Cannes, France: Perhaps not since Cinderella lost a glass slipper at the ball has there been such a stir about glamorous footwear as there was on Tuesday in Cannes over a report that women had been turned away from a film premiere for failing to wear heels.

Social media and the festival gossip circuit lit up after the Screen Daily trade publication reported that a handful of women had been refused entry to Sunday's premiere of Todd Haynes's lesbian romance ‘Carol’ for wearing flats.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux tweeted: ‘For the steps, the rules haven't changed. 'No smoking, evening wear.' There is no mention of heels.’

Asif Kapadia, the director of the Amy Winehouse documentary ‘Amy,’ said on Twitter that his wife was initially refused entry to his film's Cannes premiere on Saturday because she was not wearing heels, but she was eventually allowed in.

Actress Emily Blunt, asked about the Screen Daily report, called it ‘very disappointing, obviously’.

‘I think everyone should wear flats to be honest, at the best of times, we shouldn't wear high heels anyway, that's just my point of view. I just prefer wearing combat sneakers,’ Blunt said at a news conference to launch her competition film ‘Sicario’.

The film's Canadian director, Denis Villeneuve joked that he and his male stars, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin, would wear heels to the evening premiere of ‘Sicario’ in protest.

Careful scrutiny of television footage of the red carpet for the film's premiere showed no sign of any of the trio in heels.