THERE has been much hand-wringing about which film will be the star-filled centerpiece of next month’s Cannes Film Festival. As of now, it looks like Jim Jarmusch’s zombie thriller “The Dead Don’t Die” — starring Tilda Swinton, Bill Murray, Adam Driver, Danny Glover, and Selena Gomez — might take that honor. The lineup for the prestigious French film fest was announced Thursday, with new offerings from Pedro Almodovar (“Dolor y Gloria”), Bong Joon-ho (“Gisaengchung”), and Terrence Malick (“A Hidden Life”) popping up in competition. “The Dead Don’t Die” will open the festival. The competition lineup, comprised of 19 films in total, also includes four films directed by women. Actress Mati Diop makes her feature debut with “Atlantique.” Jessica Hausner’s “Little Joe” will also compete, as will Justine Triet’s “Sibyl,” starring Adele Exarchopoulos. Celine Sciamma, one of many women who protested the festival’s lack of gender parity on the 2018 Cannes red carpet, will also return with “Portrait de la jeune fille en feu.” Out of competition, Dexter Fletcher’s “Rocketman” — the Elton John biopic starring Taron Egerton — will make its debut, as will Nicolas Winding Refn’s Amazon series “Too Old to Die Young.” Missing from the lineup? Quentin Tarantino’s “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood,” the 1969-set tale starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Margot Robbie. Previous reports indicated that Tarantino was speeding up the editing process so the film could make a splashy debut at the festival, but he doesn’t seem to have finished the film in time yet. According to Cannes director Thierry Fremaux, it’s still possible Tarantino could make the cut before the festival’s May debut. Five-time Oscar-winning Mexican director Alejandro G. Inarritu will lead the main competition jury for the films that are in the running for the Palme d’Or. Lebanese filmmaker Nadine Labaki, whose “Capernaum” was nominated in the best foreign-language film category at this year’s Academy Awards, will head up the Un Certain Regard jury. The world’s biggest film event will be held May 14-25 this year. (SD-Agencies) | 