Las Vegas Weekly

June 10, 2009 · 1:17 PM

CineVegas kicks off with red carpet for Saint John of Las Vegas

By Robin Leach

Trevor Groth, Robin Greenspun and Danny Greenspun.

Photo: TVT

For the next six days, the 2009 CineVegas Film Festival rules, and our city becomes a baby Hollywood with all the dazzle and glitter of the Cannes and Sundance film festivals! Our favorite actor and Las Vegas booster Dennis Hopper, who serves as film festival chairman, will be front and center throughout the 11th annual festival as he welcomes stars, directors, writers and producers to some 70 screenings and parties!

Nearly everything about CineVegas, including the movie screenings, is headquartered at the Brenden Theatres in the Palms, with the exception of tonight’s kickoff. Writers, producers and stars of each movie will take part in Q&A sessions with film fans after each screening.

Two highlights are the opening and closing night movies, plus the Honor Awards. It all gets underway tonight with the world premiere of Saint John of Las Vegas. Although it doesn’t look as if the film’s star, Steve Buscemi, will be on the red carpet, co-stars Sarah Silverman, Romany Malco and Jesse Garcia are scheduled to attend.

Photo: CineVegas

Steve Buschemi in Saint John of Las Vegas.

Also on the red carpet at Planet Hollywood will be Las Vegas VIPs Dirk Arthur, Sahara headliner; Johnny Brenden; Flamingo headliner Nathan Burton; Luxor headliner Carrot Top; Clifton Collins Jr.; Vinnie Favorito; soon-to-be Peepshow headliner Holly Madison; Frank Marino; Gerry McCambridge from Planet Hollywood’s V Theater; Tropicana star Bobby Slayton; Alicia Taylor; Flamingo headliner George Wallace; Miss Nevada USA 2009 Georgina Vaughan; Earl Turner; Lani Misalucha from Voices at the Hilton; and Erich Bergen, Jeff Leibow and Deven May from Jersey Boys at the Palazzo.

Our fearless leaders Robin Greenspun, CineVegas’ president, Danny Greenspun and Trevor Groth, CineVegas’ artistic director, will be at the opening ceremonies. The gala after-party for the premiere will be held at the South Beach-styled Prive in Planet Hollywood.

Photo: CineVegas

Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson with Dennis Hopper.

I will be on red carpet duty with contributing photographer Tom Donoghue. I’ll tweet live for real-time coverage on Vegas DeLuxe (I’m at twitter.com/robin_leach), and we’ll post Twitpix. Click HERE for our two-part interview with Trevor for his analysis of this year’s festival.

Tomorrow and Friday, we will list each day’s star appearances, screenings and special events for you. But come Sunday afternoon, the spotlight will shine on this year’s honorees when they arrive at Rain in the Palms. Actors Jon Voight and Willem Dafoe will be given awards for their contributions to the motion picture industry, and former standup comedian Bobcat Goldthwait will screen his film World’s Greatest Dad starring Robin Williams, who is recovering from recent heart surgery. The final night party will be at The Playboy Club atop the Palms Fantasy Tower, and on Monday evening, I’m getting my own star on the Walk of Fame at the Brenden Theatres.

Photo: Rocky Mountain News

Jon Voight.

Photo: People

Willem Dafoe.

Other stars attending will include James Caan and his son Scott Caan and acclaimed director Wim Wenders. One major highlight of the festival will be the Saturday evening showing of The Beatles film Yellow Submarine at Mandalay Bay Beach. It’s being presented by Cirque du Soleil and its Love musical at The Mirage. Cirque will host the after-party at Moorea Beach Club there.

The Vegas DeLuxe team -- yours truly, our editor of excellence Don Chareunsy and roving editor at large Johnny Kats -- will cover 2009 CineVegas from top to bottom, and we’ll have Twitter updates and story and photo coverage each day.

Robin Leach has been a journalist for more than 50 years and has spent the past decade giving readers the inside scoop on Las Vegas, the world’s premier platinum playground.

Follow Robin Leach on Twitter HERE.

Follow Vegas DeLuxe on Twitter HERE.

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