Johnny Depp in 2012’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.’
Looking to emerge from the mire of his legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard, Johnny Depp is throwing himself back into creative work, acting and now preparing to get back behind the camera for a new movie.
Jerzy and Mary Kromolowski wrote the script, adapting the play by Dennis McIntyre. The film will tell the story of the painter and sculptor living in Paris in 1916.
While he has suffered under the belief that he’s a critical and commercial failure, Modigliani navigates a turbulent and eventful 48 hours that will become a turning point in his life, ultimately solidifying his reputation as an artistic legend.
We don’t yet know who will star in the movie (and whether Depp will take a role/ the lead), but the cameras should be rolling next year in Europe. Al Pacino, who has worked with co-producer Ben Navidi on various other movies, is also involved in shepherding the movie to screens.
“The saga of Mr. Modigliani’s life is one that I’m incredibly honored, and truly humbled, to bring to the screen,” said Depp. “It was a life of great hardship, but eventual triumph — a universally human story all viewers can identify with.”
“This project has been very close to Al’s heart. Al introduced me to the play Modigliani many years ago and I instantly fell in love with it,” says Navidi. “This is a slice of Modi’s life and not a bio. It’s been a dream of mine to work with Johnny again — he’s a true artist with an amazing vision to bring this great story to the screen.”
(L to R) Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in 2011’s ‘The Rum Diary.’
Depp recently saw a judge rule in his favor in a defamation trial brought against Heard, who has made continued claims of his abusive behavior. But as the case dragged on, both actors saw their names and reputations dragged through the mud of public opinion.
For his part, Depp has seen work in Hollywood dry up, and studios distancing themselves from him, including Warner Bros. ejecting him from ‘Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore’ where he had been set to reprise his role as the villainous Grindelwald (Mads Mikkelsen took over the character).
The actor hasn’t been seen on screen since 2020’s ‘Minamata,’ which saw him play war photographer W. Eugene Smith. He is, however, still finding work from European companies, and is at work on French filmmaker Maïwenn’s upcoming film ‘Jeanne du Barry,’ a historical romance drama about a royal’s concubine, with Depp as King Louis XV.
The last time Depp was calling action, it was for his directorial debut, the 1997 neo-Western ‘The Brave’. Adapted from Gregory McDonald’s novel, it followed an unemployed alcoholic Native American Indian who lives on a trailer park with his wife and two children. Convinced that he has nothing to offer this world, he agrees to be tortured to death by a gang of rednecks in return for $50,000.
Not exactly a crowd-pleaser – or indeed an anyone pleaser – it was critically castigated and largely eschewed by audiences, barely moving the needle on box office figures despite Depp starring alongside Marlon Brando.
He’ll no doubt be hoping for better things with ‘Modigliani’, but given the obscure subject matter, that remains to be seen.
The result is a really fun retelling of how ‘The Godfather’ was made, even if most of the facts have been replaced with legend, and serves an entertaining send-up of Hollywood filmmaking with an absolutely brilliant performance by Matthew Goode as the iconic Robert Evans.
The series begins by introducing us to Albert S. Ruddy (Teller), a computer programmer-turned TV writer who wants to produce feature films. He soon meets the head of Paramount studios, Robert Evans (Goode), who desperately needs a hit, and assigns Ruddy to produce Mario Puzo’s (Patrick Gallo) best-selling novel, “The Godfather.”
Evan’s righthand-man, Peter Bart (Josh Zukerman) recommends writer Francis Ford Coppola (Fogler) to direct the film and co-write with Puzo. But production of the movie is put in jeopardy when mob boss Joe Colombo (Ribisi) decides to stop the production because he feels the book is negative towards Italian-Americans. Along with his assistant Bettye McCartt (Juno Temple), Ruddy begins a friendship with Colombo that allows the movie to get made.
Meanwhile, Evans battles Paramount owners Charles Bluhdorn (Burn Gorman) and Barry Lapidus (Colin Hanks) to get the movie made and keep his job. As the film goes into production, Ruddy must deal with Colombo and the mob, fighting Bluhdorn and Evans to get actors Al Pacino (Anthony Ippolito) and Marlon Brando (Justin Chambers) cast, and fulfilling Coppola’s vision to make the greatest movie of all-time!
