Film director George Lucas will receive an honorary Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival next month, according to an announcement by festival organizers. Lucas will be honored during the closing ceremony of the 77th annual French film festival on May 25. Harrison Ford, an actor who's worked with Lucas in "Star Wars" and "Indiana Jones," was awarded the Palme last year. Other recipients over the past years include Michael Douglas, Tom Cruise, Forest Whitaker and Jodie Foster. "The Festival de Cannes has always held a special place in my heart," Lucas said in a statement. "I was surprised and elated when my first film, 'THX-1138,' was selected to be shown in a new program for first time directors called the Directors' Fortnight. Since then, I have returned to the festival on many occasions in a variety of capacities as a writer, director and producer. I am truly honored by this special recognition which means a great deal to me." The Cannes Film Festival runs May 14-25. The closing ceremony, during which the honorary prize and top prize will be awarded, will be broadcast in France on France Télévisions and streamed on Brut.
Reality TV star Todd Chrisley, known for the USA Network series "Chrisley Knows Best," has been ordered to pay a Georgia woman $755,000 in compensatory damages and legal fees as a result of a defamation trial. Amy Doherty-Heinze claimed that Chrisley accused her of a "multitude of crimes and wrongdoing" starting in 2020, according to legal documents. The suit filed by Doherty-Heinze alleged that Chrisley, 55, "repeated false accusations that, among other things, (Doherty-Heinze) engaged in various criminal misconduct in her post as an investigator for the Georgia Department of Revenue's Office of Special Investigations." Chrisley tried to get the lawsuit thrown out, but Doherty-Heinze alleged that he continued to "defame" her in a September 2021 episode of his and his wife's "Chrisley Confessions" podcast. Doherty-Heinze sued on July 9, 2021, four years after the Georgia Department of Revenue began investigating Chrisley. Her suit claimed that Chrisley started a "social media campaign against the GDOR and certain of its employees, contending that the investigation was illegal and improperly motivated."