French actor Depardieu, filming Strauss-Kahn movie, skips court date for alleged drunk-driving

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FILE - In this Sunday, Feb. 24, 2013 file photo, French actor Gerard Depardieu visits the museum of Akhmad Kadyrov, a warlord who switched sides and became a pro-Russian leader, in Chechnya\'s provincial capital Grozny, Russia. A lawyer for Gerard Depardieu said Friday, April 5, 2013 that the actor again couldn\'t make it in court to face drunken driving charges. Defense attorney Eric de Caumont says Depardieu was too busy filming a movie in the United States about another Frenchman known for run-ins with the law: former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn. (AP Photo/Musa Sadulayev, File)

PARIS – A lawyer for Gerard Depardieu says the actor again couldn’t make it in court to face drunken driving charges.

Defence attorney Eric de Caumont says Depardieu was too busy filming a movie in the United States about another Frenchman known for run-ins with the law: former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn.

A Paris criminal court on Friday could take exception to Depardieu’s second straight no-show over the harmless incident in November when he toppled over on his scooter in Paris and was charged with drunken driving.

Depardieu — possibly France’s best-known movie star, for roles in some 150 films such as “Green Card” — had already skipped out in January on a previous summons to appear.

He has threatened to renounce his French citizenship, and has become a Russian citizen.

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