Director says The Carnival at the End of Days will begin shooting in January and that Depp’s devil will be trying to save humanity

Johnny Depp is to play Satan in a new film directed by Terry Gilliam – opposite Jeff Bridges as God, it has been revealed.

In an interview with Premiere magazine, Gilliam said that he had cast Depp in his next project, entitled The Carnival at the End of Days. Gilliam had previously pitched publicly for Depp, describing the film while appearing at the Red Sea film festival in December as: “God wipes out humanity and the only character who wants to save them is Satan, and Johnny Depp plays Satan.”

In the interview, timed to coincide with Gilliam’s appearance at the Annecy animation film festival, where he is to be given a lifetime achievement honorary Cristal award, Gilliam also mentioned the cast is to include Bridges, Adam Driver and Jason Momoa.

Of Bridges’ role, Gilliam said: “He won’t be the God we’re used to. In the film, God is nature. But a nature that can speak to you … I’m going to need animation to bring it to life, because in the scene with God, there are at least 15 animals. And it’s going to be complicated, because it has to be realistic And it’s going to be very expensive.”

Gilliam said that, while he was “trying to determine exactly when and where it will be done”, filming is currently scheduled to begin in January 2025.

Appearing in Gilliam’s film would represent a significant step in Depp’s career rehabilitation in the wake of his bitter separation and divorce from Amber Heard, during which he lost a libel action against the Sun over claims he had assaulted Heard, and broadly won a defamation action against Heard in relation to claims by Heard he had physically and sexually assaulted her. Since the end of legal action, Depp appeared as Louis XV in French period drama Jeanne du Barry, directed by and co-starring Maïwenn, and announced he is to direct a biography of celebrated Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani.