The film festival rumor mill is working overtime with the notion that Tom Cruise will make a surprise appearance at the Cannes Film Festival Wednesday to promote his new flick ``War of the Worlds.''

Word is that Cruise, who is scheduled to show at the nearby Monte Carlos Grand Prix next week, will show up on the Croisette, the beachfront promenade, to pose under the mammoth ``War of the Worlds'' poster at the Carlton Hotel. With a captive audience of 4,000 journalists, Cruise knows that Cannes is, in the words of producer Joel Silver, the world's stage for l0 days.

Whether Cruise will show with his new arm candy Katie Holmes is another question.

Silver, whose ``House of Wax'' just opened in the United States a week ago, came for the world premiere of ``Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,'' anautumn action release starring Robert Downey Jr. as a burglar-turned-actor and Val Kilmer as a sardonic gay detective. An update on the classic Bogart-style '40s film noir, ``Kiss Kiss'' gives the two starstheir best roles in years.

“A movie like this needs the excitement and attention a festival like this can bring to it,'' Silver said, calling his stars ``just delicious.'' 

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