Video: Gerard Depardieu missed court hearing to meet film producers, says lawyer Embroiled in a tax row that saw the Frenchman take Russian nationality and angrily vow to leave his native country, the 64-year-old star has already admitted driving his scooter in Paris while inebriated last month. An alcohol test showed he was more than three times above the drink-driving limit. If he had shown up at the court hearing this morning he would likely have escaped with a small fine and penalty points on his driving licence. Speaking to a scrum of reporters outside the court, lawyer Eric de Caumont, said the star of Cyrano de Bergerac was unable to attend his "guilty plea" before a prosecutor and the court as he was attending a meeting with the producers of a forthcoming film, where "his presence was mandatory to organise the financing of the movie."