Yzabelle Bostyn
A PRESS junket for Johnny Depp’s new film has sparked controversy after journalists abandoned the conference following a row.
Following his contentious departure from the Hollywood mainstream, Johnny Depp appeared at the festival to present his second directorial effort, ‘Modi- Three Days On the Wing of Madness.’
The film, a biopic about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, sparked controversy after 12 international journalists abandoned its press junket.
As reported in Variety, an Italian freelance writer Marco Consoli claims the group was offered a roundtable with Depp, alongside co-stars Riccardo Scamarcio and Antonia Desalt.
The 12 journalists were split into two groups and allocated just 15 minutes with the actors.
They reluctantly agreed to the plans, Consoli saying: “The pairing of talent has been happening for some years now and makes our job more and more challenging.
“Because most of the time, when you ask a question they start to talk to each other, and it’s very hard to get a proper interview with any of them.”
Then, the junket was pushed back, meaning it became a 20 minute time slot for all 12 journalists.
Shocked by the proposal, the journalists fought back, saying they would only accept the change if Depp was the only panelist.
When the publicists refused, the reporters collectively decided not to report on the film or Depp.
Kristina Kudelova, Gill Pringle, Dubravka Lakic, Ali Moosavi, Jose Paiva Capucho, James Mottram, Elaine Guerini, Yuko Takano, Gabriela Bravo, Andrey Plakhov, and Rui Tendinha were the other journalists involved.
The incident follows controversy at Venice Film Festival, where over 100 international journalists signed an open letter criticising the lack of access to major talent.
They warned that cinema journalism was ‘at risk of extinction’ if journalists continue to be shut out as many are freelance and pay their own way to attend such festivals.
Therefore if they invest the money to go and get no content out of it, it is not worth the effort.
“We find this shocking and deeply concerning. We ask to change this policy that has long contaminated all the major festivals and to return to offering interview junkets to the press at film festivals,” the letter read.
It also added that soon, there will be hundreds of outlets boycotting films and artists who denied them interviews.
“Eventually the protest could involve the festivals themselves, which risks seeing the departure of hundreds of accredited journalists and publications and where the commentary on films and the opinion of their authors will be left to artificial intelligence.”
