Johnny Depp’s “Modi” will have its world premiere at the San Sebastián Film Festival this week, decades after Al Pacino, who approached Depp about the idea, first saw the play that inspired the film.
Here’s the official synopsis for “Modi,” which reads: “72 tumultuous hours in the life of bohemian artist Amedeo Modigliani, known to his friends as Modi, follows a series of disturbances on the streets of war-torn Paris in 1916. On the run from the police, he wants to give up art and leave the city, but is overruled by fellow artists Maurice Utrillo and Chaim Soutine and Modi’s muse, Beatrice Hastings. Modi turns to his friend and art dealer Leopold Zborowski for advice, but after a night of hallucinations, Modi’s inner turmoil culminates when he is confronted by American collector Maurice Ghannat, who has the power to change his life.”
Pacino had wanted to make a film about Modigliani for years, and finally took the play’s script to longtime collaborator Barry Navidi for his thoughts. Navidi was impressed, and hired screenwriters Jerzy and Mary Kromowski to develop the play’s core into a screenplay. He first told Johnny Depp about “Modi” in 1997, when they worked together on Mike Newell’s “Donnie Brasco.” And now, more than a quarter century later, they have completed the project and are ready to open it to audiences in San Sebastian.
When asked if he felt a kinship with the film’s protagonist, Depp told Variety: “Modigliani is, of course, one of the greatest modern artists of all time. But he also represented an era and a perspective in which new possibilities still existed. His vision fascinates me. He tenaciously walked to his own rhythm and had a natural allergy to convention at a time when norms were being openly challenged in every medium. I’d be foolish not to acknowledge that everything Modigliani has stood for and continues to stand for resonates deeply within me.”
“I feel incredibly lucky to have had the opportunity to capture his world in three days with such an incredible cast and crew,” he concluded.
Modi’s cast of historical figures includes actors Riccardo Scamarcio, Stephen Graham, Al Pacino, Antonia Desplat, Bruno Goulet, Ryan McParland and Luisa Ranieri. The film is produced by Depp and Navidi through their Modi Productions Limited and Depp’s UK label IN.2.
Ahead of the film’s Tuesday night world premiere, Navidi and IN.2 CEO Steven Deuters and executive producer Steven Marit spoke to Variety about the film, which has been long in the making, why Depp was the right choice to direct and the exhaustive casting process they went through to fill out the roster of historical figures.
This project has existed in one form or another for decades – it’s something Al Pacino wanted to make years ago – what made Johnny the right director to finally bring this story to the big screen?
Navidi: I think John is a very sensitive artist. He is a painter, a musician, an actor, and an active director. I got to see that up close. I was very impressed and loved the way he was working on set. Of course, we had considered several directors before Johnny, because this project had been in the works for a long time, but we recognized Al as the right director because he has the sensibility and sensitivity of an artist. Ultimately, Johnny made it his own. He said from the beginning, “When I start directing, I’m going to find my own vision.” And it was exactly the same with the writers and the actors. They were constantly working and rewriting the lines and the script. I’ve been in the industry for a long time and I worked with John Huston as a kid. I saw John in the way Johnny directed. They let everybody do their thing, every craftsman play their part, improvise.
How did this approach work and did IN2 get involved immediately after Jonny took over as director?
Deuters: When it got to our desk, we read it, and things just came together really quickly. Jonny was so surprised and humbled and a little surprised that Al asked him to direct it. He didn’t think that someone would ask him to direct a movie at that particular moment. We had a lot going on at the time. This was even before COVID-19 hit, but we thought this would be a really positive thing for us, a bit of an unexpected change of direction, something that he could really immerse himself in. As Barry said, Jonny likes to work with fellow creators and let them each do what they want to do. But ultimately, the whole process was really quick. We said yes, got to work on it right away, put it together in about 18 months, and the next thing we knew we were in Hungary. I don’t think Jonny even believed it was going to happen until it landed.
The story is based on a real person who made his mark on art history, but who didn’t become famous until after his death, so biographical information is somewhat scarce. How much freedom did you have in writing and filming this story, and how much freedom did the actors have in playing real people?
Deuters: We had a lot of freedom. It was all about keeping and preserving the spirit. Of course, we didn’t want to go completely off the mark. Everyone did their research. Antonia Desplat, for example, did an incredible amount of research. She was the teacher’s favorite there. Riccardo liked to improvise a little more. Ryan and Bruno certainly did their work. So, everyone did their homework before shooting, but once we got on set, we found the character, listened to Johnny, and started moving around. Behind the camera, Johnny also did research, but he also took a lot of creative liberties. We call the film an anti-biopic. We avoid calling it a biopic. It’s really just three crazy days in this life.
Speaking of actors, were there any discussions about Johnny being in the film and how did you come together with such a highly international cast?
Navidi: I’ll leave that to Stephen, but the irony is that about 12 years ago, Al and I were talking about this project. We wanted Johnny to play Modi. But Johnny was so busy at the time. He was a superstar with a string of Hollywood movies under his belt, so there was no way he was going to be able to do this film.
Deuters: Yes, in this film, Johnny wasn’t the right choice for any of the lead roles. But we had a great casting director, and one day we put a picture of Riccardo in front of Johnny, and he said, “That’s the guy.” Johnny didn’t know Riccardo. He’d never met him, and he wasn’t familiar with his work, but Riccardo had an Oliver Reed kind of eye. That stuck with Johnny. Johnny is very instinctive about this kind of thing. He’s like, “First thing comes to mind is best.” He usually just goes with his gut. I think Bruno was the last one to be cast. He was the hardest, took the longest to find the right role. And Antonia surprised everybody. Ryan did a great job as Chaim. Stephen Graham is an old friend of mine, and we’ve done four or five films together. He was on board early on. I don’t think he even knew what the movie was called, or what he was doing. He just said, “Okay.”
San Sebastian has been an important festival for Jonny at IN2. A few years ago you announced the launch of your company with us at the festival. Your film Crock of Gold, a documentary about Shane McGowan, was very well received here and Jonny won a Donostia Lifetime Achievement Award. What does it mean to you to come back here now to premiere this film, which is so different from his other recent works?
Marit: San Sebastian has been a really good festival for us over the years. The festival has improved the quality of the films it shows and it’s one of the really high quality festivals in the world. The Shane McGowan documentary was the first project we brought here, and it was during the COVID pandemic. I remember receiving a small two-seater, single propeller plane from the UK with director Julien Temple. We were worried that the plane would run out of fuel in the Bay of Biscay. But we had a great experience with Johnny and the team. Then we won the jury prize and had to fly back at the end of the festival to collect the prize, which was great. But San Sebastian is great because it fits the purpose of IN.2, which is to make a film like “Modi,” a film that has a European sensibility and an American approachability. Johnny and Al Pacino being involved in the film was what inspired me to start the festival and start working with Barry.
