Johnny Depp Arrives at Cannes Film Festival 2023 Amid Controversy
Johnny Depp's movie comeback was stirred some criticism.
The actor stepped out at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 red carpet May 16 for the premiere of Jeanne du Barry, his first major movie role in three years.
The outing in Southern France, which comes nearly a year after his defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard concluded, hasn't been without controversy. In fact, the Cannes premiere has sparked condemnation from members of the movie industry, including 123 French film workers.
"By rolling out the red carpet to men and women who commit assaults," the French workers said in a May 16 statement, per Barrons, "the festival demonstrates that violence in creative circles can be exercised with complete impunity."
The fervor has even raised speculations about whether some high profile attendees would skip out on the Jeanne du Barry screening.
And ahead of the film's premiere, Cannes juror Brie Larson was questioned at a press conference over her plans to see it. According to Deadline, she responded, "You're asking me that?"
"I'm sorry, I don't understand the correlation of why me specifically," the Oscar winner continued, "I'll see it when I see it. I don't know how I feel about it frankly."
Depp's involvement with Jeanne du Barry, in which he plays King Louis XV, marked his first leading role since the conclusion of his legal battles with Heard. The Pirates of the Caribbean alum was awarded $10.4 million in total damages in June 2022 after a jury found Heard liable of defaming Depp for a 2019 Washington Post essay, in which—without naming Depp directly—she called herself a "public figure representing domestic abuse."
The jury also awarded the Aquaman actress $2 million in compensatory damages in her countersuit, which alleged Depp was "unlawfully" targeting her in an "ongoing harassment and online smear campaign."
Prior to his U.S. defamation case, Depp sued The Sun over an article which called him a "wife beater" in reference to his marriage to Heard, which ended in 2017 after two years. At the end of the four-month trial in November 2020, in which Heard testified for three days about alleged domestic violence, a judge dismissed Depp's claim against News Group Newspapers.
"Although he has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel," the judge said in his ruling, "the defendants have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true."
Depp appealed the verdict, which was denied by the U.K. High Court in March 2021.
The contentious legal cases between Depp and Heard, moreover, had no effect on director of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Frémaux's decision include the actor and his film in the lineup.
"If there's one person in this world who didn't find the least interest in this very publicized trial, it's me," he said at a Cannes press conference May 15, per The Hollywood Reporter. "I don't know what it's about. I care about Johnny Depp as an actor."
Keep scrolling to see more celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.
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