New Johnny Depp movie will open Cannes Film Festival

 Actor Johnny Depp gestures as he leaves the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse following his defamation trial against his ex-wife Amber Heard, in Fairfax, Virginia, U.S., May 27, 2022. (REUTERS)

Johnny Depp’s first live-action film since the widely watched defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard was selected as the opening movie for next month’s Cannes Film Festival in France, organizers said on Wednesday.

The French-language film “Jeanne du Barry” stars director Maïwenn Le Besco, known as Maiwenn, as Jeanne Becu, a woman who rose from poverty to the circles of King Louis XV. Depp plays the king in the movie, which will have its world premiere at Cannes on May 16.

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor has made few film or TV appearances since his trial concluded in June 2022. He made surprise cameos at the MTV Video Music Awards and Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty fashion show.

Depp also voiced an animated puffin in last month’s “Johnny Puff: Secret Mission.”

The actor is trying to rebuild his career after winning a near-total victory in his U.S. legal battle with Heard, a fellow actor who had accused him of abuse. Depp denied hitting her or any other woman.

Two years earlier, Depp lost a libel suit in Britain against the Sun tabloid, which called him a “wife beater.” A London High Court judge ruled that Depp had repeatedly assaulted Heard. He was soon dropped from “Harry Potter” spinoff franchise “Fantastic Beasts” and largely shunned by Hollywood.

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