CANNES -- Martin Scorsese showed only 20 minutes of his bloody U.S. historical epic Gangs Of New York, but that was enough to create the biggest stir of any film so far at the 55th Cannes Film Festival.

It did not hurt at all that the famed American director brought along two of his biggest stars, Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz, to generate interest, and that jury member Sharon Stone and competition director Paul Thomas Anderson showed up for the semi-formal sneak peek. Diaz especially got people's tongues wagging: She was dressed in a provocative, sheer fishnet black pantsuit worn over tight black panties.

The 20 minutes of Gangs was shown late Monday before a press conference with producer and Miramax mogul Harvey Weinstein.

He lashed out at an English journalist who brought up gossip that has been plaguing the long and supposedly troubled shoot, including accusations that Weinstein fought with Scorsese and that DiCaprio had been up all night partying instead of attending to his duties on set in Rome.

"Yes, I'm no angel," Weinstein said of his bombastic approach to filmmaking and the confrontations he has had with Scorsese over the making of Gangs. "So mea culpa in some areas along those lines. But it has been a privilege to work for Marty and a privilege to work with him. He is not only the best director I've ever worked with, but the toughest for the movie -- and what Marty fights for is the movie.

"This is an attempt at art. Half the s--- you see in this goddamn Hollywood -- with superheroes bouncing around off the walls -- write about what s--- that is! You write about Leo's late-night antics. I'll tell you what Leo was doing late at night: He was working on the goddamn script with Kenny Lonergan (the co-screenwriter). This was a labour of love. This whole story is totally f---ing exaggerated!"

Scorsese said there were problems typical of shooting any large-scale movie and he's not shy of admitting it: "I'm a very excitable person. Harvey is also extremely colourful. We've had our disagreements."

But none of the "problems" on set concerned DiCaprio, Scorsese said. "It didn't affect me. I've got to tell you, the kid was there. We never, I must say, had disagreements. I never was upset about supposedly late-night antics.

"What night?" he said to DiCaprio, sitting beside him.

"Never!" DiCaprio snapped back.

As for DiCaprio working with Scorsese, the maturing actor said it is a watershed in his life and career:

'OVERJOYED'

"I quite simply was just overjoyed to work with Mr. Scorsese. I mean, it sounds like a complete cliche and what every actor would say up on this podium, but ..."

DiCaprio said he also found the subject matter -- the bloodthirsy rivalry between established Euro-Americans and new immigrants in Manhattan from the 1840s through the 1860s -- a fascinating learning experience."

Diaz was also enthusiastic: "Most people think we work for the paycheque, but really we work so that, eventually, we can work for a director like Martin Scorsese. I auditioned for the part and I was jumping out of my skin when I found out I had it."


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