There’s no doubt that Johnny Depp’s rabid online fans are excited to see him in a movie again, even in the French historical biography, “Jeanne du Barry,” set to open the Cannes Festival May 16.
It remains to be seen whether other moviegoers will be so excited to see the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star in his first feature film in three years, after he supposedly extricated himself from the muck surrounding his lurid and protracted legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Unfortunately for the “not-so-canceled” Depp, his comeback narrative, after winning last year’s defamation case against Heard, has been plagued with unflattering reports about his on-set behavior, according to Jezebel. The reports mention Depp’s tardiness — known to be a longstanding issue with him — as well as clashes and “screaming matches” with his French female director and co-star, Maïwenn Le Besco, known by the mononym Maïwen, the Daily Beast also reported.
“One might think that Johnny Depp would be on his best behavior following his massive public trial” last year, Daily Beast senior entertainment reporter Laura Bradley wrote in December. “But the actor is reportedly back to his formerly reported professional peccadillos” during production of the film, which follows the titular du Barry as she becomes the mistress of King Louis XV. Maïwenn plays du Barry opposite Depp’s Louis XV.
Reports from the Daily Beast, Jezebel and other outlets about Depp’s onset behavior first emerged in the fall. To the surprise of many, Maïwenn didn’t deny these reports in a recent interview with French Premiere, according to Jordan Ruimy, editor in chief of WorldofReel.com.
In the interview, Maïwenn spoke of the actor being “a star, a king … and an American,” explaining that some of their tensions had to do with the clash of cultures between American and French film sets. For example, she said she was told to never knock on his dressing room door, which he considered to be “an unacceptable intrusion.”
“I replied that everyone does it all the time. Because that’s how a set works in France!” Maïwenn said. She also said that American stars are not accustomed to being “directed.”
“They explain to the director how they are going to play the scene and the director follows the flow,” Maïwenn said. “But in France, the boss is the director.”
Maïwenn, however, has recently demonstrated that she, too, has issues with volatility. Earlier this month, a French journalist filed a complaint with police, alleging that the director assaulted him in February, while he was dining at a restaurant in Paris’ fancy seventh arrondissement, the Hollywood Reporter said. The journalist alleges she grabbed him by the hair and spit in his face, possibly because his publication, Mediapart, had reported on sexual assault allegations against her ex-husband, French director Luc Besson.
As for Maïwenn’s issues with Depp, she supposedly had to deal with the fact that his French wasn’t “stellar,” Ruimy reported. She decided to rely less on him speaking dialogue and more on him using his face to “convey emotions,” Maïwenn said. As it turns out, Depp can speak French, given that he was in a relationship with French model and actor Vanessa Paradis for a number of years. But he still speaks with an accent that would be noticeable to French audiences, and his “comeback” role was limited to no more than 15 minutes of screen time, Ruimy reported.
Maïwenn’s description of her complicated working relationship with Depp sounds much more tame than the version offered by French actor Bernard Montiel on French TV in October, the Daily Beast reported. On the talk show “Touche pas à mon poste! (Don’t Touch My TV Set!),” Montiel said: “I’ve heard some noise from the shoot, very serious stuff.”
Montiel said Depp might not show up for a 6 a.m. call, which would infuriate Maïwenn, the Daily Beast reported. “The next day, she’s the one who doesn’t turn up. And you’ve got Johnny Depp, and she’s not there,” Montiel said.
“They don’t get on at all; they’re screaming at each other the whole time,” Montiel said, according to the Daily Beast.
Depp’s role in the movie was announced in January 2022, a few months before the start of his massively viewed public defamation trial in Virginia against Heard. He sued her for suggesting he had committed domestic violence against her in a Washington Post op-ed. In early 2022, Depp was pretty much close to being canceled after he had lost his libel case in the U.K. against the publisher of the tabloid The Sun over a headline that referred to him as “a wife-beater,” Jezebel said. A U.K. judge said the evidence showed that the actor was an abusive partner.
It should be noted that production for “Jeanne du Barry” began in July 2022, after Depp won his defamation trial against Heard. So perhaps the actor wasn’t feeling the need to be on his best behavior, as Bradley wrote. His fans pronounced that his legal victory vindicated the actor, and they expressed hope that he could resume his high-flying career as a Hollywood mega-star.
Depp’s critics, however, are not so sure a Depp comeback should go so smoothly, given that the trial showed the actor to be self-indulgent and given to out-of-control behavior and to abusing substances. Jezebel writer Kylie Cheung also said that reports from the “Jeanne du Barry” confirm the reasons that Depp’s career was already on a downward trajectory before Heard first accused Depp of domestic violence in 2016.
“Hollywood insiders have long had words on Depp’s lack of professionalism –particularly his reputation for tardiness and disrespecting others on set,” Cheung reported. She noted that the former “Pirates of the Caribbean” star was sued in 2018 for punching a crew member on set of “City of Lies,” while drunk, a case Depp only settled last year.
“So, I’m not exactly surprised that ‘Jeanne du Barry,’ the movie that’s poised to be his big comeback since winning his defamation suit against Heard, was marred by the actor’s typical (expletive) and fairly predictable inability to respect his female director,” Cheung wrote.
