Earlier this year, it was confirmed that Pirates of the Caribbean franchise star, Johnny Depp, would be receiving the prestigious Donostia Award at the San Sebastian Film Festival.
The San Sebastian Festival established the Donostia Award in 1986. It recognizes outstanding contributions to the film world of great names who will be part of cinema history forever.
Depp joins Hollywood icons like Gregory Peck (1986), Bette Davis (1989), Anthony Hopkins (1998), Julie Andrews, Warren Beatty and Francisco Rabal (2001), Ethan Hawke and Sigourney Weaver (2016), and fellow Pirates actress Penélope Cruz, Costa-Gavras and Donald Sutherland (2019).
Viggo Mortensen was the 2020 Donostia Award recipient.
At the time Depp’s nomination was announced, online controversy abounded due to the actor’s recent domestic violence legal battle, which has been ongoing for the past year. Amid the issues in his personal life, Depp has remained largely out of the spotlight.
While it might seem that Depp’s first foray back onto the red carpet would be to receive his award, the actor actually made a surprising return to the limelight for the City of Lies screening at the Deauville Film Festival over the weekend.
Depp, 58, attended a screening in northwestern France of his film “City of Lies,” in which he plays a retired detective who is convinced the Los Angeles Police Department played a part in the 1997 murder of The Notorious B.I.G. The film also addresses the 1996 death of Biggie’s rap rival Tupac Shakur.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star wore a navy suit and a matching fedora as he strolled the red carpet, stopping several times to take photos and sign autographs for fans in attendance.
In November 2020, Hollywood actor Johnny Depp lost his libel lawsuit against U.K. News Group Newspaper publication, The Sun, for their report that he had allegedly engaged in domestic violence — including a reported “hostage” situation during a Pirates of the Caribbean shoot in Australia — against ex-wife Amber Heard (Aquaman, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) on multiple occasions.
Judge Andrew Nicol presided over the original proceedings, and Depp later lost his right to appeal the original ruling in the United Kingdom. The Captain Jack Sparrow actor, for his part, has denied the domestic violence allegations, with even his ex partners, Vanessa Paradis and Winona Ryder, speaking out in his defense at various points in time.
Depp also has a loyal fan base who have caused #JusticeForJohnnyDepp to trend online on multiple occasions throughout the libel case. Some of the actor’s supporters have also decided to boycott Disney and Warner Bros. Studios for firing Depp from his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates and Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts franchise, respectively.
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Credit: Disney
