Jeremy Strong reflects on being a Cannes jury for 11 days

Jeremy Strong has recently shared his experience of being a member of the Cannes Film Festival competition jury.

Speaking at a press conference via Variety, the Succession star noted that serving jury at the Cannes was like the process of choosing a new pope as portrayed in the Oscar-nominated movie, Conclave.

“I feel immeasurably inspired by what I’ve seen here,” said the 46-year-old after jury awarded Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident with the Palme d’Or.

Jeremy mentioned that being a jury has been “so invigorating, and this sort of cumulative tally of the work I’ll carry with me”.

The Gentlemen actor reflected that performing jury duty “has been a really wonderful experience, a really connected experience with these people — it’s like ‘Conclave’ with champagne. It’s really great”.

It is pertinent to mention that Jeremy served under president Juliette Binoche along with Halle Berry, Payal Kapadia, Hong Sansoo, Alba Rohrwacher, Leïla Slimani, Dieudo Hamadi and Carlos Reygadas.

Explaining why the group decided to give top prize to It Was Just An Accident movie, The Apprentice actor claimed that the jury “wanted to recognise movies that we felt were transcendent intrinsically as pieces of work,” aligning with how Robert De Niro kicked off the festival during its opening ceremony by saying that “fascists should fear art”.

While speaking about It Was Just an Accident movie and the other movies awarded, Jeremy quoted the playwright Henrik Ibsen.

“Ibsen talked about, ‘Deep inside, there’s a poem in a poem. And when you hear that, when you grasp that, you will understand my song,'” he continued.

Jeremy added, “I feel that this movie and the other movies have these poems within the poem that allow us to grasp something ineffable that have changed me.”