A gunman sent Django Unchained star Christopher Waltz running Friday afternoon as the actor was being interviewed for French TV at the Cannes Film festival.
Fortunately for the double Oscar winner and everyone else there, the intruder was shooting blanks.
The incident occurred during an open-air interview where Waltz and fellow Cannes film festival juror, French actor Daniel Auteuil, were being interviewed for France’s Le Grand Journal. The New York Daily News reports that several loud noises rang out, causing the crowd to flee in panic. The two actors were whisked off the set as onlookers fled for safety, as can be seen in the brief video below.
The gunman reportedly warned a woman in the audience to leave before the fireworks started. "He said to a woman next to him, 'If I were you, I wouldn't stick around here'," Michel Denisot, the show's presenter told France 24 News.
A witness told The Hollywood Reporter he heard other people saying, "Run, he has a gun." Reports vary as to whether the man also had a grenade or another kind of incendiary device.
Photos obtained by The Hollywood Reporter showed a man being tackled by police. Police said the gunman, who fired two blanks into the air from a gun, was arrested at the scene.
No injuries were reported and the telecast resumed a few minutes later, with the producers announcing “The show must go on."
The head of security in the local police department referred to the intruder as "someone mentally unstable."
Whether he was targeting Waltz or simply gained access to the event because it was being televised isn't clear. Perhaps the man is an overly obsessed fan of Quentin Tarantino shoot-em-ups or a critic who really, really hated Django Unchained.
