The Karlovy Vary International Film Festival debuted a new trailer featuring Johnny Depp at the opening ceremony of its 2023 festival, which took place on Friday night in the spa town outside Prague in the Czech Republic.
The trailer, along with other KVIFF trailers, can be seen in full here.
One of the most distinctive features of the Karlovy Vary festival are its trailers, which often show KVIFF honorees putting a playful spin on the festival’s top prize, the Crystal Globe. Depp has yet to be recognized with such an award, a fact he mocks in the nearly three-minute clip when an interviewer asks the actor, “Literally everyone who goes gets an award, but you don’t.”
Depp stares. “I did not do it?” he says.
“Two years ago, Johnny Depp received an immensely warm welcome from the public and fans, thanks to which he has become a huge supporter of ours,” KVIFF CEO Kryštof Mucha said in a statement. “Then he agreed to shoot a trailer even though we were constrained by his busy schedule. The trailer turned out great and I am convinced that Johnny Depp will one day return to Vary in person.
Since they started making trailers in 2008, festival trailers have seen John Malkovich complain to a taxi driver that a lifetime achievement award doesn’t mean his career is over, Jude Law used his as a hood ornament, Harvey Keitel limped because someone dropped the heavy figurine on his foot, Andy Garcia used his to break into his house, and Helen Mirren puzzled as hers keeps moving of its own accord. Other cast in the trailers have included Mel Gibson, Casey Affleck, and Czech directors Milos Forman and Jiri Menzel.
Depp was a special guest at the festival in 2021, when he presented the documentary “Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds With Shane McGowan” and the drama “Minimata”, in which he appeared and produced.
Its trailer was directed by Ivan Zachariáš, who has made many of KVIFF’s trailers, and was filmed at the Gellért Hotel in Budapest. While a script for Depp was being written, the actor insisted on improvising his lines during the two-and-a-half hour shoot.
Also at the ceremony, Russell Crowe and Alicia Vikander are scheduled to receive awards, with Karim Ainouz’s period drama “Firebrand,” starring Vikander, serving as the opening night screening. Crowe is scheduled to perform the opening concert with his band.
