James Gray has never been one to bite his tongue, especially about Cannes, a festival he's had a love-hate relationship with for decades, and he’s certainly not about to start now.
On IndieWire's Screen Talk, promoting “Paper Tiger" ahead of its release this Friday, Gray made it clear that, yes, the festival adores him., but the prizes that never came because he’s American:
The festival itself loves me. They love the movies, they love me, and a lot of the critical establishment in that country had been very embracing of the work, but the festival is not really built for me, and it's not really built for Americans. What a lot of normie people, critics that are not French don't understand is that you don't win prizes at Cannes if you're an American. Now you're probably like, 'but what about Pulp Fiction!' Well, Clint Eastwood was the head of the jury. 'Well, what about Anora!' Greta Gerwig was the head of that jury. 'What about Tree of Life!' Robert De Niro was the head of the jury. Are you seeing a theme here? When Americans run the juries, Americans get prizes. If it's Herfeldizabilazuv, you're not going to get jack shit.
Herfeldizabilazuv. I'm stealing that.
Seriously though, you have to understand where this is coming from. Gray has now brought six films to the Croisette in competition — "The Yards," "We Own the Night," "Two Lovers," "The Immigrant," "Armageddon Time" and this year's "Paper Tiger" — and has walked away with zero prizes. For what it's worth, I'd argue that only "Two Lovers" truly deserved to win big (Sean Penn was jury president that year).
Regardless, this is also the guy who told Cannes critics to "go fuck themselves" after "The Immigrant" was met with a divided response in 2013. He also hesitated, until the very last minute, to bring “Paper Tiger” to the festival this year, and finally gave in the week after the lineup was announced.
So, is he right? Partly. His three examples check out — Eastwood presided in '94, De Niro in 2011, Gerwig in 2024. Add Tarantino handing "Fahrenheit 9/11" the Palme in 2004 and Tennessee Williams' jury giving it to "Taxi Driver" in 1976, and the theory gets stronger.
That said, Gray is also very wrong. "Apocalypse Now" won the Palme under Françoise Sagan. "sex, lies, and videotape" won under Wim Wenders. "Wild at Heart" won with Bertolucci in charge. The Coens took it for "Barton Fink" with Roman Polanski running the show. And Gus Van Sant won for "Elephant" under Patrice Chéreau — about as French a jury president as you can get.
So no, it's not impossible for an American to win at Cannes without an American running the jury. Gray’s mistake is framing it as a conspiracy, and the real irony here is that Gray is more beloved in France than he is in his own country. Cannes keeps inviting him. They just never hand him anything.
James Gray has never been one to bite his tongue, especially about Cannes, a festival he's had a love-hate relationship with for decades, and he’s certainly not about to start now.