ohnny Depp Speaks at Cannes Press Conference for Jeanne du Barry: Denies Fictional Portrayal of His Life
Cannes, France – In a humble and defensive manner, Johnny Depp addressed the press conference for the opening night film, Jeanne du Barry, at the Cannes Film Festival.
Expressing gratitude for the standing ovation at the Grand Theatre Lumière, Depp indirectly referred to the recent headlines from the Amber Heard trial, stating, “In regards to me and my life, the majority of what you’ve read is fantastically horrifically written fiction.”
When questioned by Deadline about whether he still felt boycotted by Hollywood, a sentiment he previously expressed in an August 2021 Sunday Times interview, the three-time Oscar nominee responded,
“Did I feel a boycott by Hollywood? Well, you’d have to not have a pulse to feel at that point, ‘None of this is happening, it’s just a weird joke or I have been asleep for 35 years.’ Of course, when you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a bunch of kind of vowels and consonants floating in the air, you feel a boycott.”
Depp added, “Do I feel a boycott now? No, not at all. I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about Hollywood. I don’t have much further need for Hollywood myself. I think it’s a very strange, funny time where everybody wants to be themselves, but they can’t, they must fall in line, conform, and if you want to lead this life, I’ll be on the other side.”
Despite the billing of Jeanne du Barry as his big-screen comeback after a three-year hiatus while battling his ex-wife Amber Heard in court, Depp challenged the notion of a “comeback.”
“They’re using it as a kind of catchphrase. ‘The guy’s making a comeback.’ I’ve had about 17 comebacks, by the way, apparently,” he stated.
“I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback’ because I didn’t go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away, so yeah. Maybe people stopped calling. I don’t know what their fear was at the time. I didn’t go nowhere. I’ve been sitting around. So ‘comeback’ is almost like I’m going to come out and do a tap dance or something like that.”
Responding to the controversy surrounding his presence at Cannes and those who opposed his attendance at the 76th edition, Depp questioned their motives, saying, “What if they said to me, I cannot go to McDonald’s for life because somewhere if you got them all in one room, 39 people saw me watching me eat a Big Mac on a loop. Who are they? Why do they care? Some species or tower of mashed potatoes covered in light from a computer screen? Anonymous.”
Depp portrays Louis XV in Jeanne du Barry, while filmmaker Maiwenn stars as his newly recruited mistress, Countess Jeanne du Barry. Depp discussed Maïwenn’s audacity in selecting a non-French actor to play the role of King Louis.
The director revealed that she had approached some French actors who declined the offer but found Depp to be an anomaly, not only due to his residence in France but also his deep knowledge of the country’s politics, art, and cinema. “He knew more about Louis XV than I did,” confessed the filmmaker.
“I was surprised to be chosen for this role,” Depp admitted. “Yeah, I thought someone had made a terrible mistake.”
Depp later expressed his aim to portray Louis XV in a way that would make the audience forget it was him on the big screen. “
