Al Pacino to star in Johnny Depp’s Modigliani biopic ‘Modi’
Johnny Depp has revealed that Al Pacino has accepted a role in his forthcoming biopic about the artist Amedeo Modigliani. The film marks Deep’s second directorial venture.
Al Pacino is set to play Maurice Gangnat, the real-life art collector who was painted by Pierre-Auguste Renoir in 1916. Adapted from the play by Dennis McIntyre, the film is titled Modi and stars Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio in the lead role. French actor Pierre Niney is set to play fellow artist Maurice Utrillo. Depp’s first directorial project since 1997’s The Brave, Modi is set to start shooting in Budapest this autumn.
According to a statement issued by the film’s producer, Modi “follows a chaotic series of events through the streets and bars of war-torn Paris in 1916.” When we meet the artist, Modigliani is “on the run from the police [and his] desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow Bohemians: French artist Maurice Utrillo, the Belarusian-born Chaïm Soutine and English muse Beatrice Hastings. Modi seeks advice from his Polish art dealer and friend Léopold Zborowski, but the chaos reaches a crescendo when he’s faced with a collector who could change his life.” [quotes via The Guardian]
News of Modi comes ahead of Depp’s appearance in Maïwenn’s French period drama Jeanne du Barry, in which the American actor will star as Louis XV. The film will have its world premiere on May 16th at the Cannes film festival, where it has been honoured with the opening slot.
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