The sixth edition of Canneseries, the international festival for premium series, kicked off Friday with the world premiere of the first episode of Apple TV+’s sci-fi show “Silo.” Lead actor and executive producer Rebecca Ferguson, director and executive producer Morten Tyldum, and screenwriter and executive producer Graham Yost walked the pink carpet at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, and spoke about the show on stage, before attending a party at an exclusive beach-side venue.
It was standing room only in the 2,300-seat Louis Lumiere auditorium, where the dress code was described as “creative chic,” as the evening got underway with opening remarks by the mayor of Cannes, David Lisnard, Canneseries president, Fleur Pellerin, and “Fauda” actor and co-creator Lior Raz, who is the president of the main jury. The ceremony, hosted with aplomb by French comedy actor and writer Camille Chamoux, aired on pay TV service Canal+.
On the pink carpet, before the ceremony started, Tyldum had been asked what it was like seeing “Silo,” which will stream on Apple TV+ from May 5, projected in the Palais during the tech check on Thursday. “There’s nothing like seeing your work on a big screen,” he said. “It looks great. It sounds great, and we are very proud of it. We can’t wait to show it because it is a big, cinematic, intense, fun, thrilling show.”
Later, on stage, Ferguson, Tyldum and Yost were asked how it felt to be at the show’s world premiere “in this legendary theater.” Yost responded: “It felt great until we saw how many people are here.” Ferguson added: “It’s just so uncomfortable all of this.”
Asked about the “ambience on the set” of the show, which is now shooting its second season, Ferguson said: “For me, I was excited to get back to television because of everything that is being made. You know, the conversation on the set of films is always: Who is going into [television]? Who is making it? … the filmmakers and … so for me to be teamed up with these two, with Apple+, it feels phenomenal. I don’t see myself as a producer. I’m a novice, learning from people who know. But it’s a family, it’s phenomenal. That’s why this feels so weird because TV feels so safe, so it’s a juxtaposition, and so wonderful.”
Yost, who wrote the screenplay based on a trilogy of novels by Hugh Howey, was asked how he had known the story “was going to be such good television.” He said: “I just loved that it was really a big mystery story. The last 10,000 people on Earth live in an underground silo. Who built the silo? When? Why? What happened outside that makes it deathly to go outside? So, that intrigued me as a mystery story. And then there is the main character, Juliette (played by Ferguson), who we only meet briefly in what we are about to see. She is just a great main character for the show.”
Among the other VIP guests on the pink carpet and presented on stage were “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” actor Morfydd Clark, who received the Madame Figaro Rising Star Award, and composer and musician Stewart Copeland, who is on the main jury.
Among the cast and crew on “Rings of Power” who Clark thanked in her acceptance speech, she emphasized the contribution of her co-star Charlie Vickers, who “encouraged me, championed me, and supported me, and I am so grateful that I got to do this with him.” She explained that she had brought with her to the ceremony Kate Staddon, her agent, and her sister, Siwan, both of whom had played a major role in her career. She said that Staddon “has been with me since drama school […] and I owe her my entire career.” Referring to her sister, she said: “Every creative decision I make is to do with her, and I was so lucky that we were both raised by parents who sang to us and read to us and made us love stories.”
In a video message from her limo, actor and producer Sarah Michelle Gellar, who will receive the Canal+ Icon Award at the closing ceremony, thanked the festival and Canal+ for the award. “I don’t feel worthy but I am incredibly honored,” she said.
The post-screening celebration took place at Palais Stéphanie Beach on the Croisette, where Ferguson, Tyldum, Yost and the by-invitation-only guests were serenaded by Paris DJ and R&B enthusiast Naomi Clément.
