Johnny Depp Sustained A Bloody Injury Filming The Tourist

When it was released in 2010, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s “The Tourist” — a remake of Jérôme Salle’s 2005 French thriller “Anthony Zimmer” — was unfairly maligned. The film only racked up a piddling 21% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, based on 175 reviews, with critics lambasting the complicated plot and the casual pace. Peter Travers called it one of the worst films of the year, and Roger Moore felt the two leads, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, had no romantic chemistry.

Stephanie Zacharek, however, loved it, noting that it was the kind of romantic international caper film that isn’t made anymore, calling it “elegant” and “sensuous.” This author tends to agree with Zacharek, feeling “The Tourist” to be sexy, adult, and dazzling. It has two sexy movie stars trekking through gorgeous European locales, engaging in lightweight espionage and trading flirty looks. It feels like a movie from a prior generation, one that should have charmed international audiences with its overwhelming sparkle. The script by von Donnersmarck, Christopher McQuarrie, and Julian Fellowes is frothy and old-fashioned. The film is really, really delightful.

Of course, in 2024, it’s harder to watch “The Tourist” due to the presence of Depp. Thanks to a very public divorce with actor Amber Heard, a lot of details about Depp’s alleged acts of domestic abuse came to light, leaving many of his former fans to reject his work. Depp has also been in trouble with the law over the years for drunken misconduct and temperamental behavior on movie sets. These days, he works a lot less, and many of his films aren’t as celebrated as they once might have been. Depp might have made it difficult to enjoy a dazzling film like “The Tourist,” had it come out now.

Back in 2010, however, Depp was still in the public’s good graces, and we could enjoy his performances without the need for an asterisk. Indeed, he gave a lightweight interview with IGN that year, talking about how he cut his foot on the set of “The Tourist” and that he didn’t notice until he started bleeding on the floor.

Because “The Tourist” belongs to the international caper genre, one can rest assured there will be at least one chase across rooftops. The plot involves an unassuming math teacher named Frank (Depp), who is merely on a solo European vacation when he is targeted by Elise Clifton-Ward, a wanted criminal. She approaches him on a train, briefly chats him up, and almost immediately whisks him into a life of well-moneyed excitement, the two constantly on the run from the law. The police believe that Frank is actually Elise’s husband, Alexander Pearce, a man who might’ve had plastic surgery to hide out from the authorities. 

During one of the many scenes where the two stars are on the lam, Frank dashes across a roof. During the filming of that scene, Depp cut his foot. It didn’t hurt, however, until he saw the blood several minutes later. When asked about the rumors surrounding the injury, Depp confirmed they were true, telling IGN:

“That was wild. Because when you’re doing it and your adrenaline is going, you don’t really notice things like that. But I was standing there talking to Florian, and he was like, ‘Oh my God.’ There was blood dripping down these terracotta tiles and I guess I’d left a little trail behind me. You don’t feel it till later.” 

This is likely a common experience for many of us, who may have been hurt or injured in such a way that we don’t notice the pain. Sometimes, one can’t feel the full brunt of the hurt until they see the injury close-up. Depp’s injury wasn’t serious, and it was patched up without any issues. It was only for a few moments that the actor left bloody footprints behind. 

“The Tourist” was director von Donnersmarck’s opportunity to make a mainstream Hollywood hit after his debut film, the Cold War drama “The Lives of Others,” won an Academy Award in 2007. “The Tourist” was a modest commercial hit, making just over $278 million on a $100 million budget, but its critical rejection pretty much put the kibosh on von Donnersmarck’s Hollywood career. He has only made one film, “Never Look Away,” since then.