The 79th Cannes Film Festival is entering its final week, running until 23 May 2026, with two major Hollywood names in competition for the Palme d’Or: Scarlett Johansson in James Gray’s Paper Tiger and Rami Malek in Ira Sachs’ The Man I Love, as reported by CNN.
Cannes has always been comfortable holding Hollywood and world cinema in the same hand, but this year’s lineup leans into that tension with particular boldness.
Both films sit in the main competition, which means both Johansson and Malek are technically in the running for the highest prize in the industry, judged by a jury presided over by South Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook.
Cannes Film Festival 2026: the films to watch in competition
Paper Tiger, directed by James Gray, features Johansson alongside Adam Driver and Miles Teller in a film that has generated significant word of mouth ahead of its Cannes premiere.
Gray is one of American cinema’s most consistent directors, and the prospect of him working with that particular cast at this particular stage of everyone’s career has the film industry paying close attention.
The Man I Love, from Ira Sachs, is a quieter proposition but no less anticipated. Sachs is known for intimate, emotionally precise work, and Malek, fresh from his Academy Award-winning turn in Bohemian Rhapsody years prior, has consistently surprised audiences with his choices.
A Sachs film is exactly the kind of project that suggests Malek is choosing roles for the work rather than the commercial ceiling.
Cannes 2026 beyond the competition
The festival has not been short of moments away from the main competition screens. Julianne Moore was awarded the Kering Women in Motion Award during this year’s festival, continuing the programme’s recognition of female filmmakers and performers who have shaped contemporary cinema.
Taylor Russell turned heads at the Hope premiere, wearing a white custom Dior look that quickly circulated across fashion and entertainment media. Alicia Vikander also attended the film’s photocall, with the festival providing its usual overlap of serious cinema and high fashion that makes Cannes unlike anything else on the calendar.
Honorary Palmes d’Or have been a feature of this edition, with Peter Jackson honoured at the opening ceremony, John Travolta recognised before the world premiere of Propeller One-Way Night Coach, and Barbra Streisand set to receive hers during the closing ceremony on 23 May.
When the jury hands down its verdicts at the end of the month, the conversation will inevitably turn to whether either of the two US-led competition entries could become the rare Hollywood film to win the Palme.
The history suggests it is unlikely, but then so was much of what Park Chan-wook has done over the course of his career.
