Francis Ford Coppola
I am truly delighted to be here to honor the imagination, achievement and tenacity of my friend here. George Lucas knew me when he was studying at the University of Southern California, a film school that rivaled mine at the University of California, Los Angeles. He came to meet me on the set of my first studio film with a crew much older than me and whose members were all in suits and ties. I asked this 19 year old boy, dressed informally in a T-shirt, what he was looking at? He replied: not much. I was delighted to find someone of my generation and offered to come back every day on the condition that he make a brilliant suggestion, which he did successfully. This is how we started our friendship. I followed his entire career filled with brilliant ideas, like the first film with the songs of his era, the first film which ends with a brief description of what became of each character and again the first film whose title appears in the middle, for so many brilliant ideas that have marked the history of cinema, screenplay, commercial history. The story continues in France, the country where cinema was born thanks to Brother Lumière. I also remember that difficult day when he felt rejected. He had met Flash Gordon’s beneficiary. He was told that he was not important to be entrusted with this famous character. He looked at me and said, «All right, I’ll produce my own movie and call it ‘Battle of the Stars’ or ‘Star Wars.’ That’s what he did, risking everything he had I congratulate you dear George, we are proud of you and the whole world is here to pay tribute to you.
George Lucas
I m very honored to receive this award from Francis, I don’t realize I’m here, I didn’t expect it. Like a big brother, he has always supported me and I express my gratitude to him for everything he has always done for me.
I would like to thank the Cannes festival, thank my co-writer, my sound engineer, our great friends who came to Cannes to accompany me. Besides, we were in Cannes 52 years ago to present my first films.
That day it was raining very hard. We were sneaking into the room, because we didn’t have invitations and it was a bit of a loop. I came today to express my gratitude to you. I grew up in California among the vineyards and I made films in San Francisco with my friend Francis. We had parallel careers. As a director, I’ve never made a film in Hollywood, so it’s a great honor to be here. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
