On Tuesday, the Cannes Feature Festival was set to start on a rocky start, with Johnny Depp returning in the opening feature. Showing off his French abilities as King Louis XV.
Despite his victory in a defamation battle against ex-wife Amber Heard last year. Which included nasty domestic violence charges; the 59-year-old’s career has plummeted in Hollywood.
On the other hand, Depp has been gradually returning to work and will walk the Cannes red carpet for the opening night of the French drama “Jeanne du Barry.” About an 18th-century monarch who fell in love with a prostitute.
Thierry Fremaux, the festival’s director, told reporters that he was “not interested” in Depp’s trial but added, “I am interested in Depp, the actor.”
Michael Douglas will also be honoured with an honorary Palme d’Or at the opening ceremony.
The French Riviera festival, which runs until May 27, features a spate of high-profile debuts. Including “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on Wednesday, Harrison Ford’s fifth and final excursion as the whip-cracking archaeologist.
Filled with blockbuster premiers
On Saturday, Martin Scorsese will showcase his latest epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.
Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore star in Todd Haynes’ “May December” on the same day.
It is one of 21 films directed by a record seven women contending for the highest prize, the Palme d’Or.
“I refuse congratulations; it is an evolution,” Fremaux remarked of rising women’s representation at the event. We don’t choose films based on gender.”
Several Palme d’Or winners, including Britain’s two-time winner Ken Loach and Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda. And Germany‘s Wim Wenders is back in the running.
Last year’s winner, Sweden’s Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), leads the jury, including Hollywood stars Brie Larson and Paul Dano.
A thousand police and security guards have been deployed for the festival, amid worries of protests about President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reforms, with the CGT union threatening to cut power.