The Cannes Film Festival has announced a special tribute to legendary creative force Prince, who tragically passed away at 57 on Thursday. Additional details regarding the tribute to The Purple One will be revealed "in the coming days," a festival rep confirmed to Variety. Prince's decades-deep legacy, of course, extends far beyond music thanks in large part to the future-minded mastery of Purple Rain.
The 1984 rock musical ultimately earned Prince an Oscar, with Purple Rain beating out both The Muppets Take Manhattan and Kris Kristofferson's Songwriter for Best Original Song Score. Spike Lee's Girl 6, which featured another top-shelf soundtrack from Prince, screened during the 1996 Cannes fest. Prince also provided the companion soundtrack for Tim Burton's 1989 Batman film, a pairing that resulted in some of the franchise's most compelling and memorable moments:
French director Bibo Bergeron, most known stateside for his work on the 2004 animated film Shark Tale, shared his sadness at Prince's passing in a series of tweets. "2016, you suck ass!" Bergeron tweeted on Thursday. "Stop taking our best artists."
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This year's Cannes festivities kick off on May 11 and wrap up on May 22, with Woody Allen's Café Society and the Shia LaBeouf-starring American Honey set to make their respective debuts. Per festival reps' statements to Variety, specifics regarding the well-deserved Prince tribute will be announced shortly.
RIP Prince. You were truly one of a kind.
