Ang Lee’s Taking Woodstock to Debut at Cannes Film Festival

Ang Lee’s film Taking Woodstock, a big-screen adaptation of the memoir of Elliot Tiber, who played a role in helping the historic 1969 music fest unfold on his neighbor’s farm, will make its world debut in competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival in May, before officially opening in the United States on August 14.

Demetri Martin will play Tiber, an aspiring interior designer in Greenwich Village obliged to run a Catskills motel; Imelda Staunton and Henry Goodman will play Tiber’s parents; Jonathan Groff will play Woodstock organizer Michael Lang; Emile Hirsch will play a recently returned Vietnam vet, Eugene Levy will play farmer Max Yasgur, Liev Schrieber will play a transvestite named Vilma; Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan will play a hippie couple attending the concert; Dan Fogler will play a local theater troupe head; and Mamie Gummer will play Lang’s assistant.

Lee won the Oscar for Brokeback Mountain and has directed such films as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.