Kidman, Waltz, Lee join Spielberg on Cannes jury

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CANNES, France, April 24 (UPI) -- This year's Cannes International Film Festival jury features Academy Award winners Nicole Kidman, Christoph Waltz and Ang Lee, the organization said Wednesday.

The Hollywood-heavy jury will be led by U.S. director-screenwriter Steven Spielberg, who will be the 2013 festival's jury president, the Festival de Cannes said.

"We have only one criteria and that is already done for the president -- the legitimacy," festival Artistic Director Thierry Fremaux told The Hollywood Reporter shortly after the jury names were announced.

"So for the jury, Steven Spielberg will be the center and we are finishing it with great people," Fremaux said.

"We have a lot of filmmakers coming from all over the world. They need to be sure that those who make the decisions about the awards have their own legitimacy and the respect to do that," he said.

The French Riviera festival, set for May 15-26, previews new films of all genres, including documentaries, from around the world.

Lee who beat Spielberg this year with his second Academy Award directing win for "Life of Pi," will join the Spielberg, who directed and produced "Lincoln," on the jury.

"Lincoln" won Oscars for Best Production Design and Best Actor for Daniel Day-Lewis.

The directors are joined on the jury by Austrian-German actor Waltz, who has won two Academy Awards, and Australian actress Kidman, who has won one.

New Zealand film director Jane Campion heads the jury for the short-film sections and a Cannes foundation called La Cinefondation that supports the next generation of international filmmakers.

French actress Audrey Tautou, who starred with Tom Hanks in "The Da Vinci Code," will host of the opening and closing ceremonies.

The festival's first film screening will be "The Great Gatsby," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher and Jason Clarke. The film, based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 novel of the same name, is directed by Baz Luhrmann.

The festival will close with the French crime film "Zulu," directed by Jerome Salle, who directed the 2010 romance thriller "The Tourist," starring Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp.