Steven Spielberg Will Head The 2013 Cannes Film Festival Jury

No one can keep Steven Spielberg down. You know what he does when his classy, historical epic doesn't win the Academy Award for best picture? He gets up, dusts off his tux and prepares to preside over the jury for the most prestigious film festival in the world. No big deal.

Yes, Spielberg has been chosen as the president of the jury for the 66th Cannes Film Festival. There's no real use in speculating about how his presence will affect the outcome of the awards until the actual lineup is announced, though, if Lars Von Trier would put Nymphomaniac-editing on hold and speed-shoot his own historical epic with dinosaurs and aliens in time for competition, there would certainly be much rejoicing.

Spielberg has shown three of his past films at the festival: Sugarland Express, which won best screenplay in 1974, E.T., which closed the festival in 1982 and The Color Purple, which was shown out of competition in 1986. Festival president Giles Jacob said that he had tried to get Spielberg to take the jury position several times, but that the director was always busy shooting a film.  He went on to say, "... When this year I was told 'E.T., phone home,' I understood and immediately replied, 'At last!'" Cute.