Cannes 2023: Sean Penn and Tye Sheridan present their new film 'Black Flies'

FRANCE 24 English

American actor Tye Sheridan talks to Eve Jackson about his new film "Black Flies", what it was like acting alongside Sean Penn and the challenges of playing a New York paramedic. Tune in to see behind the scenes of a Cannes celebrity interview. Also on the programme, a reminder of the filmmaking heavyweights in competition. We meet "How to Get Away With Murder" actress Aja Naomi King, and have a look ahead to this weekend's films, including Martin Scorsese's "Killers of the Flower Moon" with Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone.  Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 (upbeat music)

00:02 - Hello from the Cannes Film Festival.

00:13 (upbeat music)

00:17 (upbeat music)

00:20 Now you might have the impression

00:31 that we're hanging out with the stars in Cannes,

00:33 but often we get six minute slots in what we call junkets.

00:37 (upbeat music)

00:41 Earlier I went to meet the actor Ty Sheridan,

00:45 who plays the main role in "Black Flies",

00:48 a film about the tough job of paramedics

00:50 in New York with Sean Penn.

00:52 It's directed by French filmmaker, Jean-Stephane Sauveur.

00:56 (upbeat music)

00:58 (speaking in foreign language)

01:04 A junket is a bit like a military operation.

01:06 Each journalist has a very precise amount of time,

01:09 and I've got eight minutes.

01:11 - Hi, I'm Eve, nice to meet you.

01:14 - Hi, how's it going?

01:15 - Yeah, good, how are you doing?

01:16 - Doing good.

01:17 - So you were first here in Cannes more than a decade ago.

01:21 Were you 16?

01:23 - Yeah, 15 I think.

01:24 - 15, what's it like being back?

01:26 - I'm super excited.

01:28 I mean, this is, we couldn't have picked a better place.

01:31 This is where we always wanted to end up

01:33 with this film to premiere.

01:34 And the fact that it's in competition is even more exciting

01:39 and I'm proud, very proud of Jean-Stephane.

01:42 I think he's an exceptional filmmaker.

01:45 Feel honored.

01:46 - Describe "Black Flies."

01:48 - Yeah, so "Black Flies" is about paramedics

01:50 in New York City, and it follows a young medic

01:52 as he's on his first year on the job,

01:55 and he's partnered with a veteran medic

01:57 who's played by Sean Penn.

01:59 And really it's about their relationship

02:01 and going through the trenches

02:03 of the chaos of New York City.

02:06 - You sleep okay?

02:10 - Yeah, I guess.

02:12 It's a little tricky getting used to the nights.

02:16 - It's based on a book by Shannon Burke.

02:24 And then when I read the books,

02:25 Ty came right away, he's really talented.

02:28 And I wanted also someone quite young and innocent

02:31 because that's his journey through the violence.

02:33 And surely he has experience of life, you know?

02:36 He's not just a great actor and great director.

02:39 He also has his NGO core,

02:42 so he went to Haiti and Iraq

02:45 and wherever, like in Ukraine right now.

02:48 - It is a tough watch.

02:50 And at times the world does seem pretty hopeless.

02:53 Why were you attracted to the role?

02:56 - I knew we would see New York in a way

02:57 that maybe we hadn't seen much in cinema.

03:00 So that was exciting.

03:01 It was also, I think it's a bit of a commentary

03:03 on these medics and the weight that they carry.

03:09 They're surrounded by people that are sick and dying.

03:11 A lot of them have to work double shifts,

03:13 sometimes triple just to make ends meet.

03:15 I think maybe we don't have as much respect

03:17 as we should for these first responders,

03:19 especially in a world post-COVID

03:23 where first responders have been super important.

03:28 - What do you think the film is saying

03:29 about the American health system?

03:31 - The failure probably.

03:32 I mean, we're looking in France to have the health system.

03:35 In the US it's really expensive.

03:37 That's why there's so many sirens in New York City

03:40 because people wait the last moment to go to the hospital

03:43 because they know if they go to the hospital,

03:44 the bill will be minimum 5,000 maybe.

