Director Of Johnny Depp Comeback Film Clarifies Statement About Crew Being ‘Afraid Of Him’!

Director Maïwenn would like to set the record straight on these comments she made about working with Johnny Depp!

For those who don’t recall, the 60-year-old actor made his big comeback in 2023 with the French-language film Jeanne Du Barry following his lengthy legal battle with Amber Heard. Maïwenn — who wrote, directed, and starred in the movie — opened up to The Independent last week about what it was like to work with Johnny. And, well, she didn’t have a glowing review of him!

She told the outlet the Pirates of the Caribbean star wanted to be treated like an icon “all the time” and “wouldn’t do what the script demanded.” Worst of all? Maïwenn claimed the entire crew was “afraid” of him! The 48-year-old filmmaker explained:

“It’s difficult to shoot with him … all the crew were scared because he has a different kind of humor and we didn’t know if he was going to be on time, or if he was going to be okay to say his lines … I mean, even if he was there on set, on time, the crew were afraid of him.”

Related: Johnny Depp Costar From BEFORE Amber Heard Years Says He Was Verbally Abusive On Set!

Jeez! He seemed like a complete nightmare! This isn’t the first time Maïwenn complained about Johnny’s poor on-set behavior either! She previously opened up about his diva ways last year, saying she “was not allowed to knock on the door of his dressing room.” WTF?! And from the sounds of it, things were a lot worse on set than she initially made it out to be. However, Maïwenn appears to be walking back on her remarks!

She clarified her comments in a statement to Variety on Friday, claiming she meant Johnny’s “charisma” and “star status” “scared” people. Most importantly, she stressed it had nothing to do with his behavior on set:

“When I made a remark about Johnny being ‘scary,’ I was talking about his charisma, his notoriety, his star status, etc. [I] was shocked when I discovered that the newspaper had headlined that ‘The crew were afraid of [Johnny Depp]’ because written like that, and without its context and subtleties, it absolutely no longer means the same thing. The journalist did not want to grasp the subtlety of my words.”

Maïwenn continued:

“I would like to make things very clear: Johnny is ‘scary’ in the sense that his charisma and his status as ‘king; is impressive. I should have used the word ‘impressive’ if I had known [the writer] Charlotte O’Sullivan would use my words in such a malicious way.”

Hmm. Although the director says she and Johnny did argue multiple times on set, she insisted she has the utmost “respect” for him at the end of the day:

“Again, I want to be very clear: Johnny Depp is a huge actor. One of the greatest. He reminded me a lot of Brando – his genius and sufferings, his generosity and paradoxes. Even though we argued several times on set, he’s someone I totally respect and admire, and it’s important for me to correct my own narrative because I feel really betrayed by this interview with Charlotte O’Sullivan.”

At this time, Johnny hasn’t reacted to her comments yet. But something tells us he most likely wasn’t too happy with her — even after her clarification! Reactions, Perezcious readers? Let us know in the comments.

[Image via Rotten Tomatoes Indie/YouTube, MEGA/WENN, WENN/Avalon]