theREPORT The Jury: Who They Are, How They’ll Vote Led by quirky bro-teurs Joel and Ethan Coen, the panel of directors, actors and one global-music wild card will judge the most open competition in years By Scott Roxborough THE PRESIDENTS The Coen Brothers Joel and Ethan Coen, now directing the Hollywood satire Hail, Caesar!, do everything together — write and direct, collect four Oscars (for Fargo and No Country for Old Men) and win the Palme d’Or (Barton Fink) and Grand Prix (Inside Llewyn Davis) at Cannes. So these two voices of experience (Joel is 60; Ethan, 57) naturally are jointly serving as Cannes jury president, a role that never before has been shared. The vaunted idiosyncratic Coen sensibility could bode well for independent-minded auteurs such as France’s Jacques Audiard and Greece’s Yorgos Lanthimos. THE SPANISH ROSE Rossy de Palma Jury watchers can hope that this double Goya Awards nominee, a Spanish cinema icon, might bring some drama to this year’s deliberations. Michel Franco’s Chronic, about a home-care nurse working with terminally ill patients, could move this Pedro Almodovar muse (de Palma, now 50, starred in several of his first hits). THE RISK-TAKER Jake Gyllenhaal Though he’s dabbled with attempted blockbusters (Prince of Persia, anyone? Anyone?), Gyllenhaal, 34, is most noted for deep dives into roles that would scare some actors away (Donnie Darko, Brokeback Mountain) but made him an Oscar nominee. Since he worked with the similarly fearless Denis Villeneuve on Prisoners, this would seem to load the deck in favor of the Canadian director’s Cannes entry, Sicario. But Gyllenhaal also could favor actor-friendly Gus Van Sant’s The Sea of Trees. THE RISING STAR Sienna Miller The American-born British actress, a Golden Globe, BAFTA, Independent Spirit and Critics’ Choice nominee, caught Cannes’ eye last year with her performance in best director winner Bennett Miller’s Foxcatcher. Starring opposite Bradley Cooper in American Sniper sent Miller, 33, to the top of casting agents’ lists, and playing the gun moll of mobster Whitey Bulger (Johnny Depp) in Black Mass will boost her profile. From left: Ethan Coen, Sophie Marceau, Rossy de Palma, Guillermo del Toro, Rokia Traore, Xavier Dolan, Sienna Miller, Jake Gyllenhaal and Joel Coen. She could favor a serious female performance: Marion Cotillard in Justin Kurzel’s Macbeth or Cate Blanchett or Rooney Mara in Todd Haynes’ Carol. THE HITMAKER Guillermo del Toro The Oscar-nominated writer and BAFTA-winning director of Pan’s Labyrinth — who at 50 has shown he knows his way around a franchise (three Hellboys, Pacific Rim and its planned sequel) — could go for Matteo Garrone’s Tale of Tales, said to feature a similar mix of the real and the fantas tic. But the director of Crimson Peak might instead favor the lineup’s only genre title: Hou Hsiao-hsien’s martial arts movie The Assassin. THE LOCAL HEROINE Sophie Marceau National loyalty might dictate that the Cesar Award-winning French star and onetime 007 villainess could back one of the four homegrown titles in competition. Marceau, 48, also could help to double Cannes’ female Palme d’Or winner total by casting her vote for Mon Roi by Maiwenn or Valerie Donzelli’s Marguerite and Julien. THE WUNDERKIND Xavier Dolan Complicated mother-child relationships have been at the core of every Dolan film, something that could mean good news for Nanni Moretti’s Mia Madre, about a director in an existential crisis trying to deal with the loss of her mother. The 26-year-old Canadian, who has had films in Directors’ Fortnight, Un Certain Regard and the main competition, also might favor the only first-time feature director in competition this year, Hungarian Laszlo Nemes (Son of Saul). THE CHANTEUSE Rokia Traore Cannes’ most cosmopolitan juror, world music star Traore, 41, was born in Mali but spent a nomadic childhood traveling across Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Her music, too, draws inspiration from all over. Jia Zhang-Ke’s Mountains May Depart, which moves from rural 1990s China to a futuristic Australia in 2025, could appeal. But since Traore recently collaborated with Toni Morrison on her Shakespeareinspired Desdemona, she might also stump for Kurzel’s Macbeth. Exclusive First Look Chris Noth in Chronically Metropolitan Mr. Big, better known as Chris Noth, turns to the written word in Chronically Metropolitan, starring as a successful novelist known as much for his antics as for his prose. In Xavier Manrique’s film, Shiloh Fernandez plays Noth’s son, who returns to New York to reclaim his lost love (Pretty Little Liars’ Ashley Benson) but unbeknownst to him, she’s engaged to another. 13 Films will be showing footage in Cannes. TWC Picks Up De Niro Boxing Pic Stone The Weinstein Company has closed a deal for U.S. distribution rights to Hands of Stone, starring Edgar Ramirez. Venezuelan helmer Jonathan Jakubowicz directed the film, which centers on the life of boxer Roberto Duran and his mentor and trainer Ray Arcel, who is played by Robert De Niro. It’s a fitting landing for the project, given that Jakubowicz himself is an acolyte of Robert Rodriguez, who has long-standing ties to Harvey and Bob Weinstein. The deal calls for the film, which also features Usher as Duran’s opponent Sugar Ray Leonard, to be released on 2,000 screens. The move also marks the first major acquisition at the Cannes Film Market for The Weinstein Co., which has been relatively quiet on the festival circuit for the past year. De Niro THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER 8
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