Johnny Depp reunited with director Terry Gilliam on the red carpet of the UK premiere of French filmmaker MaÏwenn’s costume drama Jeanne du Barry on Monday evening.
Depp’s London-based film company INA.2 is gearing up to release the Court of Versailles-set tale across the UK from this Friday (April 19).
Gilliam, who directed Depp in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1998) and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (2009), jokingly ticked Depp off for his late arrival.
“Sorry, it’s too late the film has started ten minutes ago,” quipped Gilliam as Depp arrived at the Curzon Mayfair cinema.
He then referred to Depp as the “new Jackie Chan” at the actor enveloped him in a bear hug, seemingly in reference to the fact the star has been working out.
Depp had the last word as he jokingly presented Gilliam to the assembled photographers and videographers, declaring “Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Tim Burton”.
The actor also met briefly with aspiring filmmakers from the London branch of the Ghetto Film School, which also has hubs in Los Angeles and New York, before heading into the screening.
Johnny Depp with students from Ghetto Film School (c) Sam Sarkar
Depp was at Monday night’s premiere in the company of Maïwenn, who co-wrote, directed and stars in the historic love story which opened the Cannes Film Festival last year.
Maïwenn plays the titular courtesan opposite Depp in the role of King Louis XV, who falls under her charm and establishes her at the Court of Versailles as his last official mistress.
Depp told Monday night’s audience that he had been surprised when Maïwenn approached him for the role of Louis XV.
“Instantly what happens in your brain is that you go back to Eastern Kentucky… you realize that you come from the ‘ombelico’, ‘nombril’, the belly button of nowhere and you’re playing the king of France,” he said.
“It made no sense to me, I tried to talk her out of it. She wasn’t hearing it and she had great courage to take me into her cast.”
Maïwenn recounted how Jeanne du Barry was a passion project driven by her fascination with the 18 th century heroine and parallels she felt between their lives.
“It’s a movie that I have wanted to make since 2016 and I was obsessed by Jeanne du Barry for many years because she was a feminist before everybody else,” the filmmaker told the audience.
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