Johnny Depp to receive lifetime achievement award at Rome Film Festival

Actor Johnny Depp will be honoured with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rome Film Festival this year, where his film Modi:Three Days on the Wing of Madness will also be screened. Modi is a biopic on the Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani and has been directed by Depp.
Modi, featuring Italy’s Riccardo Scamarcio as the rebellious painter and sculptor known for his groundbreaking modern portraits and nudes, will premiere in Rome’s non-competitive Grand Public section. The film will later release in Italy, with Be Water collaborating with Maestro Distribution and Medusa Film.
In addition to Scamarcio, the film boasts an impressive cast including Al Pacino as international art collector Maurice Gangnat, Antonia Desplat, Stephen Graham, Bruno Gouery of The White Lotus fame, Ryan McParland Halo, and Sally Phillips who was a part of the Bridget Jones trilogy.
The synopsis reads, “On the run from the police, his desire to end his career and leave the city is dismissed by fellow artists Maurice Utrillo, Chaim Soutine, and Modi’s muse, Beatrice Hastings. Modi seeks advice from his art dealer and friend, Leopold Zborowski — however, after a night of hallucinations, the chaos in Modi’s mind reaches a crescendo when faced with an American collector, Maurice Gangnat, who has the power to change his life (sic).”
Modi marks Johnny Depp’s return to directing after his 1997 debut with the critically unsuccessful The Brave. This is also one of Depp’s first major projects since his 2022 court case against ex-wife Amber Heard, where he sued her for defamation following her accusations of domestic abuse.
The 19th edition of the Rome Film Festival will be held from October 16-27.