Johnny Depp to Attempt a Major Hollywood Comeback inDay Drinker, His Fourth Movie with Penélope Cruz

Mar. 15, 2025

Johnny Depp and Penelope Cruz in 2011.Photo:Mike Marsland/WireImage

Mike Marsland/WireImage

Johnny Deppis reteaming withPenélope Cruzfor a Hollywood comeback.

Day Drinker, an upcoming thriller from director Marc Webb, will mark Depp’s first major studio project since his controversialdefamation trialagainst ex-wifeAmber Heard.

The movie follows “a cruise ship bartender” and “a mysterious day drinker” who “find themselves entangled in a criminal underbelly, and connected in unexpected ways,” per a statement from Lionsgate — the first major American distributor behind a movie starring Depp, 61, since Warner Bros.’ 2018 filmFantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

The Oscar nominee’s high-profile defamation trial against Heard, 38,televised livein 2022, ended with the jurysiding mostly with Depp. TheAquamanactress, who won one of her three defamation counterclaims,paid Depp $1 million in a settlementreached inDecember 2022.

Cruz, 50, counts Depp as a regular screen collaborator. The two have starred together in 2001’sBlow, 2011’sPirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tidesand 2017’sMurder on the Orient Express.

In September, the Spanish actressshared a selfieof herself posing with Depp at the San Sebastian Film Festival. There, Depp premiered a movie as a director,Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness, starringAl Pacino.

Johnny Depp at the ‘Jeanne du Barry’ UK premiere on April 15.Neil P. Mockford/Getty

Neil P. Mockford/Getty

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During a San Sebastian Film Festival press conference held Sept. 24, Deppalluded to his defamation trialin explaining how he personally related to his film’s subject, Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani.

ThePirates of the Caribbeanstar recently starred in the French movieJeanne Du Barry, from director-star Maïwenn. The movie premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2023 before being released in the U.S. in May. Also among Depp’s upcoming projects is the animated movieJohnny Puff: Secret Mission.

Heard now lives aquiet life in Madrid, Spain, with her 3-year-olddaughter Oonagh Paige.

source: people.com