CANNES, France, May 14 (UPI) -- A spokesman for Mohamed Fayed says the movie he financed about the death of Princess Diana was brought to Cannes for business reasons, not for the publicity.
The documentary "Unlawful Killing" had a high degree of buzz at the venerable French festival; however, Fayed's camp insisted this week it was in the mix because Cannes is where the buyers are.
"The whole purpose of coming to Cannes is to sell the film, not to publicize the film," Conor Nolan, Fayed's spokesman, told a packed news conference.
The Washington Post said Saturday "Unlawful Killing" was in the second-tier Film Market roster, which is not where the high-profile invited films can be found. Nevertheless, Friday's screening was well attended and drew a healthy media presence.
"Unlawful Killing" is basically the film version of the long-running suspicions Fayed has harbored that sinister forces with links to Britain's Royal Family set up the fatal 1997 crash in Paris that killed Diana and Fayed's son, Dodi al-Fayed.
Nolan said the elder Fayed paid about $4 million to bankroll "Unlawful Killing," a fact the Post noted was not prominently noted in the credits. Director Keith Allen said informing viewers of the financing "may have interrupted the flow of the story" and was not particularly relevant to the facts and theories that were presented.
