(Paris) The actor of Basic Instinct and Wall Street Michael Douglas will receive the Palme d’or d’honneur of the Cannes Film Festival “which will salute his brilliant career and his commitment to cinema”, during the opening ceremony on 16 May, the festival announced on Wednesday.
“After more than 50 years of career, it is an honor to return to the Croisette to open the Festival and speak our common language, that of cinema”, responded the 78-year-old actor in a press release.
Michael Douglas presented four films in competition at Cannes, on the French Riviera: The Chinese Syndrome by James Bridges in 1979, Basic Instinct by Paul Verhoeven in 1992, Chute libre by Joel Schumacher in 1993 and My Life with Liberace by Steven Soderbergh in 2013 .
His father, Kirk Douglas, had presided over the festival’s jury in 1980.
Michael Douglas won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1988 for the role of New York stockbroker Gordon Gekko in Oliver Stone’s Wall Street. The sequel, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, screened out of competition at Cannes in 2010.
He was also rewarded as a producer with Flight Over the Cuckoo’s Nest by Milos Forman, Oscar for Best Picture in 1976.
The 76th edition of the Festival, which will take place from May 16 to 27, has yet to announce the composition of its jury, chaired by Swedish director Ruben Östlund, who won his second Palme d’or last year with his film Without filter. .
