Harrison Ford was seen holding back tears while receiving a standing ovation for the premiere of Indiana Jones 5 at the Cannes Film Festival.
The 80-year-old actor has reprised his role as the daredevil archaeologist Indiana Jones, a character he has been playing since 1981.
Set for release at the end of June, the latest installment in the beloved franchise – named Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny – will see the explorer race to retrieve a special dial that can change the course of history, and finds himself battling it out with a former Nazi who works for NASA. Ford will be joined by Phoebe Waller-Bridge, who plays his goddaughter Helena Shaw.
It’s been 15 years since the last movie was released, which starred Ford alongside Shia LaBeouf and Cate Blanchett.
On Thursday night (May 18), the audience at the Cannes Film Festival was treated to a screening of the flick – which could perhaps be the final chapter of one of the most celebrated franchises in movie history.
Variety detailed that Disney flew out their top executives – including CEO Bob Iger – to the premiere in the South of France, where it received a five-minute standing ovation.
Earlier in the night, Ford was called to the stage by Cannes Film Festival director Thierry Frémaux, who was there to award Ford a Palme d’Or while a reel of his greatest roles – from Star Wars to The Fugitive – played onscreen for the audience to see.
The actor appeared emotional as he received a standing ovation, before telling the crowd: “I’m very moved by this. 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, but not all of my life. My life has been enabled by my lovely wife, who has supported my passion and my dreams, and I’m grateful.”
“I love you, too,” Ford then continued to the audience. “But I’ve got a movie you ought to see. It’s right behind me. So let me get out of the way, and thank you again for this great honor.”
Ford recently said that he wanted the latest Indiana Jones film to document the end of Jones’ career as a teacher, telling French outlet Euro: “I believed in the character from the first film. We developed the character many times over the five films. And for this last part, I wanted this film to be able to tell the story of the end of his career as a teacher.
“We have been following Indiana Jones for 40 years and this film is the last. You have to consider the age of the character and how difficult it is for him to behave like before given the weight of the years.”
