Cannes director defends decision to open the festival with Johnny Depp movie
The director of the Cannes Film Festival, Thierry Fremaux, has defended the organisation’s decision to open this year’s festival with Maïwenn’s Jeanne du Barry, starring Johnny Depp.
The biographical drama tells the story of Jeanne du Barry (Maïwenn), a young working-class woman who climbed up the social ladder to become the last royal mistress of King Louis XV (Depp). His role in the new movie is his first in three years, taking a hiatus from performing to partake in the much-publicised defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022.
Speaking to Variety about the decision to open the festival with the ”controversial” film, Fremaux stated: “I don’t see Maïwenn’s film as a controversial choice at all, because if Johnny Depp had been banned from working it would have been different, but that’s not the case…We only know one thing, it’s the justice system and I think he won the legal case. But the movie isn’t about Johnny Depp”.
The full lineup for Cannes Film Festival 2023 was released earlier this week, with the likes of Wes Anderson’s Asteroid City, Ken Loach’s The Old Oak and Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest, all competing for the Palme d’Or.
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