CANNES, France — To chants of "De Niro" from a wildly enthusiastic French audience, Robert De Niro was celebrated on the Cannes International Film Festival stage on Monday night with a tribute to his legendary career.
When festival director Thierry Fremaux told De Niro from the stage that the 72-year-old actor was a part of history, De Niro just shrugged and said, "Yah."
It was not elegant, but entirely true as a film clip showing his great roles played on the festival screen, interrupted by applause from the crowd.
The attention-shy De Niro seemed eager to let the clips do the talking and get off the stage. But he gave the love right back to the audience.
"As I have said many times, 'Thank God for the French,' " said De Niro. "It’s a great honor to be honored here in Cannes."
The tribute was part of De Niro's new film Hands of Stone, which premiered at the festival Monday. De Niro walked the red carpet with his wife, Grace Hightower, and his Hands of Stones co-stars including Edgar Ramirez, who plays boxer Roberto Duran, and Usher, who plays Duran's rival Sugar Ray Leonard.
Ramirez had the opportunity to pay respects to De Niro, who stars as Duran's boxing coach Ray Arcel in Hands of Stone.
"I have the pleasure of having Robert De Niro standing in my corner not only in film, but most importantly in life," said Ramirez. "On behalf of generations of actors who admire your art, I salute you."
De Niro spent little time introducing his new film except to briefly discuss how it was rightfully shot in Panama, where Roberto Duran was born and is a celebrated legend.
"We hope you enjoy the film," De Niro added simply. "How's that?"
De Niro was the president of the Cannes Film Festival jury in 2011 and vowed to return again as president in the future. He made the most of his short trip to Cannes, spending portions of Monday relaxing on a yacht in the Cannes harbor.
