Premiering on Monday, May 20, at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival, James Toback and Michael Mailer’s documentary “Seduced and Abandoned” starring Hamptons resident Alec Baldwin was a show AND dinner event.
The documentary is an inside look at the ups and downs of living in the film industry. It follows Baldwin and Toback on a “troublesome and often hilarious journey at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival, as they attempt to secure financing for their next feature film. In this behind-the-scenes look at the Cannes Film Festival, Baldwin and Toback interface with a wide variety of Cannes denizens from movie stars, directors, producers, distributors, financiers, personalities and even the director of the film festival himself.”
The film also shares the stories of some other industry professionals like Martin Scorsese, Bernardo Bertolucci, Ryan Gosling, Jessica Chastain, Francis Ford Coppola, Roman Polanski, Berenice Bejo, Diane Kruger and James Caan, as well as interviews with Brett Ratner, Graydon Carter, Taki Theodoracopulos, Johnny Pigozzi, Ron Meyer and Diablo Cody.
After viewing the film at the Salle du Soixantième Theatre in Cannes, a intimate party of 50, including Toback, Mailer, and Baldwin and his wife Hilaria Thomas gathered at a dinner hosted by Austrian singer, songwriter and philanthropist Denise Rich aboard her yacht docked in the Old Port of Cannes. The executive producers Alan Helene, Larry Herbert and Neal Schneider, their wives Marla Helene, Michele Herbert and Stacy Schneider were also in attendance.
The guest list also included Andrei Toback, Hayley Helene and Loren Herbert, Paris Hilton with model boyfriend River Viiperi, Brandon Davis, Grace Potter and Matt Burr of Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, De Grisogono founder Fawaz Gruosi, British pop singer Sir Cliff Richard, super-agent Jeff Berg, artist Anne McNally and activist Patricia Duff, as well as Jean Pigozzi and Taki Theodoracopulos, who both appeared in the film.
The dinner included included heartfelt speeches from the producers, graciously thanking family, friends and colleagues for their support throughout the making of “Seduced and Abandoned.”
The after party that commenced was where the real fun began. Lasting till the wee hours of the morning, party-goers were kept afloat in part by the steady supply of U’Luvka Vodka and the 100 cases of Perrier-Jouët, that were finished off by the end of the night.
The North American television rights to “Seduced and Abandoned,” which was produced by Michael Mailer Films, were recently acquired by HBO.