An Italian media is reporting that Paul Thomas Anderson is in talks to be the next Cannes jury President. I have no idea how reliable the Intel is with this one, but PTA at Cannes would be a beautiful thing to see.
PTA hasn’t been in Cannes competition since 2002, when he won the Best Director prize for “Punch Drunk-Love.” Since then, it’s been mostly NYFF (“Inherent Vice”) and Venice (“The Master”).
Then there’s a piece by Le Figaro this morning that says French actor Vincent Lindon might have also been asked to be the Jury President. Who is speaking the truth? Maybe they’ve both been asked …
The delay in Cannes announcing a President is a messy story. It was originally Penelope Cruz, but then Cannes chose Emanuele Crialese’s “L’Immensita,” which Cruz stars in, for competition, that meant she wasn’t allowed to be part of the jury, let alone be its President.
UPDATE: Now Fremaux is telling Le Figaro that Cruz will be shooting the Michael Mann movie “Ferrari” and won’t be able to be President regardless of whether she has a movie in competition or not [Thanks, Jojo]
Then Cannes sought out filmmaker Asghar Farhadi, but he then got sued and was found guilty of plagiarism in Iran. That’s obviously a serious charge, but whether it’ll impact his chances at being President remains to be seen.
Regardless, the lineup was announced yesterday morning and there was no Crialese. Snatched by Venice? Maybe Cruz is back in? Give me PTA instead any day of the week.