2024 Cannes Film Festival lineup: Coppola, Cronenberg, Lanthimos, and a Donald Trump origin story

Jordan Hoffman
·4 min read
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It’ll soon be time to pack your tuxes and/or high heels and wonder “why the heck does it get so hot at 6:30 pm, just when I’m lining up for the 7:15 pm screening?” The eyes of the entertainment world will once again turn toward the French Riviera for the 77th Annual Cannes Film Festival.

The main slate announcement was made early Thursday morning, confirming many suspicions, and offering much excitement for hardcore cinephiles. For those with more mainstream tastes—and an eye toward what will still be in play come next year’s Oscars—here are some highlights.

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Certainly, the biggest event screening will be the public’s first look at Francis Ford Coppola’s “Megalopolis,” a self-financed behemoth that he’s been dreaming about for decades. The director/vintner is a two-time winner of Cannes’s Palme D’Or—for “The Conversation” in 1974 and “Apocalypse Now” in 1979 (though that was shared with Volker Schlöndorf’s “The Tin Drum.”) “Megalopolis” stars Adam Driver, Aubrey Plaza, Dustin Hoffman, Laurence Fishburn, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, and Coppola’s sister and nephew Talia Shire and Jason Schwartzman. Its one L.A. screening for industry folks was met with a combination of raves and confusion. (Apparently, one scene requires a “plant” in the audience to respond to something on scene.) The Cannes premiere promises to be the hot ticket.

Also in the mix is “Kinds of Kindness,” an anthology film from “Poor Things” director Yorgos Lanthimos that stars Emma Stone, Jesse Plemons, Willem Dafoe, and Hong Chau. Lanthimos debuted his films “Dogtooth,” “The Lobster,” and “The Killing of a Sacred Deer” at Cannes. 

Another alum making a return is David Cronenberg, with “The Shrouds,” said to be a rare “personal film” from the Canadian horror director, about a grieving husband. Vincent Cassel, Diane Kruger, and Guy Pearce star. Paul Schrader has a new one in competition as well, “Oh, Canada,” based on a Russell Banks novel. It stars Richard Gere, his first time working with the director since “American Gigolo” (Jacob Elordi plays a younger version of Gere’s character, which checks out.) Uma Thurman and Michael Imperioli are also in the film.

Another competition title to watch for is “The Apprentice,” the title of which may remind you of a certain NBC reality television series. The Iranian-Danish director Ali Abbasi is making his English-language debut here, with this tale of a young Donald Trump learning how to be a scoundrel at the heel of Roy Cohn. Jeremy Strong plays the rabid dog lawyer and Sebastian Stan is the future President of the United States and frozen steak salesman. 

Out-of-competition titles of note include the first look at George Miller’s prequel “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” starring Anya Taylor-Joy and many motor vehicles under duress, and “Horizons: An American Saga,” starring and directed by Kevin Costner, who has officially slipped into the Clint Eastwood role of American conservative beloved by the French. 

For the elite cinephiles, the list of other exciting directors showing new work this year include Sean Baker, Rithy Pahn, Sergei Loznitsa, Leos Carax, Jia Zhang-Ke, Paolo Sorrentino, Noemie Merlant, and many more. As is always the way, we can expect late additions to the Cannes slate (oftentimes including a competition title) and the Director’s Fortnight and International Critics Week sidebars announcements will be coming very soon.

This year’s jury is headed by Greta Gerwig, the “Barbie” filmmaker and Oscar nominee.

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