This yr’s 77th Cannes Movie Pageant will mark a gathering of the New Hollywood minds in France. Not solely is George Lucas receiving the competition’s Honorary Palme d’Or, however filmmakers Francis Ford Coppola and Paul Schrader are within the official Competitors for the primary time in many years.
Whereas Schrader has gone the route of Venice for his “lonely man in a room” trilogy — “First Reformed,” “The Card Counter,” and “Grasp Gardener” all premiered in Italy — he’s at Cannes this yr with “Oh, Canada.” The lineup was confirmed this morning by Cannes competition director Thierry Frémaux. The contemplative drama a couple of tortured author trying again on his years as a leftist who fled to Canada to keep away from being drafted into the Vietnam Battle stars Jacob Elordi, Richard Gere, and Uma Thurman. Cue the flashbulbs for a buzzy Elordi crimson carpet second. The “Euphoria” breakout was final seen on the competition circuit for 2023’s “Priscilla,” which introduced him to Venice underneath a SAG-AFTRA interim waiver amid the strikes.
Schrader wrote the script for 1976 Palme d’Or winner “Taxi Driver,” directed by Martin Scorsese. The Oscar-nominated author/director not often reveals up in Cannes: His final movie to premiere in competitors was 1988’s “Patty Hearst.” He was additionally nominated for the Palme in 1985 with “Mishima: A Life in 4 Chapters” (IndieWire final yr deemed it the second-best film of the Nineteen Eighties.) “Oh, Canada” is predicated on the novel “Foregone” by Russell Banks; the drama is awaiting distribution, however consumers will probably be looking forward to this one on the Croisette.
In the meantime, one in every of Schrader’s New Hollywood brethren, Francis Ford Coppola, can also be in competitors for the primary time since … 1979? That’s when he received the Palme d’Or for “Apocalypse Now.” Coppola additionally received the Palme d’Or in 1974 for “The Dialog,” his “Blow-Up”-inspired follow-up to “The Godfather,” which he wedged between the primary “Godfather” and “The Godfather Half II.” Coppola beforehand served as president of the Cannes jury in 1996, the yr he supposedly blocked David Cronenberg’s “Crash” from successful greater than a jury prize. (Cronenberg is on this yr’s Cannes lineup, too, with the semiautobiographical “The Shrouds.”)
All eyes are on “Megalopolis,” Coppola’s first characteristic since 2011’s “Twixt,” self-funded to the cool tune of $120 million and nonetheless with no distributor. Although first reactions are apparently robust for the sci-fi epic starring Adam Driver, Nathalie Emmanuel, Shia LaBeouf, and Aubrey Plaza — Coppola has proven it to filmmakers and associates stateside up to now — how this film will make again its price range is anybody’s guess. Not that it issues for Coppola, who has deemed “Megalopolis” a longtime ardour mission. The arthouse opus has been described as “batshit loopy,” using new VFX methods and an unconventional narrative to spherical out its sprawling solid in a ruined NYC-like metropolis, with Driver starring as an idealist named Caesar.
Alongside along with his lack of presence at Cannes, Coppola has not had a business hit in many years, both, because the filmmaker continues to push the boundaries of narrative storytelling. Not precisely the stuff of field workplace desires, however irrespective of. The thought for the movie, Coppola’s cohorts have described, dates all the best way again to the times of 1979 Palme winner “Apocalypse Now,” the film that just about killed him to make.
Whereas Coppola’s competitors slot was beforehand reported previous to Thursday’s lineup unveiling, the writing was additionally on the partitions when his pal George Lucas was tapped to obtain an Honorary Palme. Lucas will probably be there to help his good friend.