Not to sound too harsh, but the funniest thing about upcoming Jeanne du Barry without a shadow of a doubt are the rumors that Johnny Depp barely speaks a lick of French.
After all, since the fallen star has been deemed virtually unemployable in Hollywood, he was forced to head across to Europe to line up his next couple of projects, with director Maïwenn’s lavish historical drama being joined by Serbian animated series Puffins, where the former Jack Sparrow voices an anthropomorphized bird inspired by his real-life persona.
Jeanne du Barry hasn’t been plain sailing, though, with behind the scenes scuttlebutt claiming the director and leading man were often at odds with each other, and the fact the first trailer doesn’t feature a great deal of Depp spouting dialogue in the production’s native tongue may be a sign that he might’ve been better off mastering the language before tackling the part.
Then again, it did mark the first time he’d set foot on a film set for well over three years when cameras finally began rolling, and anyone that hasn’t been living under a rock in the time since will know that he’s been pretty busy. Jeanne du Barry has been confirmed as the opening film of the Cannes Film Festival, which could be a sign that it’s not too shabby, but we’ll just have to wait and see if it ends up leading to bigger and better things for Depp, who was once the highest-paid star in the industry.