Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Cannes: Best Actor Narrows but Redford Won’t Be Part of It

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With the Cannes Film Festival winding down over the next couple of days, the field for Best Actor is narrowing own. There’s relative newcomer Oscar Isaac, who stars in the Coens’ “Inside Llewyn Davis.” And French favorite Matthieu Amalric has two movies here– “Jimmy P’ and “Venus in Fur.”

But Best Actor looks like it’s coming down to two Hollywood stars who are now veterans and Oscar winners from the past: Michael Douglas, and Bruce Dern. Douglas is the favorite for Behind the Candelabra, all about Liberace. Dern stars in Alexander Payne’s “Nebraska.”

Robert Redford says almost no words in “All Is Lost,” where he’s adrift at sea. And he’s not eligible for any prizes because the movie is not in competition.

Of course another Hollywood old timer rolls into town today, too. Jerry Lewis stars in “Max Rose.” Lewis hasn’t starred in a movie since– well, a long time ago. But the French love him. Lewis’s trip to Cannes is marred however by a letter from his long time French publicist, Yanou Collart. The famed flack severed ties with Lewis this week because she says he wouldn’t pay her. Collart was responsible for bringing Lewis to Cannes, and helped with his Lifetime Achievement Award at the Oscars a few years back.

As for the three way race, Douglas has the edge. Dern’s film debuts tonight. We’ll see what happens next…

 

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Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman is the founder and editor-in-chief of Showbiz411. He wrote the FOX411 column on FoxNews.com from 1999 to 2009 and previously edited Fame magazine and wrote the "Intelligencer" column at New York magazine. His bylines have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the New York Daily News, the New York Post, Vogue, Details, and the Miami Herald. He is a voting member of the Critics Choice Awards (Film and Television branches), and his movie reviews are tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. is articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. With D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus, he co-produced the 2002 documentary "Only the Strong Survive," which screened at Directors' Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival.

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