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| Mads Mikkelsen and Jury head George Miller, who said jury is like being in film school all over again. Photo: Richard Mowe |
Danish actor Mikkelsen did say he was open to “bribes”. That was a joke, although more seriously he addressed the question of whether he might show favouritism to fellow Dane Nicolas Windig Refn, whose The Neon Demon is in the official Competition.
"I thought I might get a phone call saying I couldn’t be on the jury. I love Nicolas, I love his films ... but I will view [Neon Demon] like any other,” he assured the assembled throng.
Miller likened the privileged experience to being in some kind of “film school or film camp” where films could be viewed without any preconceptions.
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| Juror Vanessa Paradis. Photo: Richard Mowe |
His take on the subject was: “I wondered whether it made sense after a first feature to be in the prestigious jury. But I think putting my film in competition was a statement saying that cinema should be open to new ways, that pioneering never stops in cinemas. Maybe this is a continuation of that logic."
And with that thought in mind the jury departed for ten days of sitting in darkened rooms until they emerge with the victors at the closing ceremony on May 22.
