Johnny Depp Set To Make His Hollywood Comeback In Day Drinker Opposite Penélope Cruz After 2022 Amber Heard Defamation Trial

Johnny Depp will star in Day Drinker, directed by Marc Webb, opposite Penélope Cruz, making his return to Hollywood big studio productions.

Published on Oct 29, 2024  |  12:01 PM IST |  43.2K
Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz via Getty Images
Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz via Getty Images

Johnny Depp is set to make a notable Hollywood comeback with Day Drinker, a thrilling drama where he once again gets together with long-time collaborator Penélope Cruz on the screen. This is Depp’s first major studio role since the legal battle over accusations leveled by his ex-wife Amber Heard in 2022. Lionsgate will begin international sales for the Marc Webb-helmed project this week.

In a high-profile defamation case he had against Heard, more than half of the jury sided with Depp in the end. The Aquaman actress paid Depp 1 million USD as a settlement in early 2022. The entire trial was highly publicized and televised.

In his upcoming big studio project, Depp finds himself in Day Drinker as a cruise ship bartender who unexpectedly encounters a mysterious day drinker and gets roped into a criminal underbelly. Lionsgate, who last worked with Depp on Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald, where he played Grindelwald back in 2018, has built up quite a production team on this project, stating that it has the potential due to the gripping plot. The production crew also includes Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, who worked on the John Wick franchise.

As per The Hollywood Reporter, Adam Fogelson, chair of the Lionsgate Motion Picture Group, stated that Day Drinker has an attractive premise with uniquely integrated surprises and an engaging premise. Fogelson said, "Day Drinker combines a highly commercial concept with wildly outrageous twists and turns all set in an incredible world, and there is no better filmmaker than Marc or two more perfectly cast actors than Johnny and Penélope to bring that world to life."

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Through his new role, he returns to Hollywood after a series of European-funded films, which included last year's French drama Jeanne du Barry and the film he directed Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, which recently premiered in the Rome Film Festival.

Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz, longtime friends and collaborators, shared the screen in Blow, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Murder on the Orient Express. During the What's Eating Gilbert Grape star's ongoing legal issues against Amber Heard, Cruz provided a court statement in favor of Depp's character, showing her support for him.

Day Drinker depicts yet another step in developing the partnership, as the two companies, Lionsgate and 30WEST, are attached as the executive producers of the movie.

ALSO READ: 'Most Fortunate To...': Johnny Depp Praises Robert Downey Jr.'s Broadway Debut With McNeal

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