Johnny Depp Forces 27-Minute Cannes Press Conference Delay After Being Stuck in Traffic

Johnny Depp was 40 minutes late to the press conference for “Jeanne du Barry,” the period drama that opened the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday night. Depp was stuck in traffic, according to a source close to his team, forcing the event to start 27 minutes behind schedule and without him.

He also missed the earlier photo call with director and star Maïwenn and the rest of the cast of “Jeanne du Barry” due to the gridlock along the Croisette. Photographers were told that Depp would return to take pictures later in the afternoon.

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When he arrived at 12:41 p.m. (the conference was called for noon), everyone seated at the presser was able to hear cheers and applause before he walked into the room. When he got there, he expressed his appreciation for Tuesday’s premiere of “Jeanne du Barry.” A night earlier, the embattled actor held back tears as the audience embraced the film, starring Depp as King Louis XV, with a seven-minute standing ovation.

“The applause and the reaction from the audience… the energy of the reaction seemed to go on and on,” Depp said. “I was very proud.”

The movie marks Depp’s return to acting after a three-year hiatus following his long legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard, which culminated in a U.S. defamation trial won by Depp. In that time, he hasn’t worked with a major studio and he was forced to exit the “Harry Potter” spinoff series “Fantastic Beasts,” in which he played the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald. Not everyone parted ways with the actor in the wake of his myriad controversies. Dior, the French luxury fashion house, stood by the controversial star and signed him to a massive $20 million-plus deal, the biggest pact ever in men’s fragrance.

Most of the questions at the press conference were fielded to Depp, who told the room he was here to talk about the movie, not his personal life. Still, he spoke at length about his relative absence from the industry after a reporter asked if he felt boycotted by Hollywood.

“Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? You’d have to not have a pulse to feel like, ‘No. None of this is happening. It’s a weird joke,'” he told the press in the room. “When you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a function of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yes you feel boycotted.”

He continued, “I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood because I don’t think about Hollywood. It’s a strange, funny time where everybody would love to be able to be themselves, but they can’t. They must fall in line with the person in front of them. If you want to live that life, I wish you the best.”

Depp also spoke about his disdain of the media, who breathlessly covered his legal trials and fallout from Hollywood. “They majority of what you read is fantastically, horrifically written fiction,” he said. “It’s like asking the question, ‘How are you doing?’ But the subtext is, ‘God, I hate you.'”

Prior to his arrival, Maïwenn kicked off the publicity event by expressing her moving response to last night’s premiere. “It’s a film I’ve been thinking about for 17 years,” the filmmaker said. “There was a huge amount of emotion because the film also released in France, so it was double the amount of pressure.”

Critics weren’t as kind as the audience was in the room at the Palais. Variety’s Peter Debruge called “Jeanne du Barry” a “too-polite period movie,” though he praised Maiwenn for tapping “into the emotional core of a most unusual relationship.”

Wednesday’s event was expected to draw outsized attention, not only because it’s a rare public appearance from Depp, but also because the director recently confessed to assaulting a reporter. Days prior to the premiere, Maiwenn made headlines for admitting she spat in the face of investigative journalist Edwy Plenel, the founder of Mediapart, in February because he had published a report that several women had accused her ex-husband, director Luc Besson, of rape. However, it went unmentioned at the press conference.

“Jeanne du Barry” revolves around the tumultuous relationship of the French king Louis XV and his great love (played by Maiwenn), whom he brought into the Versailles Palace to live near him even though she wasn’t a noble. Nicknamed “the beloved,” Louis XV eventually died as an unpopular king because he was accused of corruption. He reigned for 59 years, the second-longest in France’s history following Louis XIV.

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