Scenes from Cannes Man with Johnny Depp and others

 Here are some scenes from the film Cannes Man... made in 1996. I was late to the project, appeared in it, then was asked by the Producer to finish it - which I did.  Some fun cameos in here...  It's currently unavailable but hopefully someone will figure out how to make it available!

CANNES MAN FILM DIRECTOR'S CUT

While promoting my film "Point of Betrayal" in Cannes I ran across the crew that shot that film in Palm Beach filming an improvised comedy. The original writer Beverly Camhe had written an outline, Susan Shapiro who was the UPM on our film, had been let go on the first day of filming. The crew and cast asked me to assist - which I did playing a small part, then helping them with the casting of Rebecca Broussard (star of my film, plays Seymour Cassel's ex), and then participated in some of the scenes ("Tell her you like her shoes Francesco. It's a good way to duck a conversation."). 

When Cannes was over,, the producer Tom Coleman got in a fight over the film, and put it on the shelf. He asked me to come in and see if I could make sense of it - I suggested reframing the piece around a funeral, so that this could be a "memory" of Cannes, and events that happened there around this producer Sy Lerner (Seymour Cassel) who was one of the many con men that grace the festival each year.  My payment was a trip back to Cannes all expenses paid. I didn't ask for screen credit, but Coleman insisted I take it.

I had seen some hilarious scenes shot, I added some of my own, and this pizza is the result.  

Tom Coleman sold it for distribution, but their deal fell apart over a point of profit. So it went on a shelf for 16 years. It came out on VHS, some fellow sold it to Netflix, which I had to call and let them know the fellow didn't own it. So it went back on the shelf.  

It's here because there is some great comedy in here, and I cannot claim any credit for the comedy - only that I was able to keep the ship afloat and bring it into a harbor. And then, life happened, it was lost in a shuffle. Susan Shapiro is credited for the scenes in Cannes that she was involved with, Seymour Cassel did most of all the wrangling of people to be in the film. 

Seymour, RIP, would literally would say "We're making a documentary about Cannes, want to be in it?" After getting them to sign away all rights (I have the contracts somewhere) then he'd say "Okay, in this scene it's an improv, I'm going to introduce you to the "next Tarantino."   Perhaps it was the late nights, the alcohol consumed, but everyone in the film signed away all their rights for no compensation.  So I insisted as part of my deal, we would not exploit them ("name above the title.")

Only one actor crossed off the part of his contract that said "we can use your name above the title" in this film.  However, we didn't sell it as a Johnny Depp film despite his being hilarious in it - and I can report that all of the distributors said "the film is too inside, audiences won't get it" - despite screening it in Moscow, India, Santa Monica and other film festivals around the world where audiences roared with laughter. Loudly. In every screening. 

A shyster is a shyster in any language, any country, and it's the 'holier than thou" which kept if off the internet.  Even Harvey appears in it, telling a story about Brando. Maybe he worked behind the scenes to kill it, I don't know. The late Robert Evans did his scenes as a favor, as did Randal Kleiser, Larry Kasanoff, Ann Cusack, Rebecca Broussard, Eha Urbasalu, Lloyd Kaufman and others, including the guy who was the doorman at Rocket pictures from Pakistan.  (He gets the biggest laughs in any screening I've been to.)

Seymour didn't like the film, refused to do reshoots because "you made me look like a shmuck!" was his retort - ("Um... but it's what's in the footage...") but Francesco Quinn, RIP did come in an do reshoots.  Johan Schotte ultimately bought the film, owns it, has put it out in some venues, but not sure why it hasn't sold it to or gotten it onto Amazon or Netflix. I stopped asking about 20 years in.. (it's been 25).  It is what it is. 

