Director Feels Betrayed by “Malicious” Johnny Depp Interview, Defends ‘Pirates’ Star

For more than two decades, Johnny Depp was one of the most in-demand actors in Hollywood. That illustrious and wildly profitable career came to a crashing halt in 2018, when Depp’s ex-wife Amber Heard published a Washington Post OpEd.

The article accused Depp of physical, verbal, and sexual abuse. Despite the fact that Mr. Depp had not been found guilty of anything, he was dropped from multiple projects, including Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean 6 and Warner Bros. Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Secrets of Dumbledore.

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It’s been over five years since Depp’s career took a nosedive, but he is slowly working his way back into the industry that shunned him. His most recent project — Jeanne du Barry — is set to hit 500 theaters around the country on May 2. Depp and the film’s director, Maïwenn, have been doing interviews and hitting up red carpets to promote the French film.

Recently, Maïwenn did an interview with The Independent, and she was asked about what it was like working with Depp. According to The Independent, the French director called the 21 Jump Street star “scary.”

“I have to be honest. It’s difficult to shoot with him… all the crew were scared because he has a different kind of humor and we didn’t know if he was going to be on time, or if he was going to be ok to say his lines,” Maïwenn said during The Independent interview. “I mean, even if he was there on set, on time, the crew were afraid of him.”

She also said that Depp would only communicate with her when his “entourage” was around. She also claimed that he would frequently arrive late to set or not at all. In addition to that, she had to cut some of his dialogue because his French accent was not up to par, and he would not work on it with a dialogue coach.

However, Maïwenn is now accusing the publication of twisting her words and making Depp look bad. She spoke to Variety and clarified what she meant by the statement.

“When I made a remark about Johnny being ‘scary,’ I was talking about his charisma, his notoriety, his star status, etc,” Maïwenn wrote. “[I] was shocked when I discovered that the newspaper had headlined that ‘The crew were afraid of [Johnny Depp]’ because written like that, and without its context and subtleties, it absolutely no longer means the same thing. The journalist did not want to grasp the subtlety of my words.”

“I would like to make things very clear: Johnny is ‘scary’ in the sense that his charisma and his status as “king” is impressive,” she continued. “I should have used the word ‘impressive’ if I had known [the writer] Charlotte O’Sullivan would use my words in such a malicious way.”

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The Jeanne du Barry director also claims that she should have been leery of the interview from the start, considering she was not asked about the film. Instead, she said the interviewer’s question was, “What is your favorite film with Johnny Depp?” She said the rest of the interview was about Depp, and she realized she was never really asked about what it was like to make a film about King Louis XV’s most famous mistress.

Variety has reached out to The Independent, but they have not commented on the claims made by Maïwenn.

Jeanne du Barry first premiered in 2023 at the 76th annual Cannes Film Festival in the south of France. The film was incredibly well-received, with Depp and Maïwenn receiving a multi-minute standing ovation.

Do you think The Independent should issue a public apology for its interview with Maïwenn and what it said about Johnny Depp? Let us know in the comments!

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