Credit: Alamy

Johnny Depp begins directing new movie ‘Modì’

Wed 27 September 2023 14:15, UK

Filming has officially commenced in Hungary for the upcoming movie Modì, the second directorial effort from Johnny Depp, which follows the life of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

Starring Italian actor Ricardo Scamarcio as the critically acclaimed painter, Modì also boasts a cast including Al Pacino as international art collector Maurice Gangnat, and French actor Pierre Niney (of Yves Saint Laurent fame) as an artist and close friend of Modigliani, Maurice Utrillo.

Depp’s sophomore feature will also feature Italian actress Luisa Ranieri, who previously appeared in director Paolo Sorrentino’s The Hand of God and provided the voice for the Italian dub of Virana in Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, both in 2021.

Ranieri is set to play the owner of a café called Rosalie, a maternal figure to the controversial Italian artist whom Modigliani scholars claim was the subject of several of his paintings and who supposedly provided for the painter when he was poor or hungry.

Modì marks Depp’s first time behind the camera on a feature film since 1997, when he made his directorial debut with the neo-western The Brave, in which he also co-starred alongside Marlon Brando as Raphael, an impoverished Native American who agrees to be tortured and killed in a snuff film (directed by Brando’s McCarthy) to provide for his family.

Depp’s second film has been in development for several years and has a script penned by Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski, based on the 1979 play Modigliani by playwright Dennis McIntyre. According to the film’s official synopsis, it will take place in 1916 Paris over 48 hours, which “will become a turning point in his life, ultimately solidifying his reputation as an artistic legend.”

Pacino also serves as a producer alongside his long-time manager, Barry Navidi, who previously worked together on The Merchant of Venice in 2004, Wilde Salomé in 2011 and 2013’s Salomé.

Production on Modì is expected to move to Italy after several weeks of shooting in Budapest, which is believed to be used as a stand-in for Paris.