Cannes Film Festival's Impact on European Actors in Hollywood

Quick — what do Christoph Waltz, Javier Bardem and Mads Mikkelsen have in common?

Two answers, for those keeping score: All three have faced off against 007 on screen, and each has won Cannes’ Best Actor prize.

That overlap hardly seems trivial — not least because that small club, which also includes Jonathan Pryce and Benicio del Toro if you’re counting Bond-villain henchmen, could conceivably add a new member this year.

As of press time, rumors still swirled around the next Bond baddie, with fellow Cannes winners Wagner Moura and Jean Dujardin reportedly in the mix, alongside “The Zone of Interest” star Christian Friedel, whose film had to settle for a measly Grand Prix in 2023. And thanks to the Ira Sachs musical drama “The Man I Love,” one of two American titles in competition, star and outgoing Bond heavy Rami Malek stands a chance at earning that rare double crown.

This year’s festival is conspicuously light on U.S. films, and entirely missing the kind of studio footprint that brought blockbusters like “Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning,” “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” and “Top Gun: Maverick” to the south of France in recent years. But while the American presence may seem muted, it’s far from absent. And if this summer’s crop of blockbusters will mostly appear as banners along the Croisette, next year’s are being cast from inside the Palais.

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