"Oui, Poof Deedy"

Walking back to the hotel, I ran into a pedestrian traffic jam on the Croisette, a thicket of outstretched arms holding up cameras in front of a Gucci store, from pro TV types to cellphones. When you run across this kind of feeding frenzy in the street, you can’t see who’s there behind the mob, so you look up at all the LCD screens trying to decipher something.

"Who is it?" I finally asked one of the more professional looking paparazzi.

"Poof Deedy."

"Puff Daddy?"

"Oui, Poof Deedy."

Stars from outside the movie business generate a special excitement here. Mike Tyson had a big impact last week. Of all the videos I’ve posted from Cannes, only one has taken off on YouTube—a simple clip of Tyson introducing James Toback’s documentary portrait of him has got over 10,000 hits. Sure Madonna is coming to town, but soccer star Maradona may create even more pandemonium when he shows up tomorrow as the star of a new documentary by Emir Kusturica.