I wouldn’t normally post such a mundane news item, but since I will be heading to Cannes once again this year for my second time covering the festival, and am currently exploring lodging options, I figured I would continue to cover every aspect of the festival possible as this year hopes to be a good one.
Today the fest announced actor, director and producer Robert De Niro will be President of the Jury of the 64th Festival de Cannes, which is set to take place from May 11-22. Quoted in the press release De Niro said, “The Cannes Film Festival is a rare opportunity for me as it is one of the oldest and one of the best in the world.”
The rest of the release read as follows:
Inviting Robert De Niro as President of the Jury of Cannes, the organizers want to pay also tribute to the co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival which celebrates its 10th anniversary in 2011. Robert De Niro, well known for his love of New York, co-founded Manhattan’s Tribeca Film Center in 1989, the Tribeca Film Festival in 2002, which has a sister festival in Doha.
“As co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival and the Doha Tribeca Film Festival I have an increased appreciation for the jury, who serve, undertaking an important role in choosing films that are represented in the world of film at its highest level, and these types of festivals help connect the international film community and have a lasting cultural impact.” M. De Niro adds, “Having served as President of the Jury in the eighties twice, I know this isn’t an easy task for me or my fellow jury members, but I’m very honored and happy to head the jury for this year’s Cannes Film Festival.”
I’ve been thinking a little about the potential line-up this year and while we all expect Terrence Malick’s The Tree of Life to play the festival, I’ve also been trying to figure out what else may show up.
My current expectation is for Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides to open the fest. Why would they pass up the chance to have Johnny Depp on the red carpet? I also expect David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method, perhaps Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris (I mean, doesn’t that just make sense?), maybe Tomas Alfredson’s Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, Soderbergh’s Contagion, Dream House or Walter Salles’s On the Road.
Then maybe Alexander Payne’s The Descendents, Rodrigo Garcia’s Albert Nobbs, Stephen Daldry’s Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, maybe Tom Hanks’s Larry Crowne, Bennett Miller’s Moneyball, Lone Scherfig’s One Day and Bruce Robinson’s The Rum Diary would give Depp another chance to walk the red carpet.
This is just spit-balling of course, but I’m just trying to make this a mildly interesting story.
