February 26, 2009

Clint Eastwood manages to receive the Palme d'Or before Cannes even gets started!


And with no film in competition at this point either! It's an honorary award, and Variety has the story:

Clint Eastwood received an honorary Palme d’Or from Cannes festival toppers Gilles Jacob and Thierry Fremaux to celebrate “the talent of a grand master at the summit of his craft” at a private ceremony in Paris on Wednesday.
Eastwood, in France for the release of “Gran Torino,” has a long relationship with Cannes stretching back to 1985 when “Pale Rider” played in competition. He has returned to present “Bird,” “White Hunter Black Heart,” “Mystic River” and “Changeling.”
“When I made my first film 39 years ago, no one in the U.S. -- except for Roger Ebert who was always very enthusiastic -- believed in me as a filmmaker. But French cineastes have always been very supportive,” Eastwood told guests at a Paris restaurant. “France remains one of the rare countries that approaches cinema as an art form.”
Fremaux said of the honor, “In the U.S., they call this a lifetime achievement award, but in French the word achievement means ‘done’ and Clint Eastwood is far from being done. We’ll call it an ‘opening award.’ “
Fremaux said the fest gave the Palme d’Or to Eastwood on Wednesday because he won’t be able to attend Cannes this year.
-Just in case we thought he might have to go some time with no awards....check the Palme d'Or off his list.

5 comments:

  1. wonder if the Mandela flick will get the academy's attention

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  2. i'm happy for clint. There were better performances last year but it would have been nice if he was nominated for his last acting performance

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  3. It's not his last acting performance. All he said was something along the lines of 'They dont write characters for my age anymore.' He'll be back. Just wait and watch.

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