FJI correspondent J. Sperling Reich reports on two memorable press conferences at the 2013 Cannes Film Fest.
Over the years, the Cannes Film Festival has played host to some of the most memorable filmmaker press conferences on record. There was the time Vincent Gallo arrived to speak with the international press corps about his film Brown Bunny, to a chorus of boos and hisses. Or the controversy in 2011 when Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier, in Cannes for Melancholia, said he sympathized with Hitler and called himself a Nazi. Von Trier was made persona-non-grata at the festival and was forced to issue an apology, which he later retracted.
Not all press conference highlights are disastrous incidents, however. Some years the most lasting memories are delivered during the press conferences which are lighthearted, fun and those that illicit the most laughter or spontaneous applause. With journalists gathered from all over the world, many of whom become tongue-tied when speaking to giant movie stars and filmmakers in their non-native language, a noteworthy moment that will be recounted for years is always just around the corner.
That was precisely the case at this year's festival on a number of occasions, beginning with an exchange between a German journalist and the Coen Brothers, who were in Cannes with their latest film, Inside Llewyn Davis, a period piece set in New York's emerging folk-music scene during the early 1960s. Justin Timberlake, who plays a folk singer in the movie, and T Bone Burnett, who produced the music, were among those in attendance.
German Journalist: I have a question about the humor in the film. We Germans are not known for having a great sense of humor. (laughter)
Joel Coen: They call him Curly and yet he has no hair. (more laughter)
Journalist: Before the war there were great comedies made in Germany and very funny songs. Somehow the humor left with the war and the Holocaust and Billy Wilder went to Hollywood. Now in Germany they wonder if the humor was German or if it was Jewish and there are academic conferences about Jewish humor. What do you think? Does it exist, and if so how would you describe it?
…Cricket….Cricket.
Justin Timberlake (breaking the silence): I smell a trap! (explosive laughter)
T Bone Burnett: You don't want to run off the smart people first of all.
Coen: Yeah, there's nothing like a holocaust to put a stake in the heart of a certain kind of humor. (laughter) I really don't know how to answer that.
Burnett: I have to say that is a provocative and fascinating question and I want to investigate that. I'm very interested in that question. I'm serious.
Timberlake: Well-played. Well-played.
Spontaneous moments like that often play a part in making a Cannes press conference one that journalists covering the festival talk about for years to come. It wasn't a big surprise that the press conference for Max Rose turned into a laugh-fest, with both the legendary Jerry Lewis and actor-comic Kevin Pollak on the dais. In the film about an elderly jazz pianist, the two comedians tackle dramatic roles. Their press conference provides an example of just how quickly a boisterous Cannes session can be brought right back down to earth.
Journalist #1: It's a great honor to ask you a question about your career. Could you speak to us about the artistic and human relationship with your partner Dean Martin?
Jerry Lewis: He died, you know. (massive laughter)
Kevin Pollak: They see a lot less of each other.
Lewis: (responding to a few disapproving glances) What?! He may not know!
Pollak: It is a news conference after all. (continuous laughter)
Lewis: Because when I arrived here and he wasn't here, I knew something was wrong! (uncontrollable laughter)
Swedish Journalist: (wearing a bright red turtleneck—in balmy Cannes—the same color as Lewis' shirt and over continued laughter) I really hate to be given the mic right now, but it's very nice to be here. You talked about the fact that this script was the best one you've seen in 40 years.
Pollak: Yeah, much like that turtleneck, by the way.
Swedish Journalist: You did a film in Sweden in the early ’70s with people like Harriet Andersson and Pierre Étaix. It's called The Day the Clown Cried.
Jerry Lewis: (curtly and heavily exhaling) I remember the title.
Swedish Journalist: I've heard that you've been almost angry when people have asked you about it. I have heard that you have it locked in a vault. I've heard that we'll never see this film.
Jerry Lewis: (interrupting) That's exactly where it's going to stay.
Swedish Journalist: Can you tell us a little bit more about it. Why is it going to stay inside the vault?
Jerry Lewis: Because I thought the work was bad. (long pause to wait for laughter which never comes) Hello?! (laughter) And because I wrote and directed the film and didn't make it accessible. I didn't make it available. It didn't make anything. It was all bad. And it was bad because I lost the magic. And that's all I can tell you about it. (growing increasingly aggressive) You'll never see it. No one will ever see it because I'm embarrassed by the poor work. Every creator has the right of choice and he has the right to make final decisions that relate to the work. And I made a decision, I don't know of a lot of people that would have done it, but that's of no consequence. I did it because I believed in the work and the way it should have been and it wasn't. I don't have the ability to send out poor work and get paid for it. I can't do that. And that's the only thing I will discuss when that title comes up. Thank you.
It's hard to believe Jerry Lewis could take the laughter out of a room, especially in France, which is precisely why we'll be hearing about his appearance at this year's festival for years to come.
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