03:48 I think it's important.

03:49 I don't understand why this country still can't deal with it.

03:54 I mean, Obama did some stuff and stuff,

03:55 but people are still suffering.

03:57 - Was that the first time you saw somebody go?

04:02 - No.

04:03 - Go on then, tell me what's he like, Sean Penn?

04:06 What's it like to work with him?

04:07 - Oh, he's great.

04:08 He's somebody I grew up watching and respect

04:12 and look up to.

04:12 And it was super fun.

04:14 Well, I don't know if fun is the word.

04:16 Very, very intense, very intense movie,

04:18 but I think both of us were very passionate

04:20 about the training and really trying to capture

04:23 the reality of their jobs and make sure

04:26 that they're getting the job they want.

04:28 And I think it's really important

04:29 to capture the reality of their jobs

04:31 and make sure all the medical stuff felt real

04:34 and authentic in the film.

04:36 And so I think we really bonded through that.

04:38 - Do you know how to save a life then?

04:40 Like if I collapse now on the floor,

04:42 you can do basic first aid?

04:45 - I mean, I can give you CPR.

04:46 Or, you know, if you need Narcan, if you had an OD.

04:51 - Can you put that thing down my throat?

04:53 - What's that?

04:54 - The thing down my throat that you had to do.

04:54 - Oh my God.

04:56 That, I feel like as a medic,

04:59 I mean, that is a very intrusive thing.

05:03 - And as a person, are you quite squeamish normally

05:05 or can you cope with lots of blood?

05:08 - I think it depends, you know,

05:09 if it's someone I love and there's a lot of blood,

05:12 I think it freaks me out a little bit.

05:14 - What do you think the overall message of the film is?

05:17 - I think that, you know,

05:19 it's really about how we deal with death, you know,

05:21 how we deal with our own suffering,

05:23 how we deal with the suffering of others,

05:24 whose responsibility it is.

05:26 And how we treat those people who carry that responsibility.

05:31 - Okay.

05:31 Tash Arden, thank you.

05:33 - Thank you.

05:33 - Good interview, good answers, very interesting.

05:39 - Now, one of the films being presented today

05:41 is "About Dry Grasses"

05:43 from Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan.

05:46 The drama is set in an isolated village in Anatolia

05:49 and it continues his look at life in his home country.

05:53 He's one of five directors in the competition

05:55 who've already won the big prize, the Palme d'Or.

05:58 Here's Emerald Maxwell.

05:59 - It's a very select club

06:07 that includes the likes of Francis Ford Coppola

06:09 and the Dardenne brothers.

06:11 Ken Loach is one of just nine filmmakers

06:13 who have won the Palme d'Or twice

06:15 in the film festival's 76-year history.

06:18 The veteran British director's kitchen sink realism

06:21 is a favorite at Cannes.

06:23 And Ken Loach is now in the running

06:24 to be the first filmmaker ever to pick up a third Palme d'Or

06:28 for what is rumored to be his last film

06:31 about a group of refugees

06:32 in a run-down former mining town in England.

06:35 - All right, lads?

06:36 - How come they're getting all that stuff?

06:38 - It's all been donated by local people.

06:40 It's all secondhand stuff, lads.

06:42 There's nothing new.

06:43 - I know, but they've been getting everything lately.

06:45 - This year's jury head, Ruben Ostlund,

06:48 joined the exclusive two-time Palme d'Or club last year

06:51 for his satire "Triangle of Sadness."

06:54 Just five years after scooping the top honor,

06:57 a dark comedy, "The Square."

06:58 - This is a motorized vessel.

07:00 - Yeah.

07:01 - It's the World Cup of Soccer trophy for filmmakers,

07:06 because this is where the world of cinema

07:09 is watching your films,

07:10 they're discussing your films,

07:11 they're criticizing your films.

07:12 - It carries a lot of weight, literally,

07:14 because the Palme d'Or is very heavy,

07:17 but also symbolically.

07:18 It means I can no longer make average or mediocre films.

