Jeanne du Barry
‘Comeback? I didn’t go anywhere!’
BEHIND THE SCENES WITH best
Actor Johnny Depp (who took a back seat from filming after his public divorce from actress Amber Heard) received a seven-minute standing ovation at the 76th Cannes International Film Festival for his film Jeanne du Barry. The plot centres on Madame du Barry [played by Maïwenn Le Besco, who also directed], who falls in love with King Louis XV [Depp] and against all propriety and etiquette, moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalises the court… Here, the 59-year-old father-of-two, reveals more…
Johnny, were you surprised to be chosen for this role?
Was I surprised? Yeah. I thought there was a terrible misspelling somewhere and Maïwenn and I ended up in the wrong room at the same time. I mean, I didn’t feel any hesitation with regard to the character and all of that. Or the language, necessarily. I didn’t find that particularly intimidating. It’s a bit like running through the raindrops. But my question to Maïwenn when we first met was, ‘Maybe you wanna try a French guy as Louis XV [laughs].’
You’ve mentioned previously in an interview that you felt boycotted by Hollywood. Do you still feel that?
Of course, you know, I mean, when you are 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, yeah, you feel a bit boycotted. Do I feel boycotted now? No, not at all.
But what is your mindset getting back to acting? Do you approach it any differently from before?
I laugh more. No, it’s weird,
people have seen or heard the word ‘comeback’ exchanged by folks and using that as the sort of catchphrase like,‘The guy’s making a comeback!’ Or ‘He’s made a comeback’ after whatever experiences, not only myself, but whatever anybody has been through over the Covid years, the this or the that. And suddenly the film comes to the Cannes Film Festival and then this wonderful new word, by the way, I’ve had about 17 comebacks apparently. I keep wondering about the word comeback – because I didn’t go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away. [laughs]