Cannes 2024: Meryl Streep On Honorary Palme d'Or - "Grateful You're Not Sick Of My Face"

Meryl Streep received the honorary Palme d'Or on May 14

Meryl Streep was guest of honour at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday, unfolding this year against the background of a director's daring escape from Iran and mounting #MeToo pressure on the French industry. Meryl Streep is among a host of Hollywood A-listers flocking to the Cote d'Azur for the festival that runs to May 25, including legendary directors George Lucas and Francis Ford Coppola. "I'm just so grateful that you haven't gotten sick of my face," Meryl Streep, 74, joked to the audience as she received her honorary Palme d'Or from French actor Juliette Binoche.

Coppola's decades-in-the-making epic Megalopolis, an Ancient Rome-inspired saga set in a corrupt modern-day city, is the most anticipated of 22 entries for the top prize Palme d'Or, facing a jury led by Barbie director Greta Gerwig.

"This is holy to me. Films are sacred and I cannot believe that I'm getting the opportunity to spend the next 10 days in this house of worship," an emotional Greta Gerwig told the audience.