The pilot episode is directed by Dexter Fletcher, who is also a producer on the series and has a flair for telling “based on a true story” movies like ‘Bohemian Rhapsody,’ which he unofficially directed, and ‘Rocketman.’ But the biggest problem with the series, much like HBO’s ‘Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty,’ is that it offers legend as fact and mixes the two together, ultimately leaving the audience lost as to what is real and what is a dramatization.
Also blending myth and facts, actor Gianni Russo, who played Carlo in ‘The Godfather,’ has been very vocal over the years about his version of the making of the film, which again, may or may not have been true, and saw him taking on the role of mediator between the studio and the mafia.
The series contradicts that story, having Ruddy as the mediator, and also depicts Russo as physically abusive and a sexual predator on the set. Again, that may or may not be true, but if it is, the series does finally explain why actor James Caan really beat Russo up in their famous fight scene.
Another aspect of the series that may or may not ultimately work, is the way they orchestrated moments from ‘The Godfather’ to happen behind the scenes, as if to say that those “real life” moments inspired the film. This works once in a while, but the series doubles down and does it constantly. For example, on the set of the movie in the Don’s office, Ruddy sits behind the desk answering questions from the crew as if he was the Don. While fun at times, this technique eventually runs out of steam.
The sub-plot between Ruddy and the mob is at times more entertaining than the story of making the movie, but I have to call into question if any of that actually happened. According to the mini-series, Ruddy and Colombo become very close, and Ruddy is even in attendance when Colombo was assassinated, which may or may not be true.
The series also implies that Lenny Montana (wonderfully played by Lou Ferrigno), the actor who portrayed Luca Brasi, actually worked for Colombo and may have been implicated in the murder of “Crazy” Joe Gallo. With so many true stories told in the series, it becomes confusing when the show takes “creative license.”
Miles Teller gives a strong performance as Albert S. Ruddy and is really the audience’s eyes throughout the series. Juno Temple is also quite strong as his assistant Bettye and transcends her limited role. Some of the supporting roles of famous actors are a bit hard to swallow, including Anthony Ippolito’s caricature-type performance as Al Pacino. But, Justin Chambers perfectly captures both Marlon Brando’s oddness and genius.
Giovanni Ribisi is surprisingly great as Joe Colombo and brings a lot of humanity to an otherwise unredeemable character. Burn Gorman also gives a spot-on performance as Gulf + Western owner Charles Bluhdorn, which is both funny and at times menacing.
Matthew Goode as Robert Evans in ‘The Offer,’ streaming on Paramount+. Photo: Miller Mobley/Paramount+.
But for me, its Matthew Goode’s performance as legendary producer Robert Evans that really makes this series worth watching. For those that don’t know, Evans is one of the most iconic Hollywood producers of all-time, overseeing not just ‘The Godfather,’ but also hits like ‘Love Story,’ and ‘Chinatown.’ Evans had a very specific way of talking and moving, and Goode nails each aspect of his personality perfectly.
While a supporting character, Evans is as much the star of ‘The Offer’ as Ruddy, and the series tracks his rise, fall, and rise again at Paramount and hints at his drug addiction and failed marriage to Ali MacGraw.
In the end, fans of classic Hollywood filmmaking and specifically ‘The Godfather’ will enjoy this series, whether some of the facts are in question or not. But I do think that anyone with a passing knowledge of ‘The Godfather’ and the legendary stories from behind the scenes will have a more enjoyable viewing than those that do not know the movie’s history.
‘The Offer’ receives 4 out of 5 stars.
‘The Offer’ premieres April 28th on Paramount+
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You can watch an exclusive scene from the finale of Paramount+’s ‘The Offer,’ featuring the premiere of ‘The Godfather,’ by clicking on the video player above.
Now back in theaters for its 40th anniversary “Apocalypse Now,” is both one of Francis Ford Coppola‘s most celebrated films and one of the most notoriously troubled productions in history.
It was released on August 19, 1979, more than three years after Coppola began shooting. What went wrong?
As Coppola said at Cannes, making the film was just like the U.S in Vietnam. “We were in the jungle, there were too many of us, we had access to too much money, too much equipment, and little by little we went insane.”
