Johnny Depp to receive Lifetime Achievement award from Rome Film Festival

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Eric Garcia

Washington Bureau Chief

Johnny Depp is set to receive a Lifetime Achievement award from the Rome Film Festival next month.

The festival, which was founded in 2006 and this year runs from October 16 to 27, will also bestow the same honor on Francis Ford Coppola and Viggo Mortensen.

Depp, 61, will be attending the festival to screen his new film Modi, about the life of the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani over 48 hours in Paris during World War I.

Mortensen, 65, will present his Western movie The Dead Don’t Hurt, which he wrote, directed and stars in.

Coppola, 85, will present the Italian premiere of Megalopolis at Cinecittà Studios, the studio that hosted the director while he was making The Godfather Part III.

Modi marks the first film to be directed by Depp since 1997’s The Brave, which he also starred in alongside Marlon Brando.

The actor has previously credited Al Pacino, who plays real-life French art collector Maurice Gangnat in the film, for convincing him to return to the director’s chair.

“Embarking on this cinematic journey as the director of Modi has been an incredibly fulfilling and transformative experience,” Depp said in a statement.

“I would like to express my profound gratitude to the entire cast, crew, and producers for their unwavering commitment and creativity.

“To Al, who requested that I make this film – how could I refuse Pacino? A sincere acknowledgement for generously contributing his talent and dedication to this project.

“Modi is a testament to the collaborative spirit of independent filmmaking, and I am excited to present this unique and compelling story to the world.”

The film stars Italian actor Riccardo Scamarcio as Modigliani, with a supporting cast that includes Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham and Sally Phillips.

According to a press release, Modi will follow Modigliani through a “48-hour whirlwind, capturing a chaotic series of events through the streets and bars of war-torn Paris during World War I.

“On the run from the police, Modi’s desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow Bohemians. The chaos reaches a crescendo when he’s faced with a collector who could change his life.”

The film is Depp’s first project since he appeared in Jeanne du Barry, director Maïwenn’s film about the life of Louis XV and his mistress, Jeanne.

That film marked Depp’s return to film-making after he and his ex-wife Amber Heard had been involved in a series of widely-publicised court battles over the last four years.

In May 2023, the trial in Depp’s defamation lawsuit against Heard drew to a close with a civil jury handing him an overwhelming victory after weeks of dramatic and harrowing testimony.