John Travolta’s new film is a dud. It shows why great actors can be bad directors

But Propeller One-Way Night Coach was apparently the first film to be selected for this year’s Cannes. Did Frémaux really love it at that much? Well, bear in mind that Scarlett Johansson’s directorial debut, Eleanor the Great, premiered at Cannes last year, to very little acclaim. (Two other actors-turned-directors, Kristen Stewart and Harris Dickinson, got slightly better responses to their debuts last year.) Bear in mind, too, that Kevin Costner, having not directed a film in more than two decades, made a self-financed two-part western, which opened at two major festivals in 2024. Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 was at Cannes in May, and Chapter 2 was at Venice in September. They were so dreary that Chapter 2 wasn’t even given a cinema release.