Now it is the turn of actor Johnny Depp to be in the midst of controversy. His movie, Jeanne du Barry, will open the Cannes Film Festival on May 16. He plays King Louis XV in this French historical drama.
There is criticism about giving this slot to the movie, but the Festival General-Delegate, Thierry Fremaux, has defended his decision. He told Variety, “It was not a controversial choice. If Johnny Depp had been banned from working it would have been different, but that’s not the case. We only know one thing, it’s the justice system and I think he won the legal case”. Depp fought the case against his former wife, Amber Heard. He won on three counts and was awarded more than $10 million in damages. Heard got $2 million on one count.
Fremaux also said a complaint of assault against Maïwenn by high-profile journalist Edwy Plenel would not affect the film’s participation at Cannes. An AFP report said Plenel claimed Maïwenn assaulted him in a restaurant in Paris in February. Fremaux said: “This has nothing to do with the Festival, especially since we learned of the existence of this complaint after announcing Jeanne du Barry at the opening of Cannes.”
Woody Allen’s new work, a crime romance, Coup de Chance, would not be part of the Festival. This may be because he too has been in the midst of controversies.
In an interview with Le Figaro, Fremaux said that, despite seeing it, he had not “selected Allen’s new work, a French-language crime romance called Coup de Chance, in part because we know that if his movie is shown at Cannes, the controversy would take over, against his films, against the other movies”. However, Fremaux said the film “was not a candidate”.
Allen has been a Cannes regular. In 2016, he screened his period comedy, Cafe Society. Despite a wide and marvellous basket of work, he has had problems. Following the allegations by his adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, that he sexually abused her, his deal with Amazon collapsed in 2018. He was to have directed four movies for them.
His memoir, Apropos of Nothing, was dropped by Hachette publishers but was picked by Arcade later in 2020.
Allen has consistently denied this allegation. Another controversial helmer, Roman Polanski’s new title, The Palace, set on New Year’s Eve in 1999, and starring Fanny Ardant, John Cleese, and German actor Oliver Masucci, will also not be at Cannes this year. He was last seen at the Festival with his erotic drama Venus in Fur.
Polanski was convicted of raping a 13-year-old girl in the US – many, many years ago — and he cannot enter there. So, he now lives in France. The girl, now a woman, has since forgiven the American auteur.
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