Cannes-Watch: 'What Just Happened' will happen on the Croisette

One of the big Sundance disappointments will get a do-over of sorts at Cannes, where we're hearing "What Just Happened?" will make an appearance. Barry Levinson's tale of a producer's unraveling life was a potential blockbuster sale in Park City, then it wasn't, and then things just went quiet. Cinetic and CAA were repping the film at Sundance, at one point asking for high seven figures. But in a lukewarm sales climate, buyers didn't go for it.

The movie has its laughs but also has its problems -- its Hollywood satire doesn't bite sharply enough, and its non-biz sections don't carry the movie far enough to make it work as a drama.

But can the Art Linson-penned movie get more buzz on the beaches of the Riviera than than it did in the mountains of Utah?

It will be an interesting play for producer 2929, which had the big Cannes sale of last year with "We Own the Night" but has had less success with buyers at Sundance. The news also comes at a transitional time for Robert De Niro, who of course just left CAA.

Either way, the movie will pose an oddly self-referential viewing experience since its final scenes actually take place in Cannes. That's where the movie-within-a-movie that De Niro produced screens and where a bewildered De Niro poses the title question after a spell of bad fortune. We'll see if the film's reps are asking the same question once all is said and done.

UPDATE: Not only will the film be at Cannes, it will be closing the festival. That means it could play to smaller audiences, as more wanderlusting festgoers might have already flown the coop. But it also will give the film a showcase spot and help highlight it for the international distributors who are no doubt at the center of its do-over strategy. In any event, it's probably the first time a movie partly set on the opening-night of a festival will play its closing night.