Refn Breaks Down at Cannes After Recalling 20-Plus Minutes Dead During Heart Surgery
Updated
Updated · Deadline · May 19
Refn Breaks Down at Cannes After Recalling 20-Plus Minutes Dead During Heart Surgery
7 articles · Updated · Deadline · May 19
Nicolas Winding Refn cried at a Cannes press conference while describing how he was clinically dead for more than 20 minutes during heart surgery, drawing thunderous applause from the room.
The director said a leaking heart had left blood running backward and filling his lungs, and that doctors told him he would not live before operating two weeks later.
Refn said surviving gave him a "second chance" after feeling his career had reached an endpoint, and he now wants to use that reset to "expand everyone's horizons for the kids."
Her Private Hell premiered at Cannes to a 12-minute standing ovation—tied for the festival's longest through Tuesday—and Neon plans a July 24 release.
After 'dying for 25 minutes,' how did director Nicolas Winding Refn translate his personal horror into his new film?
After a director's near-death miracle, did his comeback film truly earn its seven-minute Cannes ovation?
How did new fatherhood shape Charles Melton’s portrayal of a vengeful father in 'Her Private Hell'?