“Star Wars” creator George Lucas is the latest star to receive a coveted honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.
Lucas will be feted with the honor during the festival’s closing ceremony May 25, as announced by the festival. While the closing night feature has yet to be announced, the 2024 festival opens with Quentin Dupieux’s comedy “Le Deuxième Acte” (“The Second Act”) on May 14. Greta Gerwig oversees the jury board.
Lucas’ first feature “THX-1138” debuted at Cannes in the Directors’ Fortnight program in 1971. The sci-fi film was co-written and directed by Lucas, with Francis Ford Coppola producing. Robert Duvall starred in the film about a dystopian future where people are monitored by android police officers and are force-fed drugs to negate emotions.
“The Festival de Cannes has always held a special place in my heart. I was surprised and elated when my first film, ‘THX-1138,’ was selected to be shown in a new program for first time directors called the Directors’ Fortnight,” Lucas said in a press statement. “Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasions in a variety of capacities as a writer, director and producer. I am truly honored by this special recognition which means a great deal to me.”
In addition to his “Star Wars” empire, Lucas founded Lucasfilm, Pixar, and created the “Indiana Jones” franchise.
The official Cannes page praised Lucas for his “unflagging passion for technology,” making him “one of the pioneers of the visual effects industry,” in addition to writing and directing.
Lucas is just the latest director to be announced on the Croisette this year. George Miller’s “Furiosa” is already confirmed to be premiering at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, along with Kevin Costner’s “Horizon.” IndieWire is predicting Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” and auteur installments like Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Kinds of Kindness,” David Cronenberg’s “The Shrouds,” and the long-awaited “Megalopolis,” directed by Lucas’ friends Francis Ford Coppola, will additionally screen.
New features from Noemie Merlant, Michel Franco, Audrey Diwan, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Paolo Sorrentino may also be on the horizon. The full Cannes lineup will be announced by festival director Thierry Frémaux on April 11.
