Johnny Depp and Al Pacino will make a film about Amedeo Modigliani
Johnny Depp wants to make a movie about another troubled person, the Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani. He is riding a wave of tabloid fame after winning a high-profile defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard. The Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino will work with the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star to make the movie, which is based on the 1979 play "Modigliani" by Dennis McIntyre. It will tell the story of the artist whose portraits and sculptures of Parisian women (often naked and with long faces and limbs) made him famous in the art world after his death at the beginning of the 20th century.
"It's a universal human story that everyone can relate to."
In a statement, Depp said, "Bringing the story of Mr. Modigliani's life to the screen is both a great honor and a great shame." "It was a hard life, but in the end, he won. It's a universally human story that everyone can relate to." The first news about the production came from the Hollywood Reporter. No one has been cast yet, but since the artist died at 35 of tuberculosis, it seems unlikely that either Depp, who is 59, or Pacino, who is 82, will play him.
His short life was marked by many abuses and illnesses
"Modi" was born into a Sephardic Jewish family in Livorno in 1884. His short life was filled with constant illness, drug and alcohol abuse, and many lovers, including the painter Jeanne Hébuterne, who killed herself the day after he died because she was eight months pregnant with his child. Even though Modigliani made a lot of paintings and sculptures, he didn't become well-known until after he died in 1920.
This is the fourth film about Modigliani
The movie starring Depp would be the fourth one about Modigliani. Critics hated a 2004 effort starring Andy Garcia. The New York Times called it "catastrophic." Depp is already set to play King Louis XV in an upcoming biopic about the royal mistress Jeanne du Barry. He hopes to use the Modigliani movie to make a comeback in Hollywood after a highly publicized trial that split the entertainment industry.
During the trial, Heard and her lawyers painted a clear picture of Depp as a serial abuser, while he and his team tried to show her as a sneaky liar. The ugly parts of the trial spread to social media, where armies of Depp fans (many of whom turned out to be bots) attacked Heard. The jury found in favor of Depp on all but one count and in favor of Heard on the other. Both sides have appealed the decision.
Selena Mattei