Peter Jackson was reunited with Elijah Wood at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday as the star of his The Lord Of The Rings trilogy presented him with the Honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony of the 79th edition on Tuesday. “I’ve still got to work out why I am getting a Palme d’Or, […]Peter Jackson was reunited with Elijah Wood at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday as the star of his The Lord Of The Rings trilogy presented him with the Honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony of the 79th edition on Tuesday. “I’ve still got to work out why I am getting a Palme d’Or,
Peter Jackson was reunited with Elijah Wood at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday as the star of his The Lord Of The Rings trilogy presented him with the Honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony of the 79th edition on Tuesday.
“I’ve still got to work out why I am getting a Palme d’Or, I am not a Palme d’Or type of guy,” said Jackson as he received the prize.
Wood recalled that he had been just 10 years old the first time he met Jackson, when the director flew to L.A. with partner, screenwriter and producer Fran Walsh to scout for the young actor who would play Frodo Baggins.
“A little later, when I was told I was going to be in the film, I sat down on the floor and realized that in my life, there was a before and an after, and I’m not the only one, whose life Peter Jackson changed,” he said.
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Jackson first attended Cannes in 1988 with his debut feature Bad Taste, which played in the market, and then returned in 2001 for a now legendary New Line preview event teasing footage from the first film in his The Lord of the Rings trilogy.
Jackson’s more recent credits include World War One doc They Shall Not Grow Old (2018) featuring restored and colorized original footage, as well as the miniseries The Beatles: Get Back (2021).
In a nod to Jackson’s love of The Beatles, local pop artists Theodora and Oklou, who is on the Cannes Critics’ Week jury this year, performed a rock heavy version of ‘Get Back’ for an appreciative Jackson.
The ceremony at Cannes’ Palais des Festivals preceded the festival’s opening night film, Pierre Salvadori’s period romantic comedy The Electric Kiss, starring Pio Marmaï, Anaïs Demoustier, Vimala Pons and Gilles Lellouche.
Earlier in the ceremony, jury president writer-director Park Chan-Wook and his jury members Demi Moore, Chloé Zhao, Stellan Skarsgård, Ruth Negga, Belgian director and screenwriter Laura Wandel, Chilean director and screenwriter Diego Céspedes, Ivorian American actor Isaach De Bankolé and Scottish screenwriter Paul Laverty also took to the stage.
The job of officially declaring the festival open was given to actresses Gong Li and Jane Fonda, who were then joined for the traditional photo call by the jury, Palme d’Or honoree Jackson and Wood.
Further stars hitting the red carpet this evening included Joan Collins, Diego Luna, James Franco, Alia Bhatt, Elijah Wood and Tyrese Gibson.
Twenty-two films are in the running for the Cannes Palme d’Or this year with the competition screenings kicking off on Wednesday with Koji Fukada’s Nagi Notes and Charline Bourgeois-Tacquet A Woman’s Life.
