Nitram wins best actor at Cannes after standing ovation
Nitram wins best actor for Texan star, who studied ‘Australian masculinity’ to play Martin Bryant with a spot-on Aussie accent | WATCH
When Caleb Landry Jones was handed the Cannes best actor prize for Justin Kurzel’s Australian film Nitram by former best actor winner Adele Exarchopoulos, the 31 year-old Texan was lost for words. Removing his hand from over his mouth he said, “I cannot do this. Thank you so much.”
Afterwards in the press room he had calmed down.
“I was surprised maybe because of the number of incredible actors in films at the festival every year which in my opinion are some of the best films. Being part of Cannes history is why I couldn’t say anything.”
In preparing for the role he noted how Kurzel surrounded him with a lot of information that he wouldn’t have known on his own. “He kind of showed me what it was to be an Australian male, about Australian masculinity, which wasn’t too different from Texan masculinity. He filled me with music, literature, movies and TV shows and gave me a manifesto. Somehow each thing I was doing, even if I was aware of it or not, Justin provided me with all of this information to make my own and to come into a space he created where all I had to do was exist. When we finished the film I felt we’d achieved something we tried desperately to do in Geelong. I’d never worked in the way Justin works and now I’m not sure I know any other way to work.
Cannes critics concurred that Landry Jones delivers a career-defining performance as the Port Arthur gunman Martin Bryant — with a spot-on Australian accent —after playing similarly unhinged types in the Safdie brothers’ Heaven Knows What and Brandon Cronenberg’s Antiviral.
At the film’s press conference earlier in the day Kurzel called him “the most immersive actor I’ve worked with and one of the most hardworking. He doesn’t have a switch on/switch off button. There are a lot of actors who say they like doing that, but to actually do it is tiring. It’s incredibly lonely and very isolating.” The film’s title refers to Martin spelt backwards, the name schoolyard bullies called the troubled backward youth, who isn’t named in the film. Nitram was a late arrival in the competition and received a resounding standing ovation at its premiere. “The response was truly wonderful to hear and I felt there was a connection and an understanding of the film,” Landry Jones said.
“We all feel incredibly blessed to be here all the way from Australia,” Kurzel admitted. “To get permission to leave the country because of the lockdowns and the situation with Covid was extremely hard. And we’re hoping to be able to go back.” He admitted he was emotional and missed his wife Essie Davis who appears in the film as the real life Tattersall’s heiress, Helen Mary Elizabeth Harvey, who left Bryant all her money. It was that money that allowed Bryant to buy his arsenal of weapons and go on the 1996 killing spree which left 35 people dead and 23 injured.
The film’s writer Shaun Grant said that truth is often stranger than fiction and explained how he stuck to the facts as much as he could. “Certain characters were removed because of the sensitivity —some don’t want to relive it again. So if there was a character the story could live without we removed them.”
Understandably few Australians made it to Cannes this year, though intrepid Palace Films founder Antonio Zeccola was in attendance, albeit without his wife and kids who now run his business. “The standard might have dropped a bit,” he admitted, “but I probably got to see 40 films so haven’t missed out on much.” He noted how because of Covid, the Americans had hardly come. “That is actually good for us, because it makes more space for the kind of films we distribute.” Palace picked up the comedy, Love Songs for Tough Guys, starring Vanessa Paradis (Johnny Depp’s ex) and directed by her husband Samuel Benchetrit. As a comedy it wasn’t going to win any prizes, even if it’s very funny.
The headline-grabbing moment of the awards night was jury head Spike Lee announcing the Palme d’Or winner early in the ceremony when he was asked to present the first prize —but not the ultimate winner. “I messed up, it’s as simple as that,” he said at the jury press conference. “I apologised to the Cannes festival people and they said, ‘Don’t worry Spike’ and I appreciate that.”
When asked why the jury had chosen Julia Ducournau’s French film Titane as the winner he said, “I’d never seen a film where a Cadillac impregnated a woman. That’s genius and crazinesss together.”
This year all through the festival journalists and critics were waiting for something to blow their socks off and it didn’t quite happen. But then, for the second-last film, along came Bill Murray in a concert documentary, New World: The Cradle of Civilisation, where he truly captivated the audience. In the film Murray recites and sings the works of the likes of Walt Whitman and Van Morrison, with three talented musicians, cellist Jan Vogler, pianist Vanessa Perez and violinist Mira Wang at a concert in June 2018 at the Acropolis in Greece as the culmination of their world tour. Interestingly at the beginning we see how the group had played at the Sydney Opera House and Richard Wilkins even makes it into the film.
What was so special in Cannes though was the surprise post-screening concert with the group where even artistic director Thierry Fremaux swayed joyously in the aisle. Murray had of course earlier been in Cannes with his director of nine films, Wes Anderson, for The French Dispatch where he plays the editor of a France-based journal that is loosely based on The New Yorker. Yet together with Anderson, Murray had skipped town not long after walking up the hallowed red steps. He was clearly saving himself for the end and was in fine form, looking as happy as Larry as he fronted the band and joked on stage.
Another Anderson alumni, Tilda Swinton, was sticking around as she had six films in the program including The Souvenir Part 1 and 11 which both star her daughter Honor Swinton Byrne. She also appeared in Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s Memoria, which went on to share the Jury Prize with Israeli director Nadav Lapid’s Ahed’s Knee.
Swinton turned up for Murray’s concert, which she called “a happening”. “Bill loves being with a group of musicians and I’ve noticed how happy it’s made him. It’s really given him a massive spring in his step.” Swinton will appear with Murray in Anderson’s new movie which starts shooting in August in Spain.