It looks like Netflix will be co-financing Johnny Depp’s first new film in more than two years.
Depp, who spent most of 2022 in a bitter legal battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard, hasn’t made a feature film since 2020’s drama Minamata.
now according to Bloomberg, (opens in a new tab) Netflix intends to help finance and broadcast Depp’s next film, The Favourite, in which he will play the French monarch King Louis XV.
La Favorite is slated to be backed by Netflix and France’s Why Not Productions, though both declined to comment on the exact nature of the financing to Bloomberg’s report. TechRadar has additionally reached out to Netflix for comment on the reports and will update this story if the streaming service does.
The report goes on to say that The Favorite is slated for a 2023 release in French cinemas, after which Netflix will wait a full 15 months before releasing it to the platform. The status of the film in the rest of the world and the release plan for other territories is still unknown.
The French newspaper Le Figaro (opens in a new tab) there are also some details about the film’s filming, which is scheduled for this summer and will include work at the historic Palace of Versailles in France.
Maiven Le Besco, known in France simply as Maiven, will work with Depp on the project. She will both direct and star in the film, which will be a biopic on the life of Jeanne Becu
Raised in poverty as the illegitimate daughter of an impoverished seamstress, Becque made her way through the court of Louis XV and became his last official mistress.
Along with this couple, Pierre Richard and Noemi Lvovsky are announced.
Analysis: A risky move for Netflix?
The fact that both Netflix and Why Not Productions have yet to comment on the report speaks volumes. While they may well be willing to support the film, they are not willing to put their reasons on record.
Depp has spent the summer touring with veteran rocker Jeff Beck since the trial, which was revealed in brutal and unsavory detail on television, but there has already been much speculation about when he will return to acting and what project.
Fair of vanity (opens in a new tab) quoted a film industry source in its report on the announcement of Depp’s involvement in the project as telling the magazine, “I think it’s just going to take one studio to hire him. Maybe he needs to do an independent film or do something outside the studio system to make it acceptable to hire him again.”
Depp seems to have made that exact move. An independent film shot in Europe away from the trial of him as the first step back. Only time will tell if Vanity Fair’s source turns out to be right and the Hollywood studio commissions Depp again.
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