Sean Penn Scores Big at Stormy Cannes, Susan Sarandon's Big Shoe: Biz Break

Also in Monday morning's mostly Cannes news briefs: Samuel Goldwyn picks up Un Certain Regard debut for U.S., James Franco's collaborator heads to premiere documentary festival, Thomas Vinterberg resurfaces in Cannes with his latest, and for those lamenting a "No-Cannes-Do" this year, the weather has been pretty abysmal.

Sean Penn's Haiti Charity Raises $2M in Cannes
The weekend's "Haiti: Carnival in Cannes" event raised over $2 million for Sean Penn's J/P Haitian Relief  Organization (J/P HRO), Paul Haggis’ Artists for Peace and Justice (APJ) and Petra Nemcova’s Happy Heart’s Fund (HHF). Guests included Gerard Butler, Diane Kruger, Jessica Chastain, Ben Stiller, Chris Rock, David Schwimmer, Ewan McGregor, Jada Pinkett Smith, Tom Hardy, Robert De Niro, Sean Combs, Joshua Jackson, Michelle Rodriguez, Harvey Weinstein, Lyle Lovett (who performed 3 songs) and more. Items up for auction included a meet and greet with Bono and lunch with a Victoria’s Secret "angel."

Jim Sturgess and Susan Sarandon Tapped for The Big Shoe
The Big Shoe is described as "a sexy comedic drama" directed by Steven Shainberg (Secretary), from a script by Shainberg and Mickey Birnbaum. The film will star Sturgess and Sarandon, who can next be seen together in Cloud Atlas. AngelWorld Entertainment (AWE), which on Saturday in Cannes announced the launch of its $150m equity fund, will finance and produce.

Samuel Goldwyn Films Confirms Renoir Pick Up
Directed by Gilles Bourdos, the film will have its world premiere as the closing night film of the Cannes Un Certain Regard this Friday, May 25. Based on a true story, Renoir is a love story about the famed painter, his son Jean (the famed director) and their muse. The film will be released in the U.S. in spring 2013.

Content Gets Complicit
The film, which will debut on Britain's Channel 4 followed by a worldwide theatrical release, explores the moral compromises and dilemmas that underpin the war on terror, as an (British secret services) MI5 agent becomes embroiled in the torture of a suspected terrorist in order to prevent a major attack in the UK. 

James Franco Collaborator Douglas Gordon Set for Denmark Fest
Award-winning contemporary film and video artist Douglas Gordon, who most recently featured work in James Franco’s Rebel exhibition at MOCA’s new L.A based venue, will be curating a special film series at the doc festival CPH:DOX from November 1-11 in Copenhagen.

Around the 'net...

A Very Wet Scene in Cannes
Thrashing wind and rain have been streaming steadily all day today after an on-and-off couple of days that haven’t been much better. And if forecasts are to be believed, there’s no sign the deluge will end before Thursday, Deadline reports.

Cannes Welcomes Back Thomas Vinterberg
After 14 years, Cannes has welcomed back its lost son with Jagten (The Hunt), which explores the territory of child sexual abuse and with its story of an innocent man almost destroyed when he is falsely accused by a small child. The Guardian reports.

Palme d'Or Likely to Go to a 'Bookworm'
It is a bookworm's Cannes, with directors as likely to have had their noses buried in novels as dreaming up original ideas. All eyes are on Walter Salles's adaptation of Jack Kerouac's modern classic On the Road, which premieres Wednesday. Meanwhile, David Cronenberg's version of Cosmopolis, based on Don DeLillo's 2003 novel, is also one of the festival's eagerly anticipated films, The Guardian reports.