Here’s some of what went down in the Philippine jungle:
1. Original star Harvey Keitel was fired after six weeks
Warner Bros.
Coppola hired Harvey Keitel based on his work in Martin Scorsese’s “Mean Streets.” After he watched the first week’s footage, Coppola decided to fire him, yielding the first dramatic headlines of the production: “Coppola loses his beard, 38 lbs and Star Keitel.’ He was replaced by Martin Sheen. The only footage of Keitel that made it into the film is a shot of him from the back on the boat.
2. Martin Sheen was really drunk, and really bleeding, during his Saigon Hotel scene
In this excerpt from Eleanor Coppola‘s Emmy-winning documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse,” Sheen recalls shooting the scene where Willard smashes a mirror in his hotel room: “ I was so drunk, I couldn’t stand up, frankly. I was so intoxicated, I didn’t realize how close to the mirror I was.” Despite bleeding profusely, Sheen insisted on continuing filming. Eleanor adds that Marty was so unpredictable at that point, she thought he might lunge at the camera or attack Francis,.
3. Sheen had a heart attack and received the last rites
Paramount
You’ve surely heard Sheen had a heart attack during production. What you might know is that he crawled out of his room at 2 a.m. and a quarter of a mile down the local highway before finding help. “He had suffered a serious heart attack and even received last rites from a priest who did not speak English,” Eleanor Coppola says in “Hearts of Darkness.” He took six weeks off and, not wanting to halt the already over-budget production, said that he had suffered from heat stroke.
4. Coppola didn’t want word of Sheen’s heart attack to get out
In “Hearts of Darkness, co-producer Tom Sternberg recalls he got a phone call from his secretary, who said “Marty’s had a heart attack and Francis doesn’t want to admit it.” Coppola is later heard on tape saying, “If Marty dies, I want to hear everything is okay, until I say, ‘Marty is dead.’”
5. Coppola mortgaged his house to finish the film
Paramount
Coppola had financed the movie himself, thanks to his success with the “Godfather” films, but had already blown the $13 budget. To finish the movie, he mortgaged his considerable estate to secure additional money from United Artists. If the film hadn’t earned at least $40 million, he would have lost it all. (“Apocalypse Now” went on to earn more than $78 million during its initial release, as well as 2 Oscars, and shared top prize at the Cannes Film Fest.)
7. Filming took place in the middle of a real war
Paramount
Coppola made a deal with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos to lease his helicopters — if they weren’t needed in actual fighting. (The U.S. military refused to participate in a film about the Vietnam war). Because of the Civil War in the south, every day the Philippine government sent different pilots, who hadn’t participated in the rehearsals. Even worse, in the middle of a complicated shot, the helicopters would often be called away to fight the rebels in the nearby hills.
8. A typhoon destroyed several sets
In May 1976, the Philippines was hit by a typhoon that killed 374 people and destroyed many of the movie’s sets, including the Playboy Bunny set. The production closed down for 2 months to rebuild.
9. Coppola insisted on serving up a real French feast during the French Plantation scene
Miramax
Before filming the French Plantation scene (which was cut for theatrical release but added back for “Apocalypse Now: Redux“), Coppola insisted that the white wine be served ice cold and red wine should be served at 58 degrees. “I want the French to say, ‘My God, how did they do that?,’” he says in “Hearts of Darkness.” He made the decision to cut the entire sequence right after shooting it.
10. Marlon Brando demanded a $1 million down payment — then almost didn’t show
United Artists
After Al Pacino turned down the part, another “Godfather” star, Marlon Brando, agreed to play Willard’s target, the mysterious Col. Kurtz. He was supposed to lose weight for the role and read the novel “Heart of Darkness” that inspired the movie. He did neither. Instead he turned up 88 lbs overweight and completely unprepared. At one point, he threatened to take Coppola’s initial $1 million without ever setting foot on set.
(A Brando biographer disputes that the actor was unprepared and says that not only did the two communicate extensively about the character beforehand, Coppola was simply looking for a scapegoat at that point in filming.)
