Johnny Depp was 40 minutes late to the press conference for “Jeanne du Barry,” the period drama that opened the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. According to a source close to his team, Depp, who stars in the film as King Louis XV, was stuck in traffic, forcing the event to start 27 minutes behind schedule and without him.
He also missed a photo call with director and star Maïwenn and the rest of the “Jeanne du Barry” cast due to a standstill along the Croissette. Photographers were told that Depp would be back for the photoshoot later in the afternoon.
As the press conference begins, Maïwenn gives her moving response to last night’s premiere. “It’s a movie I’ve been thinking about for 17 years,” said the director. “There was a huge amount of emotion because the movie was also released in France, so it was twice as much pressure.”
The day before, Maïwenn’s costume drama “Jeanne du Barry,” starring Depp as Louis XV, opened the 76th edition of the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. The beleaguered actor tearfully responded as the audience embraced the film with a seven-minute standing ovation.
The critics weren’t kind. miscellaneous Peter Debruge called “Jeanne du Barry” a “film with a very ladylike feel”, though he praised Maiwenn for exploiting “the emotional core of an extraordinary relationship”.
The film marks Depp’s return to acting after a three-year hiatus following his long-running legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard, which culminated in a defamation trial, which Depp won. At the time, he wasn’t working with a major studio and was forced out of the “Harry Potter” spinoff series Fantastic Beasts, in which he played the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Not everyone has broken up with the actor in the wake of his countless controversies. Dior, the French luxury fashion house, sided with the controversial star and signed him to a massive deal worth more than $20 million, the largest agreement ever in men’s fragrances.
Wednesday’s press conference was expected to draw huge attention, not only because it’s a rare public appearance from Depp, but also because the director recently admitted assaulting a reporter. Days before the premiere, Maywen made headlines for admitting she spat in the face of investigative journalist Edwy Plenel, founder of Mediapart, in February because he published a report that several women had accused her ex-husband, director Luc Besson, of a crime. rape.
“Jeanne du Barry” is about the tumultuous relationship of the French King Louis XV and his great love (played by Méwenn), who brought him to the Palace of Versailles to live near him even though she was not a noblewoman. Nicknamed “The Beloved,” Louis XV eventually passed away as an unpopular monarch because he was accused of corruption. He ruled for 59 years, which is the second longest reign in French history after Louis XIV.
