Actress Zhang Ziyi walks red carpet at 66th Cannes Film Festival

Actress Zhang Ziyi arrives for the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. <AP Photo/Francois Mori>

Director and jury president Steven Spielberg arrives with actress Nicole Kidman for the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. <AP Photo/Invision/Joel Ryan>

From left, actors Leonardo DiCaprio, production designer Catherine Martin, director Baz Luhrmann, actors Amitabh Bachchan, Elizabeth Debicki, Carey Mulligan and Isla Fischer walk the red carpet for the opening ceremony and the screening of The Great Gatsby at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. <AP Photo/Francois Mori>

Jury president Steven Spielberg waves to photographers as he arrives for a press conference of the jury at the 66th international film festival, in Cannes, southern France, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. <AP Photo/Invision/Joel Ryan>

Under unseasonably cloudy skies and dodging a few raindrops, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire kicked off the 66th Cannes Film Festival on Wednesday just hours before walking the red carpet for their blockbuster film The Great Gatsby, which opened the star-studded 12-day extravaganza of movies and parties on the French Riviera. <AP Photo/Francois Mori>

Cannes Film Festival Kicks Off with Great Gatsby

Under unseasonably cloudy skies and dodging a few raindrops, Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan and Tobey Maguire kicked off the 66th Cannes Film Festival on May 15 just hours before walking the red carpet for their blockbuster film The Great Gatsby, which opened the star-studded 12-day extravaganza of movies and parties on the French Riviera.

“Every time I go to Cannes it feels like I’m entering the helicopter scene in La Dolce Vita; it’s an insane experience,” said DiCaprio, who posed for photos on the fabled Croisette next to his Gatsby costars.

Emma Watson, who stars in Sofia Coppola’s The Bling Ring, premiering Thursday, was spotted among the early celebrity arrivals at Nice International Airport on Tuesday – along with Paris Hilton, Cannes jury member Nicole Kidman and British singer Florence Welch.

Other stars expected to walk the red carpet in support of their films this year include: Ryan Gosling (Only God Forgives); Justin Timberlake (Inside Llewyn Davis); James Franco (As I Lay Dying); Michael Douglas and Matt Damon (Behind the Candelabra); and Rooney Mara (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints).

Many previous winners of the festival’s prestigious top award, the Palme d’Or, such as Steven Soderbergh, the Coen Brothers and Roman Polanski, are also returning with new films this year.

On the party front, one of the most lavish soirees ever to grace the festival is expected to take place Wednesday night after the festival premiere of The Great Gatsby. A massive dome has been constructed at one end of the harbor for a 1920s-era gala – complete with sequins, feathers, Prada-clad dancers and cabaret-style entertainment.

This year, Steven Spielberg, who hasn’t had a film at Cannes in more than a decade, is serving as jury president and overseeing a group of fellow jurors who include Kidman, director Ang Lee and double Oscar-winning actor Christoph Waltz.

The festival will close with Zulu, which stars Forest Whitaker and Orlando Bloom, and is about two policemen investigating a crime in apartheid-era South Africa.