Quentin Tarantino to lead Mardi Gras eve parade

Filmmaker Quentin Tarantino will help to kick off the carnival celebrations for the 2014 Mardi Gras by reigning over the annual Orpheus Parade in New Orleans, Louisiana in March (14).

The Django Unchained director has been selected as the 2014 Celebrity Monarch and will lead a 27-float procession through the city's streets on the Monday night before Mardi Gras (03Mar14).

R&B and rock icon Fats Domino was previously named the honorary grand marshal of the Lundi Gras parade, but his eldest son, Antoine Domino III, will attend in the reclusive star's place.

Veteran rockers Cheap Trick and Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and The Party Crashers will be among the performers at the street party.

Actors Gary Sinise and Mariska Hargitay presided over the crowds at last year's (13) Orpheus event, which was co-founded by New Orleans native Harry Connick, Jr. in 1993. Whoopi Goldberg, Sandra Bullock, Stevie Wonder and Cyndi Lauper have all taken part in the fun in previous years.