back Mickey Mouse; George Clooney begins shooting new film.

The Great Gatsby will open this year's Cannes Film Festival. Courtesy Warner Bros Pictures

Gatsby will open Cannes Film Festival

The Cannes Film Festival has an American flavour this year, with a Hollywood icon heading the jury and a quintessential US literary figure opening the event: Gatsby. The 3D film The Great Gatsby, with Leonardo DiCaprio in the title role and directed by Baz Luhrmann, will open this year's Cannes festival. Steven Spielberg is heading the jury at the festival this year, which runs from May 15 to 26. Luhrmann stressed the film's French connection, saying in a statement that the author F Scott Fitzgerald wrote "some of the most poignant and beautiful passages" of The Great Gatsby at a French Riviera villa not far from Cannes. Tobey Maguire and Carey Mulligan also star in Luhrmann's version of the 1925 novel. The Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who makes his Hollywood debut with the project, has said he will grace the festival's red carpet. – AP / IANS

Disney brings back Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse cartoons are returning to the small screen as Disney attempts to revive one of the world's most popular characters. Nineteen 2D episodes will debut on June 28 on the Disney Channel as well as online at Disney.com and the Watch Disney Channel app. The Walt Disney Company's chief executive Bob Iger told CNBC the shorts hark back to the days of the founder Walt Disney. "Over time, we thought that maybe Mickey lost some of those impish, innocent qualities, that vitality that people once saw in him. So we decided to bring him back," Iger said. Along with Minnie Mouse, there will also be guest appearances by Donald Duck, Daisy Duck, Goofy and Pluto. – AP

George Clooney starts shooting new film

George Clooney began shooting his new film The Monuments Men in Berlin this week. Clooney, Matt Damon, Bill Murray, Cate Blanchett, Jean Dujardin, Bob Balaban, Hugh Bonneville and John Goodman comprise the star-studded cast. A co-production of the German studio Siebente Babelsberg Film GmbH and Clooney's Smokehouse Pictures, the film is the studio's follow-up project to Argo. Clooney has gone beyond producing and directing – the actor also collaborated with his production partner Grant Heslov in writing the screenplay. The film tells the true story of a Second World War battalion sent by US President Franklin D Roosevelt to scour Germany for artworks seized by the Nazi army and return them to their rightful owners. – IANS