Is Johnny Depp playing some kind of werewolf? We’re not saying he is, but the wild first trailer for Day Drinker certainly gives us enough to wonder. Depp stars alongside Madelyn Cline and reunites with Penélope Cruz for a dark, violent thriller with something very strange lurking beneath the surface. Watch the trailer above and get the details below.
So… Is Johnny Depp Playing a Werewolf?
Look, the marketing isn’t exactly making it difficult to reach that conclusion (look at the film’s poster below). Depp plays Kelly, a mysterious guest who crosses paths with Lorna (Cline), a bartender working aboard a private yacht. Their encounter eventually drags them into the orbit of Cara Lazaro (Cruz), a dangerous criminal figure, although the official synopsis is keeping just about everything else under wraps.
More on Screen Realm:
The footage is considerably less interested in playing things straight. There’s a full moon. There are some decidedly unnatural-looking eyes. There’s growling. Kelly talks about revenge, something potentially much worse and whether what we’re watching might actually be a “ghost story”.
Werewolf? Vampire? Something completely different? Connect those dots however you like.
There’s also plenty of that familiar Depp all-in oddball swagger, complete with a hard-to-pin-down accent that, to our ears, sounds at least partly Irish. Whatever he’s going for, he appears to be leaning right into it. And things turn nasty fast. Guns come out. An axe gets involved. Blood is spilled.
Johnny Depp and Penélope Cruz Reunite, and Depp Reminds Us He Ain’t Done
Day Drinker marks the fourth big-screen collaboration between Depp and Cruz, following Blow in 2001, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides in 2011 and Murder on the Orient Express in 2017.
This time, Cruz appears to be considerably less friendly. Her Cara Lazaro looks to be involved in some kind of ritualistic or possibly witchcraft-related business and to sit at the centre of the danger Kelly and Lorna stumble into. The footage teases armed men, luxury locations, brutal confrontations and Depp casually dispatching people who apparently picked the wrong mysterious yacht guest to mess with.
That brings us to the trailer’s closing moment. Kelly tears through a group of men before grabbing one unfortunate survivor and snarling: “You thought I was fucking done?! I’m done when I say I’m done.”
Within the movie, it’s Kelly issuing one hell of a warning. Outside it, well… the timing is difficult to ignore. Depp is moving back into sizeable studio releases after several years largely outside that system, giving the line an obvious extra charge whether that parallel was intentional or not.
And Day Drinker isn’t his only major project on the way. Depp will first take on Ebenezer Scrooge in Ebenezer, director Ti West’s dark adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.
The Creative Team and Supporting Cast
Behind the camera is Marc Webb, whose credits range from (500) Days of Summer and The Amazing Spider-Man films to Snow White. Zach Dean, writer of The Tomorrow War, Fast X and The Gorge, penned the screenplay.
Among the producers is Thunder Road’s Basil Iwanyk, a key producer behind the John Wick franchise. Veteran cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe is behind the film’s slick, shadowy imagery, with previous credits including The Others, The Road, Blue Jasmine and Thor: Ragnarok.
The supporting cast includes Manu Ríos, Arón Piper, Juan Diego Botto and Anika Boyle.
When Is Day Drinker Released?
Day Drinker is currently scheduled to open in Australian cinemas on March 25, 2027, followed by its U.S. release on March 26.
Before that, Depp’s Ebenezer is scheduled to arrive in U.S. cinemas on November 13, 2026.
More Trailers To Watch:
‘Clayface’ Final Trailer Reveals More of DC’s Darkest, Nastiest Transformation Yet
