John Travolta cries after surprise award at Cannes Film Festival

Anthony Robledo, USA TODAYFri, May 15, 2026 at 11:46 PM UTC

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John Travolta receives a Palm d'Or award prior to the screening of the film "Propeller One-Way Night Coach" at the 79th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on May 15, 2026 in Cannes, southern France.

John Travolta was emotionally overwhelmed when a surprise award brought him to tears.

At the 79th Cannes Film Festival on May 15, the "Grease" star, 72, was awarded an honorary Palme d’Or, the festival's most coveted honor, before a screening of a new film he directed. "Surprise complétement," he yelled in French as he reacted to the festival's version of a lifetime achievement award.

"I can’t believe this. This is the last thing I expected," he said as he held the trophy, as seen in a video shared by Variety.

He thanked Cannes director Thierry Fremaux, described the moment as "humbling" and said, "This is beyond the Oscar."

"When I met with you in November, I had no expectation that my film would be accepted. And when Thierry said it was not only accepted but it was making history because it would be the first film ever accepted that early, I cried like a baby because I just couldn’t believe it," he said. "Because in my opinion, you are the most discerning person in the movie industry. I was just happy to be here! I never expected this."

The two-time Oscar nominee made his directorial debut with "Propeller One-Way Night Coach," an adventure film about a young boy and his mother who travel across the country to Hollywood, available on AppleTV on May 29. The movie is an adaptation of a 1997 children’s book of the same name that Travolta wrote.

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Travolta joins Peter Jackson and Barbra Streisand in being awarded an honorary Palme d’Or this year, though unlike them, he was not notified prior.

John Travolta says his sister and mother inspired his new film

After the screening, he and Fremaux discussed how the "Pulp Fiction" actor's love for aviation started at an early age, according to Variety.

Travolta revealed that he cried when Fremaux told him that the movie was selected for the festival five months ago. He also thanked his family in the crowd for being the reason why the movie "exists and actually why I exist as an artist."

"My oldest sister, Ellen, was really this character, the lead in this film. But it’s really a mixture of my sister and my mother because they both influenced me so deeply, and they were responsible for all my hopes and dreams, and they watched me make them come true," he continued. "So this is just a little taste of my origins and what it was like to be me when I was little. So I hope you enjoyed it. It means the world to me that you’re here."

Travolta previously attended the Cannes Film Festival for screenings of "Pulp Fiction" (1994), “She’s So Lovely” (1997) and "Primary Colors" (1998).

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: John Travolta cries after surprise award at Cannes Film Festival

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