Along with the first Johnny Depp movie in three years, Jeanne du Barry, premiering at the Cannes Film Festival next week, the actor also just made major moves regarding a film he’ll direct. Depp is currently putting together the cast for Modi, a biopic of the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, and reportedly Al Pacino is among the actors on board.
Al Pacino and Johnny Depp previously worked together on 1997’s Donnie Brasco along with sharing credits on the 2011 Adam Sandler comedy Jack And Jill. Per Deadline, Pacino has been cast in Depp’s first feature directorial effort since co-writing, starring and helming The Brave in the ‘90s, which co-starred Marlon Brando in one of his final performances. Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio and French actor Pierre Niney are also among the Modi cast.
Modi will chronicle the life of Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani across 48 hours of his life where he is on the run from the police on the streets of a war-torn Paris circa 1916. The movie is based on Dennis McIntyre’s 1980 play Modigliani: A Play in Three Acts.
The report shares that the production is expected to begin filming in Budapest this fall. Depp is still in the process of casting the film. While the film's director is at Cannes Film Festival, for the fancy premiere of Jeanne du Barry while also making another big festival appearance during Cannes, Modi will look to be sold as well. Perhaps the buzz from Depp’s performance in Jeanne du Barry, where he’ll portray King Louis XV, will carry into interest for Modi, especially in terms of audiences wanting to see Depp move to the director’s chair in a feature film.
It also definitely doesn’t hurt that the legendary Al Pacino is attached. The actor’s recent movies have been the likes of Ridley Scott’s House of Gucci, Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman and Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.
While Depp’s ex Amber Heard reportedly has ‘quit Hollywood’ and moved to Spain to raise her daughter away from the noise, following their high-profile trial, Johnny Depp is getting back to business in the movie industry. This became all the more clear when he started shooting Jeanne du Barry less than two months after a verdict was announced for the Depp vs. Heard defamation trial and the court ruled greatly in favor of Depp.
Jeanne du Barry is expected to land among the Netflix movie schedule after its premiere at Cannes on May 16. Look out for the reactions to Johnny Depp’s first movie role in years next week. As we learn more about the casting for Modi and its production schedule, we’ll also update you here on CinemaBlend. Depp is certainly entering a new era of his career following a ton of controversy surrounding the trial, and we’re curious to see how his upcoming projects will shake out.
