Johnny Depp Made A Notorious B.I.G. Movie, Here’s The Trailer

Johnny Depp is coming out with a movie this month in which he plays the detective solving the Notorious B.I.G. murder. Here's the trailer.

By Doug Norrie | Published

This article is more than 2 years old

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Johnny Depp has been in the news a ton over the last half-year or so, but it’s been for all of the wrong reasons. He spent the second half of 2020 losing gigs and having a high-profile court case in England control much of the publicity around his Hollywood persona.

But before all of this went down, Johnny Depp was actually slated to be in a film that had its release delayed. In the movie, he’s a cop on the case to solve the murder of Notorious B.I.G.  I know, I know that sounds like some kind of movie MadLibs, but it definitely happened. And now it’s set to release later this month. Check out the trailer for City of Lies:

City of Lies was actually shot and finished more than two years ago now, originally slated to hit theaters in 2018. But the release was pushed back for a variety of reasons, not all related to Johnny Depp. The film follows his character, Detective Russell Poole, the real-life lead Los Angeles detective at the lead of the investigation into who shot Christopher Wallace, AKA Notorious B.I.G. The film takes place back in 1997 when Wallace was killed and a year after Tupac Shakur was also murdered. 

Often when a movie is filmed years before and then arrives in theaters much, much later it’s because there has been a certain level of development hell associated with the movie. That, for sure, could be the case with this latest Johnny Depp movie. At the time it was delayed, some cited Depp’s mounting legal troubles as the reason the studio was temporarily shelving the film. But that might not have been 100% the case. There has also been speculation that Los Angeles Police Department put pressure on to can the movie because they are painted in a negative light in the film. 

Whatever the case for why the movie has been delayed for more than two years now, it’s finally set to hit the big screen later this month. Because it stars Johnny Depp in the lead role, there is some awkwardness around his role considering he’s been fired from his other gigs over the last year. After losing a lawsuit against British tabloid The Sun over the summer, a number of disturbing allegations about Depp’s behavior and possible abuse surfaced. He was removed from his role as Gellert Grindelwald in the Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them franchise and won’t be returning as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean either. 

johnny depp

City of Lies (previously titled LAbyrinth) will feature Johnny Depp but also has Forrest Whitaker who plays a journalist trying to solve the case as well. In the director’s chair is Brad Furman who’s also helmed The Infiltrator, Runner, Runner, and The Lincoln Lawyer.  It’s set to release on March 19th and will cap off a long run through movie limbo. It could also be one of the last major roles we see Depp in for some time.