Johnny Depp, Brett Ratner Team on ‘The Libertine,’ Movie Inspired by Dominique Strauss-Kahn Scandal

Johnny Depp is set to star in “The Libertine,” a movie inspired by the Dominique Strauss-Kahn scandal, that will be directed by Brett Ratner, TheWrap has learned.

Ben Kopit wrote the script, which offers a comedic take on the international incident that saw Strauss-Kahn resign as managing director of the International Monetary Fund following allegations that he assaulted a hotel maid. A criminal case ultimately fell apart, though the economist settled a civil suit out of court.

The scandal was previously depicted in Abel Ferrara‘s drama “Welcome to New York,” which saw Gerard Depardieu play a character based on Strauss-Kahn. That film boasts a 71 percent rating on Metacritic, which may be tough to beat for Ratner, whose average career score on the site is 48 percent.

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“The Libertine,” which will almost surely be retitled seeing as Depp already starred in a 2004 film of the same name, will find the actor playing a powerful French politician who is sentenced to house arrest in his fancy New York apartment as he awaits trial for sexual assault against, you guessed it — a hotel maid.

Ratner’s last two films behind the camera — 2014 action movie “Hercules” starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and 2011 comedy “Tower Heist” starring Ben Stiller — were mediocre performers at the box office, grossing $244 million and $152 million worldwide, respectively, on reported production budgets of $100 million and $75 million, not counting marketing costs.

Depp is coming off his own share of box office misfires, which include “Mortdecai,” “Transcendence” and “The Lone Ranger.” He next stars in Disney’s big-budget sequel “Alice Through the Looking Glass” and Kevin Smith‘s “Yoga Hosers,” both of which have received largely negative reviews.

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The film’s producers and representatives for Ratner and Warner Bros. have been repeatedly denying the project’s existence for months.

For the record: A previous version of this story reported that Marion Cotillard was attached to co-star. Her representatives deny the producers’ claims that she is involved with the project.