What’s the first thing Harvey Weinstein – chair of the annual Cannes amFAR fundraiser - did when he landed on the French Riviera today? He emailed Jerry Weintraub, “Ocean’s Thirteen” producer and a co-founder of Not On Our Watch, for tickets to the fledgling humanitarian organization's fundraiser for Darfur.
“Harvey sent me an email this morning saying he’d just arrived in Cannes and he forgot to get his Darfur tickets,” said Weintraub. “I said, “Don’t worry about it, Harvey. How many do you need?”
Tickets to the Darfur fundraiser on May 22 featuring "Ocean's" stars and NOOW founders George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle - arguably the hottest ticket in Cannes - are a mere $25,000. Each. Gulp. No word on how many Harvey snagged.
Early on, Weintraub contacted amFAR – including Weinstein – to let them know that he was not trying to steal their charitable thunder. amFAR’s Cinema Against Aids even has raised an estimated $22 million since the annual star-studded Cannes event began in 1993.
Other amFAR invitees (like Sharon Stone and MAC AIDS Fund and Viva Glam spokes-pinup Dita Von Teese) will probably attend the Darfur fete, upping the already sky-high celebrity quotient of “Ocean’s” stars. And I wouldn’t be surprised if maybe, just maybe, the "Ocean" gang returns the favor and slides into amFAR’s legendary annual cocktails/auction/dinner at Moulin de Mougins the next night. Just a hunch.
“We have gotten money beyond our wildest expectations in just 5 ½ weeks,” says Weintraub. “The support has been terrific. It’s become the hottest ticket in Cannes.”
But only 150-200 people will be lucky enough to get inside the closed-to-press Darfur fundraiser. There may be a small press line, according to the studio PR department. And Weintraub has already sold the inside-event photo rights to a big glossy magazine.
Which one?
