In a recent video, filmed at the Cannes Film Festival, Johnny Depp reflected on the challenging past few years.
This comes after Depp received a 7-minute-long standing ovation for his new movie at the Festival.
It marks the actor’s first comeback to the big screen since the highly publicised defamation lawsuit against his ex-girlfriend Amber Heard last year.
Depp’s career has been a lengthy one, having starred in movies such as Finding Neverland, Sweeney Todd and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. However, it is arguably his role as Jack Sparrow for which he is most well known, even getting nominated for an Academy Award for his performance back in 2004.
Fans will be aware that in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Depp made his acting debut as the pirate. He later returned to the character for the sequels Dead Man’s Chest, At World’s End, and On Stranger Tides before delivering his final performance in Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017).
This wasn’t meant to be the final film in the Disney franchise, but after Heard accused Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, the actor was fired from the franchise and later filed a defamation lawsuit in the US.
Depp won the $50 million lawsuit in the high-profile case, which was resolved last year, and this prompted supporters of the Hollywood actor to urge Disney to bring him back into the Pirates of the Caribbean universe.
However, it seems unlikely that Depp will return to the iconic role as the star himself has shown reluctance to work with Disney again.
Despite this, Depp has just made his first comeback to the big screen since the defamation case.
His latest movie, Jeanne du Barry, has just made its debut as the opening night film at the Cannes Film Festival. The debut meant Depp got to walk the red carpet for the first time, where he was met with screaming fans, where he spent a full 5 minutes talking to various members of the public.
Once inside the theatre, Depp’s comeback was met with yet more praise, as the actor received a whopping 7-minute-long standing ovation for his performance as King Louis XV, as per Variety.
Depp’s appearance at the festival has not gone unnoted, and Festival director Thierry Fremaux spoke out about why they opened with his first movie back after the defamation case.
“I don’t know about the image of Johnny Depp in the U.S,” he said.
“To tell you the truth, in my life, I only have one rule: It’s the freedom of thinking, and the freedom of speech and acting within a legal framework. If Johnny Depp had been banned from acting in a film, or the film was banned, we wouldn’t be here talking about it.”
“This [controversy] came up once the film was announced at Cannes because everybody knew Johnny had made a film in France…I don’t know why she chose him but it’s a question you should ask Maiwenn,” Fremaux added.
“As for the rest, I’m the last person to be able to discuss all this. If there’s one person in this world who didn’t find the least interest in this very publicised trial, it’s me. I don’t know what it’s about. I also care about Johnny Depp as an actor.”
Since then, a new video has been posted by Photographer Greg Williams of Depp getting dressed for Cannes on his Instagram account, and the star got candid about the whole experience.
“Walking up the steps at the thing, I’ve done it a few times with different films over many years,” Depp said about his return. “It’s always kind of – it’s quite beautiful, when you’re at the receiving end, you just feel like, initially you feel f***ing exposed.”
Williams questioned Depp about how it felt to be at Cannes again after so long, and Depp said that a buddy had contacted him to say it was his “comeback film or something.”
“I mean, you call it whatever you want, you could make it whatever you want but comeback? I mean, you have to go away to come back,” Depp said. “I didn’t go nowhere. Maybe I was not thought of or looked at or allowed to be looked at…”
When asked whether he had any “satisfaction” about going back to Cannes, Depp replied with a smile: “This – you know, yes, there is. Because, you know, at the top of this horrible period, at the beginning of it it was… you know, again, it’s like kind of what I was saying before. People can hit the bottom many times,” he said.
“You can drop straight to the bottom a billion f***ing times, but if you’re lucky enough to find the basement, you’re alright, you know?”
