Most celebrities come to the Cannes Film Festival to promote a movie already in the can. But Jessica Simpson arrived to get press for one that hasn’t even started shooting.
The singer, 26, flew all the way to the festival—attended by thousands of film journalists—simply to announce Major Movie Star, which doesn’t begin production until July 9.
“It’s basically this girl who’s a major movie star, who wants to be more respected because she always gets the blonde bimbo parts,” Simpson explained on the red carpet outside the May 18 party for her aboard Cannes’ Budweiser Select Yacht. “She doesn’t get the roles she wants and ends up walking in on her costar, who is her boyfriend, and her hairdresser! And she figures she doesn’t want this life anymore. So she joins the Marines.”
It perhaps sounds a lot like Jessica’s own career! And if it also sounds a little like the 1980 classic Private Benjamin— which earned Goldie Hawn an Oscar nomination for Best Actress—it’s no accident. “The script did remind me of Goldie and a Private Benjamin type of role,” said Simpson. “I adore her and look up to her. I aspire to be her.” Who else does Simpson—who wore a vintage Herve Ledger dress, Jimmy Choos and Bulgari jewelry to the event—admire? “One of my favorite female performances is Diane Keaton in Annie Hall. That’s one of my all time favorite movies. It’s one those movies you can watch and always learn something about relationships and love.”
Speaking of romance, Simpson remained silent about her recent breakup with singer John Mayer. She only wanted to speak about the film, for which, she said, she would be getting in serious shape, a la Demi Moore in G.I. Jane, not to mention her own body transformation for 2005’s The Dukes of Hazzard. “I’m back on an extreme diet and workout,” she said. “I have to be able to do take after take of push-ups and climbing walls and going through trenches and what-not! In honor of Moore, Simpson adds, “I’m working on my one armed push-up—in my high heels!”
Source: Us Weekly
