Johnny Depp, Penélope Cruz Reteam for Action Thriller ‘Day Drinker’ for Lionsgate (Exclusive)

Johnny Deppand Penélope Cruz are reteaming forDay Drinker,a thriller that Marc Webb will direct for Lionsgate.

The company launches international sales on the title this week at the American Film Market. It marks Depp’s most high-profile attempt to mount a Hollywood comeback following the many controversies that arose from his messy divorce from actressAmber Heard.The actor in recent years starred in the French period dramaJeanne du Barrylast year and directed the period indieModi: Three Days on the Wing of Madnessthatjust played at the Rome Film Festival,but those were not commercial plays and were made with European backers.

Drinkeris squarely in the bankable action genre and has the players to prove it. Producing are Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk and Erica Lee, who produce theJohn Wickfranchise for Lionsgate. Adam Kolbrenner, whose credits includeTheTomorrow War,Free Guy,and Denis Villeneuve’sPrisoners,is also producing, along with Zach Dean. Dean, who has made a name for himself in the action genre withTomorrow War, Fast Xand Scott Derrickson’s upcoming thrillerThe Gorge,wrote the original spec screenplay.

InDrinker,a cruise ship bartender meets a mysterious day drinker—only for both of them to find themselves entangled in a criminal underbelly, and connected in unexpected ways.

“Day Drinkercombines 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,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group chair Adam Fogelson in a statement

Chelsea Kujawa is overseeing the project for Lionsgate. Dan Freedman negotiated the deals for the studio.

The project is the second recent collaboration between Lionsgate and 30WEST, who also teamed forPower Ballad,a music-themed comedy directed by John Carney which stars Paul Rudd and Nick Jonas. It is currently in post-production. 30WEST will also executive produceDrinker.

Drinker will mark the fourth time that Depp and Cruz have worked together, afterBlow,Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger TidesandMurder on the Orient Express.

Webb is the director who broke into Hollywood with his Sundance sleeper hit500 Days of Summerand then went on to directAmazing Spider-ManandThe Amazing Spider-Man 2.He is in post on a live-action version ofSnow Whitefor Disney.

Depp is repped by Range Media Partners and attorney Lisa Nitti while Cruz is represented by CAA, Untitled Entertainment and Kuranda Management.

Webb is represented by CAA and Lichter, Grossman and Dean by CAA, Kolbrenner’s Lit Entertainment Group, and attorney Andrew Hurwitz.