CANNES: Leonardo DiCaprio is going to get closer to stars of a different kind as he heads into space aboard the Virgin Galactic, and a well-heeled bidder at the Cannes Film Festival has paid ¤1.2m ($1.5m) to be his travel buddy.
The Holywood star’s sub-orbital trip was among 20 goodies up for grabs at the 20th amfAR bash, a gala auction that is one of the glitziest festival events and that this year helped raise a record-breaking $25m for Aids research.
Other big-ticket items were a role as an extra in four Hollywood movies, including a feature starring DiCaprio (¤1.5m); two VIP seats for the 2014 Oscars awards (¤140,000); a private acoustic concert for 45 people by Simon Le Bon and John Taylor of Duran Duran (¤400,000); and a game of six-a-side against a team led by Zinedine Zidane (¤380,000).
DiCaprio, Nicole Kidman, Janet Jackson, Jessica Chastain, Kylie Minogue, Audrey Tautou, Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, Kristin Scott Thomas and Paris Hilton were among the 900 people who attended the charity dinner event at Antibes’ Eden Roc hotel.
A table for 10 cost ¤120,000, and an individual seat nearly ¤3,000.
Entertainment was provided by Duran Duran, who played their classic Girls on Film, Shirley Bassey, who sang the signature Bond song Goldfinger, and American Music Awards winner Hot Chelle Rae performed their smash Tonight, Tonight.
This year’s auction raked in more than twice the amount collected in 2012. Since 1993, the gala has raised ¤87m.
AFP
