The Hotel du Cap, located on the French Riviera, has been a hot spot for movie stars and celebrities attending Cannes Film Festival since its founding in 1946. Its exclusivity and status symbol are renowned in the film industry.
“The light over the Cap is extraordinary this time of year,” the general manager of the Hotel du Cap, Philippe Perd, tells me. It’s a literal statement: The cool airs of spring have been swept away with the seasons, while the hot, heavy ones of summer have yet to set in.
In May, the sun shines warm and sweet, its rays a gentle honeyed diffusion. But it also feels like the light shines because of something that doesn’t have to do with seasons at all: the Each May, movie stars and celebrities descend on the South of France for the international event, where high-profile films from the industry’s auteurs make their premiere. The best among them receive a standing ovation.
The best of the best receives the—and thus, most likely, a place on the short list for a best-picture Oscar nomination. And while they’re there, the biggest celebrities, directors, studio heads, and agents all stay at one place: the Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc.to be confused with the Grand-Hotel du Cap-Ferrat, a wonderful yet less mythologized property in Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat) has been synonymous with the Cannes Film Festival since it began in 1946.
By that time, the luxury property in Antibes, France—once a belle epoque mansion belonging to French newspaper owner Hippolyte de Villemessant—had already been in operation for 57 years. It developed quite the desirable reputation in the process. A wealthy American couple, Gerald and Sara Murphy, once rented out the Hotel du Cap and its rocky cliffside peninsula overlooking the cerulean Mediterranean Sea during the summer.
They invited a number of their glamorous friends to come stay, including“On the pleasant shore of the French Riviera, about half way between Marseilles and the Italian border, stands a large, proud, rose-colored hotel,” Fitzgerald wrote of his fictionalized Hotel du Cap, which he called Gausse’s Hôtel des Étrangers. He added that it was “a summer resort of notable and fashionable people.
” While World War II led to waning tourism in the Côte d’Azur, slowly but surely, the wealthy began to return after V-E Day. With the debut of theAnd they all wanted to stay at the hotel they’d read about—even if Antibes was technically about a 25-minute drive away from the city of Cannes itself. It stayed that way as the festival grew into one of the film industry’s most important events.
To stay at the Hotel du Cap became a status symbol, earned both through cash and clout: There’s only a limited number of rooms at the Hotel du Cap, far fewer than the number of people willing to pay for them. So the hotel often prioritizes returning guests rather than new ones—unless they come with a solid referral from a frequent patron.
And who returns year after year? The titans of the entertainment industry and the megawatt actors who star in their movies. , cofounder of 20th Century Pictures , famously took all his business calls throughout the festival in swim trunks by the pool. Elizabeth Taylor and Marlene Dietrich stayed at the Hotel du Cap.
These days, you might see Leonardo DiCaprio and the Jenner sisters in the lobby—or Bella Hadid; mere days ago, paparazzi captured her disembarking a boat for an afternoon at the Eden-Roc.
“For many in the industry, a stay here is synonymous with the festival. That is a responsibility we take seriously,” Perd says. He is mum about any gossipy goings-on that have occurred within its gilded walls—one of the hallmarks of the Hotel du Cap is its privacy, after all. But there are two moments he will share, albeit vaguely: watching a filmmaker wait for the elevator alongside a Hollywood legend he knew they admired, as well as seeing a Palme d’Or hopeful sit at a table next to a director who’d won the award 20 years earlier. Yet a stay at the Hotel du Cap is never a given.
Visitors who mistreat staff or the hotel may not be welcomed back. Infamously, Harvey Weinstein was allegedly so rude to workers at aevents at the hotel by then editor in chief Graydon Carter. And director Brett Ratner, who was accused of sexual misconduct by multiple women , was allegedly banned by then general manager Jean-Claude Irondelle after writing an essay forIf you’re attending Cannes, you’re either watching, purchasing, or promoting a film. For the latter two purposes, the act of seeing and being seen is paramount.
For the former two, well, it’s also just fun: Cannes is known for its beach clubs on the Mediterranean and the Croisette, a pedestrian promenade lined with designer shops. And if you want to have a high-profile lunch or dinner, the Hotel du Cap restaurant The Grill is an important reservation.
“The Grill is the heart of the ‘power lunch’ scene,” Perd says. The dish to get? The $160 lobster salad, prepared tableside. Even if you don’t book a room at the hotel during Cannes, you’ll likely end up there eventually.
Thanks to its glamorous, idyllic locale—22 lush acres on the Mediterranean, with a dramatic rocky cliff overlooking the sea—it’s often the spot for parties that seek panache: Brands like Dior, as well as consummate Hollywood host Charles Finch , have all held starry events at the Hotel du Cap. And under Carter,held a regular black-tie Cannes bash at the Hotel du Cap, where the entertainment industry’s biggest names milled around the pool.
