Johnny Dep received a standing ovation when he arrived for the premiere of his first film since being banned from Hollywood, RadarOnline.com has learned.
In a surprising development nearly a year after Depp won his $15 million defamation lawsuit to ex-wife Amber heardThe 59-year-old actor arrived at the Cannes Film Festival on Tuesday to attend the premiere of Joan of Barry.
But while the Cannes audience and fans of Depp seemed delighted to witness the actor’s official return to Hollywood after his defamation trial against Heard last year, the pirates of the Caribbean star again came under fire from a number of people who protested against his presence at the film festival.
“The movie you’re about to see—Maïwenn’s Joan of Barry – contains scenes with Johnny Depp, who is involved in proven acts of violence against his ex-wife Amber Heard,” according to a number of flyers distributed at the festival. Page six.
Meanwhile, Heard’s close friend Eve Barlow launched a campaign Instagram ahead of Depp’s premiere on Tuesday, in which she slammed the French film festival for “supporting” the Blow actor and other contending actors and directors.
“Cannes seem proud of their history of supporting rapists and abusers,” Barlow wrote in an Instagram post. “Plus a change.”
“When you support Cannes, you support predators,” a second post read. Two others read: “Jeanne du Barry represents abusers in Cannes” and “Cannes Film Festival: Celebrating Abusers for 76 Years.”
Cannes director Thierry Fremaux defended the decision to launch this year’s festival with the film in which Depp portrays Louis XV, saying that Depp is “extraordinary” in the picture and that he paid “no attention” to the Fantastic beats actors defamation trial against Heard in May and June 2022.
“To tell you the truth, in my life I have only one rule, it is freedom of thought, freedom of expression and freedom to act within a legal framework,” Fremaux said Monday.
“If Johnny Depp wasn’t allowed to star in a movie, or if the movie was banned, we wouldn’t be talking about this,” the Cannes director continued. “If there’s one person in this world who hasn’t shown the slightest interest in this highly publicized lawsuit, it’s me.”