Will Gérard Depardieu return to the screens after his trial? The 75-year-old actor hasn’t been to the movies since Retirement home 2 by Claude Zidi Jr released in 2023 where he only appears in archive images during flashbacks and Humans by Slony Slow released in theaters a year ago. No filming seems announced for him in the near future.
“I think that his cinematographic career, at least in France and even probably in Western Europe, is over,” explained journalist Raphaëlle Bacqué to Bruce Toussaint in Bonjour! La Matinale TF1. The co-author, with Samuel Blumenfeld, d‘A very French affair work dedicated to the actor and published by Albin Michel was very skeptical about the return of Gérard Depardieu.
However, accusations of sexual harassment and rape are not always synonymous with professional banishment. It is hard to imagine Jacques Doillon or Benoît Jacquot, whose latest films saw their releases canceled, returning to business, but other cinema professionals have already returned to the plateaus.
The directors are back
Three filmmakers facing charges have returned to work. Luc Besson signed DogMan last year and was even selected at the Venice Film Festival for this film, released in France in September 2023. He is currently filming a Dracula with Caleb Landry Jones and Christoph Waltz. Roman Polanski did the embarrassing The Palace After I accuse. This comedy was released as discreetly as possible, but the problems that the filmmaker drags around are not the only reason for his disenchantment with the public. Woody Allen, blacklisted in the United States, also toured in France Stroke of luck with Valérie Lemercier and Louis Garrel before selling out in Paris with his jazz band.
The careers of the last two filmmakers, however, seem to be behind them more because of their great age – 91 years old for Roman Polanski and 88 years old for Woody Allen – than because of the accusations against them.
Johnny Depp in great shape
While his ex-wife Amber Heard, who accused him of violence, is hiding in Spain, Johnny Depp is still at the top of the bill. As the face of a perfume for a major French luxury brand but also as the main actor in the film Jeanne du Barry directed by Maïwenn and presented at Cannes in 2023. He then returned to directing himself for Modi – Three Ways On The Wing of Madnesspresented at the San Sebastian Festival last September. Riccardo Scarmacio and Al Pacino opposite each other in this biography of the painter Modigliani which received a mixed reception. There is also talk that Johnny Depp will star in the next films by Terry Gilliam and Tim Burton. Ex Jack Sparrow is doing well, thanks for him.
And Depardieu in all this?
In the world of cinema that we tried to survey, no one wants to speak out, more out of weariness on this subject than out of corporatism. Many personalities who had signed a column in support of the actor last year quickly retracted their comments. Justice will decide the legal future of Gérard Depardieu in the coming weeks but, once again, it is probably not the accusations of his victims which will weigh the most for the continuation of his filmography.
“Most of the producers we interviewed say they will not return with Gérard Depardieu,” insists Raphaëlle Bacqué. His behavior is too problematic, he risks being condemned, and his career, in any case, was already in decline.” Unless, in a final provocation, Roman Polanski decides to direct it or a Russian or Chinese producer embarks on the adventure (force on them to manage it!), it seems doubtful that Gérard Depardieu will return to the sets .
