Johnny Depp is marking his comeback to the industry with his first directorial project in 25 years, entitled Modi, with newly announced cast members Al Pacino (Scarface, Hunters), Riccardo Scamarcio (John Wick: Chapter 2), and Pierre Niney (Yves Saint Laurent) set to lead the biopic piece.
The biopic will focus on the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, with filming set to begin in Budapest this fall, and also set to be sold at this year’s Cannes market by The Veterans. Scamarcio will be playing the titular character, with Niney being cast as Utrillo and Pacino will appear as an international art collector called Gangnat.
Depp has been making his way back into the acting scene as of late, along with his active contribution to the world of music with his fellow Hollywood Vampires bandmates Alice Cooper and Joe Perry, now heading back into the realm of directing for the first time in almost three decades, with his 1997 directorial The Brave being the most recent.
Modi will be based on a play by Dennis McIntyre and will be adapted for the screen by both Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski, with the story being about Modigliani during his time in Paris in 1916, Modigliani is a famous painter and sculptor.
As per Deadline, the movie will only focus on a brief, but eventful, 48 hours of the famous Italian artist’s life, focusing on a time he was on the run from the police “through the streets” of a “war-torn” Paris. During these 48 hours that will be shown in the biopic, Modigliani will also be shown to have the desire to end his career early and leave Paris, which is quickly dismissed by the French artist Maurice Utrillo and his English muse slash lover, Beatrice Hastings.
“Modi seeks advice from his Polish art dealer and friend Leopold Zborowski, but the chaos reaches a crescendo when he’s faced with a collector who could change his life.”
Deadline
Johnny Depp’s Modi does not yet have an official release date.
Source: Deadline