Ladies and Gentlemen and Kidmaniacs, I Give You The Cannes Jury
Wednesday, April 24, 2013 at 11:48AM Cannes is just three weeks away and the final jury lineup has been announced. We knew Steven Spielberg would head the jury but his team was still semi-secret. They are...
Just months after competing for an extra Oscar, they'll be discussing other people's movies
Competition Jury
- Daniel Auteuil (French actor/director)
- Vidya Balan (Indian actress)
- Naomi Kawase (Japanese director)
- Nicole Kidman (Australian actress/producer)
- Ang Lee (Taiwanese director/producer/scriptwriter)
- Cristian Mungiu (Romanian scriptwriter/director/producer)
- Lynne Ramsay (British scriptwriter/director/producer)
- Steven Spielberg (American director) PRESIDENT OF JURY
- Christoph Waltz (Austrian Actor)
Only one thing is certain about the outcome based on the composition of the team: By May 26th, Nicki's auteur lust will devour their collective imagination and they'll surely be competing for her hand in filmmaking. Which one of these directors will she work with next? (I mean, besides Steven Spielberg who Kate Capshaw aside, isn't particularly excited by actresses.) Can her first Romanian picture be far off? I'd most love to see what Lynne Ramsay could wrangle out of Kidman but I assume that Ramsay might have difficulty getting funding for her next picture given the ugly fallout from her sudden departure from Jane Got a Gun.
Some years ago I made this visual and it still applies. But you just change the names as the years go by and Kidman recalibrates her attacks. Always plotting for legacy, that one!
Despite the media blitz that accompanies Cannes headliners, the competition jury is never the only jury at Cannes. It's just the one with all the headliners. There are multiple less glitzy but not necessarily less talented juries overseeing other prizes as well.
Short Films Jury
- Maji-da Abdi (Ethiopian actress/producer)
- Jane Campion (New Zealand, director) PRESIDENT OF JURY
- Nandita Das (Indian actress/director)
- Semith Kaplanoglu (Turkey, writer/director/producer)
Un Certain Regard Jury
This jury decides who to spotlight in the realm of up-and-coming filmmakers (the ones Cannes isn't yet ready to include in the Competition lineup. Last year their prize went to the Mexican feature After Lucia which Amir wrote about here.) This jury lineup has not yet been announced but Thomas Vinterberg that handsome Dane who made the dogme masterpiece Festen (A Celebration) in the late 90s and whose current feature The Hunt is winning him the best reviews he's seen since that startling debut will preside over this jury.
Can't wait to see which films they all embrace... and which auteurs win Nicole Kidman's hand.
Reader Comments (21)
I'd like to see Kidman + Kawase. Now THAT would be something.
But maybe Kidman can steal Angelina's thunder and star Cleopatra for Ang Lee?
I want a collaboration of Kidman and Spielberg. On the surface he doesn't appear to ignite those crossing the barrier fires but, with Nicole as his muse, he may take new risk. Day-Lewis forced him out of his comfort zone on the set, at least.
I love Kidman, that's where we're in agreement. The combination of serious actress and movie star with classic features, she feels so worthy of easy worship, and a reminder that good taste is a gift wasted on the few.
Good to see Lynne Ramsay doing such a high profile thing after that Jane Got a Gun business which was so ugly and the reporting on it seemed to be really one-sided. Oh and my fantasy is that Nicole Kidman and Ang Lee will become besties on the jury and he will direct her in something AMAZING.
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(Nat that thought bubble is hilarious -- Lean Spanish! Oscar*)
LOVE this jury. I'd love to see Nicole Kidman and Daniel Auteuil in a film together - paging Francois Ozon and/or Arnaud Desplechin!
Here's hoping that Nicole gets to be Jury President one day!
Surely the first time a jury has been headed up by a director who was just defeated in the contest for a Best Directing Academy Award by one of his fellow jurors?
