OLIVER STONE: AT CANNES, SCALPING NEVER SLEEPS

Oliver Stone is having difficulty scoring tickets for his own film at the Cannes Film Festival. Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps is due to premiere at the festival tonight (Friday), well in advance of its scheduled release in September. Buttonholed by New York magazine on Thursday, Stone said that he was spending his time “trying to get tickets for people — ‘friends.'” The director said that he was astonished that it was proving so difficult for him to do so. “It’s insane here. You know what a ticket’s going for here on this film, on the black market? 8,000 Euros! That’s about $10,000, I think … which is approximate, but still, amazing for a movie ticket.” When the New York reporter noted that it was ironic that such a black market had materialized around Stone’s movie about corporate greed, Stone replied: “It’s a scalping thing. I heard we were the highest ticket at the festival. I had 25 ‘friends’ call on the last day [before the film screened] to get in. That’s a dilemma you can’t get out of.”