Johnny Depp’s comeback movie Jeanne Du Barry is to open the Cannes Film Festival.
Directed by Maïwenn, who also stars, the film’s world premiere will take place on Tuesday, May 16, and the film will be released in cinemas the same day in France, the festival said Wednesday.
Maïwenn herself plays the eponymous main character alongside Depp, Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair. The film will recount the life, rise and fall of French King Louis XV‘s court favorite, Jeanne Vaubernier.
The French-language film’s official synopsis describes Vaubernier as “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 the favourite of King Louis XV who, unaware of her status as courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love. Against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court.”
Depp will play King Louis and will speak French in the film, we can confirm. It marks the first time the actor will speak French throughout a film. Depp has had a long love affair with France. Between 1998 and 2012 he was in a relationship with French singer Vanessa Paradis, he has owned various properties in the country and in 2021 he called it his “home”. He has had a number of movies at Cannes over the years, including Cry Baby, Arizona Dream, Dead Man, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Brave.
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Rust and Bone and A Prophet production company Why Not is producing with Goodfellas handling sales. Depp’s production company IN.2, La Petite Reine and France Télévisions also produce. Backers include Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Film Foundation, and the film has been picked up by Netflix in France which will release after its theatrical run in the territory via Le Pacte.
The production marks Depp’s first feature film role in three years. He shot it around the time of his U.S. victory in the turbulent defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard. The result of the previous and acrimonious UK trial between Depp and UK tabloid The Sun saw the star dropped from Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise and led to him claiming he was “boycotted” by Hollywood. He is still yet to be cast in a major U.S. production since the UK trial.
Jeanne du Barry is Maïwenn’s sixth feature and comes after Cannes movies such as 2011 Jury Prize winner Polisse, My King, for which Emmanuelle Bercot won best actress in 2015, and semi-autobiographical work DNA, which was feted with Cannes special 2020 label. As well as directing and co-starring, Maïwenn also co-wrote the screenplay with Teddy Lussi-Modeste.
The film has long been expected to debut on the Croisette. It joins high-profile movies recently confirmed for the festival such as Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon and Disney’s Indiana Jones 5.
