Cannes opens with Johnny Depp’s French comeback drama

The Cannes Film Festival was set for a stormy start on Tuesday, with Johnny Depp making his comeback in the opening film, showing off his French skills as King Louis XV.

The 59-year-old’s career has nosedived in Hollywood, despite his victory in a defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard last year that featured bitter domestic violence allegations.

But Depp has been gradually returning to work and will hit the red carpet for the opening night in Cannes with French period drama “Jeanne du Barry” about the 18th-century monarch who fell in love with a prostitute.

Festival director Thierry Fremaux told reporters he was “not interested” in Depp’s trial, adding: “I am interested in Depp the actor.”

The French Riviera festival, which runs until May 27, includes a slew of hot-ticket premieres, including “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny” on Wednesday, the fifth and final outing for Harrison Ford as the whip-cracking archaeologist.

Saturday will see Martin Scorsese present his latest epic, “Killers of the Flower Moon”, alongside stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert De Niro.

That day also sees Natalie Portman and Julianne Moore in indie favourite Todd Haynes’s “May December”. It is among 21 films competing for the top prize Palme d’Or, by a record seven women directors.

The jury is led by last year’s winner, Sweden’s Ruben Ostlund (“Triangle of Sadness”), and also includes Hollywood stars Brie Larson and Paul Dano.

Around a thousand police and security guards are in place for the festival, amid fears of protests linked to President Emmanuel Macron’s unpopular pension reforms, with the CGT union even threatening to cut power.