Johnny Depp has a bad habit of being late for press conferences. He did it at the BCN Film Fest, at the San Sebastian Festival and this Wednesday he did it again in Cannes, for the presentation of Jeanne Du Barry, the inaugural film directed and starred by Maïwenn in which the American actor gives life to the King Louis XV of France on his return to the big screen after the media trial in which he won for defamation against his ex, actress Amber Heard.
The appointment was at 12, but until half an hour later the entire team of this period drama did not show up, except for the charismatic interpreter of Pirates of the Caribbean, who arrived a quarter of an hour later, interrupting the conference as if nothing, dressed in a dark suit, loose hair and sunglasses. Immediately all questions have been directed towards him.
On the curious choice to exercise that monarch who fell in love with the courtesan Jeanny Du Barry, with whom he lived a love story in Versailles surrounded by scandal, Depp said that he received Maïwenn's proposal with surprise, but that he immediately accepted. "Wouldn't you rather try a French actor?" he told her. "She thought about it for a second and said 'yeah, I thought so too, no, I want you to.' I thought it was very brave of her to cast a guy from Kentucky to play Louis XV."
In this regard, Maiwenn pointed out that he proposed the role to "French actors" whom he admires, although he finally decided to be faithful to his initial wish that Depp was chosen. "When I met him, he knew a lot about the history of France and was very curious," said the actress-director, adding: "Also, I knew I would have to kiss him, so I wanted a sexy actor."
The 59-year-old actor received a crowd shower yesterday on the red carpet, despite the fact that he has a negative image in his country. In fact, many American media wonder what an actor accused of mistreatment is doing in Cannes. Johnny Depp's career may be on shaky ground in the US, but it's clearly not the case in France. The film was received with a seven-minute ovation at the opening gala yesterday. Of course, specialized critics have not received this story with the same fervor, which, although entertaining, exhibits a worthy setting of the time and is based on some secondary interpretations, suffers from a lack of chemistry between the leading couple.
Asked if he feels boycotted by Hollywood, Depp replied: "When they ask you to give up a movie - he was removed from the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' saga and from his role as Grindelwald in 'Fantastic Beasts' - because there are a handful of vocals and consonants in the air, you wonder." But he added that he doesn't feel boycotted now "basically because I don't think about Hollywood, I don't need it," noting that while we're in a time "where everyone would love to be themselves but can't," he really feels "of the other side".
"The truth is the truth," he said, recalling that "for five or six years" he has read a lot of information about his life, "fiction told in a horrible and fanciful way." And about the campaign launched by defenders of Amber Heard, who ask for the closure of the festival for inviting Depp and for "celebrating abusers for 76 years", the actor said that there will always be people who are not happy with his presence, be it in Cannes or at a McDonald's. And he referred to all those media that talk about his return to the world of cinema with this film. "Apparently I've had 17 comebacks, but I haven't gone anywhere," he insisted.
"There may be people who have stopped calling me for different reasons, out of fear, but the word return does not make sense." Depp was especially grateful for the great patience Maïwenn had with him on set, as well as the coach who taught him to pronounce French well, the language with which he expresses himself more than correctly in the film thanks to the years he spent living in the country when he was married to Vanessa Paradis. That he really feels comfortable in a role in which he is seen to be corseted is something else.
