Cannes Film Festival sets lineup with Ari Aster, Wes Anderson and, yes, Spike Lee

PARIS (AP) — New films from Wes Anderson, Ari Aster, and Richard Linklater will compete for the Palme d’Or at the 78th Cannes Film Festival, organizers announced Thursday.

Coming off a 2024 edition that produced the Academy Award best-picture winner “Anora,” as well as a number of Oscar contenders in “Emilia Pérez,” “The Substance" and “The Apprentice," the French film festival responded with a 2025 lineup full of big-name auteurs.

Thierry Frémaux, Cannes’ artistic director, announced the selections in a news conference in Paris with festival president Iris Knobloch.

Asked if he was under pressure after producing so many Oscars contenders last year, Frémaux said the festival organizers feel like an athlete putting his title back on the line.

“What happened last year was great," he said. “And what happened the year before was great. The last seven, eight years, Cannes and the films of Cannes were great.”

Entries include Aster’s “Eddington,” a pandemic-set Western starring Joaquin Phoenix, Pedro Pascal and Emma Stone; Anderson’s “The Phoenician Scheme," starring Benicio Del Toro as a European profiteer and Linklater's appropriately French-language “Nouvelle Vague,” about Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave.

Julia Ducournau, whose “Titane” won the Palme d’Or in 2021, making Ducournau only the second female filmmaker to ever receive Cannes’ top honor, will return to the festival with the 1980s New York-set “Alpha,” about an 11-year-old with a parent who has AIDS.

Several high-profile films that some had hoped would show up in Cannes weren't announced Tuesday in Paris, including Terrence Malick’s long-awaited Jesus drama “The Way of the Wind,” Spike Lee’s Akira Kurosawa remake “Highest 2 Lowest,” and Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another.” New films by Jim Jarmusch and Kristen Stewart had also been expected in the Cannes lineup.

Asked about their absence, Fremaux declined to comment, saying he wanted to instead focus on the pictures which made the cut. He, however, said more films could be later added to the selection.

An hour after the press conference in Paris, however, Lee said on Instagram that “Highest 2 Lowest” is, indeed, going to Cannes, and screening out of competition. Representatives for the festival later confirmed that Lee's post was accurate, noting that the film wasn't announced in the press conference because Cannes was awaiting confirmation that the movie's star, Denzel Washington, would be in attendance. With that confirmed, “Highest 2 Lowest” will premiere on May 19.

Fremaux altogether announced 19 films vying for the Palme d’Or, six of which are directed by women.

Two films starring Josh O’Connor made it into the competition lineup: Oliver Hermanus’ “The History of Sound,” co-starring Paul Mescal, and Kelly Reichardt’s “The Mastermind,” an art heist film set during the Vietnam War.

Other previously Cannes regulars coming back include two-time Palme winners Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne. The Belgian filmmaking brothers’ latest is titled “Young Mothers.” Joachim Trier, whose “The Worst Person in the World” was a highlight of the 2021 Cannes, is back in competition with “Sentimental Value,” which likewise stars Renate Reinsve.

Iranian filmmaker Jafar Panahi, who was imprisoned during the release of his last, secretly made film, 2022's “No Bears," and not released until he went on a hunger strike, will unveil his latest film, “It Was Just an Accident.”

Playing in the festival’s Un Certain Regard sidebar is Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, “Eleanor the Great,” starring June Squibb. Harris Dickinson, the “Babygirl” star, will also premiere his directorial debut, “Urchin,” in the same section.

Bono will also be coming to the Croisette for the premiere of “Bono: Stories of Surrender,” Andrew Dominik's film of the singer's one-man stage show. That will play in Cannes' special screening section.

Cannes earlier announced that “Mission Impossible: The Final Reckoning” will launch at the festival, which three years ago bestowed an honorary Palme d’Or on Tom Cruise. This year, Robert De Niro is set to receive one during the festival’s opening ceremony.

Following in the footsteps of Greta Gerwig, Juliette Binoche will head the jury that decides this year’s Palme d’Or. Knobloch said it's the first time in 60 years that two women succeed each other in this role.

The festival runs May 13-24. The opening night film, playing out of competition, will be “Leave One Day,” the first movie by French director Amélie Bonnin.

Coyle reported from New York.

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch, left, and Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux pose after a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch, left, and Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux pose after a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch attends a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux attends a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux attends a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch attends a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch, right, and Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux attend a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Cannes film festival president Iris Knobloch, right, and Cannes film festival delegate general Thierry Fremaux attend a press conference to announce the International Cannes film festival line up for the upcoming 78th edition of the Cannes Film Festival, Thursday, April 10, 2025 in Paris. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — Richard “Dick” Codey, a former acting governor of New Jersey and the longest serving legislator in the state's history, died Sunday. He was 79.

Codey’s wife, Mary Jo Codey, confirmed her husband’s death to The Associated Press.

“Gov. Richard J. Codey passed away peacefully this morning at home, surrounded by family, after a brief illness,” Codey's family wrote in a Facebook post on Codey's official page.

"Our family has lost a beloved husband, father and grandfather -- and New Jersey lost a remarkable public servant who touched the lives of all who knew him," the family said.

Known for his feisty, regular-guy persona, Codey was a staunch advocate of mental health awareness and care issues. The Democrat also championed legislation to ban smoking from indoor areas and sought more money for stem cell research.

Codey, the son of a northern New Jersey funeral home owner, entered the state Assembly in 1974 and served there until he was elected to the state Senate in 1982. He served as Senate president from 2002 to 2010.

Codey first served as acting governor for a brief time in 2002, after Christine Todd Whitman’s resignation to join President George W. Bush’s administration. He held the post again for 14 months after Gov. Jim McGreevey resigned in 2004.

At that time, New Jersey law mandated that the Senate president assume the governor’s role if a vacancy occurred, and that person would serve until the next election.

Codey routinely drew strong praise from residents in polls, and he gave serious consideration to seeking the Democratic nomination for governor in 2005. But he ultimately chose not to run when party leaders opted to back wealthy Wall Street executive Jon Corzine, who went on to win the office.

Codey would again become acting governor after Corzine was incapacitated in April 2007 due to serious injuries he suffered in a car accident. He held the post for nearly a month before Corzine resumed his duties.

After leaving the governor’s office, Codey returned to the Senate and also published a memoir that detailed his decades of public service, along with stories about his personal and family life.

“He lived his life with humility, compassion and a deep sense of responsibility to others,” his family wrote. “He made friends as easily with Presidents as he did with strangers in all-night diners.”

Codey and his wife often spoke candidly about her past struggles with postpartum depression, and that led to controversy in early 2005, when a talk radio host jokingly criticized Mary Jo and her mental health on the air.

Codey, who was at the radio station for something else, confronted the host and said he told him that he wished he could “take him outside.” But the host claimed Codey actually threatened to “take him out,” which Codey denied.

His wife told The Associated Press that Codey was willing to support her speaking out about postpartum depression, even if it cost him elected office.

“He was a really, really good guy,” Mary Jo Codey said. “He said, ‘If you want to do it, I don’t care if I get elected again.’”

Jack Brook contributed reporting from New Orleans.

FILE - New Jersey State Sen. and former Democratic Gov. Richard Codey is seen before New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy delivers his State of the State address to a joint session of the Legislature at the statehouse, in Trenton, N.J., Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke, File)