Amid the crush of journalists and photographers that inevitably follow Lily-Rose Depp around press engagements, almost all are struck by her relaxed elegance. She dresses like an experienced fashionista and is highly media-savvy, able to switch back and forth between French and English with effortless ease and without a trace of an accent in either language.
While her bilingual gifts have also given her nascent film career a cross-cultural boost, reference The Dancer (aka La Danseuse) and Planetarium, although recent projects have left her bilingual talents largely irrelevant, as the 24-year-old begins to style an awe-inspiring career in mainstream moviemaking.
Regardless, despite vampire horror The Last Nosferatu making waves, it remains difficult for Depp to deal with the attention and expectations that come with being the daughter of French pop star/actress Vanessa Paradis, and one of the world's biggest (and wealthiest) movie stars, Johnny Depp.
But Lily-Rose Depp, a face of Chanel, has built considerable confidence over the past few years – enough to convince her to take on the world in her own right, even if that means throwing herself into the media snake pit.
"It's hard, but I've decided not to let it bother me or - you'll ruin your life if you close yourself off to the world," she says. "I've grown up living with all the media circus around my family, and it's not a big deal for me. If you choose to be an actress, you have to accept the attention that comes with it.
"It's a small price to pay for the opportunity to do this job, to be able to travel around the world and get to work with very creative people."
That perspective certainly epitomizes the cast she lines up alongside in The Idol, in which Depp plays the lead character Jocelyn, who struggles to deal with the demands of the music industry.
STRIPLV: Both your parents are actors. Have they tried to guide you thus far in your career? DEPP: My parents are very supportive, but they have always tried to encourage me to decide for myself and be very independent. If I need advice, I know I can always count on them. But I'm trying to avoid involving them in my work because it's important for me to find my own way as an actress and they respect that. They consider me mature enough to be able to use my own judgment, and I'm very grateful that they have that kind of faith in me. It's important that I try to do this on my own. STRIPLV: So, was it inevitable that you would follow your parents' footsteps into acting? DEPP: No, not at all. Even though I would often go on film sets when I was growing up, I was more curious about things like how they did the make-up and the way a film crew works. I never thought about getting into acting until I was 14, and I did a small, five-minute scene in the Kevin Smith film Tusk mainly because his daughter Harley was a friend of mine, and we got to know each other because Kevin and my dad are friends. STRIPLV: How did that first acting role make you feel? Was that what made you curious about your parent's profession? DEPP: That was what led to me to start thinking that acting was what I wanted to do because of how free and happy playing a character made me feel inside. STRIPLV: You did some modeling work before working as an actress. Did that help prepare you in any way? DEPP: Acting is very different. You have to be able to draw on all your emotions and be able to use that while you're working with another actor or actors in a scene. I feel very comfortable when I'm playing a character. STRIPLV: You decided to quit high school to pursue a career in acting? DEPP: Acting is all I want to do with my life now, and I want to work as much as possible. I realized after working on La Danseuse and Planetarium in Paris that it was impossible for me to pursue acting as a career and still attend classes and be able to do my homework. I think as you grow older and start becoming an adult, sooner or later, you're going to have to make those kinds of hard decisions. If I'm serious about my decision to become an actress, I don't want to waste my time writing school papers and sitting in a classroom. I want to devote all my energy to acting and also be able to read, travel, and look at as many films and TV projects as I can. STRIPLV: And your first significant TV work came in the form of HBO's The Idol, right? DEPP: I couldn't actually believe that I landed the role, to be totally honest. I thought there would be so many more gorgeous girls who were far more musical than I am, yet life is sometimes unpredictable, and, like everything else I've done, I'm always ready to step up. It's the story of an aspiring pop star trying to deal with the challenges of a complex industry. When I was doing my research on how to make Jocelyn stand out, I spent a lot of time looking back into the 1940s and the eras that followed. I read about Gene Tierney and Lauren Bacall – people who didn't change anything about themselves or come down to other people's levels. They felt self-assured in making other people feel uncomfortable, which is peculiar but interesting. While that's not me or my character, I was intrigued to explore so much of how people act and the demands