Cliffhanger starring Sylvester Stallone was selected to screen as a special event at Cannes Film Festival France May 1993 The film was distributed by Sony and I was in charge of the marketing.
Ampazing memories from Sly in front of thousands of people gathered on the Canal + set, massive crowd packed for hours in front of the Palais... Sly and Mario Kassar (Rambo and Cliffhanger's producer) walking the red carpet...enjoying "best day in my life" as Sly told me that evening!
As head of marketing for Sony in France I had arranged a very busy schedule, live appearance at Canal + on the martinez peer, landing from a huge yacht which, the Port Authorities later told us had been spotted on the radar at 45 knots (Sly would you like to drive the boat I had offered?) I remember climbers, fake snow on the Palais, climbers coming down from the roof of the Palais, the Eye of the Tiger score, the whole team on a bliss.
That year at Sony we had two action actors in town: Arnold and Sly (Cliffhanger and Last Action Hero), it was also a power media battle as Dennis Davidson (DDA) recalls in an interview with Bruno Chatelin: DDA was in charge of the AMFAR gala headed by Liz Taylor, the screeening was charged for the first time in Cannes history 300F / 45€?
I understand a compromise had been reached between Sony and Carolco Mario Kassar, Ted Shugrue... and a decision to split the media campaign in two, LAH opening week, Cliffhanger second week; the big posters were split... in each case the media results were exceptionnal, the awareness huge...and producers and talent happy!
Dennis Davidson remembers the challenges and negotiations...
Great memories and so funny to see myself next to Arnold Schwarzenegger, on this video I jave just found; offering himsome protection against the crowd... or was it the opposite ?I am also quite proud of the exposure we have received for the film (against a mere 5000€ budget renting a barge from Marseille to host the 17m high inflatable Arnold, produced in LA) That gave us front cover from almost every daily magazine in the world. Things money could not buy...Hot air balloon, a barge and some guts when dealing with refusal in negotiations of the necesary authorizations from Cannes OR from the port authorities...