But thanks to YouTube, you can hear Luana Anders on the phone in the funeral for her last role, literally "phoned in from her hospice care bed" and other tiny funny bits that live on in film history.  This film is here for archival purposes only, all rights belong to Johan Schotte, he's a funny guy and we had many many laughs in France and on the Croisette and the Hotel Du Cap.  It's a slice of life - sorry to say the producer Holly MacKonkey died while finishing the film, Francesco left the planet not much after - but his sense of humor and wit, and charm - it was he who asks Johnny, his pal from Platoon to appear in the film. 

Over the years, I've said to people "I directed you in a film, but we've never met" including James Brolin, Johnny Depp, Chris Penn, Julian Lennon.  That led to a fun night in Monte Carlo where Julian and I rocked out a small cavern club playing "Sweet Home Chicago" and "Route 66."  If this film exists for any reason, it surely must have been for that evening.

Cannes Man on Amazon Prime

https://www.amazon.com/Cannes-Man-Seymore-Cassel/dp/B004QM7XFS



24 years ago walking down the croisette with Rebecca Broussard we ran into the crew who shot our film "Point of Betrayal."  

Here's the trailer: 
https://www.imdb.com/video/vi3863648793

Seymour cast Rebecca as his wife, I appeared and hung out since the then director had been relieved of command. Made pals with late Francesco Quinn. When i got back to LA producer Coleman invited me to fix it. I added a story inside the story, bookends, tied the improv together and it sat on a shelf for 16 years. 

Luana Anders' last role (as a phone call at a funeral). Lots of pals in it some no longer on the planet (one notorious cameo is in prison). Payment was a return all expense trip to Cannes to promote with Rebecca. Producer insisted on credits, original director is credited at the end (who threatened to kill me for finishing it). 

Lots of laughs, made for a nickel, still funnier than any film about the fest before or since.

Cannes Man https://www.amazon.com/gp/video/detail/B004QM7XFS/ref=atv_dp_share_r_tw_fab0e38df5764

Julie McCann Quinn is in it! Peter Tunney! Ann Cusack! The doorman from Pakistan at Rocket pix! Tim Meinelschmidt and Nancy Rainford ! Nat Berstein! Mitchel Katlin! Bob Evans! Randal Kleiser! Eha Urbsalu! (The last Miss USSR) Larry Kasanoff! (And johnny depp, jim jarmusch, dennis hopper, john Malkovich and other notables of the croisette). It's still funny. Insane it took 24 years to come out. But since i don't make a dime, i can't offer a money back guarantee. Can't go to Cannes? Watch this instead.

Introduction to "Hacking the Afterlife"

So sad to report the passing of my old pal Bill Paxton.

Photo: Billy Mumy

Known Bill him since his Martini Ranch days. (Bill had a hit song in the 80s as part of a duo. No relation.) (First 20 seconds of this clip are from Bill's band "Martini Ranch") 

Met Bill in London while he was making Aliens. He said he'd star in my 1st film "You Cant Hurry Love" rewrote a number of scenes. Hilarious. (Unfortunately his agent intervened but the film opens with his music as an homage to him. Some of his jokes remain). 

We tooled around Cannes (a few times), lost too much money at a casino, can still hear his booming laugh in the Aero for a screening of "Cannes Man". 

Such a distinctive laugh. It was his laugh that I 1st recognized in a pub in London. Grade school pal Lori Axelson knew his then girlfriend Louise; over a pint of Guiness he did his in your face - full frontal guffaw - and I said "Wait a second. You're that crazy brother from Weird Science!" 

Our last conversation Bill called driving in from Ojai, said "i'm in the catbird seat now, man. I get to pick and choose what i want to make." West Texas. Beloved brother. Rare individual. Heart of gold. Just at the beginning of the third act man. Sorry to not be able to see that. God speed Billy.

(For fans of "Flipside" and "Hacking the Afterlife" if Billy shows up in any of the research, I will report it here.  Not to mitigate the loss of him in any way - his family and friends are in shock - but if Billy does show up in one of my interviews, I will do my utmost to be as accurate as I can to anything he might be able to impart via a medium that I'm interviewing! As you know, a number of acquaintances have appeared during these interviews, and I try to search for "new information.")

