The art world’s never-ending preoccupation with Nazi loot art continues to spread to Hollywood. After last winter’s Oscar-baiting critical flop Monuments Men—about the same-named squad of Allied soldiers who tracked down art stolen by Hitler and stockpiled in Ukrainian salt mines—this winter marks the arrival of a decidedly less self-serious art theft investigator: Charles Mortdecai. The title character of Mortdecai, played by Johnny Depp, is a socialite art dealer who is on the hunt for a stolen painting that allegedly contains the key to unlocking a bank account full of Nazi gold. The first trailer for the film, slated to hit theaters February 6, 2015, was released today and is embedded below.

The object of art dealer Charles Mortdecai’s investigation.
Photo: YouTube screengrab.

The film is adapted from a series of pulp novels from the 1970s by Kyril Bonfiglioli. In the first book of the series, Don’t Point That Thing at Me (1972), Mortdecai goes on the lam after he’s accused of stealing a Francisco de Goya painting. He was assisted in all his adventures by his faithful manservant Jock Strapp.

For the film adaptation, director David Koepp (of Premium Rush, Ghost Town, and Stir of Echoes fame) has tapped an impressive cast that includes Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow as Mortdecai’s wife, and Ewan McGregor as an MI5 agent investigating the same art heist, as well as Jeff Goldblum, Aubrey Plaza, and Olivia Munn. Depp, for his part, looks to be in typically aloof, perpetually-intoxicated Jack Sparrow-meets-Frederick Abberline mode. Judging from this first teaser trailer we can confirm that Mortdecai attends at least one Old Masters auction, where his irreverent paddle-raising turns heads.

Watch the teaser trailer for Mortdecai: