Actor Harrison Ford was presented with an honorary Palme d’Or Thursday. As the most prestigious award at the Cannes Film Festival, it was given just minutes before the first public screening of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”
Ford joins a list of honorary Palme recipients that includes Ingmar Bergman, Jane Fonda, Clint Eastwood, Agnes Varda, Jeffrey Katzenberg and Tom Cruise, the last of whom received his honorary Palme before the Cannes premiere of “Top Gun: Maverick” in 2022.
During the opening ceremony on Tuesday night, Michael Douglas was presented with an Honorary Palme. His award had been revealed well in advance, where Ford’s came as a surprise announcement from Cannes General Delegate Thierry Fremaux as he introduced the film.
The presentation to Ford began with a reel assembling highlights from throughout the actor’s career, from “American Graffiti” through “Witness,” “The Mosquito Coast,” “Working Girl,” “The Fugitive,” “Air Force One” and the “Star Wars,” “Blade Runner” and “Indiana Jones” movies.
“They say when you die, you see your life flash before your eyes. I just saw my life flash before my eyes,” Ford said during his acceptance speech in reaction to the sizzle reel of his cinematic career. “A great part of my life, not all of it.”
Ford’s past appearances at Cannes include the 1985 film “Witness,” a Peter Weir crime thriller in which Ford played a police detective assigned to protect an Amish mother (Kelly McGillis) who witnessed a murder. Ford also traveled to the French festival for the “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” premiere in 2008.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” follows a 70-year-old Indy as he is preparing for retirement, only to head off on another adventure with his goddaughter Helena (Phoebe Waller-Bridge) when Jurgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), an ex-Nazi turned NASA engineer, gets his hands on a mysterious dial that could change the course of history. James Mangold (“Logan”) directed the film with Antonio Banderas, Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Kretchmann and John Rhys-Davies also starring. John Williams returns to compose its score.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” will hit U.S. theaters on June 30. Watch Ford accept the Palme d’Or in the Twitter clip above.
Check out TheWrap’s Cannes magazine here and all of our Cannes 2023 coverage here.
