Cannes: Portraits of Spike Lee, Sofia Boutella, and More Who Ruled the 2018 Festival
The 2018 Cannes Film Festival was a fascinating struggle against tradition. Cannes jury president Cate Blanchett led a star-studded 82-women protest against the gender disparity at the festival, which in its 71 years has only had 82 films directed by women in competition (compared to 1,645 by men); lesser publicized but equally pressing was the protest by 16 black French actresses—clad in Balmain—against the biases of the film industry in France; and even something like the festival’s ludicrous selfie ban on the red carpet, which was openly flouted by everyone on the red carpet, spelled out the festival’s need for progress. But then, things got turned upside down, in a good way. Spike Lee’s funny and dramatic movie about the KKK, BlacKkKlansman—and, as he made very clear, it was about Trump’s America—won the Grand Prix. Even Gaspar Noe, long the black sheep director of Cannes’s most openly despised films, made something that everyone really, really liked, to even his own surprise—a drug-addled horror musical with dance numbers led by Sofia Boutella. Sometimes you can never tell when it’s going to be your year.
1Spike Lee
“David Duke and Trump wrote the ending of the film for us.” —Spike Lee, director of BlacKkKlansman, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
2Marion Cotillard
“I decided to follow Instagram videos of the Kardashians to get into character.” —Marion Cotillard, star of Angel Face, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
3Ben Foster
“I suppose the most challenging element of the role was what drew me to the project in the first place; confronting daily the question of, ‘What kind of father will I be?'”—Ben Foster, star of Leave No Trace, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
4Sofia Boutella
Sofia Boutella, star of Climax, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
5Gaspar Noé
Gaspar Noé, director of Climax, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
6Elizabeth Debicki
Elizabeth Debicki, star of the upcoming Widows and Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 3, at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France. Photo by Victoria Stevens for W Magazine.
