The opening film is accompanied by several controversies, between the avowed aggression of Maïwenn on the journalist Edwy Plenel, the return of Johnny Depp on the big screen and the tensions between the director and the star on the set.
The Croisette may already have its first scandal. Screened at the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, Tuesday May 16, Jeanne du Barry, Maïwenn’s new film, which tells the life of the courtesan of King Louis XV, is expected at the turn. He notably signs the return to the big screen of the American star Johnny Depp, who plays the sovereign, after the ultra-publicized trial which pitted him against his ex-wife Amber Heard, against a backdrop of accusations of domestic violence and then mutual accusations of defamation. Franceinfo returns to the promotion of this feature film, which is not easy for the director, also targeted by a complaint from the boss of Mediapart for assault.
The director admitted to attacking the journalist Edwy Plenel
Guest Wednesday in the program “Quotidien” on TMC, Maïwenn Le Besco admitted to having assaulted the journalist Edwy Plenel, the co-founder of the Mediapart site. “Can we know why?”asked presenter Yann Barthès. “No”she replied, all smiles. “Now is not the time. I will talk about it when it is the right time. I am very anxious about the release of my film”she justified herself. “You don’t want it to pollute [la sortie de] Jeanne du BarryI understand”agreed the presenter.
The founder of Mediapart had filed a complaint on March 7 against the actress for this attack, which occurred in a Parisian restaurant. No words had been spoken, which left the reporter “very traumatized by hate” expressed by the filmmaker. The act was of no physical consequence, but “completely detrimental on the moral and psychic level”, is noted in his complaint. According to the deductions of Edwy Plenel, who “personally never had trouble leaving” with Maïwenn, the articles published by Mediapart on the suspicions of rape targeting Luc Besson, former companion and father of one of the filmmaker’s children, could have motivated his action.
The filming was marred by rumors of tension with Johnny Depp
The shooting of this period film, in which Johnny Depp plays the role of Louis XV, didn’t seem like it was easy. In October, on the set of “Touche pas à mon poste”, columnist Bernard Montiel assured that relations between the director of polishes or My king and the American star were tense: “It’s going very, very badly. They don’t get along at all. They fight constantly.”
Noises that the director wanted to qualify, without however denying them, during the promotion of the film. “It was intense, sometimes tumultuous, but I’m used to it. As with all stars of this caliber, moreover inhabited like him, there are tremendous pros and cons. You take the package, it’s part of the pact”she cleared in a long interview with the magazine Harper’s Bazaar.
“Johnny is a star, a king…and an American!”
Maïwenn, director of “Jeanne du Barry”in the magazine “Première”
“I was told that, to warn him that we were waiting for him to shoot a scene, I could not go knock on the door of his dressing room”she also says in First. “But one day, I did it anyway. And there, he made me understand that I had committed an unacceptable intrusion and asked me what it would do to me if he came knocking on the door of my dressing room . I replied that everyone does it all the time. Because that’s how a set works in France!”
According to her, the tensions ended up easing and the two actors (she plays the title role of her film) knew how to work in good intelligence: “He made an effort, even if I saw that it cost him. I understood that in the United States, the stars are not really directed. (…) But in France, the boss is the director. So with each take, I obviously shot his proposal, but I also asked him to interpret mine to have the choice during the editing. And on that, he really played the game. “
Proof that dissension is a thing of the past, Maïwenn confirmed on the set of “Daily“that she would walk up the stairs in Cannes alongside Johnny Depp.
The American star is making a comeback after his media trials
The presence in Jeanne du Barry of the American actor, away from the sets for several months, adds a sulfurous touch to the film. Because Johnny Depp has mainly occupied the legal section. First in a libel suit, lost, against the British newspaper The Sun, then for another lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard, who accused him of domestic violence. Charges denied by the actor, who assured in return that he had been the victim of beatings. A legal situation that made the director hesitate.
“The film was shot last summer, it was coming out of its second trial. I was full of worries, I said to myself: what will become of its image?”
Maïwenn, director of “Jeanne du Barry”at AFP
The filmmaker revealed that he first thought of French actors, who refused his project, before turning to the former husband of Vanessa Paradis. Once her agreement was obtained, she no longer varied her position despite her problems with the law. “I had chosen Johnny Depp for his talent, his private life has nothing to do with me”she sweeps in Harper’s Bazaar. “He has lost his first trial [face au journal anglais The Sun], he won the second [face à Amber Heard]… VSIt was word against word, I didn’t feel like judging him”she added in “Daily”.
However, Johnny Depp did not completely win his lawsuit against Amber Heard since he had to pay two million dollars in compensation to his ex-wife for defamatory remarks. She was ordered to pay Johnny Depp $15 million in damages for defamation.
Asked about this at a press conference, the general delegate of the Festival, Thierry Frémaux, tried to clear up the controversy: “If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or if the film was banned, we wouldn’t be here to talk about it. So we saw Maïwenn’s film, and he could have been in competition. She would have been the eighth female director in the running for the Palme d’Or, he argued, quoted by variety (article in English).
“This [controverse] appeared once the film was announced in Cannes, because everyone knew that Johnny had made a film in France (…) To tell the truth, in my life, I have only one rule, it is freedom of thought, and freedom of expression and action within a legal framework”he added.