Is Johnny Depp playing Guy Lapointe in Kevin Smith’s Tusk?

Last Updated on July 22, 2021

You read the headline. You know the deal. So the question remains: has Johnny Depp filled the role of Guy Lapointe for Kevin Smith's TUSK? While there hasn't been any confirmation yet, there's some pretty strong evidence that he is!

We've been keeping close tabs on TUSK, reporting back in December that Smith announced that the film wouldn’t be finished in time for the prestigious Sundance Film Festival. He cited that he still had “two more shooting days here in Los Angeles to wrap the flick with our fifth Beatle – the performer playing the role of investigator Guy Lapointe.” He later took to Twitter to share the ambigious post that the casting was "the highlight of my career."

Now a compelling pile of evidence that suggest Johnny Depp is playing Guy Lapointe has been culled together, and we've got it for ya below!

• The online resume of Johnny Depp's longtime makeup artist, Joel Harlow, had TUSK listed as his latest project. The page has since been edited.
• The revelation by VideoETA that Depp and Smith know each other personally. At one point, both their daughters went to the same school, and the two have apparently hosted charity events together. This doesn't necessarily suggest that he'd act in one of Smith's films, but it certainly establishes a connection between the two.
• Depp's latest film, MORTDECAI, was scheduled to wrap around the time that Smith claimed he was scheduled to have his Guy Lapointe on set. The mid-January wrap date is a little past the "late December/early January" that Smith originally announced, but it's possible Depp's stuff for MORTDECAI was finished earlier.
• One of TUSK's production companies, Demarest Films, has done three films featuring Depp's fiance, Amber Heard (PARANOIA, MACHETE KILLS, and the upcoming LONDON FIELDS which also features Depp).
• And finally, Justin Long did an interview with Long Island Newsday where he answered the question, "Are you working on any other movies right now?" to which he answered:

Yeah, the one where a man turns into a war horse. It's called "TUSK." Johnny Depp is in that one. I'm working on something coming up later.

Ok, the 'war horse' thing. It has been postulated that the interviewer probably transcribed the interview a bit hastily and what he heard as "war horse" was really "walrus." While there hasn't been any confirmation yet, the evidence is there to suggest that Depp could be playing Guy Lapointe in TUSK and, if so, then this film just jumped to the top of my 'most anticipated' list.

We'll hit you with confirmation of Depp's involvement when it is (hopefully) made official. Fingers crossed for this one!