Never say never again.

Last year, Cannes director Thierry Fremaux swore the competition would be “recentered and renewed,” opening up to lesser-known helmers and left-of-field pics.

Twelve months later, the competition of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival reads like a who’s-who of revered Riviera regulars, including four previous Palme d’Or winners.

Quentin Tarantino, Ang Lee, Pedro Almodovar and Lars von Trier will face off with Jane Campion, Michael Haneke, Johnnie To and Park Chan-wook in Cannes’ biggest heavyweight auteur smackdown in recent years.

All have snagged competition berths at next month’s festival, whose official lineup was unveiled Thursday at a packed press conference in Paris’ Grand Hotel by Fremaux and fest prexy Gilles Jacob.

The plethora of world cinema’s great and good begs the question of whether it’s part cause or part consequence of the thinnest Yank presence in competition since 2006. Only two U.S. titles are in the battle for the Palme: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS and TAKING WOODSTOCK.