CANNES – Ewan McGregor dropping the f-bomb was about as exciting as it got at the Cannes Jury press conference on Wednesday. When asked what he had done to prepare to sit on the jury that will decide this year’s Palme d’Or winner, the Scottish star of Trainspotting and Beginners said he just looked at the program of the official Competition line-up. ?”And I thought, f–king hell, there some good names in that!” McGregor said, before admitting he hadn’t done “any swotting up” by studying the Competition directors or their work.
The other members of the Jury – including French designer Jean Paul Gaultier, Oscar-winning director Alexander Payne and actresses Diane Kruger and Emmanuelle Devos – were less graphic in their statements, pledging only to judge each Competition film by its merits and, in Gaultier’s words “to try and see them like an ordinary cinema-goer.”
PHOTOS: Cannes’ Competition Lineup
Haitian-born director Raoul Peck referenced The Hollywood Reporter’s pre-Cannes profiles of the Jury members, in which we labeled him an “Activist,” to ensure the crowd of international journalists that he would be judging this year’s Competition films on their aesthetic merits and not be swayed by his personal politics.
Jury President Nanni Moretti actually bemoaned the constant media attention surrounding the Cannes Jury, in particular signaling out the post-awards ceremony press conference.
“Things have changed so much since I was a member of the Cannes jury (in 1997) when we weren’t allowed to talk to anyone about our decisions,” the director said, comparing the mood of secrecy to the Papal conclave he depicted in his last film, We Have a Pope. “There used to be two true secrets: the decisions of the conclave and the Cannes Jury. Now it’s just the conclave,” Moretti said.
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