07:22 - After coming out top in 2018 for "Shoplifters,"

07:25 a tender portrait of a poor family,

07:27 Hirokazu Koreeda is in the running this year

07:30 with his film "Monster."

07:32 Vin Vendors returns with "Perfect Days."

07:34 He won the top prize in 1984

07:36 for his classic road movie, "Paris, Texas."

07:39 Nani Moretti and Nuri Bilge Jalan

07:42 will also be vying for their second Palmes.

07:45 But the Palme d'Or winning films

07:46 are as lauded as they are different.

07:49 - Of course, they're picked by a jury,

07:51 and the jury tends to have very personal tastes

07:54 and strong opinions.

07:55 Some directors win a couple of Palme d'Ors

07:58 very early on in their careers,

08:00 like Ruben Ostlund,

08:01 or somebody like Ken Loach,

08:03 who also has two Palme d'Ors.

08:04 He won fairly late on.

08:07 I'd say the only thing that really connects these films

08:10 is the platform that they tend to give the directors

08:13 and the film itself.

08:15 - The shimmering Palme d'Or

08:16 has indeed advanced many a career,

08:18 but it doesn't guarantee a film

08:20 will make it all the way through awards season.

08:22 Since "Marty" in 1955,

08:25 only "Parasite" has scooped the top prizes at Cannes

08:28 and the Academy Awards.

08:30 Emerald Maxwell reporting there.

08:32 Now it's real time.

08:34 Today, an actress who's shot into the spotlight

08:42 with the series "How to Get Away with Murder,"

08:45 Ajane Omi King.

08:47 She's in Cannes for a large beauty brand,

08:49 and she's using her platform

08:51 to talk about female empowerment and diversity

08:54 in the film and beauty industries.

08:56 Juliette Montili went to meet her.

08:58 - Hello, my name is Ajane Omi King,

09:05 and I am a L'Oréal Paris spokesperson

09:08 here to walk the red carpet at Cannes.

09:10 I will never forget my first time walking the red carpet,

09:19 just the energy and the lights and the excitement,

09:24 and there is just something about it that is,

09:28 well, truly unforgettable.

09:33 I am a Black woman living in America,

09:41 and there is a lot happening in America

09:44 that does feel like an attack on Black women.

09:47 Just everything from gender parity to sexual harassment,

09:51 there's honestly too much to count,

09:54 and I am passionate about all of it

09:55 because it impacts how I get to live my life.

09:59 It impacts how my child will get to live his life.

10:02 Well, for instance, when I was little,

10:09 I never saw a Black doctor or a Black dentist

10:12 until I saw one on TV.

10:14 So it's like, it's a really bizarre thing

10:18 for other people growing up,

10:19 seeing people that look like themselves in these positions

10:22 and having these experiences normalizes it.

10:25 But if you don't see it,

10:27 then it's harder to allow yourself to believe

10:29 that that's possible for you.

10:31 So that's why that kind of inclusivity and representation

10:34 is really important, because then it allows you,

10:38 it gives you permission to believe

10:39 that you can attain that for yourself.

10:41 (upbeat music)

10:43 So many women.

10:46 I have been very lucky.

10:49 I mean, most importantly,

10:52 I have to start with my mother, of course.

10:54 Just the way she raised me and my sisters.

10:57 Like, she always empowered us

10:59 to go after the things we were interested in

11:02 and to be curious about the world around us.

11:04 And then for me growing up,

11:06 watching women like Angela Bassett

11:08 and of course, Viola Davis,

11:10 you know, was always just really,

11:14 really fundamentally important

11:15 for me to become who I am today.

11:18 (upbeat music)

11:20 - That's it from me.

11:24 So many stars expected in Cannes this weekend.

11:28 Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore for May to December

11:31 and Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro

11:34 for Martin Scorsese's film, "Killers of the Flower Moon."

11:38 We'll leave you with that.

11:38 Thanks for watching.

11:40 See you next time.

11:40 (upbeat music)

11:44 (dramatic music)

12:12 - Can you find the wolves in this picture?

12:16 Fire!

12:18 (crowd cheering)

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