Harrison Ford Awarded Honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes

Hollywood star Harrison Ford returned Thursday to the Cannes Film Festival, picking up an honorary Palme d’Or before the world premiere of Disney/Lucasfilm’s "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny".

In a similar fashion to the tribute held for Tom Cruise last year, Ford was feted with a career highlights reel and received a 5-minute ovation from the crowd inside the Grand Theatre Lumière.

After an introduction by Cannes head Theirry Fremaux — that included shoutouts to Disney’s Bob Iger, Indy producers Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall, and the cast members Mads Mikkelsen, Phoebe Waller-Bridge Ford, and his wife Calista Flockhart and director James Mangold – reel, set to one of the themes from Star Wars, showed off footage from Ford's faves: "The Frisco Kid", "Working Girl", "Blade Runner", "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "American Graffiti", "K9: The Widowmaker", "Air Force One", "Mosquito Coast", "The Fugitive" and the cantina scene from "Star Wars", as well as the entire Indiana Jones franchise.

This is not the first Ford's first movie to be played at the prestigious event. Movies Ford has appeared in which have played in Cannes include: "The Conversation" (1974), "Apocalypse Now" (1979), and "Witness" (1985). He was the prestigious event in 2014 for a special event in support of "The Expendables 3".

Taking the stage, the acclaimed actor said, “I am pleased and honored, but I got a movie you gotta see. They say before you die, you see your life flash before your eyes, and I just saw my life flash before my eyes.” 

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny", which is showing out of competition, is one of the splashiest titles to splash down on the Croisette. It sees Ford reprise his role as the legendary titular archaeologist/adventurer Indiana Jones. 

This fifth installment in the franchise takes place in the years depicted between "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" (1989) and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" — which likewise world premiered in Cannes in 2008.

This time around, as Indy is preparing to retire, things change after a surprise visit from his estranged goddaughter Helena Shaw (Phoebe Waller-Bridge), who is seeking a rare artifact that her father entrusted to him years ago— the infamous Archimedes Dial, a device that purportedly holds the power to locate fissures in time.

An accomplished con artist, Helena steals the dial and swiftly departs the country to sell it to the highest bidder. Left with no choice but to go after her, Indy dusts off his fedora and leather jacket for one final ride. 

Meanwhile, his old nemesis, Jürgen Voller (Mads Mikkelsen), a former Nazi now working as a physicist in the U.S. space program, has his plans for the dial, a horrifying scheme that could change world history.

Boyd Holbrook, Thomas Kretschmann, Toby Jones, Antonio Banderas, and John Rhys-Davies also star. Ford has said this entry will be the “last time” he’ll play the character.

James Mangold directs from a screenplay by Jez Butterworth, John-Henry Butterworth, and Mangold. Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Simon Emanuel produce, with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas serving as exec producers, and John Williams returns as a composer, having scored each Indy adventure since 1981’s Raiders of the Lost Ark.

"Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" will be released in theaters worldwide on June 30