Maïwenn Says the ‘Jeanne du Barry’ Crew Were “Afraid" of Johnny Depp

In a few weeks, Americans will finally get to see Johnny Depp in Maïwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry," the latest take on the romance between King Louis XV and his lover. It opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, earning plenty of controversy because of Depp’s casting.

Last year, French journalist Bernard Montiel had revealed that Depp and Maïwenn were not getting along during the shoot of ‘Jeanne’ and that there was tension for months between director and actor. Depp is said to have been frequently late or just wouldn’t show up to the set at all. Production is going “very, very badly,” Montiel, said at the time, “they are just not getting along, and keep fighting.”

In a new interview with The Independent, Maïwenn didn’t mince words when describing the working relationship she had with Depp on-set.

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… I mean, even if he was there on set, on time, the crew were afraid of him.

Maïwenn goes on to add that she no longer speaks to Deep and has no working relationship with him:

There’s been no normal relationship since the shoot. Johnny for me is a huge genius but he’s in another world. I cannot communicate with him.

Last year, Maïwenn admitted that she was not allowed to knock on the door of Depp’s dressing room during the shooting of ‘Jeanne.’ When she didn’t listen to that advice, and still knocked on his door, Depp was none too happy about it.

“Jeanne du Barry” was deemed Depp’s acting comeback following his defamation trial against Amber Heard. In another interview, via Metro, Depp tackled his unusual personality, saying that it comes with the immense fame he had in the ‘90s and ‘00s.

But fame does funny things to a man. ‘The thing hits you and then you can’t go anywhere without people looking at you. And that’s a very interesting way to grow up. But after 38 years of something like that… The first thing that’s really mad is to expect anyone who’s lived in that kind of situation to be anything remotely close to normal. Now, to make matters worse,
I wasn’t normal before that. So I’ve had to adapt my world into the way that I have to live.

Depp does admit that, after the Heard allegations, he was deemed persona non grata in Hollywood, claiming they “threw me in the bin” to explain why he hasn’t worked within the studio system for years.