‘She made a gesture to please her world’: Journalist assaulted by ‘outspokenly anti-#MeToo’ Johnny Depp film director speaks out

You might think the atmosphere at Cannes could not get any more unsettling after Johnny Depp‘s widely-celebrated appearance there, but you would be wrong. Even though there have been objections to Cannes offering Depp a platform due to the actor’s non-stop controversies, including those legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard that nobody will ever forget, one thing nobody expected was the actor’s director spitting on a journalist and then publicly bragging about it in the media. 

In light of French actor and filmmaker Maiwenn‘s recent admission that she assaulted a journalist by spitting on him, the controversy surrounding Maiwenn and Depp’s appearance at Cannes has only grown. On Tuesday night, the international premiere of Jeanne du Barry will take place at the Cannes Film Festival, marking Johnny Depp’s first red carpet appearance in three years, and his first leading part since his legal fights. But Depp’s grand, triumphant return will now not go off without a hitch. 

According to The Telegraph, Maiwenn admitted to spitting on Plenel during an appearance last week on a French TV interview, saying, “Do I confirm that I assaulted him? Yes, I’ll speak about it when I’m ready.” As she went on to add, “I’m very anxious about the release of my film.”

During his first interview with Variety after the spitting incident, journalist Edwy Plenel explained, “She’s outspokenly anti-#MeToo and she made a gesture to please her world, and that’s why she bragged about it on TV. We could see a sort of pride that echoed that world.” Plenel shed light on how the French film industry has not embraced the movement against sexual harassment and abuse, and that the fact that Cannes backed Maiwenn’s film is evidence of this. 

And so it turns out that the cast of Jeanne du Barry, a film about the scandalous relationship between Louis XV of France and Jeanne du Barry (played by Mawenn), is just as divisive as the historical king himself. Jeanne du Barry will premiere in French theaters on May 16; Depp, once Hollywood’s most coveted actor, will get around ten to fifteen minutes of screen time. However, Depp’s new friend, Prince Badr bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan Al Saudi, a member of Saudi Arabia’s Royal Commission, appears to be fine with this.