![\"Johnny](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258329318-6629.jpg\")
\n\t\tJohnny Depp opened up about his return to the director\u2019s chair (Picture: AP)<\/p>\n
\t\t
\n\t\tJohnny Depp opened up about his return to the director\u2019s chair (Picture: AP)<\/p>\n
The last time Johnny Depp<\/a> sat in the director\u2019s chair, he was in his early thirties, he\u2019d never made a Pirates of the Caribbean movie and was dating Kate Moss<\/a>.<\/p>\n The film was 1997\u2019s The Brave, in which he co-starred with the legendary Marlon Brando. The critics panned it and he never directed another movie. Until now. Modigliani \u2013 Three Days on the Wing of Madness sees Depp back calling the shots<\/a>.<\/p>\n Speaking to Metro <\/strong>at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia<\/a>, the 62-year-old looked like a mix of Keith Richards<\/a> and his Pirates character, Captain Jack. His fingers were covered in rings, his arms and chest bearing tattoos like war-paint, his face half-hidden by a wide-brimmed hat.<\/p>\n You might imagine that the subject of his new movie<\/a>, the famed Italian painter and sculptor, might well approve of this rebel rouser bringing his life to the screen. So why direct now? \u2018I asked myself that too. Why now?\u2019 he grunted. The answer is simple: Al Pacino.<\/p>\n \u2018It was Al, who\u2019s a hero and a dear old friend,\u2019 he explained. \u2018I didn\u2019t have any plans on making another film as a director at all until Al Pacino called.\u2019<\/p>\n Back when these two made crime classic Donnie Brasco, Pacino was planning a Modigliani film. And now? \u2018He goes, \u201cI think you should direct it,\u201d\u2019 he continued, his voice dropping into a pitch perfect Pacino impression.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t Pacino felt his former co-star understood Amedeo Modigliani, the struggling artist living in Paris at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Like Modigliani, for better or worse, he has always trodden his own path across his wild career, one that\u2019s seen him fall in and out of favour with Hollywood, following his very public court appearances alongside ex-wife Amber Heard<\/a>.<\/p>\n But now in his 60s, the actor knew he was way too old to play the artist, in a story that takes in 72 hours of his life. Then he came across a photo of Riccardo Scamarcio, the impossibly handsome, green-eyed Italian who played the villain in John Wick 2.<\/p>\n \u2018There was something beautifully, poetically kind of savage [in him]. A straight shooter, not full of s**t, pardon my language,\u2019 he said. \u2018I saw something in his eyes. You can\u2019t help but to see something in his eyes.<\/p>\n \u2018Riccardo to me is like a young Brando, young Pacino, young Chris Walken.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t They first chatted on FaceTime when, bizarrely, Scamarcio was at a petrol station. \u2018I was driving down from Rome to Puglia in the south of Italy,\u2019 the actor, sitting quietly next to Depp, recalled.<\/p>\n \u2018I had my daughter and the nanny in the car. I had this phone call 10 o\u2019clock at night in Italy. So I stopped at the gas station. And I asked the people at the gas station to let me in the place to do this phone call with Johnny Depp! And they said, \u201cOf course, of course!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n \u2018I saw cans of oil!\u2019 Depp laughed. \u2018That\u2019s when I really knew it was perfect.\u2019 Scamarcio has already played one famous painter \u2013 in the 2022 film Caravaggio\u2019s Shadow. But this was always going to be different.<\/p>\n He put his actor through the ringer, not least when Scamarcio had to act opposite Pacino, cast as Maurice Gangnat, the influential art collector who has the power to turn Modigliani from an unknown into an artistic legend.<\/p>\n \u2018I felt pressure, like a huge mountain on my shoulder,\u2019 Scamarcio, dressed in a navy waistcoat and white T-shirt, shrugged.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t He compared it to taking a penalty in football in the last minute. \u2018I know I make the goal!\u2019 he cried. It didn\u2019t help that Depp completely re-wrote their scene at the last minute, with phrases like \u201cmore dialogue to come\u201d scrawled across the pages.