Lea Seydoux has dropped out her appearance at Cannes Film Festival after she tested positive for COVID-19.

Lea Seydoux

Lea Seydoux

The 36-year-old actress was confirmed to have tested positive for the virus over the weekend, and on Wednesday (14.07.21) she released a statement confirming she will not be able to attend the French festival, where she has four films showing.

She said: “Sadly, I have to self-quarantine in Paris and won’t be able to attend the Cannes Film Festival this year. I wish I could celebrate the return of cinema to my favourite festival, but it is in everyone’s best interest to err on the side of caution and do my part to keep everyone safe and healthy.

“I applaud all four of my directors and the cast ensembles for their remarkable achievements. From a distance and in thoughts, I am with you with all my heart.”

Lea already missed the world premiere of Wes Anderson’s ‘The French Dispatch’ on Monday (12.07.21), and she will now also have to skip out on showings of ‘The Story of My Wife’, ‘France’, and ‘Deception’.

The critically acclaimed actress has been talked about as a strong contender for a best actress award at Cannes due to the number of films she has at the festival.

Over the weekend, Lea’s representative confirmed she had tested positive and was self-isolating in Paris, but her plans for Cannes were undecided as it was thought she would have fully recovered this week.

At the time, her representative said she was “at the tail end of her recovery, and is asymptomatic and fully vaccinated".

The actress' representatives added that she was resting at home and would only travel if she was given a clean bill of health as she wanted to keep festivalgoers, filmmakers and her fellow cast members safe.


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