Dennis Hopper and Rainn Wilson pose with an entourage on the red carpet at CineVegas at Palms Hotel and Casino on Thursday, June 12, 2008. (Review-Journal File)
Brad Pitt speaks to the media at the CineVegas Film Festival opening night screening of “Ocean’s Thirteen” red carpet event at the Palms Wednesday, June 6, 2007. (Rhonda Chuchill/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Dennis Hopper arrives at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino for a private dinner and awards presentation for CineVegas in Las Vegas on Friday, June 16, 2006. (AP Photo/Jane Kalinowsky)
Actor Matt Damon, left, his wife Luciana Barroso and George Clooney, right, share a laugh as they arrive at the CineVegas opening night premiere of "Ocean’s Thirteen" at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Producer Jerry Weintraub, center, speaks as he is joined by from left: Andy Garcia, Ellen Barkin, Brad Pitt, Don Cheadle, Matt Damon and George Clooney at the CineVegas opening night premiere of "Ocean’s Thirteen" at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actors Matt Damon, right, and George Clooney arrive at the CineVegas opening night premiere of "Ocean’s Thirteen" at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Wednesday, June 6, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actor Anthony Hopkins accepts the Marquee Award at the CineVegas film festival award ceremony held at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Friday, June 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actress Charlize Theron accepts the Half-Life Award at the CineVegas film festival award ceremony held at the Palms hotel-casino in Las Vegas on Friday, June 15, 2007. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Rainn Wilson poses with his entourage at the premiere of "The Rocker" on opening night of the CineVegas film festival at the Palms Hotel and Casino In Las Vegas on Thursday, June 12, 2008. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)
Actor Dwayne Johnson arrives at a charity screening of ‘Get Smart’ during the CineVegas Film Festival at Planet Hollywood Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on Sunday, June 15, 2008. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)
Actor Viggo Mortensen arrives for the CineVegas Honorees Reception at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Friday, June 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actors Sam Rockwell, from left, Anjelica Huston and Clark Gregg arrive for the CineVegas Honorees Reception at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Friday, June 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actor Don Cheadle arrives for the CineVegas Honorees Reception at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Friday, June 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Actor James Caan arrives for the CineVegas Honorees Reception at the Planet Hollywood hotel and casino in Las Vegas, Friday, June 20, 2008. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Rosario Dawson arrives at VEGAS Magazine’s 5th anniversary party at The Palazzo Hotel & Casino during closing night festivities of the CineVegas Film Festival in Las Vegas on Saturday, June 21, 2008. (AP Photo/Laura Rauch)
Christine Ricci poses on the red carpet at a Cinevegas event held at the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Saturday, June 17, 2006. (Christine H. Wetzel)
FASHION–Christine Ricci poses on the red carpet at a Cinevegas event held at the Green Valley Ranch Resort, Saturday, June 17, 2006.IMAGE PHOTO CHRISTINE H. WETZEL
Zachary Levi poses at a Cinevegas event held Green Valley Ranch Resort, Saturday, June 17, 2006. (Christine H. Wetzel)
FASHION–Zachary Levi poses at a Cinevegas event held Green Valley Ranch Resort, Saturday, June 17, 2006.IMAGE PHOTO CHRISTINE H. WETZEL
RJ FILE***
RONDA CHURCHILL/REVIEW-JOURNAL
Actor Brad Pitt speaks to the media as he arrives for the ninth annual CineVegas Film Festival opening night benefit premiere of his new movie "Ocean’s Thirteen" benefiting The International Rescue Committee for Not On Our Watch at the Palms resort-casino Wednesday, June 6, 2007, in Las Vegas. The benefit premiere brought many of the cast and crew of the film to Las Vegas, which raised money to support humanitarian efforts in the war torn Darfur region of Sudan, Africa. Ronda Churchill
RONDA CHURCHILL/REVIEW-JOURNAL
Brad Pitt speaks to the media at the CineVegas Film Festival opening night screening of "Ocean’s Thirteen" red carpet event at the Palms Wednesday, June 6, 2007.
Emma Stone pauses on the red carpet at CineVegas at Palms Hotel and Casino on Thursday, June 12, 2008. (Review-Journal File)
Sarah Silverman answers questions from the media at the red carpet premier of “Saint John of Las Vegas” during the opening night of CineVegas 2009 at the Chi Theater in Planet Hollywood Wednesday. (Justin Yurkanin/Las Vegas Review-Journal).
Willem Dafoe at the Cinevegas Honorees Reception Red Carpet held in the Rain Nightclub hallway inside Palms hotel-casino on Sunday, June 14, 2009. (Duane Prokop/Las Vegas Review-Journal)
Celebrities didn’t exactly need a reason to head to the Palms in the mid- 2000s — TMZ could’ve set up a bureau there given all the headline names that frequented the place — but CineVegas gave them one anyway.
The film festival debuted Dec. 10, 1998, at Bally’s with the world premiere of “Star Trek: Insurrection.” It moved next door to Paris Las Vegas the following year before settling into its permanent home at the Palms in 2002.
Things really took off the next year. Hunter S. Thompson made what was billed as his first trip to the city since 1971 and his “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas” days for the premiere of the documentary “Breakfast With Hunter.” The famed gonzo journalist skipped a panel discussion and reportedly struck a photographer with a thrown mannequin head before surfacing in time for the screening. Afterward, Thompson attended a pool party at the Palms where, we reported, “he sat, Buddha-style, atop a portable refrigerator in a cabana. He frequently made jungle noises, yipping and grunting.”
Also in 2003, CineVegas presented Dennis Hopper with its Marquee Award. The actor had such a good time, he signed on as chairman of the festival’s creative advisory board and became a one-man publicity machine, coaxing his famous friends to attend.
Over the years, CineVegas attracted the likes of Jack Nicholson, Sylvester Stallone, Dwayne Johnson, Dustin Hoffman, Helen Mirren, Christopher Walken, Hunter S. Thompson and Nicolas Cage, before he was a local.
The festival reached its apex in 2007 with award winners Anthony Hopkins, Charlize Theron and Ben Kingsley. A relatively unknown director by the name of Taika Waititi introduced a screening of his first feature, “Eagle vs. Shark.” And George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Don Cheadle and Ellen Barkin hit the red carpet for a benefit screening of “Ocean’s Thirteen” the night after its U.S. premiere.
The final installment ran June 10-15, 2009, after which CineVegas organizers announced they were putting the festival “on hold” because of the economic downturn. Despite presenting some films under the CineVegas banner years later at the Las Vegas Film Festival, it never returned in full.
