Netflix looks set to co-finance Johnny Depp’s first new movie in over two years.
Depp, who has spent the vast majority of 2022 engaged in a difficult legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard, has not made a feature film since Minamata, a drama released in 2020.
Now, according to Bloomberg, Netflix is set to help finance and stream Depp’s next movie, La Favorite, where he will play French monarch King Louis XV.
La Favorite is set to be backed by Netflix and a French company, Why Not Productions, though both declined to comment on Bloomberg’s report about the exact nature of the financing. TechRadar has additionally reached out to Netflix for comment on the reports and will update this story if the streaming service provides any.
The report goes on to say that La Favorite is expected to be released in 2023 in French movie theaters with Netflix then waiting a full 15 months before it will go on the platform. The movie’s status in the rest of the world and a release plan for other territories is as yet unknown.
The French newspaper Le Figaro has some details on the movie’s shoot, as well, which is set for this summer and will include work at France’s historic Palace of Versailles.
Working alongside Depp on the project will be Maïwenn Le Besco, known simply in France as Maïwenn. She will both direct and star in the movie, which will be a biopic of the life of Jeanne Bécu
Bécu, who grew up in poverty as the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress, went on to rise through the Court of Louis XV to become his last official mistress.
Booked to star alongside the pair are Pierre Richard and Noémie Lvovsky.
Analysis: A risky move for Netflix?
The fact that both Netflix and Why Not Productions thus far aren’t commenting on reports tells us a great deal. While they may well be ready to back the movie, they’re not ready to put the reasons why on record.
After the end of his trial, which played out in brutal, unpleasant detail in televised proceedings, Depp has spent the summer on tour with veteran rocker Jeff Beck, but speculation had already been rife about when he would return to acting and in what sort of project.
Vanity Fair quotes a movie industry source in their report on the announcement of Depp’s involvement in the project, who tells the magazine: “I think it’s just going to take one studio hiring him. Maybe he has to make an independent film or make something that’s outside the studio system for it to be acceptable to hire him again.”
It seems Depp has made that precise move. An independent movie, shot in Europe away from the surroundings of his trial, as a first step back. Whether Vanity Fair’s source proves to be correct and a Hollywood studio will book Depp once again, only time will tell.