- Pogacar soars to landmark Giro win on snow-capped peak
- Klopp receives emotional farewell tribute from Liverpool fans
- Slovak PM's life no longer in danger after shooting
- Scheffler well back at PGA as officials say no bodycam video of arrest
- Strikes kills 11 in Ukraine region under Russian offensive
- Argentina's Milei stars in global far-right rally in Spain
- Verstappen resists Norris attack to claim dramatic victory at Imola
- Raducanu pulls out of French Open qualifying to train on grass
- Verstappen holds off Norris to clinch Emilia Romagna Grand Prix
- Hollywood icons Costner and Demi Moore in Cannes comeback
- Iran presidential helicopter in 'accident', search underway: state media
- Breaking men-only musical lore, Jobarteh puts African kora on wider stage
- Usyk heavyweight glory hailed as 'Ukrainian victory'
- Cannes narco musical star says being trans should be 'unimportant'
- Shelling kills ten in Ukraine region under Russian offensive
- DR Congo thwarts Kinshasa 'coup attempt' : army
- Injured Sinner back on road to French Open
- Dominican Republic votes for president in poll overshadowed by Haiti crisis
- France says will quell New Caledonia riots 'whatever the cost'
- 'Blood everywhere': Survivor recounts attack on tourists in Afghanistan
- Deadly bombs hit Gaza as US security envoy visits Israel
- World javelin champion Kitaguchi lays down marker in Tokyo
- Hundreds protest Taiwan's ruling party on eve of inauguration
- French forces smash roadblocks in bid to clear key New Caledonia road
- Russian exiles in Georgia inspired by protests but scared
- Taiwan's next president goes shrimp fishing with foreign guests
- Can Costner lead the revenge of France's much-mocked Kevins?
- Dramas elevate Iran cinema but it's comedy that sells
- Fury unsure on rematch after Usyk inflicts his first defeat
- Taiwan coast guard ramps up island patrols ahead of inauguration
- 'Maldives what?': Saudi fashionistas attempt beach rebrand
- Dallas rally to down Thunder, reach NBA Western Conference finals
- The French 'Erin Brockovich' vs Goodyear
- History-chasing Man City eye Premier League title 'destiny'
- Body of second missing Mongolian climber found on Everest
- Campana's late stunner gives Miami victory over D.C.
- Iraq father begins legal action against BP over son's cancer death
- Dominican Republic's vote is dominated by Haiti crisis
- Blue Origin flies thrill seekers to space after two year hiatus
- Biles launches Olympic year with impressive Core Hydration Classic win
- Usyk in tears for late father after historic heavyweight win
- Can we rid artificial intelligence of bias?
- Forgotten D-Day cameramen out of shadows, 80 years on
- Hollywood battles aging -- in film reels
- 'Blood in the water' for record low scores in PGA final round
- Usyk beats Fury to become undisputed world heavyweight boxing champion
- Seize the Grey wins Preakness for 88-year-old trainer Lukas
- Lowry's 62 equals low major round as Schauffele, Morikawa lead PGA
- Second major win would mean a lot for danger-man Lowry
- Tourists wounded in deadly Afghanistan shooting are stable: hospital
Coppola, Lucas, Schrader: 'New Hollywood' swansong set for Cannes
It is an offer they still can't refuse: Francis Ford Coppola will lead a parade of veteran American movie titans back to the Cannes Film Festival next week in a likely swansong for the "New Hollywood" generation.
The director of "The Godfather" will be joined by "Star Wars" creator George Lucas and "Taxi Driver" writer Paul Schrader on the French Riviera for the world's most famous film gathering, where all three men enjoyed success in their 1970s heyday.
Half a century later, Coppola and Schrader will compete head-to-head for the festival's coveted Palme d'Or with their new films "Megalopolis" and "Oh Canada", while Lucas receives an honorary award for his blockbuster career.
"It does have the feeling of the old gunslinger coming back into town for one last showdown," said Hollywood historian Thomas Doherty.
"It's like an exclamation point on their careers," agreed veteran US movie journalist Tim Gray.
"Yes these guys are brand names, they're well known, but they're artists, and they're recognized by the film community around the world."
The trio were central figures in a pack of rebellious filmmakers, dubbed the "New Hollywood", who upended the staid Hollywood studio system in the 1970s.
It borrowed arthouse styles from the previous decade's French New Wave, along with its idea of the director as a visionary "auteur".
They also fundamentally changed the way films were funded -- most notably Coppola, who split from the traditional Hollywood studios and poured vast sums of his own money into colossal movies like "Apocalypse Now".
That film won Coppola one of his two Palmes d'Or, and he hopes lightning will strike for a record third time with "Megalopolis", another epic passion project that cost $120 million.
Coppola, 85, sold part of his California winery estate to fund the movie, about the feud between two men struggling to rebuild a crumbling metropolis.
It does not yet have a major Hollywood distributor.
"I love that decision. Coppola is kind of brazen," said Gray, a former Variety editor who now serves as executive vice-president for the Golden Globes.
"As a filmmaker and as a showman, Coppola has always swung for the fences... he's defied career logic."
- 'Adieu' -
The presence of so many ageing American cinematic giants saying a potentially final "adieu" to Cannes is expected to be a deeply emotional and sentimental affair.
Lucas -- one of cinema's wealthiest and most famed directors of all time -- has received relatively few accolades in his native America.
But it was a screening of his dark sci-fi debut "THX 1138" at Cannes in 1971 that put him on the path to creating "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones".
With his return to the Croisette coming on his 80th birthday, Lucas "doesn't need money, he doesn't need anything," said Gray.
"But it is a kind of a recognition of him as an auteur."
And it will not just be the directors. Several stars who likewise broke through in the New Hollywood era will join them.
Coppola's "Megalopolis" features Oscar-winning stalwarts Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight, as well as Laurence Fishburne, who appeared as a young teen in "Apocalypse Now".
Schrader -- whose "Taxi Driver" won the Palme d'Or in 1976 -- reunites with Richard Gere, decades on from "American Gigolo".
Gere plays a Vietnam War draft evader haunted by his past in "Oh Canada".
Meryl Streep, another key figure of the era for her parts in "The Deer Hunter" and "Manhattan", is also receiving an honorary Palme d'Or at the festival.
It promises to be an important final send-off, said Doherty: "We need to give them the final salute."
The 77th Cannes Film Festival begins next Tuesday, and runs until May 25.
L.Dubois--BTB