CANNES, May 9 — A hostage thriller with an eye on financial dealings, Jodie Foster’s Money Monster is set for a world premiere at Cannes and boasts George Clooney and Julia Roberts among its principal cast members.

Who’s in it and what’s it about?

Last year’s five-time Oscar nominee, The Big Short, tackled the housing bubble crisis with four of Hollywood’s biggest stars as its leads — Brad Pitt, Christian Bale, Steve Carrell and Ryan Gosling.

Jodie Foster, director of the movie ‘Money Monster,’ starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, in New York, April 21, 2016. — Picture by Jesse Dittmar/The New York Times
Jodie Foster, director of the movie ‘Money Monster,’ starring George Clooney and Julia Roberts, in New York, April 21, 2016. — Picture by Jesse Dittmar/The New York Times

Now Money Monster is telling the same sort of story from another perspective, with its own stellar lineup: George Clooney as financial guru and TV show host Lee Gates; Julia Roberts as Patty Fenn, the show’s director; and Jack O’Connell as Kyle, a furious TV studio invader whose life crashed along with the value of a stock Gates had erroneously recommended.

But as Gates and Fenn try to keep the raging Kyle onside during a live broadcast turned hostage situation, they start to realise that the stock recommendation wasn’t just a chance error.

Clooney came to Money Monster hot off the Coen brothers’ acclaimed Hail! Caesar, while Ocean’s Eleven and Ocean’s Twelve star Roberts is said to have earned US$3 million (RM11.99 million) for four days’ work on Mother’s Day, in theatres at the same time as this film, while Jack O’Connell starred in Angelina Jolie’s historical epic Unbroken. 

Who’s behind it?

As director, this is Jodie Foster’s second feature film in five years, and fourth in all, having also directed a season 2 episode on House of Cards and two episodes of Orange Is the New Black.

Already a two-time Oscar winner as a hugely respected actress, those three recent stints as a TV show director earned her nominations for two Directors Guild of America awards and a Primetime Emmy.

When’s it out?

Sony Pictures is giving Money Monster a world premiere at the 69th Cannes Film Festival on May 12, the same day that it debuts nationally in France and a day before its US release.

Theatrical releases in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, and the Netherlands (among other territories) are also set for the same week, with Brazil, Germany, the Philippines, and the UK showing it the week of May 26 onwards.

Can I see a trailer?

Watch the Money Monster trailer along with a playlist of clips.— AFP/Relaxnews