Carter stayed at the hotel last week; he’s since left the magazine industry for the movie one, launching a production company called Par Avion.
“I find it very difficult to leave the place once I settle in,” Carter tells me from its gilded halls. “In my more than 25 years of coming here, I’ve ventured into Cannes only three times: once for a Coen brothers film, once for an Indiana Jones film, and once for a film I produced,” Carter’s choice is part idyllic, part practical: The resort city itself is packed to its beachy, heated brim for the festival, with all sorts of folks eager to soak up the party scene that arises in Hollywood’s wake.
Walking down the street might mean you have to weave through people like a near-idling motorcycle stuck in gridlock traffic.
“How’s Cannes? ” I text my friend staying just off the Croisette.
“A zoo,” she replies. The AIDS research charity, cofounded by Elizabeth Taylor in 1985, has held a yearly benefit at the hotel since 2009. Short of the Met Gala, amfAR Cannes has arguably the highest-watt guest list of any nonprofit event.
Last year Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, Spike Lee, Colman Domingo, and DiCaprio all attended. This year the gala will be chaired by Pedro Almodóvar, Scarlett Johansson, Demi Moore, Naomi Watts, Michelle Yeoh, and more than a dozen other famous names that are too long to list but definitely recognizable. It will also feature a fashion show curated by famed French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld. Clifford calls the whole thing “truly a miracle of logistics.
” It begins with check-in outside the Hotel du Cap’s gate. If you’re on the list—and that’s a big—then you walk the red carpet that ascends to the hotel’s main building. After you meander through the lobby, it’s time for cocktail hour on the grounds of the hotel. The natural location is a statement enough: The most famous setting at the Hotel du Cap is the Grande Allée, a 656-foot pathway that stretches from the hotel to the Mediterranean Sea.
But amfAR also decks out cocktail hours with previews of its auction lots, such as George Condo pieces or vintage cars. When the sun sets, guests are then led into what Clifford calls a “temporary ballroom” built on the tennis courts. Let him explain: “We start building on the tennis courts a few months before the event,” Clifford says.
“We create what I would call this 24-hour ballroom, where guests feel like it’s a permanent ballroom. In reality, it’s a raw space built and dismantled in a matter of days. ” He estimates that 1,000 people work to produce the event, many of them on said tennis court. The second-biggest battle of execution?
The menu—around 100 chefs work to prepare the menu for about 900 guests, accounting for all sorts of dietary restrictions. While the Hotel du Cap inspired the setting for a Fitzgerald novel, during Cannes, it might just be the main character.beach party to Graydon Carter’s Hotel du Cap extravaganza with Anthropic and Bryan Lourd, here’s where to see and be seen during cinema’s most glamorous two weeks.
While receiving this year’s Kering Women in Motion award in Cannes, the celebrated actor dismissed the insidious assumption “that women’s stories are less interesting or smaller. ”partnered with IHG Hotels & Resorts to host a stunning beachside luncheon at the Carlton Beach Club, filled with big stars and cold champagne. With just over a week to go until the buzzy opening ceremony, the Cannes 2026 Festival has unveiled its star-studded jury.
Annual Trophée Chopard Dinner Honors Odessa A’zion and Connor Swindells Demi Moore, Riley Keough, Ruth Negga and James Franco mingled at the Carlton Beach Club for one of the most glamorous events at Cannes. ’s Faux Cannes Plan, the Star-Studded Jury, and All the Other Can’t-Miss Details for the Cannes Film Festival 2026A Guessing Game: Who Bought the $181 Million Pollock at the $1.1 Billion Christie’s Auction?
A weeklong spree of sales kicked off with the most expensive Jackson Pollock drip painting ever auctioned. The art world is scrambling to figure out who bought it. A Los Angeles Superior Court judge has ruled that Brad Pitt cannot compel his ex-wife Angelina Jolie to hand over private emails relating to the sale of her stake in the French winery.
Hotel Du Cap Cannes Film Festival French Riviera Antibes France Movie Stars Celebrities Titan Of Entertainment Industry
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Hoyeon Entered Her Movie Star Era at the Cannes Film FestivalThe South Korean star is taking on an action-packed role in her new film, Hope. “I spent about five to six months training before shooting began,” says Hoyeon.
Read more »
Netflix Grabs Stephanie Hsu & Will Sharpe's Breakout Cannes MovieNetflix secures global rights to Stephanie Hsu and Will Sharpe's animated feature, based on AJ Dungo’s 2019 graphic novel.
Read more »
What it's like inside the amfAR Gala, which has raised millions for AIDS researchThe amfAR Gala at the Hotel Du Cap-Eden-Roc is a highlight of the Cannes Film Festival.
Read more »
Cannes: Asia Argento on Whether She'd Make an Anthony Bourdian MovieAsia Argento at Cannes talks about going 'insane' making her movie 'Death Has No Master' and whether she's make a movie about Anthony Bourdain.
Read more »