Stephen Frears: Cannes jury terrified me

(Cover) - EN Movies - Stephen Frears was "terrified" of falling asleep when he was on the Cannes Film Festival panel.

The British director headed the jury in 2007, when the prestigious Palme d'Or went to Romanian film 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

This year the jury will be led by Steven Spielberg and also features Ang Lee, Nicole Kidman and Christoph Waltz. Stephen has recalled the pressure of having to watch the 20 films in the competition in just a few days. He also admits the jury found it difficult to agree.

"What you're terrified of is going to sleep so I had coffee brought to me to stay awake - it was manageable," he told the BBC. "Maybe we were rather dull. There were four things that I wanted shortlisted and I got three of them, someone more ruthless would have got all four. It was a very good film that we gave the Palme d'Or to but it wasn't unanimous, which shocked and surprised me. And then there was this hostility to the US films."

Stephen was joined on the panel in 2007 by stars including Maggie Cheung, Toni Collette, Sarah Polley and Michel Piccoli.

There was some heated debate, but the process was always democratic.

"It's an odd number in the jury but I don't remember withholding my vote until the others had voted. I mean, sometimes a decision would be reached and you'd think, 'Well, that wasn't a very good one,'" he revealed. "There was one very heated moment of passion during deliberations that quite shocked me but I can't tell you what it was."

Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby will open proceedings later today, with the event running until May 26.

Competing for the Palme d’Or prize will be films including Steven Soderbergh’s Behind the Candelabra, Nicolas Winding Refn’s Only God Forgives and Inside Llewyn Davis from Joel and Ethan Coen.