<\/p>\n \u2018I went to Al and knocked on the door of his trailer,\u2019 he remembered. \u2018He said, \u201cHey kid! I don\u2019t know what to say. You\u2019re not even English, you\u2019re f**king Italian!\u201d\u2019<\/p>\n For Depp, this lively biopic is all part of the comeback trail after Hollywood studios backed away from him \u2013 his public image rocked by allegations of domestic abuse. Right now, he\u2019s filming Day Drinker alongside sometime co-star Pen\u00e9lope Cruz<\/a>, with director Marc Webb.<\/p>\n Whether this means he\u2019s back is hard to say, but he was clear-sighted on his four decades in the industry. \u2018Hollywood,\u2019 he said, \u2018didn\u2019t always agree with some of my choices, which was always a bit of a drag.\u2019<\/p>\n He remembered when the executives would come down to his sets. \u2018If I saw fear in them, and fear especially of what I\u2019m doing, it was like adding fuel to my choices when I saw them worried. It fuelled me to continue.<\/p>\n \t\t \t\t \u2018It fuelled me to push it further, not because I wanted to hurt anyone or anything like that. Just the fact that they were worried about my character choices told me very quickly and very simply that I was doing my job. If they weren\u2019t worried, then I would feel I wasn\u2019t doing my job enough.\u2019<\/p>\n Depp was on a roll, speaking with the sort of freedom that makes you feel he\u2019s far removed from the cookie-cutter young stars that are schooled in saying nothing to the media.<\/p>\n \u2018Ultimately, what I\u2019ve learned about Hollywood is that it can be very limiting, especially creatively,\u2019 he said. \u2018I don\u2019t want to play with structures that are existing.<\/p>\n \u2018I think that one should have their own unique voice, just like in life. Nobody else should be making choices about who you are and what you feel and what you see.\u2019<\/p>\n \t\t It\u2019s why he felt thrilled by making an independent movie about Modigliani, away from the system.<\/p>\n \u2018It\u2019s very freeing to be actually involved from the very beginning of a project\u2026to develop that project that wouldn\u2019t necessarily get made in Hollywood. Because at this point, I\u2019m not going to go in and do a tap dance for anybody. So it was a learning experience, Hollywood,\u2019 he added, grinning.<\/p>\n \u2018They still have a lot to learn.\u2019<\/p>\n You imagine if Al Pacino ever reads this, he\u2019d be proud.<\/p>\n Modigliani \u2013 Three Days on the Wing of Madness is in cinemas July 11, with special previews nationwide July 10.<\/strong><\/p>\n Got a story?<\/strong><\/p>\n If you\u2019ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk<\/a> entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff<\/a> page \u2013 we\u2019d love to hear from you.<\/p>\n Arrow Arrow![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244361-2b76.jpg\")
\n\t\tHe helmed upcoming movie Modigliani \u2013 Three Days on the Wing of Madness (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244364-91c6.jpg\")
\n\t\tRiccardo Scamarcio plays the late artist (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244462-2b1f.jpg\")
\n\t\tAl Pacino is also in the star-studded cast (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244469-11f7.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe movie is released in cinemas this week (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258136914-bc5a.jpg\")
\n\t\tProduction wrapped in 2023 (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244366-046e.jpg\")
\n\t\tDepp shared how \u2018freeing\u2019 he found the production (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244474_345287-b9fa.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe film has been a long time coming for Depp and co (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"Undated](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_258244475-d1f7.jpg\")
\n\t\tThe movie is part of Depp\u2019s Hollywood comeback (Picture: Modi Production Ltd)<\/p>\n![\"JEDDAH,](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/SEI_245033815-a9a8.jpg\")
\n\t\tDepp was thrilled to make an independent movie (Picture: Getty)<\/p>\n
\nMORE: Brad Pitt demands Angelina Jolie\u2019s private messages in explosive new legal filing<\/a><\/p>\n
\nMORE: Kanye West accused of sex trafficking and assault by ex-assistant in bombshell new lawsuit<\/a><\/p>\n