The most recent modern celebrity to have a strong tie with France is actor Johnny Depp: A few years back he was involved in a movie filmed in France where he met French pop star Vanessa Paradis (Lenny Kravitz's ex). Getting away from Hollywood also played a role in his decision to stay. Besides, "... the French allow you to smoke,'' he says. ``If you try to smoke in LA, you're accused of spoiling the smog.''
He and Paradis share an apartment in Paris and a small farm in the south of France. Depp enjoys the farm, located in a small village "that has no cinema. I like having pastis at the bar and talking about whether it will rain tomorrow, and not about the box office results on Monday morning.''
Why does he prefer France? "Because it feels better. ... I went over there to do a film and ended up living there because I met my girl and we had a daughter. And ... that was a wake-up call of monumental proportion. And when you come back to the states and you watch the news and you see the ignorance that exists here and the hatred and the violence and the racial problems...".
Currently, Depp can be seen starring with French actress Jullette Binoche (who won an academy award for the movie The English Patient) in Chocolat
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as well as in the new film The Man Who Cried
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Although she isn't living here, actress and director Jodie Foster recently headed the jury at the 54th Cannes Film Festival (May 9-20). "I've dreamed since my childhood of having the honor of being president of the Cannes jury," Foster was quoted in a statement from the Festival.
Foster, who has a French mother and speaks French fluently, attended the exclusive Le Lycée Français prep school in Los Angeles, graduating as class valedictorian (she delivered her valedictory speech in flawless French), before attending Yale University in 1980.
Foster won best actress Oscars for "The Accused" in 1989 and "The Silence of the Lambs" in 1992.
Molly Ringwald spent a few years in France as well. She is best known for the three John Hughes films, Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink, which made her a household name and solidified her role as an '80s Brat Pack icon.
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