By Thomas Page, CNN
Jennifer Lawrence stars in Lynne Ramsay's "Die My Love," which premieres at the Cannes Film Festival. Black Label Media
(CNN)_ For a fortnight every May, Cannes hosts more stars than there are in heaven (or the old MGM backlot). This year the French film festival will be even glitzier than usual as a who’s-who of Hollywood talent descends on the Côte d’Azur to rub shoulders with the great and good of the international film community.
All signs point to a stellar year for Cannes, riding high off a strong showing at the Academy Awards, with filmmakers queuing up to hit the red carpet and risk the barbs of sleep-deprived critics.
The US contingent at the festival, which begins Tuesday, is large. Tom Cruise returns to Cannes three years after “Top Gun: Maverick” with “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning,” hoping to repeat the winning formula that propelled “Maverick” to a billion dollars at the box office. No honorary Palme d’Or for Cruise this time though; instead, that will be handed to Cannes habitué Robert De Niro, a year shy of the 50th anniversary of “Taxi Driver” winning the Palme d’Or. Spike Lee, who served as jury president in 2021 (not without incident) will also return with “Highest 2 Lowest,” his riff on Akira Kurosawa’s “High To Low” (1963), starring Denzel Washington as a music mogul targeted with a ransom plot.
Spike Lee, who took on jury president duties at Cannes in 2021, returns this year with new film "Highest 2 Lowest." Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images Europe
Tom Cruise attends the gala screening of "Top Gun: Maverick" at the Cannes Film Festival on May 18, 2022. Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images Europe
“Highest 2 Lowest” will play out of competition alongside Ethan Coen comedy “Honey Don’t!,” his follow up to last year’s “Drive Away Dolls,” the second title in his so-called “lesbian B-movie trilogy.” Whether it’s simply a case of a stacked lineup, or quibbles over theatrical windows and French law (Lee’s film will hit Apple TV+ in September, presumably nixing any chance of a cinema release in France), it’s a sign of the festival’s rude health that these Cannes heavyweights aren’t duking it out for a Palme d’Or.
So, who is? Competition for the top prize signals a changing of the guard. Some Cannes stalwarts remain: two-time Palme winners the Dardennes brothers of Belgium with “Young Mothers,” Ukrainian Sergei Loznitsa with “Two Prosecutors,” and Scotland’s Lynne Ramsay (“We Need To Talk About Kevin,” “You Were Never Really Here”), whose adaptation of Ariana Harwicz’s novel “Die, My Love” stars Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson. Wes Anderson will also be in competition for the fourth time with “The Phoenician Scheme,” featuring some of his usual players (Bill Murray, Jeffrey Wright) and some delightful new additions (Riz Ahmed, Mia Threapleton, daughter of Kate Winslet). Add castmates Tom Hanks, Scarlett Johansson, Benicio Del Toro, Willem Dafoe and more and you’ve got the starriest red carpet of the festival.
Social Plugin