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The Rumour: Grumpy Brit helmer Ken Loach is a fave of the Cannes jury, so don't be too surprised if his latest turns up in competition. It's Loach's turn to look at the situation in Iraq, as a private security contractor sets out to find the truth behind a friend's death on a notorious stretch of road.
Somewhere
The Rumour: An almost dead cert for inclusion is Sofia Coppola's latest. Not only does she have Cannes form by the bucketload with The Virgin Suicides and Marie Antoinette , but the tale of a bad boy actor living life to excess in Hollywood's Chateau Marmont is tailormade to appeal to festivalgoers keen to enjoy a glimpse of La La Land's dark side.
Another Year
The Rumour: Mike Leigh's another Brit helmer with a great Cannes pedigree (he bagged the Golden Palm in 1996 for Secrets & Lies ). With the likes of Imelda Staunton and Jim Broadbent in the cast, Another Year sweats quality, but there's no guaranteeing that it'll emerge from the editing room in time for the fest.
Fair Game
The Rumour: Doug Liman's never really felt the Cannes love before, but this might just be the film to change all that. The factual account of the Bush administrations attempts to smear a journalist who crossed them over Iraq seems tailormade to appeal to liberal jury sensibilities... even before they realise that it stars festival favourite Sean Penn.
The Expendables
The Rumour: Maybe just too early to squeeze this in out of competition (it's down for an August release date) but Sylvester Stallone's Wild Geese -esque thriller about mercenaries out to overthrow a South American dictator would keep happy anyone whose highlight of last year's Cannes was Inglourious Basterds ...
Tron Legacy
The Rumour: The chances of this turning up in its entirety are wafer thin (it's not due out until December) , but maybe, just maybe, Disney will go digi-crazy and screen an unseen chunk of it (if nothing else it'd give Jeff Bridges a chance to test drive his post-Oscar cred at the festival's parties). Hey, we can dream, right?
The Way Back
The Rumour: Peter Weir's first flick since Master And Commander (2003), The Way Back looks like a juicy mix of action and drama. A bloke-heavy cast including the likes of Colin Farrell, Ed Harris and Mark Strong fill out the story of prisoners attempts to flee a Siberian Gulag in 1940 and make their way back to civilisation.
Predators
The Rumour: Wouldn't it be good if this was done in time for last minute inclusion out of competition, eh? C'mon, what film festival isn't going to be livened up no end by giant spear-waving aliens facing off against space grunts? The trailer looks great – surely they can rush post-production just enough to get a finished version to Cannes?
Miral
The Rumour: Another helmer with Cannes form, Julian Schnabel won Best Director here for The Diving Bell And The Butterfly so would probably be keen to bring his latest here. The real-life story of a woman establishing an orphanage in Jerusalem after the 1948 partition of Palestine and creation of Israel, it's swimming in dramatic potential.
La Princesse De Montpensier/Socialisme
The Rumour: We're cheating here and squeezing in two for the price of one. French filmmaking isn't exactly setting the world alight at the moment so maybe the festival will choose to honour one of its old guard. Both Bertrand Tavernier (69) and Jean-Luc Godard (79) have films that might be ready for inclusion, the former with La Princesse De Montpensier and the latter with Socialism e .
The Tempest
The Rumour: Quality chunks of filmed Shakespeare are thin on the ground so Burton and co might look favourably on Julie Taymor's spin on the Bard's final play. It's got the magic and weirdness that Burton likes, the cast's impressive (Chris Cooper, Ben Whishaw, Alan Cumming, Djimon Hounsou, Alfred Molina) and she's managed to twist the premise so that male magician Prospero becomes female sorceress Prospera played by Helen Mirren.