11. Brando spent his first days on set improvising his character
Paramount
According to “Hearts of Darkness,” Coppola spent several days of the actor’s precious time in improvisation before shooting a single scene. He figured that getting Brando to start improvising (which he did throughout his scenes) was better than trying to get him to memorize a script. (On the “The Godfather,” cue cards were pasted all over the set because Brando often forget his lines.)
12. Real people played the severed heads — through 38 takes
Paramount
The people who were playing the severed heads sat in their boxes in the ground from 8 in the morning until 6 at night: Coppola did 38 takes. Between takes, they were covered with umbrellas to shield them from the hot sun.
13. People were really doing drugs on set
United Artists
Sam Bottoms, who plays surfing soldier Lance, admitted he dropped acid during filming, but not during the Do Long Bridge sequence where his character is tripping. “I was doing speed then. We were working lots of nights and I wanted a speedy sort of edge. We were bad, we were just bad boys,” he says in “Hearts of Darkness.”
14. Dennis Hopper and Marlon Brando hated each other
United Artists
Dennis Hopper, who admits in “Hearts of Darkness” that his career was at a low point and he was happy to go anywhere and make any movie at the time, was only cast 2 weeks before his scenes. Coppola was afraid to put “crazy” Hopper with Marlon Brando in a scene and he was right: The two hated each other. They had to shoot their shared scenes in separate shots. When Kurtz throws the book at Hopper’s character and calls him a “mutt,” that was probably one of Brando’s many improvisations.
15. Coppola contemplated suicide or injury to get out of finishing the film
Paramount
As he says at one point in “Hearts of Darkness,” “I’m going to be bankrupt anyway. I’m thinking of shooting myself.” He was so desperate to get off the film, he contemplated what kind of sicknesses he could get or how he could maybe injure himself by falling off a platform, so he could have “a graceful way out.”
16. Coppola convinced John Milius the film was going to win a Nobel Prize
John Milius, who wrote the original script, recalls that he was called in to put the script back together after Coppola’s extensive revisions. He was told by the frustrated crew to talk some sense into Coppola. Instead, Francis had him convinced this was the first film that would win the Nobel Prize.
It’s now been 40 years since Francis Ford Coppola gave us one of the greatest and most mind-bending war movies of all time. “Apocalypse Now” has lost none of its power over the decades. So strap on your helmet and head up-river to learn some interesting trivia about the background and infamously troubled production of “Apocalypse Now.”
1. Writer John Milius listened exclusively to music by The Doors and Richard Wagner while he worked on the screenplay. Milius said he believed The Doors to be “the music of war,” a fact which greatly upset the members of the band.
2. The majority of the dialogue had to be re-recorded during post-production, as the jungle environments and heavy background noise made much of the original dialogue impossible to use.
3. Coppola originally offered the role of Captain Willard to “The Godfather” star Al Pacino. Pacino declined, telling Coppola he had no interest in spending months shooting in a swamp.
Paramount Pictures
4. Pacino was also one of several actors Coppola considered as a potential replacement for Marlon Brando, who repeatedly threatened to quit.
5.Harvey Keitel was originally cast as Willard and was fired after two weeks of filming. At least one shot of Keitel’s Willard made it into the final version of the film.
6.Martin Sheen largely improvised the scene where Willard has a meltdown in his hotel room. Sheen was heavily intoxicated and actually cut his hand when he punched the mirror.
United Artists
7. Sheen’s brother Joe Estevez plays an essential but uncredited role in the movie. Estevez served as a stand-in for his brother while Sheen was recuperating from a heart attack, and also provided the voice-over work for a large portion of Captain Willard’s narration.
8. Coppola opted to frame Colonel Kurtz in shadow for most of his scenes, mainly to hide the fact that Brando arrived on-set extremely overweight.
United Artists
9. The friction between Brando and Coppola became so great that Assistant Director Jerry Ziesmer eventually took over filming for Brando’s scenes.
10.Harrison Ford specifically chose his character’s name, “G. Lucas,” in tribute to “Star Wars” and “American Graffiti” director George Lucas. Lucas was once slated to direct “Apocalypse Now” himself, which he envisioned as a faux-documentary.
11. The film’s famously disaster-ridden production is chronicled in the 1991 documentary “Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse.” The production went so far over budget that Coppola was forced to mortgage his house and winery in order to finish filming.
