Both Johnny Depp and his daughter with Vanessa Paradis, Lily-Rose Depp (the two were together from 1998 until 2012) have had controversial movie and television debuts at the Cannes Film Festival this year.
For the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, Cannes marked his official “return to Hollywood,” following the highly-publicized and just as divisive defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, which brought to light some of the abuse and toxicity both actors faced at the hands of each other. While Amber has reportedly left Hollywood in favor of a quieter life in Spain with daughter Oonagh, her ex-husband received a 7-minute standing ovation after the first screening of Jeanne du Barry.
Meanwhile, his daughter, along with co-star Abel Tesfaye (The Weeknd) and director Sam Levinson (of Euphoria fame), have sparked a divide among viewers for their new Max show The Idol, which debuted on Rotten Tomatoes with a 9% rating, and has been accused of portraying exploitation in Hollywood with more exploitation, through overly sexualized scenes told via the male gaze. It was also reported to have had a very toxic work environment on set.
Though at the time Lily remained largely quiet when her dad was in court in Fairfax, Virginia, and little is known of where their relationship stands, she gave a rare comment about how she feels of his return to Hollywood.
Speaking with Entertainment Tonight, she said: “I’m super happy for him. I’m super excited,” adding: “And it’s so awesome that we get to do projects that we’re super proud of.”
Jeanne du Barry is a historical drama film written, directed and produced by Maïwenn, who stars as the titular character of the film opposite Johnny, who plays Louis XV, King of France from 1715 to 1774.
Lily, during a separate press conference for The Idol, also shut down reports of a toxic set, telling press: “It’s always a little sad and disheartening to say mean false things said about someone you care about,” maintaining: “It wasn’t reflective at all of my experience.”
As for the director, while he found the allegations “foreign” though acknowledged it is certainly a provocative show (Rolling Stone described it as “torture porn”) he feels all press is good press, and said during the press conference: “When my wife read me the article, I looked at her and I said, ‘I think we’re about to have the biggest show of the summer.'”
As for Johnny, he too has remained largely quiet on the topic of his trial with Amber and his divisive return to Hollywood, though he said of his highly-publicized comeback at a press conference: “The truth is the truth,” adding: “As far as it being a positive or a negative to the film, all the sort of abstract whispers, all that does is maybe people talk about the film in this way, or they will talk about your work in a certain way up to a certain point. The fact is that we’re all here because we made a film, not because we have a product to sell.”
He went so far as to suggest his “return” shouldn’t be considered a comeback: “I keep wondering about the word ‘comeback’ because I didn’t go anywhere. As a matter of fact, I live about 45 minutes away,” declaring he “didn’t go anywhere” and: “The notion of something like that is a bizarre mystery.”
Scroll below for more photos of Johnny and Lily-Rose.
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