Cannes 2026: Quentin Dupieux calls on Kristen Stewart

By The Editorial Team.

Published on 3 February 2026. Updated on 18 May 2026.

Full Phil, Quentin Dupieux’s ambitious new project

American actress Kristen Stewart continues to surprise the film industry… While her directorial debut, The Chronology of Water, was released in cinemas in October 2025, news came out that she would be joining the cast of Full Phil, French filmmaker Quentin Dupieux‘s new comedy, a few months ago. Alongside her, other major actors are on board, including Woody Harrelson, Charlotte Le Bon and Emma Mackey.

Although no release date has been announced yet, the first official image of the film was unveiled at the beginning of this year. Quentin Dupieux also shared a few details about his upcoming project in an interview with Deadline magazine, describing the feature as “’Emily in Paris’ in hell — a fever dream, a nightmarish version of it.”

A project to premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival

Full Phil tells the story of a father, played by Woody Harrelson, who tries to reconnect with his daughter Madeleine, portrayed by Kristen Stewart. A narrative centred on their relationship, whose balance relies above all on the credibility of the on-screen duo. As Quentin Dupieux explained in the same interview: “Making the Kristen–Woody relationship believable was key to the movie.” A goal the filmmaker believes he achieved: “They’re great professionals. We never questioned it. He really is her dad, she really is his daughter.”

Quentin Dupieux’s and Kristen Stewart’s unlikely encounter

For the past few years, Quentin Dupieux has been working with major figures from French cinema. From Léa Seydoux (The Second Act) to Adèle Exarchopoulos, who appeared in his feature Mandibles (2020). Yet, this international cast and Kristen Stewart‘s presence gives the project, scheduled for 2027, a unique aura. The actress, who has recently immersed herself in David Cronenberg‘s obsessions (Crimes of the Future in 2022) and Pablo Larraín (Spencer in 2021), now agrees to take on a comic mechanism fueled by dissonance and incongruity.

The title of the film, a play on the English expression to fulfill, maintains a sense of opacity, as is often the case with The Piano Accident director (2025). Quentin Dupieux’s controversial cinema stands as a machinery of the absurd, in which reality always goes astray without ever losing its original triviality.

As an heir to a discreet surrealism and French burlesque tradition, this very prolific filmmaker creates worlds where objects think and dialogues turn back on themselves. Let’s see what Quentin Dupieux has in store for us with his ambitious new project.

Full Phil by Quentin Dupieux has no release date yet. The film will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026.