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A re-edited and re-scored version of THE LIBERTINE, starring Johnny Depp as the dissolute, doomed Earl of Rochester, screened at 4:30 p.m. today for members of the British regional press corps at Cinema Days in Buckinghamshire. Cinema Days is a UK film industry trade event for regional film journalists and reviewers. Held three times each year, in January, June and October, Cinema Days provides a unique platform for filmmakers and distributors to showcase and promote forthcoming films.

Today’s showcase screening was the first of its kind since THE LIBERTINE appeared as a work-in-progress at the Toronto Film Festival more than a year ago. In the interim, the film has been edited to a 120-minute version, and its musical score has been reworked. First-time director Laurence Dunmore held a half-hour press conference following the screening.

THE LIBERTINE is scheduled for release in the UK on November 25th, and for a limited release in the U.S. two days earlier, on November 23rd, with a wider release in December. Johnny Depp is already receiving some Oscar buzz for his performance as the debauched poet John Wilmot. One ardent supporter is the movie’s writer, Stephen Jeffreys, who adapted his stage play for the screen. Jeffreys calls Johnny’s interpretation “just brilliant. I think it’s a very serious Oscar contender. He himself thinks it’s his best performance, which is really quite something,” Jeffreys said. “Working with him, he’s so quick. You give him an idea and he just devours it and does something new with it. He even went to the British Museum and asked to see the manuscripts and being Johnny Depp, they let him touch them!”

Thanks to DeepinDepp for the Jeffreys interview and for breaking the story about THE LIBERTINE screening. Thanks also to Holden and Gilbert’s Girl for reporting details about Cinema Days.