🎧 Palme Today, Oscar Tomorrow?I break down post-Cannes Film Fest buzz with Chris Feil. Plus, 'Severance' star Britt Lower & creator Dan Erickson take me inside the dystopian drama
Subscribe on Apple PodcastsHappening an ocean away, based around films almost no one has seen, the Cannes Film Festival can sometimes feel like a distant spectacle, something you really have to be on the ground to understand. But then sometimes there’s a moment like this — a victory so pure and visible that absolutely anyone can understand it.
That’s Jafar Panahi, the director of the Palme d’Or winner It Was Just an Accident, celebrating a victory that was even harder-won for him than for most filmmakers. A vocal critic of the Iranian government, Panahi has been arrested and imprisoned because of his work but continued to make films anyway; his Cannes victory has already stirred up a new round of controversy. Giving the top prize to Panahi and two additional awards to The Secret Agent, set during the Brazilian military dictatorship in the 1970s, the Cannes jury was clearly lending its support to stories of resistance against repressive regimes — as Ankler contributor Claire Atkinson wrote from her perch at the fest in France. Now, if past years are any indication, the Oscars are about to be invited to do the same. On this week’s episode of the Prestige Junkie podcast, I caught up with my friend and the co-host of This Had Oscar Buzz Chris Feil about all the news from Cannes. In addition to It Was Just an Accident and The Secret Agent, major festival award winners include Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, starring Elle Fanning, Stellan Skarsgård and Renate Reinsve, and the father-son road movie Siråt. Would you believe that all of those titles are being distributed in the United States by a single studio, Neon? Related:
Chris and I talk about Neon’s ongoing winning streak, and whether any of these titles might be able to repeat the feat of Anora, which became just the third film in history to win both the Palme and the best picture Oscar. Even if that doesn’t happen for It Was Just an Accident or Sentimental Value, there’s plenty of other awards buzz to consider, from acclaimed performances by Jennifer Lawrence and June Squibb to the apparently unforgettable image of Alexander Skarsgård (son of Stellan) decked out in leather in the non-competition title Pillion.
The episode also includes my conversation with Britt Lower and Dan Erickson, the star and creator, respectively, of Apple’s smash hit Severance. The two deepened their collaboration for the show’s second season, particularly since Lower was faced with the challenge of playing not just the heroic, sympathetic Helly, but also Helly’s more sinister “outie,” Helena. (If you don’t watch Severance, sorry, explaining it any further would take way too long.) Severance has always had a committed fanbase, but the many twists of season two sent a lot of them into overdrive — and Lower was right there with them, reposting fan art on her Instagram and embracing the fan feedback. “I’ve had multiple people tell me that they're having conversations intergenerationally with their family for the first time because they’re all watching the show together,” Lower tells me. “I don’t have the words to describe how great that feels, for parents and their teenage kids to be talking about the different analogies you can draw out of this show.” For Erickson, the creator who has to keep the many future twists of Severance in his mind, it’s a little tougher to dig into the fan theories, not that he’s any less grateful that they exist. “I get a little anxious about it because I feel like once I start, it's gonna be hard to stop. And puts you in danger of getting in your head too much, and losing track of the thread that you’ve been on this whole time.” Hear more from Lower and Erickson, about their Severance bond and how they’re preparing to return for the third season, on the latest episode of the Prestige Junkie podcast.
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🎧 Palme Today, Oscar Tomorrow?
May 27, 2025
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