LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 15: Maiwenn aka Maiwenn Le Besco and Johnny Depp attend the UK Premiere of ... [+]
Johnny Depp told the audience at the premiere of his latest movie that he tried to talk the film’s director out of casting him.
Depp made the comments to the audience Monday night at the UK premiere of the period drama Jeanne du Barry. Depp plays King Louis XV in the film, which is directed by and also stars French film luminary Maïwenn.
The three-time Oscar nominated actor recalled for the crowd at the Curzon Mayfair cinema in London how he was approached by Maïwenn to play the historical royal — and wondered immediately if he was even qualified to play the role.
“Instantly what happens in your brain is that you go back to Eastern Kentucky … you realize that you come from the ‘ombelico,’ ‘nombril,’ the belly button of nowhere and you’re playing the king of France,” Depp told the audience (via Deadline). “It made no sense to me, I tried to talk her out of it. She wasn’t hearing it, and she had great courage to take me into her cast.”
The red carpet premiere of the film comes about close to a year after its debut as an Official Selection of the 2023 Cannes Film Festival in May 2023.
Jeanne du Barry – which marks Depp’s first feature film role since the 2020 indie drama Minamata – opens in theaters overseas on April 19 before premiering in the U.S. on May 1.
LONDON, ENGLAND - APRIL 15: Terry Gilliam and Johnny Depp attend the UK Premiere of "Jeanne Du ... [+]
Depp Reunited With His ‘Fear And Loathing’ Director At The Premiere
Among the familiar faces who greeted Johnny Depp at the UK red carpet premiere of Jean Du Barry was former Monty Python troupe member Terry Gilliam, who directed the actor in the 1998 classic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
According to Deadline, Depp and Gilliam were joking around at the premiere, with the director telling the star upon his arrival at the Curzon Mayfair cinema, “Sorry, it’s too late — the film has started 10 minutes ago.”
The trade publication also noted that when Depp and Gilliam posed for a photo, Depp introduced his filmmaker friend by saying, “Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Tim Burton.” Burton, of course, has collaborated with Depp on several films over the past three decades.
In addition to Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Gilliam directed Depp in the 2009 fantasy The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
The film was a bittersweet occasion since Depp — along with Jude Law and Colin Farrell — stepped in to complete the role originated by Heath Ledger before his untimely death in 2008. The actors all played transformed versions of Ledger’s character, Tony, to complete the film.
Depp is also featured in Gilliam’s 2002 documentary Lost in La Mancha, which chronicles their ill-fated attempt to make the film The Man Who Killed Don Quixote.
Jeanne DuBarry opens in U.S. theaters on May 1.
