Maïwenn on directing Johnny Depp’s comeback: ‘The crew were afraid of him’
The French director/writer/actor Maïwenn says she has no regrets about casting the “cancelled” Johnny Depp in her historical costume drama, Jeanne du Barry. Yet she admits that, during the shoot, Depp wanted to be treated as an icon “all the time”, “wouldn’t do what the script demanded”, and that the crew were “afraid” of him. She also says that when journalists like me concentrate on Depp (rather than the film’s working-class heroine, Jeanne), it irks her. Maïwenn once grabbed and spat at a journalist whom she felt had betrayed her. I’m sure Depp can be scary but, whisper it, the gorgeous Maïwenn can be scary, too.
Though mega famous in France, the 48-year-old may need a bit of an introduction for UK readers. Maïwenn (French Algerian on her mother’s side, Breton Vietnamese on her father’s) first appeared in two films by Luc Besson, one of them the thriller , which she said was inspired by her relationship with the director (she met him when she was 12, they started dating when she was 15). The pair married, had a daughter together and moved to LA, but when Besson left her for Milla Jovovich, Maïwenn returned to France and put together a one-woman show, , in which she discussed her mother’s toxic desire to make Maïwenn a star. In the semi-autobiographical indie film she presents both her divorced parents as abusive figures.
