Johnny Depp tried to talk Maiwenn out of casting him in Jeanne du Barry

Johnny Depp attempted to talk director Maiwenn out of casting him as French King Louis XV in 'Jeanne du Barry'.

The 60-year-old actor admitted to feeling "strangely, oddly, perversely lucky" at being offered the chance to play royalty in his first major film role since his high-profile defamation case against his ex-wife Amber Heard concluded.

Speaking at the movie's UK premiere on Monday (15.04.24), Johnny said: "I feel very lucky to have been (offered the role) – strangely, oddly, perversely lucky.

"Because when Maiwenn and I first actually met and talked about the notion of me doing the film and playing Louis XV, the King of France - see that's when instantly what happens in your brain is you instantly go back to Kentucky, where, like, everything is fried.

"So you realise that you've come from the bellybutton of nowhere and suddenly you end up playing the King of France."

The 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor added: "It made no sense to me. I tried to talk her out of it. But she wasn't hearing it and she had great courage to take me into her cast.

"Whatever we did, whatever we experienced I think and I hope you'll find it was well worth the agony of this kid trying to make a film for that length of time."

Maiwenn both directs and stars as the titular character in the film, which tells the story of how working-class Jeanne du Barry climbed the social hierarchy in France to attract the attention of Louis XV.

She explained how she had been desperate to make the movie for a number of years as she was fixated on how Jeanne became "a feminist before everybody else".

The 47-year-old actress said: "It's a movie that I have wanted to make since 2016, and I was obsessed by Jeanne du Barry for many years because she was a feminist before everybody else."