The 'Django Unchained' star was talking with reporters when all of a sudden gunfire was heard and the 56-year-old actor and other members of the Cannes jury were rushed off stage, the Hollywood Reporter said.
The incident occurred just before the live television broadcast of Le Grand Journal, a nightly news and entertainment program that broadcasts from Martinez beach every day during the Cannes Film Festival.
Although security initially believed the noise was fireworks, witnesses on the scene alleged that they saw a man with a gun, and that a small explosion went off. A man with a suspicious device was seen being taken away by police.