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Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, a black-and-white film in competition at the 66th Festival de Cannes, is a stylistic but not a thematic departure from his previous film, The Descendants. Bruce Dern and Will Forte play father and son in the new film, and June Squibb plays Dern’s wife.
The storyline sees Dern’s character, Woody, receive an eligibility certificate in the mail that he believes entitles him to $1 million, so he begins walking the 850 miles to Lincoln, Nebraska. David, played by Forte, offers to drive him, even though he and his mother know the letter is a scam.
Rance Howard, Angela McEwan and Stacy Keach also feature in Nebraska. Early reviews indicate that Payne’s choice of black-and-white film connects the rural American settings with a bygone era.
Will Forte, June Squibb, Alexander Payne, Angela McEwan, Albert Berger, Bruce Dern, Laura Dern and Ron Yerxa promoted the film at Cannes at the Grand Théâtre Lumière.
Nicole Kidman (in Valentino with jewellery by Fred Leighton) and Heidi Klum (in Versace, with Christian Louboutin heels and Lorraine Schwartz jewellery), however, stole the limelight on the red carpet. Kidman is part of the jury for the Cannes Film Festival this year, and walked down the red carpet with director Ang Lee, who serves with her.
The other première was for Max Rose, a homage to Jerry Lewis, who was present at Cannes, along with writer–director Daniel Noah, Kerry Bishe, Kevin Pollak and Michel Legrand. Lewis, 87, plays a widowed jazz pianist.
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