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# Out of Nowhere, Johnny Depp Is Directing a Modigliani Biopic
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/out-of-nowhere-johnny-depp-is-directing-a-modigliani-biopic/
- Published: 2022-08-16T21:50:00.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T16:38:03.000Z
- Description: Actor Al Pacino is co-producing the upcoming movie about the tortured Italian artist.
- Author: Elaine Velie
- Tags: News, Amedeo Modigliani, #wp, #wp-post, #image-position-hidden, #Import 2025-11-24 09:22 (2021, 2022, part 2)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/08/amedeo-modigliani-jeanne-hebuterne-with-hat-and-necklace.jpg)

Amedeo Modigliani, "Jeanne Hébuterne with Hat and Necklace" (1917) (via Wikimedia Commons)

Bolstered by a winning verdict in last month's [defamation trial](https://hyperallergic.com/sketching-the-johnny-depp-v-amber-heard-trial/) against Amber Heard (and the newly emerged group of "Justice for Johnny" super-fans), Johnny Depp will direct a feature film about Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani. He will co-produce the movie along with fellow actor Al Pacino.

The film will be based on Dennis McIntyre's 1978 play [*Modigliani*](https://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/01/theater/theater-review-bad-boy-modigliani-playing-with-murder.html?ref=hyperallergic.com), which depicts three days of the artist's life in 1916 and culminates in a meeting with an art dealer who could make or break Modigliani's career.

Born in Italy, Modigliani moved to Paris to pursue his career as an artist, where he developed a [Modernist style](https://hyperallergic.com/404112/modigliani-unmasked-jewish-museum-2017/) characterized by sharply lined portraiture and long faces. He [dwelled in the same circles](https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2002/aug/10/paris.france.guardiansaturdaytravelsection?ref=hyperallergic.com) as George Braque, Jean Cocteau, and Pablo Picasso; he drank and used drugs (heavily); he had a [two-year affair](https://www.tate.org.uk/tate-etc/issue-41-autumn-2017/modigliani-beatrice-hastings-la-poetesse-anglaise?ref=hyperallergic.com) with British poet Beatrice Hastings; and ultimately, he personified the iconic bohemia of early-1900s Paris. Photographs of Modigliani feature him holding a cigarette and gazing toward the camera — handsome, confident, and brooding.

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2022/08/amedeo_modigliani_photo.jpg)

Modigliani in his studio, circa 1918 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Modigliani, however, also led a life of tragedy. He suffered childhood illnesses and never achieved financial nor critical success during his lifetime, and in 1920, at the age of 35, he[ died of tubercular meningitis](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/modigliani-misunderstood-84411676/?ref=hyperallergic.com#:~:text=Modigliani%20was%20also%20friendly%20with,Modigliani%20work%20he%20had%20acquired.). The day after his death, his lover Jeanne Hébuterne [jumped from a fifth-story window](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/modigliani-misunderstood-84411676/?ref=hyperallergic.com#:~:text=Modigliani%20was%20also%20friendly%20with,Modigliani%20work%20he%20had%20acquired.), killing herself and their unborn baby and orphaning their infant. Two years later, Modigliani finally achieved fame when his work was displayed in a prestigious solo exhibition.

“The saga of Mr. Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honored, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen,” Depp told the [*Hollywood Reporter*](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/johnny-depp-direct-modigliani-biopic-al-pacino-1235198846/?ref=hyperallergic.com#recipient%5Fhashed=c14bb36b023d4d26d56453b1d1354ea0117101ac4751ae8713b24491cdef5cbf)*,* which first reported the story. “It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with.”

Depp has taken a recent interest in visual art, or at least in the personas of famous artists. Last month, he [sold $3.6 million worth of prints](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/johnny-depp-artwork-sells-out/?ref=hyperallergic.com) he had made of celebrities like Al Pacino, Elizabeth Taylor, Bob Dylan, and Keith Richards.

The European branch of Depp's own production company, Infinitum Nihil, [will produce the Modigliani movie](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2022/aug/15/johnny-depp-to-direct-film-about-italian-painter-amedeo-modigliani-al-pacino?ref=hyperallergic.com). Casting has yet to be announced, but filming will begin in Europe in the spring of 2023.