they put on others as well as themselves. STRIPLV: Such insight into the music industry must have given you a taste of what it was like for your mother, Vanessa when growing up (she was just 14 when her debut single, Joe Le Taxi, became a worldwide hit). DEPP: More now than at any point in history, there is such scrutiny over how people live their lives and such pressure, yet less security. It's a difficult mix, and while I totally understand now how musicians feel when they get that buzz of playing live, it's a world that I would struggle to exist in, I feel. I value my privacy just like I value what I believe was a 'normal childhood. "Under the circumstances, I feel my parents did the best job that they possibly could when it came to giving me that." That was doubly impressive to me because my mother really didn't have a normal childhood. Ultimately, I've been surrounded by people who value normalcy and who value real life, and I think that's the only way to exist in this world and not go insane. STRIPLV: What are your favorite films? DEPP: I love The Wizard of Oz - I've watched that many, many times. But I also like very dramatic films like Casino with Sharon Stone. My mother has prepared me a list of movie classics that she said I absolutely have to see, so I hope to learn a lot from that. STRIPLV: You've spoken about how important it is to build natural chemistry with the people you work alongside. Which of your projects have you felt this most, and with whom? DEPP: I think the time I spent working with Natalie Portman on Planetarium was really very special for me. I knew Natalie's work beforehand, obviously, but in the flesh, she is so talented. She has an incredible ability to immediately immerse herself in the moment and find the emotional core of her character. I learned a lot from watching her, and I was so lucky to also get to know her. We became friends from the first moment we met, which happened to be at a spa. (Laughs) We didn't know each other at all, and suddenly we were getting massages side by side together. It was kind of funny and beautiful to meet that way, and once we got onto the set, we felt like sisters, just like the characters we were playing. We didn't have to pretend to have that connection or feeling of closeness that sisters have. Sometimes you need little breaks like that in order to get a head-start on a role. STRIPLV: Do you consider yourself French or American? DEPP: I grew up speaking both French and English, and I'm very comfortable in both languages. It really doesn't make much of a difference to me in terms of acting, which language I speak. What I will say is it was a very special feeling for me to make a film in Paris, a stronger feeling than I have gained from anywhere else, but regardless, I'm a product of both cultures. I feel both American and French, and when I was younger, I would spend almost half the year living in France anyway. I went to school in America, so I'm obviously also a product of American culture. It's a nice blend of two cultures that are rarely mixed together! STRIPLV: Did you always want to be an actor? DEPP: At first, I wanted to become a singer like my mother, but then I discovered I didn't like to sing in front of other people, so that was that. STRIPLV: Many have noted that your performances are very mature and disciplined. DEPP: At the end of the day, I've grown up in the business, and so I'm used to this world. I'm very ambitious, and I've always known what comes with this job, and that has made it more natural for me to be on a set and know how to prepare myself for a role. I'm a perfectionist, and I am willing to work very hard to succeed.
Five times Lily-Rose Depp took fashion to new levels
1. First Chanel show In 2014, Depp was chosen by legendary German fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld for Chanel. Her first public appearance for the iconic brand came in March 2015, where she wore a seafoam green and pink Chanel bandeau crop top with a matching pencil skirt and neck scarf.
2. Launch campaign The following September saw Depp wearing a heavily embroidered and cropped jacket with a pair of low-rise and leather-look jeans, complete with a gold chain belt.
3. Not just a fashion show model Catwalks and fashion weeks aren’t the only places Lily-Rose Depp likes to show off her style and image. Film festivals provide the ultimate opportunity for her to demonstrate her fashion slant. At the Cannes Film Festival 2016, she wore an off-the-shoulder Chanel gown in black with a crop top bodice and a pleated skirt.
4. Unofficial Brandy Melville face Italian clothing and accessories heavyweights Brandy Melville Depp’s go-to choice. She is frequently spotted in the brand yet has no contractual connection to them.
5. 90s Chanel retro Depp loves a retro look and famously rolled this out at the Venice Film Festival in 2016 before trumping the look three years later at the Met Gala. At the first event, she paraded in Chanel House’s collection SS95 dress in black with a double shoulder strap. Then in 2019, she rocked an off-the-shoulder with multi-gold chains and brooches that wouldn’t have looked out of place at an Eighties catwalk event.