Quentin Tarantino Had a Blast to Open Fest

Once upon a time in Cannes … Quentin Tarantino had a night to remember.

The Oscar winning auteur turned up at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night to attend the opening ceremony at the Grand Lumiére Theatre where he had official duties to proclaim the start of the 12-day event. “It’s my honor to declare the 78th festival open!” Tarantino shouted into the microphone.

With that, his only job was done. To put an exclamation point on what had been a politically-charged program — Robert De Niro accepted an honorary Palme d’Or from Leonardo DiCaprio, blasted President Donald Trump and delivered a call to action for artists in the room (“We have to act, and we have to act now,” he said) — Tarantino literally dropped his mic on the stage.

It seemed to be a fitting end for his enthusiastic proclamation as well as his night at the Palais as Tarantino looked to be having the time of his life. The filmmaker arrived to the famed red carpet with his wife, Daniella Tarantino, and fest officials closed foot traffic from fellow guests so that the couple could pose for photographers alone. Judging by the photos, the Tarantinos soaked in the moment by canoodling, whispering in each other’s ears and striking multiple poses.

At the top of the steps, Tarantino flashed the peace sign to throngs of fans down below and he greeted Cannes top brass Thierry Frémaux and Iris Knobloch. The previous Palme d’Or winner’s participation during the ceremony came as a surprise to many as the festival had not announced his duties in advance. But what was known is that he’s been booked to present a retrospective of two George Sherman westerns (Red Canyon and Comanche Territory) and sit for a discussion with pal Elvis Mitchell as part of a Cannes Classics spotlight.

The Grand Lumiére audience — comprised of Sean Baker, Samantha Quan, Eva Longoria, Bella Hadid, Heidi Klum, Marco Calvani, Julia Garner, Helen Hoehne, Rossy de Palma and more — seemed stoked to see Tarantino. He was greeted with a generous standing ovation on a night peppered with them for De Niro, DiCaprio and jury president Juliette Binoche.

Tarantino actually had a moment to catch up under the lights with his Once Upon a Time in Hollywood star DiCaprio. After he declared the opening of the fest and disappeared backstage with an amusing shuffle step, Tarantino re-emerged at center stage to join DiCaprio, DeNiro, Binoche, ceremony host Laurent Lafitte, performer Mylene Farmer and the jury members to pose for more photos and soak up the scene. No word yet on how Tarantino closed out his evening but we’re betting it had a cinematic ending.