"I Was Clinically Dead": 'Drive' Director Nicolas Refn Cries and Silences Cannes

"How many guys get a second chance?" said Nicolas Winding Refn, the brilliant mind behind Ryan Gosling's iconic thriller 'Drive' and 'Valhalla Rising', as he left the Cannes press room, overwhelmed with emotion as he recalled his clinical death and resuscitation. Flanked by the stars of his new neon-soaked thriller 'Her Private Hell', Charles Melton and Sophie Thatcher, the director initially started the press conference about his survival with humor, but the laughter quickly faded into a raw, tearful breakdown as he opened up about being clinically dead for over 20 minutes before an emergency heart surgery by a 'Tom Cruise-like' surgeon saved his life. The raw and intense vulnerability was one of the most honest and emotional moments ever seen in Cannes history.