Steven Spielberg Named Jury President at 66th Cannes Film Festival

Though he didn’t win the Oscar this year (Lincoln did end up with two anyway), Steven Spielberg is still one of the world’s greatest filmmakers. So much so that Cannes has chosen Spielberg to be the president of the jury at the 66th Cannes Film Festival taking place in France in May this summer. “My admiration for the steadfast mission of the Festival to champion the international language of movies is second to none. The most prestigious of its kind, the festival has always established the motion picture as a cross cultural and generational medium,” he said of the honor. He’ll lead the jury choosing the Palme d’Or at the festival. Included in the announcement (via festival-cannes.fr) is a fun story from Gilles Jacob, president of the festival, explaining how he finally got Steven Spielberg to be on the jury this year since he isn’t shooting a film at the moment (which is bad news for that sci-fi Robopocalypse). Here’s how …