Triton Pictures
12. Widespread drug abuse was another major problem during filming. Dennis Hopper reportedly caused a teenage Laurence Fishburne to become addicted to heroin.
13. Because the film includes no opening title card or credits, Coppola needed to include the shot of the graffiti tag “Our Motto: Apocalypse Now” in order to ensure the film could be copyrighted.
United Artists
14. The American Humane Association slammed the film with an “Unacceptable” rating after it was discovered the scene where the water buffalo is slaughtered was actually real.
15. Coppola repeatedly struggled with his vision for the ending of the movie. Originally, the screenplay ended with Kurtz convincing Willard to join him and both men dying in a military airstrike, but Coppola opted for a less depressing finale.
United Artists
16. There are several alternate versions of the film in existence. 2001’s “Apocalypse Now Redux” adds 49 minutes of deleted footage, including the lengthy sequence where Willard and his crew encounter the French plantation owners. A bootleg workprint cut includes even more deleted footage, such as a death scene for Hopper’s character.
17. 2019 will see the release of “Apocalypse Now: The Final Cut,” a 4K restoration that cuts roughly 20 minutes of footage that was added to “Redux.”
TriStar Pictures is hoping for some luck at the box office: The studio is working on a new version of classic musical “Guys and Dolls.”
Variety has the scoop that the studio is looking to multiple sources of inspiration for this latest adaptation, and has purchased the remake rights not only to the Damon Runyon short stories on which the stage show was originally based, but the rights to the Broadway version (with a book penned by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows, and music composed by Frank Loesser), and the famous 1955 film version.
That classic feature, written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, starred Marlon Brando, Frank Sinatra,Jean Simmons, and Vivian Blaine, and was nominated for four Academy Awards. The musical’s iconic songbook includes tunes such as “Luck Be a Lady,” “A Bushel and a Peck,” and “Sit Down, You’re Rockin’ the Boat.”
The show has been a Broadway staple since its debut back in 1950, where it ran for three years and took home five Tony Awards, including Best Musical. A popular 1992 revival starred Nathan Lane, turning him into a theater star.
“Guys and Dolls” is just the latest hit musical to get a big screen adaptation over the years, following film versions of “Chicago,” “Hairspray,” “Les Miserables,” and “Into the Woods,” among others. But musicals have become even more popular recently (hello, “The Greatest Showman”), and the filmmakers behind this project no doubt want to capitalize on the boom that will bring shows like “Wicked,” “Cats,” and “West Side Story” to theaters over the next few years.
Billy Zane as Marlon Brando? We can see it. The “Titanic” baddie will star as the legendary actor in “Waltzing With Brando.”
It’s based on the 2011 memoir “Waltzing With Brando: Planning a Paradise in Tahiti,” by Los Angeles-based architect Bernard Judge. It details his time in the early ’70s with the Oscar-winning actor as they built an environmentally-sustainable private retreat in the South Pacific.
Per the Amazon synopsis: “The book is filled with amusing anecdotes about his famous client. It exposes Marlon Brando the man, not the actor, his foibles and eccentricities and regales the reader with Brando’s ridiculous exploits with women.”
Zane will executive produce with writer and director Bill Fishman, whose films include the 1988 comedy “Tapeheads.”
Zane, who will forever be Kate Winslet’s rich, mean fiance from “Titanic” to us (and, to a lesser extent, The Phantom), also appears in the Sky One street-racing series “Curfew” with Sean Bean.
Al Capone keeps finding himself in modern headlines, even after dying back in 1947 at age 48.
In this case, it’s because “Fonzo” director Josh Trank just shared a look at star Tom Hardy in full makeup as the notorious gangster.
“Fonzo” — nickname for Alphonse Capone — focuses on the end of Capone’s life, after almost a decade in prison for tax evasion, when he was suffering with dementia.
“Fonzo” also stars Linda Cardellini as Capone’s long-suffering wife Mae; Matt Dillon as his closest friend Johnny; Kyle MacLachlan as his doctor Karlock; Katherine Narducci as Rosie, one of his sisters; Jack Lowden as FBI agent Crawford; Noel Fisher as Capone’s son Junior; and Tilda Del Toro as Mona Lisa, a mysterious lover from Capone’s past.
