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Johnny Deppplays a king in his comeback movieJeanne Du Barry, but the actor did not necessarily think he was the best choice to play French royalty.
As Depp, 59, spoke at a press conference for the film at the 2023Cannes Film Festivalon Wednesday, the actor said he “thought it was very brave of [director Maïwenn] to choose some hillbilly from Kentucky” to take on the role of King Louis XV in the film, whichpremiered on the international film festival’s opening nightTuesday.
“It’s like running through the raindrops, but my question to Maïwenn when we first met was, ‘Maybe you want to try a French guy as King Louis XV?’ " Depp continued. “She thought about it for a second. She said, ‘I thought about that too. No, I want you to do it.’ "
“So I thought it was very brave of her to choose some hillbilly from Kentucky to play Louis XV. Very brave,” he added, noting his own background as a Kentucky native.
Johnny Depp attends the “Jeanne du Barry” photocall at the 76th annual Cannes film festival.Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
“So yeah, I was instantly up for it, wanted to do it. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn’t, I don’t know, stepping out of my box and into someone else’s,” Depp continued of the role, which required him to learn his lines entirely in French. “Getting into other people’s things, culture, thoughts, weirdness. But I’m glad she persisted and I’m glad I persisted.”
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The actor added that Maïwenn “was very patient with me” as he learned his lines in a new language and explained that he wanted “to be able to improvise if necessary” during filming.
“I wanted at least to be, my pigeon French at least, I wanted it to be in some regard that I wanted to be able to improvise if necessary,” he told reporters Wednesday. “So that was again way outside your language, your vernacular and your way of expressing yourself. But yeah, she was very patient with me. I’ll put it that way.”
The cast of “Jeanne du Barry” at the 76th annual Cannes film festival.Lionel Hahn/Getty Images
The film does not have a U.S. release date yet; its arrival at Cannes comes nearly one year after the verdict in Depp’scontroversial defamation trialwith ex-wifeAmber Heardover a 2018 op-ed she wrote about coming forward with domestic abuse allegations.
“I keep wondering about the word comeback because I didn’t go anywhere,” he added. “As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away. So yeah, maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time. But no, I didn’t go nowhere. I’ve been sitting around.”
source: people.com
