Photo: Getty Images
Johnny Depp is making more moves after winning his defamation trial against Amber Heard. According to Page Six, the actor has announced he will direct a film about an Italian artist named Amedeo Modigliani and co-produce it with Al Pacino and Barry Navidi. In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter Depp said, "The saga of Mr. Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honored and truly humbled to bring to the screen. It was a life of great hardship but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with."
This will be Depp's first directorial job in 25 years, his last being The Brave starring himself and Marlon Brando in 1997. The new film Modigliani, which is based on Dennis McIntyre's 1980 play of the same name, will follow the painter and sculptor on a turbulent 48 hours in Paris in 1916 in which he is unable to sell his work.
According to Page Six, the production of the film is set to being in Europe in the spring of 2023. It's currently unclear whether Depp will star in the movie as well as direct it. However, Depp has already scored his first acting role since a Virginia jury found that he was defamed by his ex-wife Heard after she wrote a 2018 Washington Post about surviving sexual violence in which his name was not used.
Last month, it was reported that Heard's lawyers officially appealed the verdict in the defamation case as she promised she would do after the case came to a close in June.