While the name Brett Ratner tends to draw chuckles, let’s give credit where credit is due. While his directing track record is spotty and insubstantial at best, he’s quietly been a producer of some note, with movies like “The Revenant,” “I Saw The Light,” and even Warren Beatty‘s upcoming Howard Hughes movie, bearing his name. And another movie you might not have realized was produced by Ratner? “Black Mass.” And now he’s set to reteam with that film’s A-list megastar.
Ratner is set to direct “The Libertine,” his first film since 2014’s “Hercules,” with Johnny Depp slated to star. Inspired by the downfall of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French politician who faced a scandal when he was accused of sexually assaulting a maid at a New York City hotel, the script by Ben Kopit will focus on a French politician under house arrest in a luxury apartment, as he awaits trial for a similar incident.
So, cool concept, except for a couple things: 1) Ratner has yet to prove he’s the kind of guy that can handle this kind of material with any kind of maturity or nuance and 2) Abel Ferrara covered this territory with his very good, and quite underrated “Welcome To New York” released last year. Still, Depp going full French and playing a man with grossly eroded morals could be interesting. And maybe this “The Libertine” will erase the memory of that other “The Libertine” movie he starred in over a decade ago. [Deadline]