For those unfamiliar with the concepts describe here:

Here's the Introduction to my book "Hacking the Afterlife."  Available in paperback, kindle, audible, itunes, etc. 

Introduction

To Be or Not To Be; That’s THE Question

“Ascent of the Blessed” by Hieronymus Bosch

This detail has been cited as an example of a near death experience, complete with a tunnel of light and souls venturing through it.  

A “Life Hack” refers to “any trick, shortcut, skill, or novelty method that increases productivity and efficiency, in all walks of life.”^[1]

Or in this case; “and beyond.”

I’ve been examining near death experiences, between life hypnosis sessions, out of body experiences and speaking to mediums and others who report relatively the same things about the afterlife.  These reports point to the conclusion; that we don’t die, that those who’ve gone before us are accessible on the other side of the veil.

I’ve been filming people under deep hypnosis for a decade and I’ve expanded my research to include people who’ve had near death experiences, as well as interviewing people who appear to be able to communicate with people no longer on the planet. At some point, by asking questions about a person’s “memory” of a past life, I realized people appear to be able to access and explore a “between lives realm” without being under hypnosis at all. 

The unusual premise of this book is that what or who we are as individuals does not disappear upon our demise and this bundle of “what we are or were” is still accessible to our loved ones back here.  Reportedly, our core essence doesn’t turn into bits of fairy dust and vanish after death, nor does our life’s energy drift into a Jungian pool of unconsciousness. These reports claim our “life energy” moves from this reality into another “reality,” reportedly like walking from “one room to the next.” Like using the transporter room from a Star Trek episode.

Of course, our physical bodies eventually dissolve, turn to ash. But the energy does not; as the “law of conservation of energy” argues in physics.^[2] Reportedly, our energy exists here during our lifetime, like a smaller piece of a holographic image. When the plate of a hologram is broken into pieces, each part contains all of the information from that holographic image, but “in a diminished fashion.”  Once we are finished here with this lifetime, our energy apparently leaves the body and “returns home” intact to reconnect with the rest of the energy left behind.  

According to the hundreds of sessions or cases I’ve examined, dozens of near death experiences, hundreds of hypnosis sessions, along with the 30 or so that I’ve filmed – when we return “home” we reconnect with that portion of our energy we left behind coming here. What was startling to learn, and a bit disconcerting, is that most people claim we only bring a relatively small portion of our overall life force to our lives; the average is “about one third.”^[3] Further that each lifetime is a choice.

To decide to incarnate or not to incarnate. Good question.

This book will explore “life planning” sessions, where under deep hypnosis, people access that decision to come to the planet, why they chose their particular persona, and what they hoped to accomplish in doing so. That our life choice is not based on previous lifetimes or karma, or difficulties we’ve had in the past – although we certainly can choose to explore those arenas - but the choice to do so is based on free will.  We can always say “No. I’m not returning. I have better things to do back here than to go down there with the rest of you.”

But for some godforsaken reason, because our soul group convinces us to do so, or our guides convince us that it’s a journey we should take on behalf of others, we agree to participate. Indeed, those of us here have all agreed to come here, to get back on stage, to play our parts as requested of us. We may not like it once we get back here, but how we perform is entirely up to us. When we leave this mortal coil – it’s not that we drift like a “wisp of smoke” into a bardo as Buddhism argues, but a full third of our energy heads “back home” to reunite with the other two thirds of our energy that is “always back there.”

It’s bit like the liquid robot from in the film “Terminator 2.” When a piece broke off, the liquid sought out the rest of the robot so it could reformulate the whole machine; our energy seeks out and finds the rest of our energy and melds with it to make us “whole” again.  People have described this event of “resynthesizing” with their higher energy as “mind blowing” and “intensely healing.” When we reconnect with our literal selves, we remember the motivation behind our adventures here, and all of our previous adventures with other members of our soul group. We can see why we chose this lifetime, we understand why we chose our previous lifetimes, and understand the overall theme of all of those choices.

They report that each lifetime reflects the overall discipline that our soul group is working on.  Like being part of a university class in a chosen discipline; one soul group’s overall theme might be medicine, healing, compassion, forgiveness, loyalty, any of the various themes that are explored in literature and the theater. 

In one between life session a woman reported that her “soul group examines what addiction does to people” and recalled various lifetimes that include addictions in all their forms.  She was able to see that the overdose of her brother, the sexual addictions of her father, and her own life’s addictions all had a theme to them, of understanding the fundamental energy behind addiction and how to transform it into healing energy.

In some cases a soul may not want to return “home” right away, may forestall the trip to stick around and see how things play out. It’s up to us whether we stay or go, after all, just as it’s up to us whether we come here or not. We might see these souls who haven’t left in some energetic, etheric way. They’re usually referred to as “ghosts” and in popular media appear with eerie music. But in many cases, after a person checks out, says goodbye to their loved ones, they can’t wait to get back home. They report they usually can’t wait to return to their friends, “back home.” 

To be clear, this isn’t my belief, philosophy or religious bent. I have a background as a journalist (written for Variety, Premiere, USA Today and Inc.com) I’m a documentary filmmaker (“White City/Windy City” “Journey into Tibet”) I’m a film director (“Limit Up,” “Point of Betrayal,” “You Can’t Hurry Love” among others) and I’m just reporting what the research consistently says. I’m not an expert on the afterlife, nor an expert on anything really.  I’ve been filming and interviewing people about their Flipside experiences for a decade.  The reports are essentially the same.

These eyewitness reports are a bit like the explorers who took ships across the sea, then came back with fantastic tales of what they’d seen.  Some went with an attitude of reinforcing their religious beliefs, some made up stories to get money for future trips, while others kept diaries and reported verbatim what they’d witnessed. But when the reports were consistent and could be repeated, their destination became “the new world.”  What these people report about the Flipside is both consistent and replicable, which is pretty much what science requires for something to be considered data.

The main difference here is that when these explorers return from their trip abroad, they refer to that other place across the sea as “home.” 

Further, the research shows that while we are on the planet, that two thirds of our energy back there, on the Flipside, isn’t just floating on clouds. It’s reported that our higher selves “attend classes,” “learn how to manipulate energy,” even report playing “games with our soul mates.” In one case, a person reported finding her soul group playing an elaborate “game of tag.”

She said the game required a person to track down and “capture” six other soul mates. They could hide “anywhere in the universe;” the added complication was that “everyone is invisible” and they can hide “in any realm” they wanted to.  Like an incredible multi-engine version of a Google search, but using their mind’s engine to search for the energy pattern of invisible entities in multiple dimensions.

They also report that on the Flipside, our higher selves can tune in, watch, enjoy or be horrified by our performance back here.  A bit like watching a play in the theater where we are both in the audience and on stage at the same time.

The people on stage have a filter that prevents them from knowing there’s an audience watching them, or from knowing why they chose a particular part or costume or prop, or why they agreed to the part in the first place.  Of course, it would ruin the play if they spent most of their time shading their eyes to wave at the audience and say “Hi Mom. Look at me! I’m in a play!”

From our seats “back home” we can cheer, applaud, cry, laugh with those onstage acting out these roles.  When our friends exit, it’s reported we often congratulate them for a job well done. When the actor who plays Romeo meets the actress who played Juliet backstage, he doesn’t chastise her for screwing up his life and causing both of their deaths. He embraces her, congratulates her for a job well done. “Great acting tonight, Julie.” “You too Romy; see you at the after party.”

“It’s not your time to exit the stage yet.” 

Some people have a near death experience, find themselves “back home” with their soul group, but these folks are usually told “Hey, get back on stage! You’re not supposed to be here yet.”  

