Victory really is sweet. Why Not Productions, which is a Paris based Production company has given us a first look at Johnny Depp dressed as King Louis XV in Maïwenn’s film Jeanne du Barry which is currently filming in France. Jeanne du Barry is Maïwenn’s sixth feature and most ambitious production to date. Maïwenn will also be playing the title role of Jeanne du Barry. The shoot began on July 26, 2022 with locations including Versailles and other locations in the Paris region as well as in the studio. Coming off the heels of his victory in his turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. The jury found that Heard had defamed Depp in her 2018 Washington Post opinion piece, which is where she alluded to being a victim of domestic violence. However, the jury also found that Depp defamed Heard, through his attorney, while fighting back against her charges. This marks Depp’s first feature film role in the last three years which was his 2020 independent film “Minamata,” in which he played war photographer W. Eugene Smith. Later that year, Depp was forced by Warner Bros. to exit the “Harry Potter” spinoff series “Fantastic Beasts” after he lost his libel case against the British tabloid The Sun. In which he had been characterized as a “wife beater.” Madds Mikkelson replaced Depp as the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald in 2022’s “Fantastic Beast: The Secrets of Dumbledore.”
The film is inspired by the life of Jeanne du Barry, who was Louis XV’s last royal mistress at the Court of Versaille, after Madame de Pompadour. Born into poverty, she is a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure who uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes Louis XV’s favorite companion. Unaware of her status as a courtesan, he regains his appetite for life thanks to their relationship. They fall madly in love. Against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court. Cast members include Benjamin Lavernhe, best known from The French Dispatch, Pierre Richard, best known from A Chef in Love, Melvil Poupaud, best known from By the Grace of God, Noémie Lvovsky, Camille Rewinds, Pascal Greggory, best known from HBO series Irma Vep and India Hair, best known from The Tears Thing Signe. Cinematographer Laurent Dailland who has done work on the film Aline, production designer Angelo Zamparutti who has worked on the French film The Voiceless, costume designer Yurgen Doering who has worked on the HBO series Irma Vepp, John Nollet on hair design who has worked on the film High Life, Tom Pécheux on make-up who has worked on the film Once and Forever and Nicolas Provost on sound. Stephen Warbeck is composing the original music.
No release has been set as of yet but the Paris-based Why Not Productions, IN2 and France Télévisions will produce the film.” Wild Bunch International is handling the world sales. Le Pacte is distributing the film in France and Netflix has licensed the film to stream in France after it plays in theaters.
