Johansson's directorial earns praise

Scarlett Johansson won praise from veteran filmmaker Wes Anderson as she nervously prepared to unveil her debut feature as a director at the Cannes film festival on Tuesday, reported AFP.

Actors behind the camera are something of a trend in Cannes this year, with Twilight star Kristen Stewart and British actor Harris Dickinson both unveiling their first features.

Johansson's film Eleanor the Great recounts the story of a grief-stricken elderly woman who moves to New York after the death of her best friend and will be screened on Tuesday evening.

One of Hollywood's most bankable stars missed the red carpet premiere of The Phoenician Scheme on Sunday evening, in which she has a cameo, but she won enthusiastic backing from director Anderson.

"I saw the movie, which I loved," Anderson said of Johansson's debut.

He added that he had not offered any tips to the actor who has appeared in three of his films, including Isle of Dogs and Asteroid City.

"I don't think Scarlett even said anything to me (about her film)," the 56-year-old said. "Scarlett's been doing movies possibly longer than I have. She's about 20 years younger, but I think she was in a movie when she was around nine."

Nonetheless, the Oscar-nominated star of Lost in Translation, 40, admitted to some nerves while bringing a script to life that made her cry when she first read it.

She spoke to Deadline magazine in the run-up to Cannes about how the spotlight on the director's seat is brighter than the one beamed on the actors when it comes to finally unveiling a film.

"It's different. When you're acting in something, it's out of your hands," she said.

In competition

Cannes tends to draw sympathetic audiences, with film lovers and industry insiders enthusiastically giving films standing ovations that can last for minutes.

But the competition is fierce. And Johansson's film is in the running for prizes in the 'Certain Regard' secondary section for up-and-coming directors that also includes Stewart's and Dickinson's films this year.

Dickinson, the 28-year-old star of Babygirl, asked the press to be "gentle" as he unveiled Urchin, a touching film about a rough sleeper in London.

"It's my first film so if you don't like it, break it to me nicely," he said before the premiere.

Initial reviews have been positive.

Film bible Variety said that "you can learn a lot about an actor when they make their directorial debut. For better or worse, it reveals how they see themselves as an artist."

In Dickinson's case, his social-realist debut that has echoes of veteran British director Mike Leigh's work was "starkly effective", Variety said.

Hollywood has a long record of A-list male actors turning to directing from Oscar-winning Clint Eastwood to Mel Gibson and George Clooney.

Greta Gerwig, who broke through as an actor before hitting the directorial big time with 2023 hit Barbie, is one of relatively few women actors to make the transition, however.

Australian screen great Nicole Kidman lamented on Sunday how the number of women directing major box office successes is still "incredibly low".

Speaking to Variety, Stewart was honest about her struggles to find financing for her film The Chronology of Water, which is a searing examination of child sex abuse.

She said it was "near impossible" to raise money for a film that was an original idea and not based on a proven genre or an existing franchise.

Denzel Washington wins award

Meanwhile, as per Reuters, US actor Denzel Washington received a surprise honorary Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival on Monday evening in recognition of his outstanding career, according to organisers.

Washington, 70, was in southern France for the premiere of US director Spike Lee's latest film Highest 2 Lowest, an adaptation of legendary Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's High and Low, which also celebrated its premiere on Monday.

Washington, who was joined by co-stars A$AP Rocky and Jeffrey Wright on the red carpet, stars as David King in the crime thriller that marks the fifth time he and Lee have worked together.

The two-time Oscar winner's film roles have ranged from black activist Malcolm X, to a drunk but heroic pilot in Flight. His turn as a rogue detective in Training Day earned him his second Oscar in 2002 following his first win in 1990 for Glory.

He also directed and starred in the 2007 film The Great Debaters about a professor who coached a debate team from a black US college to national glory, and produced and starred in the drama Antwone Fisher.

Robert De Niro received a Palme d'Or honorary award for lifetime achievement, announced in advance, at the festival's opening ceremony last week, where he used his acceptance speech to call for protests against US President Donald Trump.

Highest 2 Lowest is set to hit theatres in the United States on August 22.