Johnny Depp’s new movie Jeanne Du Barry will be launched for pre-sales at this month’s Cannes market, marking a first narrative feature for the actor in more than three years.
In a report from ScreenDaily about Wild Bunch’s Cannes market slate, the trade confirms previous reports that Depp will star alongside Maïwenn in the French period drama about Jeanne Bécu, a woman born into poverty but who rose through the ranks of the court of King Louis XV to become his mistress. Depp will play Louis XV (nicknamed ‘Louis The Beloved’) opposite actress and filmmaker Maïwenn who will also direct.
Louis Garrel, Pierre Richard and Noemie Lvovsky are also set to star. A start date has yet to be revealed.
Depp is currently in the middle of a protracted and messy legal battle with his former wife Amber Heard. The three-time Oscar nominee hasn’t acted in a narrative feature since Minamata in early 2019 and since that time has described himself as a victim of cancel culture.
The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor lost a libel case in 2020 against UK tabloid The Sun, which referred to him as a “wife beater” while covering his divorce from Heard. Shortly after the ruling he was replaced in Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts franchise. Since then his only film and TV work has been to voice web series Puffins Impossible.
According to Screen, Wild Bunch’s typically packed Cannes slate will also include the new film from British legend Ken Loach. The Old Oak will be set in the north of England in a former coal-mining village that has never fully recovered from the closure of the mines. Filming is due to get underway later this month.
Wild Bunch will be in Cannes with a whopping 14 movies in Official Selection and other sidebars. Competition titles comprise Ali Abbasi’s Holy Spider, Arnaud Desplechin’s Brother And Sister, Cristian Mungiu’s R.M.N., Jean-Pierre and Luc Dardenne’s Tori And Lokita and Claire Denis’s Stars At Noon.
In the report, there is no mention of Roman Polanski’s new film The Palace, which Wild Bunch is handling for sales, indicating that the project isn’t a priority for the company in this market or that they don’t want to create noise around it. We have reached out to the French seller.