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On Tuesday, the 77th edition of the Cannes Film Festival will begin in the south of France. You can expect glamorous gowns and awfully prolonged standing ovations \u2014 at Cannes, such things are de rigueur<\/em> \u2014 but what distinguishes this year\u2019s lineup? Here are five things we\u2019ll be watching out for.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some 45 years after Francis Ford Coppola\u2019s \u201cApocalypse Now\u201d won the Palme d\u2019Or at Cannes, he will return to the Croisette, the festival promenade, with \u201cMegalopolis<\/a>,\u201d starring Adam Driver as a visionary architect determined to rebuild a city after it\u2019s beset by disaster. Coppola self-financed the longtime passion project to the tune of $120 million, a steep price tag that has so far deterred potential distributors. Puck\u2019s Matthew Belloni reported<\/a> that at a March screening meant to entice buyers, many came away confounded by Coppola\u2019s vision: \u201cThere are zero commercial prospects and good for him,\u201d said one source. But if it\u2019s true that the film is a big, wild swing, it\u2019s hard to imagine a friendlier place for its public debut than Cannes, where the filmmaker is revered.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The biggest movie to debut at Cannes this year will be \u201cFuriosa: A Mad Max Saga,\u201d the latest film in director George Miller\u2019s postapocalyptic action franchise. This one serves as a prequel to the Oscar-winning \u201cMad Max: Fury Road,\u201d which premiered at Cannes to great acclaim in 2015 and produced an unexpected moment at the film\u2019s news conference when star Tom Hardy apologized to Miller for his bad behavior during the shoot. Expect a big bash for the new movie and a major red-carpet moment from its fashionable star Anya Taylor-Joy<\/a>, who takes over the titular character originated by Charlize Theron.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n If any Americans traveling abroad are counting on Cannes for two weeks of respite from this contentious election year, the festival has a rude reminder in the form of Ali Abbasi\u2019s \u201cThe Apprentice<\/a>.\u201d This political origin story of sorts stars Sebastian Stan as a young Donald J. Trump, Maria Bakalova as his first wife, Ivana, and the \u201cSuccession\u201d star Jeremy Strong as Trump\u2019s mentor, the fixer Roy Cohn. Could this be the only film at Cannes this year eligible for both the Palme d\u2019Or and a clapback on Truth Social?<\/p>\n Cannes may be the world\u2019s most prestigious film festival, but it rarely goes off without a hitch. This year\u2019s festival is bracing for two potential disruptions. One is a threatened strike by the festival\u2019s workers, who have complained that their short-term jobs do not allow them to qualify for unemployment benefits. The other is a still-breaking story as the French film industry reckons with its own #MeToo movement, with more accusations rumored to come during the festival. Expect a comment from the French actress and director Judith Godr\u00e8che<\/a>, who will be at the festival with the short film \u201cMoi Aussi\u201d (\u201cMe Too\u201d) and recently made headlines after accusing the director Beno\u00eet Jacquot of sexually assaulting her when she was 14. She has also accused the director Jacques Doillon of sexually assaulting her twice. Both men have denied the allegations.<\/p>\n This year\u2019s lineup goes heavy on all-star auteurs, with new films from Yorgos Lanthimos (\u201cKinds of Kindness<\/a>\u201d), Andrea Arnold (\u201cBird\u201d), Sean Baker (\u201cAnora\u201d) and Paul Schrader (\u201cOh, Canada\u201d). But Cannes is even more fun when an unexpected movie pops, as \u201cAnatomy of a Fall<\/a>\u201d did last year when it earned rave reviews and the Palme d\u2019Or, setting up a path that would eventually lead to Oscar glory.<\/p>\n What will be the movie that no one is anticipating before the festival but everyone will be talking about afterward? I\u2019ll be on the ground trying to sniff it out.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nA new Coppola on the Croisette.<\/h2>\n
\u2018Furiosa\u2019 starts its engines.<\/h2>\n
A cinematic Trump card.<\/h2>\n
Real-world controversies.<\/h2>\n
The hunt for the next movie sensation.<\/h2>\n