In a display of defiance, actor Johnny Depp delivered a resounding message at the illustrious Cannes Film Festival: he no longer has any need for the trappings of Hollywood. As the audience rose to their feet in thunderous applause for his latest film “Jeanne Du Barry,” Depp fearlessly confronted the media, dismissing the narratives woven around him as fictional tales.
Depp’s latest film, featured as the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival, garnered a standing ovation from the audience on Tuesday night. In the highly anticipated production, Depp takes on the role of King Louis XV and delivers his lines in French. During a press conference at the fest, Depp openly expressed his sentiments regarding his association with Hollywood.
He candidly stated, “I don’t feel much further need for Hollywood.” Depp addressed the question of whether he felt boycotted by Hollywood, quipping, “Well, you’d have to not have a pulse to feel at that point like this was all just a weird joke.”
With a cryptic tone, he mused, “When you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that’s merely a bunch of vowels and consonants floating in the air.” However, the sentence hung tantalizingly unfinished, leaving the audience yearning for the conclusion of his elusive thought.
Depp’s notable role in the esteemed French film has been hailed by many as a “comeback,” yet the star rejects such a characterization. “I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback,’ because I didn’t go anywhere,” he reflected. “Maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time, but I didn’t go anywhere.” Depp continued with, “Saying ‘comeback’ is almost like I’m going to come out and do a tap dance — dance my best and hope you approve.”
Depp’s remarks shed light on the trial and tribulations he faced in the media spotlight, particularly his well-publicized legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard. He called out the majority of stories circulating about him as “fantastically, horrifically written fiction.”
There were no visible protesters from the “#CannesYouNot”, an online campaign organized by supporters of Amber Heard. It is worth noting, however, that protests of any kind have been prohibited at the heavily regulated festival, as reported by Page Six . Thierry Fremaux, the director of the festival, addressed the controversy surrounding the inclusion of Depp’s film during a separate press conference. Fremaux stated, “I’m the last person to be able to discuss all this. If there’s one person in the world who is not interested in this very mediatized process, it’s me. I don’t know what it’s about. I care about Johnny Depp as an actor.”
In 2019, Johnny Depp filed a $50 million lawsuit against Amber Heard, accusing her of defamation for her alleged false claims of abuse in 2018 op-ed published in The Washington Post, although Depp was not directly named in the article. In response, Heard countersued Depp for $100 million. In the legal proceedings, the court ruled in favor of Johnny Depp, ordering Heard to pay $10 million in compensatory damages.