This September 4, 2012 publicity photo provided by DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox, shows actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, left, and director, Steven Spielberg, posing for a portrait in New York. Day-Lewis stars as Abraham Lincoln in the new Spielberg directed film, “Lincoln." Spielberg was nominated for an Academy Award for best director on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, for “Lincoln." Lewis was nominated for best actor. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/DreamWorks, Twentieth Century Fox, Kevin Lynch, File)
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This September 4, 2012 publicity photo provided by DreamWorks and Twentieth Century Fox, shows actor, Daniel Day-Lewis, left, and director, Steven Spielberg, posing for a portrait in New York. Day-Lewis stars as Abraham Lincoln in the new Spielberg directed film, “Lincoln." Spielberg was nominated for an Academy Award for best director on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, for “Lincoln." Lewis was nominated for best actor. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/DreamWorks, Twentieth Century Fox, Kevin Lynch, File)
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This publicity film image released by 20th Century Fox shows Suraj Sharma in a scene from "Life of Pi," directed by Ang Lee. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/20th Century Fox, Jake Netter, File)
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FILE - This undated publicity film image released by Warner Bros. Pictures shows Bryan Cranston, left, as Jack OíDonnell and Ben Affleck as Tony Mendez in "Argo," a rescue thriller about the 1979 Iranian hostage crisis. Best-picture prospects for Oscar Nominations on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, include, “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg; “Zero Dark Thirty,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow; “Les Miserables,” directed by Tom Hooper; “Argo,” directed by Ben Affleck; “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino; and “Life of Pi,” directed by Ang Lee. (AP Photo/Warner Bros., Claire Folger, File)
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FILE - This publicity film image released by Universal Pictures shows Hugh Jackman as Jean Valjean holding Isabelle Allen as Young Cosette in a scene from "Les Miserables." Best-picture prospects for Oscar Nominations on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, include, “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg; “Zero Dark Thirty,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow; “Les Miserables,” directed by Tom Hooper; “Argo,” directed by Ben Affleck; “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino; and “Life of Pi,” directed by Ang Lee. (AP Photo/Universal Pictures, Laurie Sparham, File)
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In this undated publicity photo released by Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jessica Chastain, center, plays a member of the elite team of spies and military operatives, stationed in a covert base overseas, with Christopher Stanley, left, and Alex Corbet Burcher, right, who secretly devote themselves to finding Osama Bin Laden in Columbia Pictures' new thriller, "Zero Dark Thirty." Best-picture prospects for Oscar Nominations on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, include, “Lincoln,” directed by Steven Spielberg; “Zero Dark Thirty,” directed by Kathryn Bigelow; “Les Miserables,” directed by Tom Hooper; “Argo,” directed by Ben Affleck; “Django Unchained,” directed by Quentin Tarantino; and “Life of Pi,” directed by Ang Lee. (AP Photo/Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc., Jonathan Olley)
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This image released by DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation shows Sally Field and Daniel Day-Lewis appear in a scene from "Lincoln." Fields was nominated for an Academy Award for best supporting actress and Lewis was nominated for best actor on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, for their roles in “Lincoln.“ The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/DreamWorks II Distribution Co., LLC and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, David James)
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FILE - This Oct. 19, 2012 file photo shows actor-director Ben Affleck posing for photographers during a photocall to present his movie "Argo" in Rome. The film was nominated for an Academy Award for best picture on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013. Alan Arkin was nominated for best supporting actor and Chris Terrio for best adapted screenplay, but Affleck was not nominated for either best actor or best director for his work in the film. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia, file)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012 file photo, director Kathryn Bigelow participates in a "Zero Dark Thirty" photo call in New York. The film was nominated for an Academy Award and Mark Boal was nominated for best original screenplay for the film but Bigelow was not nominated for best director. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP, File)
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FILE - This June 25, 2012 file photo shows Benh Zeitlin, director and co-writer of the movie "Beasts of the Southern Wild," arriving at the premiere of the movie at the Joy Theater in New Orleans. was nominated for an Academy Award for best director on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, for the film. The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, file)
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FILE - This Oct. 15, 2012 file photo shows Austrian director Michael Haneke at the pre-premier of the movie "Amour" in Paris. Haneke was nominated for an Academy Award for best director on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013, for “Amour.“ The 85th Academy Awards will air live on Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 on ABC. (AP Photo/Michel Euler, file)
Steven Spielberg to head Cannes jury this year
PARIS (AP) — France's Cannes Film Festival says it has finally snagged
Steven Spielberg to serve as president of the award jury.
Gilles Jacob, the festival's president, recounted how he had been trying to get the award-winning director to head the jury for years — but the American was always working. Finally, this year, Spielberg got in touch.
"When this year I was told 'E.T., phone home,' I understood and immediately replied: 'At last!'" Jacob said in a statement posted on the festival's website Thursday.
Spielberg, who was nominated but didn't win the directing Oscar for his biopic "Lincoln" this week, takes the reins from Italian Nanni Moretti. The 66th Cannes festival takes place in the glamorous French Mediterranean resort from May 15 to 26.
Spielberg's presence will likely give more of an American flavor this year to the Cannes festival, a mélange of intellectual international cinema and Hollywood glamour. Jury presidents in the festival's seven-decade history have included such figures as Tennessee Williams, Ingrid Bergman, Roman Polanski and Francis Ford Coppola.
Spielberg has had several films show at Cannes, and "E.T." had its world premiere there in 1982. His first film, "Sugarland Express," won best screenplay at Cannes in 1974.
"It is an honor and a privilege to preside over the jury of a festival that proves, again and again, that cinema is the language of the world," Spielberg was quoted as saying in a statement by the Cannes festival organizers. "The most prestigious of its kind, the festival has always established the motion picture as a cross cultural and generational medium."
At last year's Cannes festival, Michael Haneke won the top prize with his stark film about love and death, "Amour."
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