Hello, Faye.
Faye Dunaway, 83, made her first public appearance in four years at the Cannes Film Festival in France on Wednesday.
The “Mommie Dearest” actress walked the red carpet at the premiere of the action film “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” starring Chris Hemsworth and Anya Taylor-Joy.
She was joined by Laurent Bouzereau, 62, who is the director of her new documentary that is premiering at Cannes, and her son Liam Dunaway O’Neill, 43, who appears in the HBO doc.
The Hollywood icon wore a black blazer over a white shirt with black pants. She also rocked a thick brown necklace.
While Dunaway is famously quiet about her personal life, she’s stepping back into the spotlight to tell her story in “Faye.”
According to the Cannes website, the actress “candidly discusses the triumphs and challenges of her illustrious career, with breakthrough roles in ‘Bonnie & Clyde,’ ‘Chinatown,’ and ‘Network,’ while also reflecting on the film she views as a critical career misstep, ‘Mommie Dearest,’ ” in the doc.
“Through those reflections, she courageously explores personal discoveries – her struggles with mental health issues and bipolar disorder, her family history, and how the intensity of the characters she played still impacts who she is today,” the description adds.
The film features interviews with Dunaway, Dunaway O’Neill, and her colleagues and friends including Sharon Stone, Mickey Rourke and James Gray.
Bouzereau (“Natalie Wood: What Remains Behind”) directed and produced the project.
Bouzereau revealed his motivation for creating a documentary about Dunaway in an interview with Cannes Festival on May 15.
“I’m friends with her son Liam. She’s always been my favorite actress,” the French filmmaker said. “I remember as a kid, I went to see ‘The Towering Inferno.’ I immediately asked myself, ‘Who is this person?’ Her poster was on my wall my entire childhood.”
“Finally, after years of meeting with Faye and talking to Liam, we convinced her to do it,” Bouzereau added. “And that’s how it all started.”
Bouzereau also said it was “a journey” to convince the private actress to do the documentary.
“Faye is used to work from a script. But this was real life. No script. No rehearsal. And she was very stressed by the process,” he said. “I thought it was very courageous of her to do this. She started trusting us. By the end, I think she was very happy. It was something cathartic for her because she got to talk about everything she’s never really mentioned before.”
Dunaway’s last acting role was in the 2022 drama film “The Man Who Drew God,” which was released in Russia and Italy. She starred opposite Kevin Spacey in his first role after his sexual misconduct allegations scandal.
Variety recently reported that Dunaway joined the cast of Jonathan Baker’s supernatural romance movie “Fate.” The film, also starring Andrew McCarthy and Harvey Keitel, will begin filming later this month.
