Viggo Mortensen And Pedro Almodóvar Are Beefing Over The Results Of The 1999 Cannes Film Festival
The stars are beefing again! This time, Viggo Mortenson and director Pedro Almodóvar are at it over the injustice that occurred in the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. Sadly, it’s not about how Dick was overlooked for the work of genius that it is, but that Rosetta beat out Pedro’s critically acclaimed All About My Mother for the Palme d’Or. There’s nothing like ancient Hollywood spats to warm the heart!
The story goes that in 1999, journalists were baffled that Rosetta won over Almodóvar’s much lauded film. Almodóvar won Best Director at Cannes and All About My Mother went on to pick up an Oscar for Best Foreign Film, so the whole incident at the time was particularly curious. Rumor began to spread that David Cronenberg, the president of the jury at the time, swayed his peers to vote for Rosetta. And, supposedly, Almodóvar was left resentful over incident. ESCANDOLO! Fast-forward to 2014, when Cronenberg simply stated that most journalists didn’t even see Rosetta since it was the last film to play at the festival. They had already predicted that All About My Mother would win and were shocked to learn that they were wrong. According to him, the vote for Rosetta was unanimous and one of the fastest votes made. Despite the debunkification, the rumor still exists and Viggo Mortenson (a frequent Cronenberg collaborator) decided to dredge it right back up in a recent interview for no obvious reason. via Vulture:
In a conversation with IndieWire, Mortensen said that he doesn’t understand why Almodóvar believes he was “deprived” of the Palme and compared Almodóvar’s alleged consternation to tactics used by our former, dusty president.
“It’s like Trump. You keep saying something and people start thinking there must be something to it, when it’s complete bullshit,” Mortensen said. “I love Pedro and he’s a great guy, but that jury, it was the fastest vote for the Palme d’Or for a movie called Rosetta. Unanimous, all nine of them. The president of the jury only gets one vote. All people voted for that movie. So how did [Cronenberg] deprive the Palme d’Or from Pedro? It’s a nonsense story and beneath a great artist like Pedro.”
Comparing a director to Trump? Viggo really went for the jugular on this one. I do enjoy the “he’s better than this” comment as if he’s not shading Pedro. Having caught wind of Viggo running his mouth, Almodóvar published a 700-word statement on IndieWire. It’s like the sophisticated version of the Notes app.
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. 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…
…There is something that has profoundly bothered me in Viggo’s recent remarks. “It’s like Trump,” he said. “You keep saying something and people start thinking there must be something to it, when it’s complete bullshit.”
I refuse to be compared with one of the most atrocious characters in the current public sphere. Someone should explain here “who” has said “what,” because I have not and I feel insulted. Viggo’s other remark is very unpleasant, too: “It’s a nonsense story and beneath a great artist like Pedro.”
As a person who owns Romy And Michelle’s High School Reunion on VHS and DVD, I’m not classy enough to have seen either of the films that are at the heart of this squabble. I just have to assume that they’re masterpieces. But I DO understand celebrity statements! Rather than read the rest of the 700 words, I’ll kindly condense Pedro’s message for you into two simple words, “STFU, Viggo!”
Pic: INSTARImages