I’ve spoken to a number of International Association of Near Death Studies groups^[4] and I’ve met a number of people disconcerted they felt so wonderful “back home” and are upset to be forced “back here.” They saw loved ones back there, experienced the unconditional love many report backstage and have no desire to put on the makeup, and step into the limelight.

We live in a world where we try to own time, manipulate and change time. We may not be happy we have more work to do onstage, work that we aren’t prepared for, or want to do.  But hang on.  What if I told you it’s possible to “go home” while you’re still here, still on the planet? 

What if I told you it’s possible to visit your friends who are no longer on the planet, and you can ask and get information that you didn’t know was possible to learn?  What if I told you that anyone who has ever walked the Earth is available and accessible, because their energy never dies?  It transforms, as per the first law of thermodynamics, from one form to the next, but the essence of that form, since it’s outside of time, will always exist.^[5] So if you want to ask Will, “What did you mean by to be or not to be? Is that a rhetorical question? Or are you talking about incarnation?” you can.

We’ve all heard fantastical accounts about the afterlife.  From visions of satanic fires to angels riding on clouds, we’ve been inundated with these reports since humans populated the planet. But in reports of the afterlife, isn’t it unusual that no two of these reports are ever the same?   

As scientist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson points out, a rainbow is different for everyone who sees it.  No two rainbows are alike. “The exact Rainbow any of us sees in the sky is entirely our own -- a personal, yet communal gift from the laws of optics.”^[6]

The same is true for visions of the afterlife.  Two people may visit a “Library of records” but no two descriptions are alike.  People may visit a “soul group,”^[7] but exactly where it’s located or how it’s constructed varies from person to person.

We may even see the same person in the afterlife others have seen. They may appear to us differently than they appear to another person, it appears to depend on how they want to present themselves.

Sometimes we see them as older, sometimes younger, depending on the person we’re visiting. Yet we have a feeling of knowing that we’re actually seeing the person we once knew.  I’ve filmed first hand reports of these encounters with people from all walks of life; different genders, beliefs or lack of belief - who are consistent in their reporting. With different hypnotherapists, different accounts of near death experiences, different experiences as we’ll see; all describe the same “place” in a different way.

Caveat Emptor!

As I’ve mentioned in “Flipside: A Tourist’s Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife” and “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife” a skeptic is someone who “doesn’t believe in the prevailing school of thought.” I’m a skeptic in the truest sense of the word.  Science considers accounts of past lives to be “cryptomnesia”; something a person imagined, heard, or read about someone else’s life, that they forgot -- but their subconscious did not. Or, science argues people may tap into what Carl Jung referred to as the “universal unconscious” - a place in the universe where the energy from our lives supposedly comes to rest, floating like an island of non-biodegradable detritus in outer space. Past life memories are people merely “tapping into” that island.

Further science believes near death experiences are due to Hypoxia, lack of oxygen in the brain which causes hallucinations.  (As happens in high altitude.)  I know about Hypoxia – I’ve been at high altitude in the mountains of Tibet and had some pretty fantastic “visions” up there.  But science “believes” this because, well, there’s no data on the topic.

Finally, materialist science believes consciousness begins and ends in the brain, as if the engrams contain all the information we need to know, and if someone has enough of them – or a computer does – it can become “sentient.” To quote my former Oxford/Harvard alum Boston University professor Julian Baird; “I’d agree with you, but then we’d both be wrong.”

The simplest way to prove past lives, out of body experiences, near death experiences are actual events, not imaginary, is through the evidence of “new information.”  If a person sees, hears, learns something during one of these events that they couldn’t possibly have known - that there’s no “known example” anywhere in books or the internet or in “some other person’s mind that perhaps they were accessing” - then it must come from somewhere else other than the brain.

