How Johnny and his Deppelganger kept fans guessing in Turin
JOHNNY DEPP was in Turin last week for the final few days of shooting on his picture Modi, about the Italian artist Modigliani.
Although the shoot wrapped in November in Budapest, there were a few final scenes to pick up.
Depp, 60, is behind the camera for this one, directing Riccardo Scamarcio who is portraying the Italian sculptor and painter, with Stephen Graham playing his art dealer and close friend Leopold Zborowski, and Al Pacino the art collector Maurice Gangnat. The film covers just two pivotal days in the artist’s life.
On a day off from filming, as my picture (far right) shows, Depp took in The World Of Tim Burton exhibition at the National Museum of Cinema in the city — rather sweetly, as he features heavily in it himself, having been a frequent star of Burton films including Edward Scissorhands and Sweeney Todd. (Burton himself opened the exhibition last year.)
Depp, as usual, has been keeping a low profile and managed largely to avoid his fans during the trip to Italy.
However his doppelganger Michael Carrata has provided some excellent diversions. Carrata, who is 47 and a singer in a heavy metal band, lives in Turin and has been repeatedly mistaken for Depp by fans eager for Johnny sightings. I’m told he has posed for a number of selfies, too.
The Italian has worked as a Depp impersonator for some time, alongside his singing career, and does indeed look like Johnny, aside from his hair which is currently platinum blond.
Modi will be Depp’s first try at directing since The Brave in 1997. He took that film to Cannes, with then girlfriend Kate Moss. Those with long memories may recall that Moss landed herself with a lifetime ban from the Hotel du Cap after being ticked off for stalking the corridors in just a bikini, and trashing the couple’s hotel room in a reported fit of temper.
Sources say Modi might just be ready in time for Cannes this year. Last year, Depp made a controversial comeback at the festival with the French period drama Jeanne du Barry.
The idea of a film about Modigliani was originally a Pacino project, in which he’d hoped to cast Depp in the title role. That never came off, decades passed and Pacino — a friend of Depp — then suggested that they team up on it again.