Johnny Depp presents ‘The Minamata Photographer’ in Barcelona

The actor Johnny Depp has presented at the Bcn Film Fest the film ‘The Minamata Photographer’, by Andrew Levitas, where he plays the photojournalist William Eugene Smith, a character with a life marked by addictions.

Depp has said that Eugene Smith (1918-1978) suffered a lot in his life, as did other artists such as Vincent van Gogh or Charles Baudelaire: “On many occasions his art comes from his own pain.”

However, he has remarked that he does not believe that one has to suffer necessarily for art, but rather that someone who is committed to what he does has to “prepare to suffer if he wants to transmit that passion and desire.”

Thus, he has said of Eugene Smith that he was a person who took pictures of things that killed his soul every day, until he became a person “without stupidities”, who had seen and done everything.

Depp has said he feels very fortunate to play a photographer whom he already admired before making the film, and whom he has described as very real and unique: “Playing him is like digging for something very valuable.”

Upon his departure, the actor met a crowd of fans who were queuing to see him and he did not hesitate for a single moment to approach them to greet them, sign autographs and take photos with that dedicated audience that were in the vicinity.