Johnny Depp’s Dramatic Transformation: Unrecognizable in New Film ‘Day Drinker’ with Penélope Cruz! Get a First Look at His Astonishing New Role, the Behind-the-Scenes Magic, and Why This Unexpected Change Has Hollywood Buzzing About the Actor’s Latest Cinematic Adventure.

‘Day Drinker,’ directed by Marc Webb, stars Johnny Depp, Madelyn Cline and Penélope Cruz

Johnny Depp in “Day Drinker”. Photo: Niete /Courtesy of Lionsgate

Johnny Depp is pouring into his next movie role.

Lionsgate announced Monday, April 14 that production is underway in Spain on Day Drinker, the movie directed by Marc Webb that stars Depp, Madelyn Cline and Penélope Cruz.

The first photo of Depp in character shows the Oscar nominee with a drink in hand as he looks ominously off camera.

Depp, 61, plays a “mysterious” guest on board a private yacht who crosses paths with a bartender on the boat, played by Glass Onion star Cline, 27. According to a synopsis, “They soon find themselves entangled with a criminal figure (Cruz) and connected in ways no one saw coming.”

The Day Drinker cast also includes Manu Ríos, Arón Piper, Juan Diego Botto and Anika Boyle.

Johnny Depp; Penélope Cruz; Madelyn Cline.Daniele Venturelli/Getty; Belinda Jiao/Getty; Cindy Ord/VF25/Getty

Webb, who most recently directed Disney’s live-action Snow White starring Rachel Zegler and Gal Gadot, says in a statement, “I’m excited to be starting production with Johnny, Madelyn, Penélope and this incredible cast.”

“We’re in a beautiful location with a fantastic crew and a thrilling, ferocious story to tell,” he adds. “This is gonna be fun.”

Pals Depp and Cruz, 50, previously costarred together in Blow (2001), Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (2011) and Murder on the Orient Express (2017).

Day Drinker will mark a Hollywood return for Depp, as it’s his first role in a film from a major distributor since 2018’s Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald.

Johnny Depp on May 17, 2023.by Rocco Spaziani/Archivio Spaziani/Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images

Since the end of his highly publicized defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard (who now lives in Madrid, Spain), he has starred in the French film Jeanne du Barry that opened the 2023 Cannes Film Festival, plus he directed the film Modi: Three Days on the Wing of Madness.

During a Cannes Film Festival press conference in France back in May 2023, Depp explained why “comeback” didn’t feel like the proper term.

“I keep wondering about the word comeback because I didn’t go anywhere,” he said at the time. “… Maybe people stopped calling out of whatever their fear was at the time. But no, I didn’t go nowhere. I’ve been sitting around.”