CANNES - The Hollywood Reporter

8 Decades of The Hollywood Reporter
The most glamorous and memorable moments from a storied history
As an explanation for her
behavior, a French friend said
Adjani (here in May 1983)
was in a “state of panic
at the crowds and especially
the camera lenses. Her
fragility became tangible.”
It was Isabelle Adjani vs. the shutterbugs at the 1983 fest
THE 1983 PREMIERE
of Merry Christmas,
Mr. Lawrence, a POW
drama starring David
Bowie, “began under virtual
siege,” wrote The Hollywood
Reporter, “as armed riot police
used dogs, billy clubs and tear
gas” against a group of about
300 medical students protesting
proposed changes in their school
system. More subtle was the protest
photographers made against
Isabelle Adjani. The actress, who
had been honored at Cannes in
1981 for her roles in Quartet and
THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 84
Possession, declined to attend
both the press conference and
the photocall for competition
entry L’Ete Meurtrier (One Deadly
Summer), in which she starred as
a woman seeking revenge for the
rape of her mother. In response,
Cannes’ photographers laid
their cameras at their feet when
Adjani, then 27, arrived for the
film’s premiere. It wouldn’t be
Adjani’s last run-in with the
press. An absence from the
public eye in the late 1980s led
the French media to speculate
the actress had AIDS; rumors
that she had died began to circulate.
In 1987 she appeared on
television to prove she was alive
and well. A tempestuous liaison
with the equally reclusive Daniel
Day-Lewis followed. Their sixyear
relationship (which the
Lincoln Oscar winner reportedly
ended by fax) produced a son,
Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis, now 18.
All the drama didn’t hamper her
career, however. She was nominated
twice for Academy Awards,
returned to Cannes as jury president
in 1997 and won five French
Cesar awards, including most
recently in 2010 for La Journee
de la Jupe, about a teacher who
takes her students hostage.
— BILL HIGGINS
FRANCOIS LOCHON/GAMMA-RAPHO VIA GETTY IMAGES