John Travolta gets teary accepting surprise honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes: 'This is beyond the Oscar'
John Travolta gets teary accepting surprise honorary Palme d'Or at Cannes: 'This is beyond the Oscar'
Mekishana PierreFri, May 15, 2026 at 7:11 PM UTC
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John Travolta at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026
Credit: Olivier CHASSIGNOLE / AFP via GettyKey Points
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John Travolta was given the honorary Palme d'Or at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, its equivalent to a lifetime achievement prize.
"Surprise complétement!" an emotional Travolta said in French as he got teary-eyed accepting the award. "This is the last thing I expected."
Travolta attended the film festival to premiere his feature directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach.
Things got emotional at the Cannes Film Festival where John Travolta was given the honorary Palme d’Or on Friday, which is the Cannes equivalent of a lifetime achievement prize.
The actor, whose career spans over 50 years in front of the camera, was shocked when Cannes director Thierry Fremaux presented him with the surprise honor ahead of the screening of his directorial debut, Propeller One-Way Night Coach.
"Surprise complétement!" an emotional Travolta said in French as he got teary eyed, per Variety. "I can't believe this. This is the last thing I expected."
Turning to Fremaux, Travolta added, "You said this would be a special night, but I didn't know it would mean this. This is a humbling moment. This is beyond the Oscar."
"Thank you, Thierry, from the bottom of my heart," Travolta continued. "When I met with you in November, I had no expectation that my film would be accepted. And when Thierry said it was not only accepted but it was making history because it would be the first film ever accepted that early, I cried like a baby because I just couldn't believe it. Because in my opinion, you are the most discerning person in the movie industry. I was just happy to be here! I never expected this. Thank you so much."
John Travolta at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026
Credit: Olivier CHASSIGNOLE / AFP via Getty
Travolta, who has been nominated for the best actor Oscar twice, is presenting his love letter to mid-century air travel at the French film festival, which is based on the book he wrote as a Christmas gift for his family in 1997. The film follows a young boy (Clark Shotwell) and his single mother (Kelly Eviston-Quinnett), who has dreams of Hollywood stardom, as they embark on a cross-country flight from Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles in 1962. Along the way, they meet a colorful cast of characters, including a charming young flight attendant, played by Travolta’s daughter, Ella Bleu.
"When John came to us in the fall, he was very humble and shy with the idea of showing the film as an official selec[tion]," Frémaux told the screening crowd at the Debussy Theater, revealing that Propeller was the first film chosen for the 79th edition of the French festival and calling Travolta "one of the greatest artists of the 20th and 21st century."
When speaking with Entertainment Weekly about the project in an interview published May 5, Travolta shared that "several people" wanted to direct and produce the film before he decided to take on the role himself.
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"But part of me said, 'Would they really capture what I experienced as a child?'" the Grease star told EW. "'Would they really capture and take the audience through this journey that is so subjective, so personal? Would it be authentic? I'm sure it would be good, but would it be exactly how I saw it?'"
Deciding he’d rather wait than find out, Travolta bided his time — three decades of waiting, to be specific — hoping one day his schedule might accommodate the undertaking. "But that day kept on getting postponed," he said. "At first, it was in the late '90s, I was gonna do it, and then I kept getting booked in movie after movie, and I wasn't finding any room for it."
John Travolta attends the premiere of 'Karma' at the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026
Credit: Doug Peters/PA Images via Getty
Plus, he thought, "If someone else finances it, then I'll be stuck with their vision. So I decided, 'Save your money and you'll finance it, you'll direct it, you'll produce it.'"
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Though the story is semi-autobiographical (Travolta has said the book is about 50-50 real-life and imagination), Propeller is loosely based on the actor's memories of his first plane ride, an experience that sparked a lifelong obsession with aviation.
"It's really a movie about a child's viewpoint of hopefulness," the actor explained. "When you're young, that's what you see in yourself or feel in yourself, and that's what you see in other people as well. So, it's that, along with the ambiance of the mid-century, which is permanently in my mind; I can't shed it. The music, the visuals are just embedded in my DNA, it's what gave me that hope, the architecture of the time, the music of the time, the way people dressed; it was this new, fresh, hopeful thing that was happening."
Propeller One-Way Night Coach lands on Apple TV on May 29.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
