[1/3] 76th Cannes Film Festival – Opening Ceremony and Screening of “Jean de Barry” Out of Competition – Red Carpet Arrival – Cannes, France, May 16, 2023. Johnny Depp in a photo. Photo: Yara – Reuters.
CANNES (Reuters) – Johnny Depp looked once again in celebrity mode on Tuesday, signing autographs and posing for pictures with fans ahead of the Cannes Film Festival premiere of opening film “Jeanne de Paris,” which marks the actor’s first major role since. His high-profile defamation trial.
Fans in the French Riviera town were seen holding up signs that read “Congratulations, Johnny” and “We’re Sorry” with a heart.
The festival delivered on its glamorous reputation with parades of stars including Mads Mikkelsen, blue-haired Helen Mirren and John C. Reilly making their way across the red carpet.
Michael Douglas, accompanied by his wife, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and their daughter, didn’t stop to sign autographs as he made his way to the Grand Theater Lumiere, where the 78-year-old actor received an honorary Palme d’Or award.
“There are hundreds of film festivals all over the world, but there is only one Cannes,” Douglas told the audience. “And suddenly, I’m 76 — even older than the festival,” he quipped.
French cinema icon Catherine Deneuve, 79, who graces this year’s festival poster, was also invited on stage to address guests.
Depp plays King Louis XV in “Jeanne du Barry,” directed by and starring French actor and director Maïwenn Le Besco, better known as Maïwenn, as the French courtesan Madame du Barry who climbs the social ladder in Versailles to become the king’s favourite.
Critics highlighted the lush look of the film, which received funding from Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Corporation as part of an estimated $22.4 million total budget – but said it lacked pulse.
“Even the acting – some say – of Johnny Depp as King delivers some early thrills and then mostly yawns,” wrote The Hollywood Reporter.
The French-language film, which has yet to be released in North America, marks the beginning of a comeback for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, who has appeared in few films or television since his trial ended in June 2022.
A US jury has awarded Depp an almost complete victory in his defamation battle with ex-wife and actor Amber Heard, with jurors awarding him more than $10 million in damages.
Less than two years ago, Depp lost a defamation lawsuit in Britain against The Sun newspaper, which called him a “wife-beater”. Soon after, Depp was dropped from the “Fantastic Beasts” movie franchise, a “Harry Potter” spin-off.
Festival director Thierry Frémaux said Monday that he was unaware of Depp’s photo in the US and because he was not banned from acting, there was no reason the film could not be included.
An open letter signed by more than 100 actors and published Tuesday in French newspaper Liberation criticized Cannes for “rolling out the red carpet to the men and women who assaulted.” She said that sent the message that there are no consequences for such actions, though she did not name any specifics.
(Reporting by Miranda Murray) Editing by Jonathan Otis
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