1 week ago
1
It each came full-circle astatine the 2026 Cannes Film Festival arsenic Peter Jackson received an honorary Palme d’Or from longtime collaborator Elijah Wood, who famously played Frodo Baggins successful The Lord of the Rings.
Presenting the grant during Cannes’ opening ceremony, Wood reflected connected the infinitesimal helium learned helium had been formed successful Jackson’s phantasy epic. “I sat down connected the level of my chamber and knew my beingness had been divided into earlier and after,” helium said, crediting Jackson with changing the people of his career.
Accepting the honour wrong the Palais des Festivals, Jackson looked backmost connected his improbable emergence from making low-budget films successful New Zealand to helming 1 of cinema’s astir ambitious franchises. He recalled arriving astatine Cannes successful 1987 with his debut diagnostic Bad Taste, saying the film’s reception astatine the marketplace efficaciously launched his career.
Elijah Wood, left, and manager Peter Jackson, recipient of the honorary Palme d'Or, airs for photographers during the opening ceremonial of the 79th planetary movie festival, Cannes, confederate France, Tuesday, May 12, 2026 | Photo Credit: AP
The manager besides revealed however Cannes played a important relation successful shifting manufacture cognition astir The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring astatine a clip erstwhile the trilogy was wide viewed arsenic a risky gamble. During the turbulent AOL-Time Warner merger period, media speculation astir the monolithic accumulation had turned progressively negative.
“We brought 20 minutes present successful 2001,” Jackson recalled. “That gamble changed the cognition of the film.” He added that the festival screening created anticipation astir the task months earlier the film’s theatrical release.
The affectional ceremonial ended with a lengthy lasting ovation and a astonishment philharmonic show of “Get Back,” which saw Jackson singing on from the audience.
The opening nighttime besides featured speeches from Jane Fonda and Gong Li, some emphasising cinema’s relation successful resistance, empathy and taste connection. Jury president Park Chan-wook likewise urged audiences to reason passionately without turning disagreement into hostility.
This year’s Cannes arrives during a play of disposable modulation for the festival, with less large Hollywood workplace premieres and a stronger absorption connected planetary auteurs, politically charged cinema and autarkic productions shaping the contention lineup.
