New Zealand director Peter Jackson received an honorary Palme d’Or at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, a tribute that he, known in particular for the feat (until then considered impossible) of having adapted ‘The Lord of the Rings’, described as “unexpected” and “miraculous”.
“I never thought I would win one because I don’t make films that get the Palme,” he detailed about the award, which was presented to him on stage at the Grand Théâtre Lumière, having paraded down the red carpet to the iconic tune from The Fellowship of the Ring with American actor Elijah Wood, whom Jackson catapulted to fame with the role of Frodo.
The director also responsible for titles such as ‘The Lovely Bones’ explained that Cannes has been a fundamental place in his career and, above all, in the preparation of the ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy, since it was in the framework of this French event where the unpublished images of the film could be seen for the first time in 2001.
It was just 26 minutes, seven months before the official premiere, that shocked the journalists who were able to see the preview.
Before that, he recalled, “all the media talked of nothing but failure.” But “Cannes changed the perception of the film, even for me,” shared Jackson (Wellington, 1961) in his thank-you speech.
Years before he had already been at the festival, he recalled, after having filmed ‘Bad Taste’ (‘Mal gusto’, 1987), a title that thanks to the festival market could be seen in fifty countries and that was the real “launching” of his career.
“For me Cannes is linked to good memories,” he said.
Before presenting him with the award, Wood had described him as a genius who changed cinema when he embarked on the filming of J.R.R. Tolkien’s masterpiece, a technical feat that nonetheless feels “handcrafted” and with “heart.”
“Technology means nothing if it doesn’t carry a part of humanity,” said the 45-year-old performer, with whom Jackson joked to break the ice by congratulating him on finally getting facial hair.
On that monumental filming of the One Ring trilogy, Wood recounted seeing him “make impossible decisions every day with incredible calm” and also noted that Jackson’s work has helped develop the film industry in New Zealand, which before him was very small.
The ‘Lord of the Rings’ trilogy won a total of 17 Oscars, eleven of them for the third film, which equaled the record number of statuettes held by ‘Ben Hur’ (1959) and ‘Titanic’ (1997). And, with 3 billion dollars in revenues, it is the eighth most profitable saga in history.
Jackson then signed the remake of ‘King Kong’ (2005), before returning to Tolkien’s universe with another trilogy, ‘The Hobbit’ between 2012 and 2014.
In recent years he has made documentaries such as ‘They Shall Not Grow Old’ (‘They Shall Not Grow Old’, 2018), about the First World War, or the miniseries ‘The Beatles: Get back’ (2021).
Jackson succeeds Agnès Varda, Marco Bellocchio, Jodie Foster, Meryl Streep or Robert de Niro in the honorary Palme d’Or, and in this edition there will also be another tribute award for the American singer and actress Barbra Streisand, who will receive it at the closing ceremony.
After the presentation of the trophy to the New Zealand filmmaker, actresses Jane Fonda and Gong Li were in charge of declaring the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival open, which began with the out-of-competition screening of the French comedy ‘La Vénus électrique’, by Pierre Salvadori.
A total of 22 films are in contention to win at Cannes in 2026, including new titles from Spaniards Rodrigo Sorogoyen, Pedro Almodóvar and the duo of Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi.
Among his rivals for the Palme d’Or, whose winner will be revealed on May 23, reported Agencia EFE, are Japan’s Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Poland’s Pawel Pawlikowski and U.S. director James Gray.
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