Johnny Depp's First Movie Since Trial, 'Jeanne Du Barry,' Will Open 2023 Cannes Film Festival

Jeanne Du Barry will have its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on May 16

Johnny Depp's next movie will open the prestigious Cannes Film Festival this year.

Jeanne Du Barry, in which Depp, 59, plays King Louis XV opposite costar and director Maïwenn, will have its world premiere on May 16 as it opens the 76th Cannes Film Festival, organizers announced Wednesday. The film will be released the same day in French movie theaters.

The cast also includes Benjamin Lavernhe, Melvil Poupaud, Pierre Richard, Pascal Greggory and India Hair.

An official synopsis of the film reads, "Jeanne Vaubernier, a young working-class woman hungry for culture and pleasure, uses her intelligence and allure to climb the rungs of the social ladder one by one. She becomes the favorite of King Louis XV, who, unaware of her status as courtesan, regains through her his appetite for life. They fall madly in love. Against all propriety and etiquette, Jeanne moves to Versailles, where her arrival scandalizes the court."

An industry source told PEOPLE back in January that there were conversations about the film premiering at the festival.

Related:Johnny Depp Selling Celebrity Portraits of 'People I Admire': I Use Art 'to Express My Feelings'

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The film is a comeback movie of sorts for Oscar nominee Depp, almost one year after a Virginia jury mostly sided with him in his defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.

In December, he and Heard reached a settlement and decided to toss out their appeals. Heard will pay $1 million, and said in a lengthy statement: "I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."

Depp's lawyers added in a statement of their own at the time, "We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light."

Depp will also direct the upcoming film Modi, based on the play Modigliani by Dennis McIntyre. It tells the story of the Italian-born painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani in Paris in 1916. Depp previously said in a press release, "The saga of Mr. Modigliani's life is one that I'm incredibly honored, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen. It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with."

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