Cannes kicks off with red carpet `Robin Hood`

Cannes: Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett sashayed up the red carpet today as Cannes kicked off a 12-day frenzy of star-studded premieres, parties and provocative arthouse films from across the globe. The Mediterranean sun beamed down as celebrities marched into the festival palace for a gala screening of Ridley Scott`s ‘Robin Hood’, featuring Crowe as the legendary English outlaw and Blanchett as love interest Lady Marian.

Sean Penn, Mick Jagger, Naomi Watts, Woody Allen and Jean-Luc Godard are among the A-list celebs expected in this chic French Riviera resort before Tim Burton`s jury awards the Palme d`Or top prize on May 23. "Cannes is great glamour, great craziness. There`s nothing like it in the world, not even the Oscars," said British actress Helen Mirren as she arrived wearing an off-the-shoulder black sheath dress and diamond earrings. Thousands of star-watchers cheered as celebs like Eva Longoria, Bollywood beauty Aishawrya Rai-Bachchan, and Salma Hayek filed in to watch "Robin Hood", whose director was unable to make Cannes because of a knee injury. Crowe hinted at a press conference earlier today that a Robin Hood sequel might be in the offing, saying that so far there were no definite plans but that if he was asked to reprise the role, "then great, let`s do it." The star of Scott`s muddy, bloody blockbuster said he was undaunted by the previous films in which big names like Errol Flynn and Kevin Costner played the archer-turned-outlaw who steals from the rich to give to the poor. The movie by Scott is a "back story" that presents Robin as a repentant soldier returning from the Crusades in the Middle East to defend a disunited England against the invading French. PTI