Dear Gossips,
Earlier this month, when the Cannes Film Festival announced their lineup, it was surprising that Lynne Ramsay’s Die, My Love, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, was not on the list. As I mentioned in my post about it a couple of weeks ago most industry insiders had been predicting it, since all of her previous films have screened there and Die, My Love has been in post-production for months.
Still, at the time, there was the sense that the festival would leave room for it and, indeed, it was confirmed yesterday that Lynne’s film is ready and will be screened in competition which means that a total of seven female directors (out of a total of 21 films) will be up for the Palme d’Or this year. One third is not half, obviously, but this does tie the Cannes record and it’s definitely progress for a festival that has been criticised over the years for not supporting female directors.
The six other female directors at Cannes 2025 are Julia Ducournau (Alpha), Chie Hayakawa (Renoir), Hafsia Herzi (La Petite Dernière), Kelly Reichardt (The Mastermind), Mascha Schilinski (Sound of Falling), and Carla Simón (Romería), and, Ramsay will be the seventh woman director whose film will play in competition this year — a record number for the Cannes Film Festival.
Also added yesterday – Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology of Water, her feature directorial debut. This too was expected with the initial announcement and even though that didn’t happen, there was always hope that it would make the second cut, and now here we are. KStew, Scarlett Johansson, and Harris Dickinson are all actors heading to the Croisette as first-time filmmakers.
Plus, TwiHards get a new conspiracy theory to chew on – since Robsten is married IRL, of course they’re going to Cannes together, in secret of course.
Attached - Kristen Stewart picking up food outside her home in LA.
Yours in gossip,
Lainey
