Cannes Throws Travolta With Surprise Honor

John Travolta went to Cannes to debut his first film as a director and walked away with something he says tops an Oscar. The festival stunned the 70-year-old Grease and Pulp Fiction star on Friday with an honorary Palme d'Or, its lifetime-achievement-style prize, ahead of the world premiere of his film Propeller One-Way Night Coach. Fighting back tears and switching briefly into French, Variety reports, Travolta called the recognition "beyond the Oscar" and thanked Cannes chief Thierry Frémaux, saying he'd already cried when he first learned the Apple-backed movie had been accepted unusually early.

The autobiographical family film, adapted from Travolta's 1997 children's book and featuring his daughter Ella Bleu, is set during the midcentury aviation boom and follows a boy and his mother on a one-way flight to Hollywood. Cannes had already announced honorary Palmes for Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand this year but has made a tradition of springing at least one surprise honoree; last year, it was Spike Lee. Travolta's long relationship with the festival includes Pulp Fiction, which won the Palme d'Or in 1994. He's called Propeller One-Way Night Coach, which debuts on Apple TV on May 29, "the most personal thing I've ever done," per the Hollywood Reporter. People has a detailed account of the Travoltas' red carpet appearance here.