Mere months after a catastrophic (for women) and very public legal battle that saw Johnny Depp successfully sue ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation, Johnny Depp has announced his first directing role in 25 years.
Depp's decision to take Amber Heard to courtover ‘loss of earnings’- following a guest piece she’d written for The Washington Post in 2018 in which she spoke about surviving domestic abuse – has left his career seemingly unaffected. Indeed, the announcement he’ll be directing Modigliani, a biopic about Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, is just the latest in a string of exciting projects coming up for him.
The last time Johnny worked behind the camera instead of just in front of it was in 1997, when he both directed and starred in The Brave, playing an indigenous American, alongside Marlon Brando.
Now he’s taking on the story of Modigliani, an Italian painter and sculptor who worked in Paris in the early 20th century, with filming expected to begin in 2023. Al Pacino and Barry Navidi are also set to co-produce.
'The saga of Mr. Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honoured, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen,’ Depp told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with.’
Following the defamation trial, yet more disturbing details from Heard and Depp's relationship became public knowledge when some of his fans lobbied for nearly 6000 pages of documents to be released to the public, presumably with the view to further humiliate Heard.
However, the unsealed documents didn’t quite have the desired effect, with a number of celebrities – including Orlando Bloom, Bella Hadid and Robert Downey Jnr – publicly retracting their support of him after more controversial details were brought to light.
Johnny Depp’s Relationship Timeline
1 of 61. Lori Anne Allison, make up artist
Lori Anne Allison was Johnny's first wife. She was a make-up artist and the couple were married when Johnny was just 20 years old. It wasn't to last for the couple and they got divorced after just over two years together in 1986. Lori Anne Allison moved to Los Angeles in the 1980s to start a career in the music industry - it has been reported she dreamed of being a record producer. But after becoming partially deaf in her left ear, Lori Anne Allison began her career as a professional make up artist and her friend Christina Applegate gave her a job in television. Lori Anne Allison was also the sister of Johnny Depp band's bass player and singer.
2 of 62. Sherilyn Fenn
Actress Sherilyn and Johnny met in 1985 on the set of a student film named Dummies after he'd split from Lori Anne Allison. He even wrote Sherilyn's name across his helmet in the film Platoon – romantic huh? They got engaged to one another but again it wasn't too last and they split after three and a half years.
3 of 63. Jennifer Grey
Er, what? Johnny was apparently once engaged to the Dirty Dancing star in 1989. The details of their tryst are pretty vague and she went on to marry Clark Gregg in 2001. However, according to reports she had wowed him with her dancing – we wonder if they tried out the DD lift together…
4 of 64. Winona Ryder
Ah Johnny and Winona, we thought this one might last forever and apparently so did he: Johnny got a tattoo which read, 'Winona Forever.' But when they broke up in 1993 – calling off their engagement at the same time - he had it changed to Wino Forever – nothing like a permanent ode to Chardonnay on your body, eh?
5 of 65. Juliette Lewis
Johnny and Juliette began dating not long after he split from Winona. They ALSO apparently got engaged, but they never made it down the aisle either. Seems to be a bit of a pattern here eh, John?
6 of 66. Kate Moss
They weren't TECHNICALLY engaged but we can't not mention the wondrous Johnny and Kate. Moss has said in an interview about her relationship with Johnny: "There's nobody that's ever really been able to take care of me. Johnny did for a bit. I believed what he said. Like if I said, 'What do I do?,' he'd tell me. And that's what I missed when I left. I really lost that gauge of somebody I could trust. Nightmare. Years and years of crying. Oh, the tears!"