Johnny Depp made light of his history at the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival on Friday evening, starring in a new trailer in which he plays a goofier version of himself. The trailer premiered at the opening ceremony of its 2023 festival in the spa town outside Prague in the Czech Republic.
The trailer, along with other KVIFF trailers, can be viewed in full here.
Trailers are one of the most distinctive features of the Karlovy Vary festival, and they often feature KVIFF honorees putting a playful spin on the festival’s top award, the Crystal Globe. Depp came to Karlovy Vary as an special guest two years ago and drew enormous numbers of fans everywhere he went — but he did not receive a festival award, a fact that he pokes fun at in the nearly three-minute clip.
In the clip, which was directed by Ivan Zachariáš, who has done many of the KVIFF trailers, and shot at the Hotel Gellért in Budapest, a scruffy-looking Depp shows up at the hotel for an interview, toting a guitar case. At one point, the interviewer mentions Karlovy Vary and says, “Literally everyone who goes (to the festival) gets an award, but you didn’t.”
Depp stares. “I didn’t?” he says, before demonstrating exactly how badly he wanted one.
“Two years ago, Johnny Depp received an immensely warm welcome from audiences and fans, thanks to which he has become a great supporter of ours,” KVIFF’s executive director Kryštof Mucha said in a statement. “And so he agreed to film a trailer even though we were limited by his packed schedule. The trailer turned out great, and I am convinced that Johnny Depp will one day return to Vary in person.”
Since they began making the trailers in 2008, the festival trailers have seen John Malkovich griping to a cab driver about how a lifetime achievement award doesn’t mean his career is over, Jude Law using his as a hood ornament, Harvey Keitel hobbled because somebody dropped the heavy statuette on his foot, Andy Garcia using his to break into his house and Helen Mirren bewildered at how hers keeps moving around of its own accord. Other participants in the trailers have included Mel Gibson, Casey Affleck and Czech directors Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel.
Depp’s trip to the festival two years ago found him presenting the documentary “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane McGowan” and the drama “Minimata,” both of which he appeared in and produced.
While a script was written for Depp, Zachariáš said that the actor insisted upon improvising his lines during the two-and-a-half hour shoot.
Also at the ceremony, Russell Crowe and Alicia Vikander received awards, with the Karim Ainouz period drama “Firebrand,” starring Vikander, serving as the opening night screening. Crowe and his band, Indoor Garden Party, performed a concert to thousands of fans outside the Hotel Thermal, where the ceremony and screening took place.