If that new information turns out to be accurate -- then the person could not have gotten the information from the Jungian unconscious, from the energetic memory of some previous person, from the hidden recesses of their subconscious, or from not being able to breathe atop Mt. Everest. 

It’s not up to me to convince anyone either way. I’m just a reporter here. If that’s your final answer on the matter, as they say, I recommend putting this book back on the shelf, returning it to the kindle app or whatever dime store bin you found it.  You should be able to get your money back. After all, buying books is not like being alive – they come with a money back guarantee. There may be solid reasons for you not to venture down this avenue, and I appreciate that. I’m not writing these books for everyone. No really, if you’re feeling the slightest bit uncomfortable, it’s going to get a lot more freaky up in here. Maybe this amusement park ride isn’t for you.

Apologies in advance for syntax mistakes, typos, and any other errors I make here; someone complained of my reading of my books on Audible, I sometimes laugh, am overcome with emotion, correct myself or as one wag put it, could “hear my cat meow” in the background. If meowing bothers you, then I’m not your guide. Get a refund, please!

That being said, there are people who may need to hear these reports, and need to hear it in the tone and syntax I express. For whatever reason.  Now, for those of you who have stuck around:  I invite you into this world of the afterlife, where we can query people no longer on the planet with specific questions and get some pretty amazing answers.  Care to follow me? But you have been warned.

Giordano Bruno, philosopher burned at the stake for revealing his out of body experience where he saw that the earth goes around the sun.

“L’asciate ogni speranza voi ch’entrate”

 “Abandon All Hope Ye Who Turns the Page.”

---

[1] Detail from “Ascent of the Blessed” by Hieronymus Bosch. Wikimedia.

[2] In physics, the law of conservation of energy states that the total energy of an isolated system remains constant—it is said to be conserved over time. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed; rather, it transforms from one form to another.

[3] I examined these reports in “Flipside: A Tourist’s Guide on How to Navigate the Afterlife” and “It’s a Wonderful Afterlife volumes one and two.” There are many other sources, a partial bibliography is at the end of this book.

[4] Iands.org is a great place to share and listen to a variety of experiences like this.

[5] The law states that “energy can be transformed from one form to another, but cannot be created or destroyed.”

[6] Neil deGrasse Tyson tweet ‏@neiltyson 12:41 PM - 14 Jun 2016

[7] “Soul groups” are spoken of by Michael Newton in “Journey of Souls.” His reports suggest 3-25 people in the immediate circle, with the average being about 15.  

Cannes Man in honor of the Cannes Festival!

In honor of the Cannes Film Festival, here's a hilarious film that we made a number of years back, which has finally been released on itunes... which doesn't make it any less funny.

If you want to know what all the hoopla is about - this film is the essence of the hoopla.

Stars the late, great Francesco Quinn.  Enjoy!

CANNES MAN

Cannes Man

Here's the trailer for Cannes Man:

Selling My Film Titles online

Okay, I'm back from my sojourn working on "Salt." I'm going to try and be a little more proactive about selling my titles online. Here's links to the various titles for sale on the net:

https://www.createspace.com/254086 - CANNES MAN AKA CON MAN (with Seymour Cassel, Johnny Depp, Francesco Quinn, Rebecca Broussard)

https://www.createspace.com/254085 - LIMIT UP (with Nancy Allen, Dean Stockwell, Ray Charles as God)

https://www.createspace.com/254083 - CAMERA - DOGME #15 (2nd American Dogme film, with Carol Alt, Angie Everhart, Rebecca Broussard)

https://www.createspace.com/254088 - JOURNEY INTO TIBET (trip from Lhasa to Mt. Kailash with Prof. Robert Thurman)

https://www.createspace.com/254087 - TIBETAN REFUGEE (interviews with Tibetan refugees in Dharamsala, India, includes HH Dalai Lama)

I'm going to put up all my films for sale at some point, but for now, just a couple of clicks and you own your own copy.

Thanks,

Rich

A clip from Cannes Man

Enjoy.