The star touched down in Italy to attend the screening ‘Modi’ at the Rome Film Fest – the movie is said to be the highlight of the ten-day event.
Johnny Depp Misses Rome Film Fest But Says He Adores “Rejection”
Even though Depp took the time to make the trip to Rome, his plane arrived late causing him to miss the Rome Film Festival press conference, where he was supposed to present the movie on Saturday, collect an award, before flying out on Sunday morning.
However, he did manage to get a sit-down with The Hollywood Reporter Roma to talk about the project, which follows the famous Italian painter Modigliani over the course of three turbulent days, set in the war-torn town of Paris in 1961.
The movie marked the second time he directed a movie, and the first time – 1997’s ‘The Brave’ – did not go down so well with critics.
Speaking on learning from the experience, Depp said, “The Brave didn’t go so well. I remember very well the comedown of the critics on The Brave, and all it did was make me understand. What do you do? You learn from that.”
THR then asked him, “Did you identify with Modigliani? He was a wild guy — he was into sex, drugs and rock and roll. And he couldn’t stand rejection.”
Depp suavely answered back, “And he is the exact opposite of me. I adore rejection.”
Johnny Depp On Identifying With Modi And Struggling Through The Wilderness
When asked if there were ways he identified with the character, the ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star agreed, saying, “Of course. My upbringing was not the same as Modigliani’s, but you do understand the levels that you have to climb, up a ladder or up a wall to get to a point where you earn your stripes.
I do understand him in the sense that he stuck to his guns with his particular style, which was far too brute for those at the time.”
Touching on his publicized divorce and defamation case from ex Amber Heard, he said, “It was a vast wilderness and ultimately that vast wilderness taught me a whole lot.”
However, when he spoke on his experiences and the lessons he learned, he tended to make a joke of it, prompting the interviewer to ask him to give him a “straight” answer.
He then said: “Honestly, I can sit here this very second and think about all the hit pieces, and how everybody was against me, and yeah yeah yeah he is off the map … endless stuff. I can remember it all. Went through it all. Some of it was not the most beautiful time, some of it was hilarious. Some of it was mad.”
Speaking on his disposition towards the events, he said, “The thing is, it simply just was, and it simply just is. So, for me, it happened. I learned, man. Everything that we experience, whether you’re given a snow cone or walking your dog, you learn something somewhere along the way. So I don’t have any ill feelings toward anyone. I don’t have this great reserve of hatred, because hatred requires caring. Why carry that baggage?”
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