Johnny Depp returning to directing more than 25 years after his debut took such a pounding he blocked its release

With his chances of a mainstream Hollywood resurgence virtually non-existent at this stage, it looks as though Johnny Depp is trying to take charge of his own destiny.

The actor’s comeback vehicle Jeanne du Barry may be opening the Cannes Film Festival this year, but his screentime is only reported to run for somewhere between 10 and 15 minutes, despite the formerly highest-paid star in all of Hollywood sharing co-lead status. Beyond that, there don’t seem to be any irons in the fire, so he crafted one himself.

Depp will be stepping behind the camera to direct Modi, a biopic of Italian artist Amedeo Modigliani, and there’s already a cast in place that includes Al Pacino, Riccardo Scamarcio and Pierre Niney. While you have to commend the exiled Pirates of the Caribbean star for expanding his creative horizons, we can only hope that the end result fares a lot better than his feature-length debut The Brave.

A lot of people might not even be aware the multi-time Academy Award nominee has even helmed a movie before, which is fair when the drama took such a critical pounding following its premiere that Depp actively blocked it from being released either in theaters or on home video in the United States.

International audiences did get the chance to see the self-indulgent tale of a mysterious stranger offering a shady deal to a man freshly released from prison – which boasted Marlon Brando in a supporting role – but the fact it’s not once been made widely available for public consumption on home soil tells you all you need to know about how it was received. With that in mind, let’s hope Modi turns out a lot better.