- Title: 'I have no excuses, I messed up' - Spike Lee on Palme d'Or slip up
- Date: 17th July 2021
- Summary: CANNES, FRANCE (JULY 17, 2021) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS PROFANITY*** CANNES JURY PRESIDENT, FILMMAKER SPIKE LEE ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE AFTER AWARDS CEREMONY LEE SEATED AT PODIUM CAMERA OPERATOR FILMING JURY MEMBERS SEATED AT PODIUM IN FRONT OF JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANNES JURY PRESIDENT, FILMMAKER SPIKE LEE, SAYING: "I have no excuses, I messed up, I'm a big sports fan, it's like the guy at the end of the game in the foul line he misses a free throw or a guy misses a kick. So, no apologies but I can say that I messed up. Simple as that. And I was very specific to speak to the people of Titane and tell them that I apologise, they said 'forget about it Spike' so, that means a lot to me. Thank you." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANNES JURY PRESIDENT, FILMMAKER, SPIKE LEE, SAYING: "Well, I think that if you look at this jury. I mean, great representation by women so I think that says it right there. And so to be honest, I've never seen a film in my life, I have to say I've seen a lot of films, but this is the first film ever where a Cadillac impregnated a woman. I just thought of something, I wanted to ask her what year Cadillac that was. That blew my mind. I mean, that's genius and craziness together. And those two things often match up." NEWS CONFERENCE IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANNES JURY MEMBER, FILMMAKER, JESSICA HAUSNER, SAYING: "Believe it or not we actually didn't even mention that the director was a woman. We agreed on this film the most and only afterwards we said 'and en plus it's a woman and that makes us happy. But during the discussions that was not a topic." JURY MEMBERS AT PODIUM (SOUNDBITE) (English) CANNES JURY PRESIDENT, FILMMAKER SPIKE LEE, SAYING: "We love cinema and it's a great honour for us to be on the jury this year. Especially coming after, you know, COVID-19. So this is historic. Besides me fucking up this is historic. It's historic. 74th Cannes Film Festival." JURY MEMBERS AT PODIUM (SCREEN LEFT TO RIGHT) FILMMAKER KLEBER MENDONCA FILHO, ACTRESS MAGGIE GYLLENHAAL, ACTOR TAHAR RAHIM, HAUSNER, LEE AND ACTRESS MELANIE LAURENT VARIOUS OF JOURNALISTS TAKING PHOTOS OF LEE / LEE SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS
- Embargoed: 31st July 2021 22:19
- Keywords: Cannes Film Festival Spike Lee cannes winner jessica hausner spike lee cannes winner spike lee palme d'or
- Location: CANNES, FRANCE
- City: CANNES, FRANCE
- Country: France
- Topics: Arts/Culture/Entertainment,Europe,Film
- Reuters ID: LVA001EM89JRH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: PLEASE NOTE: PROFANITY IN SHOT 11 / EDIT 6132-FILMFESTIVAL-CANNES/AWARDS CEREMONY SPIKE LEE MOMENT (RESTRICTED ACCESS) CONTAINS IMAGES FROM CEREMONY WHEN SPIKE LEE ACCIDENTALLY REVEALED PALME D'OR WINNER
"Titane", a wildly imaginative film about a serial killer by French director Julia Ducournau, won the top Palme d'Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival, jury head Spike Lee told the ceremony before the award was due to be revealed.
In a moment of confusion when asked in French to reveal what one of the prizes was, the U.S. film director read off a card and prematurely announced the best movie winner.
It was not the first blooper moment at an awards ceremony: at the 2017 Oscars, musical "La La Land" was incorrectly announced as best movie, instead of "Moonlight".
"I have no excuses, I messed up," Lee told journalists after the awards ceremony.
"No apologies but I can say that I messed up. Simple as that. And I was very specific to speak to the people of Titane and tell them that I apologise, they said 'forget about it Spike' so, that means a lot to me."
Ducournau, 37, became only the second woman to win the top award at Cannes. Her violent film, where the heroine has sex with a car, split critics, with some praising its originality but others put off by its frantic and messy approach.
"To be honest, I've never seen a film in my life, I have to say I've seen a lot of films, but this is the first film ever where a Cadillac impregnated a woman. I just thought of something, I wanted to ask her what year Cadillac that was. That blew my mind. I mean, that's genius and craziness together. And those two things often match up," said Lee.
Ducournau had previously found critical success with "Raw" in 2016. The only previous female winner of Cannes' top award was Jane Campion who shared the prize in 1993 for "The Piano".
"Believe it or not we didn't even mention that the director was a woman. We agreed on this film the most and only afterwards we said 'and en plus it's a woman and that makes us happy' but during the discussions that was not a topic," said jury member, Austrian director Jessica Hausner.
The world's biggest film festival returned to the French Riviera after a 2020 hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic in one of the most unpredictable contests in years.
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