Overview
- Paul Laverty, serving on the Cannes main jury, used Tuesday’s opening press conference to accuse Hollywood of blacklisting Susan Sarandon, Javier Bardem and Mark Ruffalo for supporting a Gaza ceasefire.
- He praised the festival’s official poster featuring Sarandon from Thelma & Louise and joked that he hoped the event would not be bombed because of the image.
- He condemned the violence in Gaza and urged filmmakers to engage with politics, quoting King Lear to argue that art should confront the times.
- Susan Sarandon said in February that her U.S. agency fired her after she called for a ceasefire, and she described being shut out of major film and TV work.
- The remarks keep Gaza and free expression at the center of a festival that runs through May 23, building on last year’s open letters and protests over industry silence and career risks.