Last week at the Cannes Film Festival, Viggo Mortensen addressed a longstanding rumor about his “Crimes Of The Future” director David Cronenberg. The story goes that in 1999 when Cronenberg headed the Cannes Jury, he “deprived” Pedro Almodóvar‘s “All About My Mother” to award the Palme d’Or to the Dardennes‘ “Rosetta.” In an interview with Indiewire’s Eric Kohn, Mortensen called the rumor “bullshit” and claimed the Palme vote for “Rosetta” was not only the fastest one ever but also unanimous. Furthermore, Mortensen said the rumor was “a nonsense story and beneath a great artist like Pedro.” So, shots fired, twenty-plus years after the fact.
Now it’s Almodóvar’s time to set the record straight. In a statement to Indiewire, the director addressed the rumor and Mortensen’s comments from last week, claiming “I am not to blame” for the longstanding story. Almodóvar suggests looking back at the 1999 festival itself for those who don’t believe him. “Anyone who has the time to look up the awards ceremony of that year will see that I was the happiest person in the world from the moment I got up on the stage to receive mine,” he said. “No one will be able to find a trace of disappointment in my face in all the photos or in my answers during the press conference, only happiness and euphoria. I cannot accept to be portrayed as embittered for not receiving the Palme d’Or. You just have to go back to the press archives to find out for yourself.”
Almodóvar goes on to state that while it’s true that he talked to the Spanish newspaper El País last week about how “All About My Mother” was the closest he’s ever came to a Palme d’Or, it wasn’t an allusion to the rumor. In fact, he knew before the 1999 awards ceremony that had hadn’t won the Palme, but was still overjoyed to have won the Grand Jury Prize. “I knew by then that the Palme was for another film, the festival had warned me, but I was radiant with the award I was about to receive and I felt like I was in a dream,” Almodóvar continued. The director also said he’s never criticized the winners of that year’s festival and dares anyone to find evidence to the contrary.
Furthermore, Almodóvar commented that he’s more than familiar with how Cannes juries work, as he was on the 1992 jury, and presided over the 2017 one. “Those rumors Viggo mentions have been fueled by the press over the years,” he continued. “The French press in particular portrays me as someone whose only desire is to win the Palme d’Or; they don’t know how wrong they are. In my career as a writer and director, I’ve had more awards than I could ever dream of. I am a very fortunate artist.” So, long story short, Almodóvar isn’t the source of these rumors, he has no ill will about not winning the Palme d’Or in 1999, and he’s as sick as everyone else that this rumor still has legs.
However, the director did make a point of referencing Mortensen’s comparison of Almodóvar to Trump for allegedly circulating stories “that are complete bullshit.” “I refuse to be compared with one of the most atrocious characters in the current public sphere,” said Almodóvar, “Someone should explain here “who” has said “what,” because I have not and I feel insulted.” As one should if they’re held in the same breath as Donald Trump.
Almodóvar ended his statement with a note on what makes Cannes so important, which isn’t rumors, but the selection of films that premiere each year. “I can only thank the Cannes Film Festival for offering a memorable selection of films every year, for without them life would be duller,” he said. Cannes is one of the biggest celebrations of auteur films and that makes it even more relevant every year. I only regret that some of the films presented there take so long to be released commercially and that distractions like this story continue to take away from more important problems.”
So, there you have it. The decades-old rumor about Cronenberg snubbing Almodóvar for the Palme d’Or is all nonsense, everyone involved is tired of hearing about it, and nothing more needs to be said on the matter. After all, some things remain eternal: like the press conjuring a provocative story that was never there in the first place to garner attention. Let’s hope this story has now finally exhausted itself.