Hollywood celebrities make directorial debut at Cannes

Scarlett Johansson, Kristen Stewart, and Harris Dickinson are flying their directorial debuts to Cannes. As per The Guardian, all three Hollywood stars have locked an initial release for their films in May at the Cannes Film Festival this year.

Over the next 10 days, Eleanor the Great, The Chronology of Water, and Urchin will all feature in Cannes' esteemed sidebar Un Certain Regard. Another unique fact that ties all the films together is that their star directors will stay strictly behind the camera, reserving the spotlight to their onscreen performers.

Taking the chair

Dickinson's Urchin, starring Frank Dillane and Megan Northam, chronicles the tale of a drug-addicted drifter seeking to turn his life around. The low-budget was inspired by the writer-director's own experiences working at a London shelter.

"Around 2019-20 I was becoming disillusioned with politics and wanted to take action on a more local level," Dickinson said. "So I began to lend a helping hand with very small localised things. It's where I really started to understand how many people in that community were incredibly vulnerable and in need of support, let down by society and the system."

Dickinson, who attracted cult status after starring opposite Nicole Kidman in Babygirl (2024), named Mike Leigh and Ken Loach as his cinema inspirations. "They're incredibly political filmmakers who hold a huge importance in film," he said.

Like Dickinson's debut, Stewart's The Chronology of Water is also a passion project. Based on Lidia Yuknavitch's memoir, the film follows a swimming enthusiast who struggles to flee her abusive home.

Stewart, who is best known for her role as Bella Swan in the Twilight films, expressed last year that she was intent on making her directorial debut, even if that came with a compromise. "I'm going to make this movie before I ever work for someone else. I will quit the f****** business," she said. "I will tell you that, for sure. I think that will get things going."

She embarked on her new venture only half a year later. The first look from the set of The Chronology of Water arrived in September 2024, picturing the director standing before the film's star Imogen Poots. The film's synopsis promises a transformation of trauma into art, following Yuknavitch's earliest childhood memories.

"Lidia's memoir honours corporeal experience, radically," Stewart said. "To make that experience physical feels vital to me."

Meanwhile, Johansson's Eleanor the Great is about an old woman moving to New York City for a fresh start. Sold to Sony Pictures, the drama film seems to invite the highest commercial prospects out of the three. It has also stirred up Oscar expectations for its star June Squibb.

"Premiering in Cannes, I don't know how I will be able to process the hugeness of it," admitted Johansson, who has built an active fan-following over the years thanks to a number of prominent roles, such as that of Black Widow in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. "It makes me nervous, but I'm excited as well."

On Friday, Deadline shared a first-look clip from the film, teasing Eleanor's plucky personality as she countered a neighbour's passive aggressive remarks.

Speaking to a producing partner, Johansson said, "If I do my job well and do what I'm supposed to do, I can imagine June walking the Croisette at age 95, starring in this incredible dramatic role."