A dozen journalists who were due to interview Johnny Depp on new film Modi at the San Sebastian Film Festival on Tuesday walked out of the junket in protest after the publicists running the event tried to shoehorn them all into one shortened roundtable session.
Saying that such a format is unworkable, the journalists said they would be boycotting coverage of the film. The action marks a further escalation of growing discontent among the international film press corp. over lack of access to talent launching their films at festivals, which was first signalled at Venice.
The journalists had originally been expecting to interview Depp alongside cast members Riccardo Scamarcio and Antonia Desplat for 15 minutes in groups of six at the junket run by DDA.
Italian freelance journalist Marco Consoli, who is leading the protest, said they agreed to the format even if it were not their preferred option.
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“We all wanted Johnny Depp, but as happens more frequently, we were offered a roundtable with Johnny, Riccardo Scamarcio and Antonia Desplat,” he explains.
“We all think this is not the right way to discuss a film with a talent, especially when the talent we are interested in, Johnny Depp, is also the director and producer of the film.”
Things went from bad to worse for the journalists, says Consoli, when the film team failed to arrive on time and DDA informed the journalists that all of them would be squeezed into a shortened roundtable session with Depp, Scamarcio and Desplat.
Consoli says such a format makes no sense for journalists trying to conduct interviews for publication.
“Most the times 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 – you get only a pair of quotes, which is maybe less than you get in a press conference,” he says.
The journalists attempted to negotiate, asking if it would be possible to interview Depp on his own for 20 minutes, but this suggestion was turned down.
“When we were told that the only option was less time with the three of them all together, we all decided to abandon the junket and not talk to Johnny and not report about the film,” said Consoli.
He is joined in the protest by experienced film journalists Kristina Kudelova, Gill Pringle, Dubravka Lakik, Ali Moosavi, José Paiva Capucho, James Mottram, Elaine Guerini, Yuko Takano, Gabriela Bravo, Andrey Plakhov and Carlos Helì de Almeida who are regulars on the festival and junket circuit.
The decision to walk out on the junket comes hot on the heels of an open letter published during Venice, in which close to 100 journalists expressed their discontent at the lack of press access to stars in attendance such as Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt and George Clooney to name but a few.
The letter said the move to restrict press access to talent at Venice came at a time when film journalism was already at “risk of extinction”, and suggested the policy put in jeopardy the livelihoods of journalists whose coverage contributes to the success of films and the renown of directors and actors.
Deadline has contacted DDA for comment on junket.
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