Despite winning his high-profile defamation trial opposite ex-wife Amber Heard, the comeback trail for Johnny Depp is to be a long and arduous one, and it speaks volumes that his first feature in years is going to be a French period drama.
There’s no glitzy Hollywood return, with the jury still very much out as to whether or not he’ll ever be welcomed back to the industry’s top table with open arms, but there are a lot people out there who’ve been accused and/or done much worse and keep getting work, so it definitely can’t be ruled out.
Having previously been going by La Favorite, the first-look images unveiled by French publication Premiere have confirmed that the story of Depp’s King Louis XV will now officially be relayed to audiences as Jeanne Du Barry, and you can check out the snaps below.
It hasn’t been an easy ride, though, with rumors raging of tensions behind the scenes between Depp and director Maïwenn, which indicated that the actor’s behavior hasn’t made him the easiest person to work with. Netflix boarded Jeanne Du Barry last year, which will open the film up to a much wider audience when it comes to streaming, but the caveat is that it won’t be made available on-demand until 15 months after its local theatrical rollout.
The production kicked off in the summer of 2022, and marked the first time Depp had set foot on a film set for well over three years, with his pandemic-era efforts City of Lies and Minamata being delayed significantly and then largely buried, just to hammer home how far both his star and stock has plummeted.