Denzel Washington receives honorary Palme d’Or at Cannes

CANNES: Denzel Washington sandwiched a whirlwind trip to the Cannes Film Festival, in between Broadway performances, for the premiere of Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” on Monday — and was rewarded with a surprise: an honorary Palme d’Or. Cannes had flipped around some of its scheduling to accommodate Washington’s speedy France trip, which came on his lone off-day while performing “Othello” in New York.

Cannes Film Festival chief Thierry Frémaux surprised Washington with the award before the Monday night premiere. “This is my brother, right here,” said the film’s director, Spike Lee, who passed the award to Washington. “This is a total surprise for me,” said Washington.

The festival usually gives out one or two honorary Palmes each edition — last year, the awardees were Studio Ghibli and George Lucas. Last week, Robert De Niro received one on the festival’s opening night.

De Niro’s award was announced in advance, but surprise prizes aren’t unheard of: In 2022, Tom Cruise was presented with a surprise honorary Palme d’Or just before the screening of “Top Gun: Maverick.” The premiere also had another surprise: Rihanna attended and walked the carpet afterward with partner A$AP Rocky. Earlier this month, she revealed at the Met Gala that she was pregnant with their third child. While the festival’s photo calls usually happen the day after a film’s premiere, Cannes hosted one for “Highest 2 Lowest” earlier Monday so Washington could attend. The actor, playfully posing with Lee and co-star A$AP Rocky, showed no signs of jet lag and left once the screening began.

“He told me to tell you: Thank you for the love,” Lee told the crowd after the screening. “He’s on Broadway doing ‘Othello,’ so it really took a lot for him to fly here. Let’s give it up for Denzel Washington, please.” Lee also came to Cannes with obligations back in New York on his mind. He arrived at the film’s premiere decked out in Knicks colors and wearing a blue and orange striped suit. Lee ended his brief speech in the Palais by hollering: “New York Knicks!”

That Washington would be able to make the trip had been a sticking point for Cannes. When the festival first announced its lineup last month, “Highest 2 Lowest” wasn’t included. Within hours, however, Lee himself announced the film was heading to Cannes. Representatives for the festival said they had been waiting for confirmation that Washington would attend to walk the red carpet.

“Highest 2 Lowest,” a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film “High and Low,” will be released in theaters by A24 on Aug. 22 before streaming on Apple TV+ on Sept. 5.

Before handing over the prize to Washington, festival director Thierry Fremaux introduced a montage of Washington’s memorable performances including in “Malcolm X” and “Mo’ Better Blues”, both directed by Lee.

Clips were also shown from “Glory”, which earned him an Oscar for best supporting actor in 1989, and “Training Day”, for which he won best actor in 2002. The cast of “Highest 2 Lowest” put on a show on the Cannes red carpet, with Spike Lee in an orange pinstripe suit, round glasses and an orange-and-blue hat, and A$AP Rocky showing off a gold dental piece.

Although Cannes usually hands out honorary awards in dedicated ceremonies, it is not unusual for actors to receive them unexpectedly -- as happened with Harrison Ford at the premiere of “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” in 2023.

Earlier the veteran actor appeared to have a testy encounter with a photographer on the red carpet. The photographer appeared to grab the actor by the arm as he posed in front of a bank of cameras. Washington shook him off and then pointed his finger at him and appeared to say “Stop it” a number of times, videos showed. But despite the awkward incident, Washington’s mood was no doubt lifted by the rave reviews of him and Lee’s film.

Agencies