The nostalgic John Williams-composed score of the “Indiana Jones” movies played as Harrison Ford walked up to the stage at the Grand Theatre Lumière in Cannes to accept his honorary Palme d’Or on Thursday.
Raucous applause resounded through the theater as Ford was handed his statuette.
“I’m very touched,” the Hollywood icon said as he began his speech in the packed theater. “They say when you’re about to die, you see your life flash before your eyes. And I just saw my life flash before my eyes – a great part of my life.”
The “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” actor appeared to get emotional when he thanked his “lovely” wife, actress Calista Flockhart.
Ford said that Flockhart, who was present in the audience while he accepted the honor, “has supported my passion and my dreams, and I’m grateful.”
Speaking to the audience, he said “you’ve given my life purpose and meaning and I’m grateful for that,” before thanking his “Dial of Destiny” castmates Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Mads Mikkelsen and director James Mangold.
“I’m deeply moved by this honor, and humbled – but I’ve got a movie you’ve got to see. It’s right behind me,” he said, pointing to the movie screen draped in red velvet curtains.
Ford received the honorary Palme d’Or (which is akin to a lifetime achievement award) at the Cannes Film Festival before the hotly anticipated first screening of “Dial of Destiny.”
It’s the 80-year-old’s fifth and final “Indiana Jones” movie, a franchise in which he’s starred as the titular character since 1981’s “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The new film is the character’s first foray on the big screen since 2008’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.”
“Dial of Destiny” was shown out of competition at the French Riviera’s swanky festival and has so far enjoyed a mostly positive reception immediately after its showing on Thursday.
“Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” will hit theaters in the US on June 30.
