Actor in Basic Instinct, The Game Or Wall StreetMichael Douglas will receive the Honorary Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, “who will salute his brilliant career and his commitment to cinema”during the opening ceremony on May 16, the festival announced on Wednesday May 3. “After more than fifty 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 statement.
Michael Douglas has been nominated as the best male performer at Cannes four times: for The Chinese Syndrome, by James Bridges, in 1979; For Basic Instinct, by Paul Verhoeven, in 1992; For Free fallby Joel Schumacher, in 1993, and for My life with Liberaceby Steven Soderbergh, in 2013.
Acting and producing career
His father, actor Kirk Douglas, known in particular for his role in Stanley Kubrick’s peplum Spartacus (1960) presided over the Festival jury in 1980. During his career, the interpreter of Jack Colton in In pursuit of the green diamond (1984) won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1988 for the role of New York stockbroker Gordon Gekko in Wall Street, by Oliver Stone. He was also awarded as a producer with Flight over a cuckoo’s nestby Milos Forman, Oscar for best film in 1976. He had also twice received the César d’honneur for his entire career, in 1998 and in 2016. In 2004, he also received the Cecil prize B. DeMille, again for his entire career, during the Golden Globes ceremony.
The 76e edition of the Festival, which will be held 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 for his film Without filter.