On Tuesday, the 76th Cannes Film Festival officially began with Maiwenn’s Jeanne du Barry, and it appears that Johnny Depp got the audience reaction he had hoped for. The actor received a 7-minute standing ovation, and even teared up as the crowd applauded him. A video of the moment is doing the rounds of social media. Cannes Film Festival 2023 opened with the premiere of Johnny Depp's film, Jeanne du Barry, directed by Maiwenn, where the actor plays French king Louis XV. The period drama marks Johnny's first film after his high-profile trial last year with his ex-wife Amber Heard. Both parties had accused each other of physical and verbal abuse. Jeanne du Barry is being dubbed as Johnny's 'comeback' film.
Depp plays King Louis XV in “Jeanne du Barry,” directed and starring French actor and director Maïwenn Le Besco, known as Maïwenn, as the French courtesan Madame du Barry who climbed the social ladder at Versailles to become the king’s favourite.The French-language film, which does not yet have a release date for North America, marks the start of a comeback for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor, who has made few film or TV appearances since his trial concluded in June 2022.Earlier, in an interview with Variety, Cannes chief Thierry Fremaux had addressed the potential backlash to having Jeanne du Barry opening the festival. He had said, “I don’t see Maiwenn’s film as a controversial choice at all, because 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 in court. But the movie isn’t about Johnny Depp.”