Scary Johnny Depp on the set of Jeanne du Barry? Maïwenn clarifies comments

The director is releasing her period film in the United States, and her promotion is not easy.

Disturbed by the proportion given to his comments on Johnny Depp, Maïwenn insisted on speaking. A few days ago, the actress-director gave an interview to Charlotte O'Sullivanjournalist of theIndependent. The opportunity for her to return to the set Jeanne du Barry, whose American release is scheduled for May 2. The biopic opened Cannes last year, and Johnny Depp plays King Louis XV, lover of the main character played by the director herself.

We thus learned in an article in the British daily entitled “They were afraid of him” (“They were scared of him”), that filming with the American star had been difficult. Depp would sometimes “didn’t want to do what the script asked”according to the reported comments.

“I have to be honest. It's difficult to tour with himalso declared Maïwenn. The whole team was scared because he has a different sense of humor and we didn't know if he was going to be on time, or if he was going to be able to say his lines. Even though he was present on set, on time, the crew was afraid of him.”

Still according to his statements, Johnny Depp did not have time to rehearse with his dialect coach before filming, causing several poorly pronounced dialogues to be cut during editing. “But it also happened with French actors”still caught up with the director.

Words that she wanted to correct, while her film – of which Johnny Depp had taken advantage of to rehabilitate himself with the public, after the scandal of his divorce, his trial and the accusations of #MeToo – is exported across the Atlantic.

To do this, Maïwenn took the time to send an exclusive note to Variety. According to her, when she said that the team was afraid of Johnny Depp, it was mainly his “charisma” and to his “star status” that she was referring to.

“When I made a remark that Johnny was doing 'fear', I was talking about his charisma, his notoriety, his star status, etc., she writes. I was shocked to discover that the newspaper had headlined 'The team was afraid of (Johnny Depp)' because written like that, without context and without subtlety, it absolutely no longer means the same thing. The journalist did not want to understand the subtlety of my words.”

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Convinced of the disloyalty of the journalist The Independentshe continues:

“I would like things to be very clear: Johnny is 'scary' in the sense that his charisma and his status as 'king' are impressive. I should have used the word 'impressive' if I had known that Charlotte O’Sullivan would use my words in such a malicious way.”

“One thing is obvious to me: Charlotte O'Sullivan doesn't care about films and cinema, and only seeks to spark controversies. She obviously doesn't like cinema. While we are in the middle of the #MeToo movement, here is a woman journalist who only spoke to me about the men in my film or in my life – only through the prism of men. As if I only existed thanks to men. Not a single question about the making of my film, nor about my inspirations or anything else. And then they complain that there aren't enough women directors. She didn't want to talk about me or my work. This is what I personally call fake feminism!”

More in line with the comments she had already made during the Cannes premiere of Jeanne du Barry and during the French promotion of the film, Maïwenn concludes:

“I want to be very clear: Johnny Depp is a great actor. One of the greatest. He reminded me a lot of Brando – his genius and his suffering, his generosity and his paradoxes. Even though we argued several times about on set, she's someone I totally respect and admire, and it's important for me to correct my own narrative because I feel really betrayed by this interview with Charlotte O'Sullivan.”

An exit to find here in its entirety, and which has the merit of being clear. All is well between Maïwenn and his actor, who himself said during the British premiere of the film:

“I feel very lucky that I was offered the role – strangely, bizarrely, perversely lucky (…). It didn't make any sense to me, I tried to talk her out of it. But she wouldn't didn't hear it that way and she had the courage to accept me into her troop whatever we did, whatever we experienced, I think, and I hope you will see that it was well worth the agony. of this kid (him, editor’s note) who was trying to make a film for so long.”

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