Johnny Depp Jeanne Du Barry Interview 2024 post movie special for Canadian and American cinema

So what was your immediate reaction when Maywen said please come and play Louis XV? The first thing that hits you is like the challenge, you know, instant sort of like, ah, you know, there's a spark, there's an interest because there's a great challenge in that. Then your brain kicks in. I mean, this is a guy was the king of France. Perhaps a French actor should play the part, you know. And I said that to Maywen when we spoke, but again, like, I thought she was very brave to have come to me with the idea. So what kind of research, once you said yes, what kind of research did you do into Louis? Because I'm assuming you did more than just read the script. Yeah, yeah, yeah, a little bit. I, of course, you know, picked up whatever material there was and I got biographies. And one thing I found, the interesting thing I found in the biographies is a lot of the information about it is almost like a chatty conversation between two people when you're, you know, you're a teenager. Like these sort of biographers kind of saying, no, this happened, no, this happened. That kind of thing. So, I mean, I took what appeared to be consistent. I also, then it kind of hit me, the notion of being, well, being king at 12, basically. With all these people around you and having been conditioned. It's a very odd way for a human being to grow up. And I thought, because he's trained to be one way with, let's say, a visiting emissary, a king or whatever, and then he has to be this way with his court or his senate or whatever. To me it was like, in a sense, it was like he had to learn 11 different personalities and the last one that was available to him, really, was his private life. So, history hasn't always painted Jean de Bary kindly, I think that's fair to say. Very true. But this film portrays her as smart and sexy and it's almost a kind of recalibration of the character. Why do you think Louis was so infatuated with her? In a way, she was sort of conditioned to survive the way, the only way she had been taught, really. Even though she had been somewhat experienced, from what I have read, from what I have, you know, sort of located, there was something about her, like he saw some strange innocence. She didn't cut corners or edit much. She was pretty straight with him. And I think that that was probably very refreshing for a guy who was surrounded by people who were paid, telling how great he was all the time, you know. So, I think she was a very different species than he really ever had the opportunity to experience. So, can you talk about working with Mei Wen? You've directed and starred in a film before, you know how challenging that is. What was your working relationship with her? Now, once you're in the trenches and you're shooting the thing, I think it can be very difficult for the writer, director and star of the film to deal with changes, you know, at times. So, yeah, we, you know, disagreed here and there. But that, I mean, the process is the process, is the process. So, that will always kind of arrive, or maybe the complete opposite with a filmmaker, where you can't stop laughing at each other. But, so there were times when, you know, we would have to talk the thing out. But it, you know, for me, ultimately, I wouldn't have done the film if I didn't think that I had something to offer. That's the only reason to do a film. I was going to ask you how you approach playing Louis, because it's a really beautifully restrained performance, almost sort of taciturn. And I think you drew inspiration, as you have in the past, from a lot of silent movie actors that you admire. So, can you just talk about how you portrayed him? Well, what I wanted to do with him was, again, you know, I wanted to try to be able to show those facets of the individual, not the king, but the individual. Then you start thinking less about him as the king of France. And that's really when, for me, I started to understand the character. But in terms of your mannerisms, because there's a real hint of mischief to him and a playful nature to the character. Well, I think for someone in that position, and again, I mean, some of this stuff resonates for me. Not that I'm a king of any sort, but it resonates just in a sense that this guy, within his circle, let's say, within his world, he had to be available, kind of at all times. And yet, he was, you know, in a sense, hidden away. And living his life that way. So, you know, the layers between him and the real world, you know, they start to get thicker and weirder. It has been something like that for me at times, just in a sense that, you know, I certainly wouldn't complain about it ever, but there is a part of you that is kind of cut off, you know, from the world. You know, if you go out, it gets weird, you know, it just gets weird. I mean, actors always say, I think you've said to me in the past, that you really find the character when you put the clothes on and you put the hair on. So, was it a similar thing with this? Yeah, you have your idea of the character, your image of the character in your mind, all that. But you don't really get to fully feel the character until you're in his skin, as it were, you know, in the costume. Because the costume also dictates how you stand, how you move, you know. So, Louis' introduction is, I think, in the Hall of Mirrors, where you're kind of seen at a distance and you walk through. It's a brilliant kind of intro to the character. It's crazy, it was crazy walking into that place, because you're walking past the bed that Louis Gans was born in, just to your right-hand side, before you go into the Hall of Mirrors. When I turned the corner to go into the Hall of Mirrors, I saw, like, 250 extras, decked in, like, you know, satin gowns, mad, you know, wigs. And it was instant time travel, for a moment, you know. It looks gorgeous, it's very sumptuous, it reminded me of Barry Lyndon, in a way, in Kubrick's Barry Lyndon. But Barry Lyndon is kind of what I felt at the time, while we were shooting certain scenes. And, you know, I wish, in a way that I weren't in the film, just so that I could see everyone's work, you know. But especially Laurent, the DP, Dayan, Laurent Dayan. He was brilliant, he was brilliant. He looked at the scenes very, I think he looked at things kind of classically, and then kind of went against his instinct, in a sense, you know. He was very brave, some of the lighting was very brave. Some of the fire lit stuff, some of the darker imagery. He was very brave and, you know, he was amazing, that guy. Here's what I believe, I believe that my woman's passion, and, you know, dedication to her vision of Jeanne de Barry, and the performances that were available to her, let alone her own. I knew that she was walking away with good material, you know. So, yeah, I know I trust, but I have no doubt that she made the film that she wanted to make. And I don't know if anybody is ever satisfied, you know, I don't know. But at the very least, if she got to make the film that she wanted to make, and she's happy with it, then I think she did something very, very special. You know, it's one of those times that you, you know, you understand that there's not many opportunities to be in that kind of situation.