By Andrew Lapin
Riding a wave of tabloid notoriety after winning his highly publicized defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is planning to direct a biopic about a different troubled figure: the Jewish Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star is partnering with Oscar-winning actor Al Pacino to produce the film, which will be adapted from the 1979 play “Modigliani” by Dennis McIntyre. It will chronicle the life of the artist whose portraits and sculptures of Parisian women (often in the nude, with elongated faces and limbs) posthumously made him the toast of the art world in the early 20th century.
“The saga of Mr Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honored, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen,” Depp said in a statement. “It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with.”
The production was first reported by the Hollywood Reporter. No casting announcements were made yet, but given that the artist died at 35 from tuberculosis, it’s hard to imagine either Depp, 59, or Pacino, 82, would play him.
Born to a Sephardic Jewish family in Livorno in 1884, “Modi” lived a short life marked by constant illness, drug and alcohol abuse and a large number of lovers (including the painter Jeanne Hébuterne, who, eight months pregnant with his child, committed suicide the day after he died). Though he completed hundreds of paintings and sculptures, Modigliani wouldn’t find recognition until years after his death in 1920.
Modigliani very occasionally explored Jewish themes in his art, including in a famous 1908 painting, “The Jewess,” but he was always conscious of his Jewish identity, according to his biographers. That identity was explored in a 2017 exhibit at New York’s Museum of Jewish Heritage
