Hollywood actor Gerard Depardieu charged with rape and sexual assault

French actor Gerard Depardieu has been charged with rape and sexual assault.

The Green Card star, 72, was accused of the attack on the woman in 2018, but the case was originally dropped due to a lack of evidence.

However in 2019, the unnamed woman relaunched the proceedings, leading to criminal charges filed in December, a judicial source told AFP on Tuesday.

He has been accused of raping her in his home in Paris in 2018.

Depardieu's lawyer Herve Temime said at the time of the allegations that the actor denied the claims "absolutely".

He said: "I had a long meeting with Gerard and am convinced his innocence will be established."

The lawyer added that Depardieu "absolutely denies any rape, any sexual assault, any crime" and called the complaint "groundless".

The unnamed woman's lawyer, Elodie Tuaillon-Hibon, said that she hopes her client's "private sphere will be respected" as the case continues to unfold.

Depardieu was one of many big showbiz names who faced sexual harassment and assault claims as part of the #MeToo movement in Hollywood.

Depardieu was nominated for an Oscar for his title role in the 1990 screen version of Cyrano de Bergerac and won a Golden Globe for his role in Green Card.

The initial investigation was opened in 2018, after the woman filed a complaint of rape and sexual aggression against the actor.

It was passed on to officers in Paris, but was dropped nine months later after investigators failed to gather enough proof to proceed with formal charges.

The woman later relaunched proceedings by acting as an "injured party", which under French law, almost always leads to a case being examined by an investigating magistrate.