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KING FOR A DAY
JEANNE DU BARRY Actor-director Maïwenn confronts controversy with Johnny Depp…
When Maïwenn met Johnny Depp, there were always going to be eyebrows raised. She’s the rebellious French actor-director (Polisse, Mon Roi) recently fined €400 for assaulting a French journalist. He’s the Hollywood star who fell from grace after his court case with ex-wife Amber Heard. Together, they’re co-starring in Jeanne Du Barry, a period drama written, produced and directed by Maïwenn, set in the court of France’s King Louis XV.
With Depp cast as Louis XV, Maïwenn plays Jeanne, a woman of low birth who rises to become the king’s favourite, scandalising the court. ‘As soon as someone who has power falls in love with someone who has no power at that time, there’s scandal there because it’s balancing prejudice… believing that that person is in a relationship for different reasons than love itself,’ says Maïwenn. ‘It’s love between two people belonging to two different social classes. And we are always against [that]… in the 18th century but even today.’
As for Depp’s own scandals, Maïwenn, 47, decided it was ‘none of my business’ and cast him regardless. ‘I basically gave the traits that I was discovering about Johnny to Louis XV in a way, and this is why my king has got all the feelings that Johnny [showed] in his interviews. Not so much in the roles that he played. But I got the way he is and what he feels, and I wanted those specific traits to be in my king. Because I think films are documentaries on actors.’
Setting the film in the luxurious Versailles – where the film was shot – was also ‘a metaphor’ for the movie industry, adds the writer-director-star. Like the backbiting court, the film world can be a place ‘where artists are not always welcomed… especially if they don’t have a formal training in filmmaking or if they come from a different background or try to do something different’. It’s something that mirrors her own experience, she adds.
‘The fact that I didn’t have a formal training was very much badly judged by other artists.’ At least she can now say she’s French cinema royalty.
JEANNE DU BARRY OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 19 APRIL.
Q&A
Johnny Depp
What attracted you to playing Louis XV?
When I learned that Maïwenn was interested in making the film and making it with me as Louis XV… the actor in you that has the right instincts, which are very interesting, [thinks] ‘I haven’t done this before. There’s a possibility of total failure. I could fall flat on my face. I like it. It’s what I should do.’
Were there ways you could relate to Louis XV?
I mean, there are things of course that one could relate to. Not in the sense that one believes oneself to be a king… but I’ve had to adapt my world into the way that I have to live. How do I live? I live behind windows. I live behind car windows, train windows, plane windows, hotel room windows… fucking windows. You could also keep going on but imagine the king [like this]. I’ve been scrutinised since I was 23 years old. Now I’m kicking 60 in the ass. That’s a long time.
You’ve been through a controversial period in your career. Do you feel disposable now in Hollywood?
Clearly I am. The problem with me is when they threw me in the bin, or whatever it was, it was a good experience. I learned a lot from it.