For those planning to see a “Festival in Cannes,” which opens at the Kendall and Copley movie theaters today, check out Needham’s own Rachel Bailit playing a supporting role as Nikki, a naive screenwriter. Although Bailit has been living in Los Angeles for a while, she started out in journalism in Boston at WBZ-TV (Channel 4) before making a film about President Clinton’s 1996 re-election campaign, as seen through the eyes of volunteers, herself included. She eventually sold “Making a Difference” to the campaign for a small sum. While she’s done TV (”General Hospital”) and had other film roles (the nurse in “The Grinch”), “Festival in Cannes” (see review, Page F6), which is about the movie industry, is Bailit’s biggest break. It was filmed improv-style during a two-week stretch in 1999, directed on location in France by Henry Jaglom. “I’m really proud of it,” she said over the phone from California. “I wish I could be home. My family’s having parties.” Bailit said casting was based, in part, on the actors’ real-life personalities. That’s how she ended up as the naive screenwriter. “I believe what everyone says. [Henry] said, ‘I want you to play yourself.’ ”
—The Boston Globe