Cannes lauds star’s first feature behind the camera
Scarlett Johansson won praise from veteran filmmaker Wes Anderson as she nervously prepared to unveil her debut feature as a director at the Cannes film festival on Tuesday, reported AFP.
Actors behind the camera are something of a trend in Cannes this year, with Twilight star Kristen Stewart and British actor Harris Dickinson both unveiling their first features.
Johansson’s film Eleanor the Great recounts the story of a grief-stricken elderly woman who moves to New York after the death of her best friend and will be screened on Tuesday evening.
One of Hollywood’s most bankable stars missed the red carpet premiere of The Phoenician Scheme on Sunday evening, in which she has a cameo, but she won enthusiastic backing from director Anderson.
“I saw the movie, which I loved,” Anderson said of Johansson’s debut.
He added that he had not offered any tips to the actor who has appeared in three of his films, including Isle of Dogs and Asteroid City.
“I don’t think Scarlett even said anything to me (about her film),” the 56-year-old said. “Scarlett’s been doing movies possibly longer than I have. She’s about 20 years younger, but I think she was in a movie when she was around nine.”
Nonetheless, the Oscar-nominated star of Lost in Translation, 40, admitted to some nerves while bringing a script to life that made her cry when she first read it.
She spoke to Deadline magazine in the run-up to Cannes about how the spotlight on the director’s seat is brighter than the one beamed on the actors when it comes to finally unveiling a film.
“It’s different. When you’re acting in something, it’s out of your hands,” she said.
In competition
Cannes tends to draw sympathetic audiences, with film lovers and industry insiders enthusiastically giving films standing ovations that can last for minutes.
But the competition is fierce. And Johansson’s film is in the running for prizes in the ‘Certain Regard’ secondary section for up-and-coming directors that also includes Stewart’s and Dickinson’s films this year.
Dickinson, the 28-year-old star of Babygirl, asked the press to be “gentle” as he unveiled Urchin, a touching film about a rough sleeper in London.
“It’s my first film so if you don’t like it, break it to me nicely,” he said before the premiere.
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