Johnny Depp has announced that he will be starring in an English-language adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita." It will be the first feature-length adaptation of the work in English, despite numerous attempts by previous directors, including Roman Polanski, Federico Fellini, Terry Gilliam, and Baz Luhrmann.
The project will be produced by IN.2 Film with executive producers Svetlana Migunova-Dali and Grace Lo. The director and full cast have not yet been announced. Filming is scheduled to begin in late 2026.
Interestingly, the co-producers have been in a long-running lawsuit with Mikhail Lokshin, who released a Russian-language adaptation of “The Master and Margarita” in 2024. Lokshin accuses Dali and Law of blocking screenings of his film in the US, citing their rights to the English-language adaptation.
Bulgakov's name is controversial in Ukraine. The writer is accused of anti-Ukrainian views and criticized for his attitude towards Ukrainian independence. After the start of Russian aggression in 2014, activists repeatedly demanded the closure of the Bulgakov museum on Andriyivskyi Uzviz in Kyiv. Minister of Culture Oleksandr Tkachenko defended the museum in 2022, noting that Bulgakov was a native of Kyiv, and some questionable lines belong to the characters.
Johnny Depp has long expressed support for Ukraine: since 2014, he supported the Revolution of Dignity, advocated for the release of Oleg Sentsov, and openly expressed solidarity after 2022.
The upcoming film adaptation of “The Master and Margarita” may become not only a cultural event, but also a subject of discussion due to historical controversies regarding the author in Ukraine and the difficult reputation of past film adaptations.
