CANNES, France (Reuters) - Jewelry worth $1.4 million intended to adorn movie stars at the Cannes film festival was stolen from a hotel room in the French Riviera town, a police source said on Friday.
The jewels were in the safe of a room rented by an employee of luxury jeweler and Cannes sponsor Chopard, the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"The jeweler hasn't yet furnished details of what exactly was stolen," the source said.
The Cannes film festival, the world's largest, draws thousands of movie stars, industry executives and journalists to the fabled resort on the Mediterranean.
Jewelers and fashion houses use the annual event as a promotional showcase, lending gowns and accessories to celebrities who are photographed on the famed red carpet and at parties along the palm-lined Croisette waterfront.
Since the festival opened on Wednesday, pop star Lana Del Rey and former supermodel Cindy Crawford, among others, have chosen Chopard jewels for their red carpet appearances.
The incident at the Suite Novotel four-star hotel in central Cannes - opposite a municipal police station - took place on the night of Thursday to Friday.
The entire safe was removed from the wall and taken from the room, where someone entered without either forcing the door or using the magnetic key card, the source said.
The hotel declined to comment.
In an ironic twist, Sofia Coppola's new movie "The Bling Ring", about a gang of celebrity-obsessed teens who break into stars' homes to steal their possessions, premiered at Cannes on Thursday evening.
(Reporting by Matthias Galante; Writing by Alexandria Sage and Brian Love; editing by Mike Collett-White)