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| Michael Douglas will receive an Honorary Palme d’Or for the sum of his career at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival on 16 May. Photo: Courtesy of Cannes Film Festival/ © Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images |
Douglas came to the Festival for the first time in 1979 for the premiere of The China Syndrome alongside Jane Fonda and Jack Lemmon and returned in 2013 for Stephen Soderberg’s Behind The Candelabra in which he played Liberace.
When told of the news, he said: “The Festival has always reminded me that magic of cinema is not just in what we see onscreen but in its ability to impact people all around the world. After more than 50 years in the business, it’s an honour to return to the Croisette to open the Festival and embrace our shared global language of film.”
Douglas also was in attendance in 1992 for Basic Instinct, by Paul Verhoeven as well as in 1993, when Joel Schumacher's Falling Down was presented in Competition.
Douglas inherited his father Kirk’s love of France and its cinema.
As well as his contribution to cinema Douglas has espoused many causes including as a United Nations Messenger of Peace, supporting nuclear disarmament across the world since 1998 and he has also been a longstanding advocate of gun control in the United States.
As part of the tribute the festival will screen a documentary about the star, The Prodigal Son by Armine Mesta, on Sunday 14 May at 6pm and Tuesday 16 May at 6pm.
