Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz to Star in Action Thriller ‘Day Drinker’ for Lionsgate

Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz will star in the upcoming action thriller “Day Drinker.” The project reunites the two actors, who have shared the screen in “Blow,” “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” and “Murder on the Orient Express.”

“Day Drinker” follows a cruise ship bartender who meets a mysterious day drinker — only for both of them to find themselves entangled in a criminal underbelly, and connected in unexpected ways. Marc Webb (“The Amazing Spider-Man,” Disney’s upcoming “Snow White”) is directing for Lionsgate. The studio is launching international sales at AFM.

“’Day Drinker’ combines a highly commercial concept with wildly outrageous twists and turns all set in an incredible world, and there is no better filmmaker than Marc or two more perfectly cast actors than Johnny and Penélope to bring that world to life,” Adam Fogelson, Lionsgate’s Motion Picture Group chair said in a statement.

The film will be produced by Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, who backed the “John Wick” franchise for Lionsgate. Additional producers include Adam Kolbrenner, whose credits include “The Tomorrow War” and “Free Guy,” and Zach Dean, who wrote the original spec screenplay and previously penned “Fast X” and “The Tomorrow War.” The film is executive produced by 30West. Chelsea Kujawa is overseeing the project for Lionsgate. Dan Freedman negotiated the deals for the studio.

“Day Drinker” marks Depp’s return to Hollywood following his high-profile legal battles with ex-wife Amber Heard. After losing a 2020 U.K. libel case involving Heard’s abuse allegations, he was forced to exit from the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise. Depp won a subsequent defamation trial in the U.S. in 2022.

Depp recently secured his first leading role in years in 2023’s “Jeanne du Barry” and directed “Modi, Three Days on the Wing of Madness,” which premiered at this year’s San Sebastián International Film Festival. At last year’s Cannes Film Festival to promote “Jeanne du Barry,” Depp appeared to have mixed feelings about his years-long absence from Hollywood films.

“Did I feel boycotted by Hollywood? You’d have to not have a pulse to feel like, ‘No. None of this is happening. It’s a weird joke,’” he said during a press conference. “When you’re asked to resign from a film you’re doing because of something that is merely a function of vowels and consonants floating in the air, yes, you feel boycotted.”

He then continued, “I don’t feel boycotted by Hollywood, because I don’t think about Hollywood.”

The Hollywood Reporter broke the news of Depp and Cruz’s casting.