I feel that this jury alone has around at least 4 or 5 people worthy of the President slot (cases could be made for Lee, Kidman, Mungiu and Ramsay....maybe even Waltz and Kawase ). Absolutely insane.
When was the last time a jury comprised of this many heavyweights? It certainly puts last year's to shame.
And LOL how could I forget Daniel Auteuil? Of course he's President material.
Like I said, this jury is insane.
The Julie Taymor suggestion is way out of date: Across The Universe? (Bland at best) The Tempest? ("You've got Mad Max in my Shakespeare", "You've got Shakespeare in my Mad Max.") The disastrous Spider-Man Turn Off The Dark production? There's no question that she's an...interesting...figure, but I'd think Nicole might want a safer rate of return.
That jury list is off-the-charts amazing. Wow.
Love to see What John Waters would do With Nicole...
Nicole is definitely doing everything she can to put herself into the zeitgeist. The Anchorman 2 cameo, and now Cannes to promote Grace of Monaco, oops, I mean be a juror. She will look good on the red carpet and she will sell movies.
Does Spielberg select the rest of his jury? If so, I am even more in love with him for picking Lynne Ramsay after the attacks she's had to endure over the past few months.
Kill Laura Dern. The new movie by QT starring Nicole Kidman as Laura Dern and Laura Dern as Nicole Kidman, with Christoph Waltz as David Lynch. Third Oscar alert!
That's the glitziest Cannes jury I've ever seen. In dreamland, I'd love to see what an Ang Lee/ Christoph Waltz collaboration would look like.
Mungiu and Spielberg - what an awesome combination. And what a great jury overall. Can't wait to see how they come down on the competition films.
Sadman -- you just destroyed my remaining brain cells. Too much insanity.
I think this jury is too mainstream. I swear i'm not a hipster, but Cannes juries usually are more diverse. This year is too actor/director centric. There is no DP, musician or fashion designer.
Sad man's movie sounds deliciously crazy. I'm almost sad that it will never take place.
and when i read this, i only got excited because I'm totally looking to some awesome red-carpet moments from Nicole. Cannes is always "go big or go home".
Collaborations:
Ramsay and Kidman- Duh. Better yet, let's throw St. Tilda in there.
Daniel Auteuil and Spielberg- Could you not see DA is the lead in The Terminal and let's imagine for a second how better that movie would have been because of it.
Christoph Waltz and Ang Lee- Because we have no idea what kind of genre the next Ang Lee movie ever is and Waltz needs to spread his wings a little more.
Kidman and Mungiu
Kidman and Waltz
Auteuil and Waltz- And now I get on my knees and hope such a collaboration will not be a specific period piece on a ubiquitous moment in history captured in hundreds of previous movies.
I am both LIVING and DYING for that thought bubble pic of Miss Nic. So many potentially interesting directorial pairings one could come up with for her that could be out of this world. She would be amazing for a Todd Haynes lead! Why hasn't she worked with Soderbergh yet?! We all know she's got some against-type QT campy genre kitsch in her! Almodovar would be a dream come true for all involved, duh. PTA need to scoop her up for his next pic and stay away from the showy alpha male types. DAVID LYNCH DIRECTS NICOLE KIDMAN AND LAURA DERN AS SISTERS. She could probably learn a helluva lot from Mike Leigh's grounded troupe. Haneke could get Isabelle Huppert as her screen partner. ISABELLE HUPPERT SHOUTING AT NICOLE KIDMAN.
And now also salivating over the idea of her getting chummy with the fellow (rural) jurors and developing projects with Cristian Mungiu and Lynne Ramsay. *drool*
Or maybe another Jane Campion collab since she'll be on the scene there too. UGH.
Ugh that Kidman graphic is maybe my favorite thing you've ever made. I want Nicole to work forever. Can we freeze her age right now so she can actually work with all those directors? And the weirder the choices the better. QT could write her a killer role, and wouldn't she be amazing/strange/exciting in a Scorsese movie?
But then again, wouldn't another John Cameron Mitchell collab be to die for? What am I talking about. It's *all* to die for.