Actor Gerard Depardieu will face trial for drunken driving after failing to show up before a French court Tuesday for a hearing that would have allowed him to resolve the case out of court, French media reports said.
Depardieu, 64, who has admitted to driving his scooter drunk in Paris on November 29, was summoned to appear Tuesday before a prosecutor to discuss his case. He had indicated he would plead guilty and accept a punishment proposed by the prosecution.
But the controversial actor, who travelled to Russia at the weekend to meet with President Vladimir Putin and receive a Russian passport, failed to show up to the hearing. His lawyer, Eric de Caumont, told reporters his client was "abroad for professional reasons."
Depardieu, who is embroiled in a highly public tax row with the French government, has admitted to the charges.
The actor, who is famous for his boozing, was caught drink driving after he crashed his scooter. A breathalyser test showed he had a blood alcohol level of 1.8 grams per litre, more than three times the legal limit.
Drunken driving carries a fine of 4,500 euros (5,911 dollars) and a sentence of up to two years in prison.
On Tuesday the prosecution had been expected to discuss a punishment with him that, had he accepted, would have been quickly confirmed by a judge.
His absence from the meeting means he must now stand trial in a criminal court, Le Figaro newspaper and other media quoted his lawyer as saying.
Depardieu has been in the headlines for the past month, since it emerged that he had taken up residency in Belgium to avoid France's punishing wealth taxes.
A war of words erupted after Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault labelled his move to the Belgian village of Nechin, two kilometres from France, "pathetic."
Stung by the remarks, Depardieu announced plans to renounce his French citizenship. Shortly afterwards, Putin stepped in with the offer of shelter in his country, which Depardieu made a show of accepting during a visit last weekend.
During the trip, he visited the remote region of Mordovia, famous for its concentration of gulags. Local residents presented him with two kittens among other gifts and invited him to make his home there.
The visit transformed Depardieu, once one of the France's best loved actors, into an object of derision.
In an interview Monday in the Swiss city of Zurich, where he attended FIFA's Ballon d'Or ceremony, he denied he was turning his back on his homeland.
"I have a Russian passport, but I remain French and I will probably have dual Belgian nationality," he told L'Equipe 21 sports channel.
"If I'd wanted to escape the taxman, as the French press say, I would have done it a long time ago."