For most, the month of May signals the beginning of the summer movie season, but the cinematic event were most looking forward to occurs nowhere near our homebase of New York City. Sure, it seems a bit trivial to work up much anticipation over the 66th Cannes Film Festival, an event that only a minuscule amount of film fans can attend, but in terms of setting the footing for our must-watch list of this year (and next), few events do it better.
We’ve now got the first look at two upcoming films and first up, above, one can see a still from Alexander Payne‘s drama Nebraska, in all of its black and white glory. Set for a November release, Bruce Dern and Will Forte lead the story of a curmudgeonly old drunk who believes he’s won a million dollars from a sweepstakes and drags his son on a roadtrip to collect the prize. We’ve heard some positive buzz from early test screening (many praising Forte’s turn) and Payne talked to USA Today about the casting process, saying, “Never in a million years would I have thought of him, but I believed him in his audition. And there’s an appealing familiarity about him. It’s as though you went to high school with him.”
Shifting gears to a Cannes premiere we’re somewhat hesitant about, we’ve got our first look at James Franco’s adaptation of William Faulkner‘s classic novel As I Lay Dying. Considering his directorial efforts thus far have been earnest, but unmemorable efforts, we’re hoping Franco has cooked something special for this work, which stars Danny McBride, Tim Blake Nelson, Jim Parrack, Ahna O’Reilly and Logan Marshall-Green. Check out the photos below (via The Playlist) for the film that’s premiering in the Un Certain Regard section.
Cannes kicks off on May 15th.