It’s rare for a publicist to completely lay out their talent’s upcoming slate, but Johnny Depp isn’t your normal movie star. We’ve known for some time the A-lister was attached to lead Wally Pfister‘s directorial debut, the sci-fi film Transcendence, but now we’ve got confirmation on another. In a press release below, its been revealed that after an April shoot for the Christopher Nolan-produced secretive project, Depp will jump right into the Whitey Bulger biopic Black Mass, from director Barry Levinson.
That shoot should then segue directly into his press tour for The Lone Ranger and, according to simple math, Disney will want him right back for more massive tentpole action. The fifth Pirates of the Caribbean is scheduled to arrive in theaters July 2015 and as these shoots tend to take many, many months, we wouldn’t be surprised if production kicked off later this year. While the idea of Depp once again jumping back into the Jack Sparrow role doesn’t have us intrigued, at least the other two projects somewhat make up for him not doing the latest from Wes Anderson. One can check out the press release below as we await casting details on both these upcoming projects.
LOS ANGELES (February 27, 2013) — Johnny Depp is set to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The film will begin principal photography in April.
The film is being financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove and will be released by Warner Bros. The film will also be produced by Straight Up Films’ Annie Marter, Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen along with David Valdes. Pfister will direct from newcomer Jack Paglen’s screenplay, which was developed with Annie Marter, with the most recent draft by Noah Oppenheim. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers. Straight Up’s Regency Boies will co-produce.
Producers are not revealing the film’s plot.
Following Transcendence, Depp will segue into the crime thriller Black Mass, about notorious Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, to be directed by Barry Levinson, with Jez Butterworth writing a new draft of the screenplay by Mark Mallouk, based on the New York Times best-seller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill.
Filming is beginning in early summer of 2013.
The film will be produced by Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson along with John Lesher via his Le Grisbi Productions and Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s Exclusive Media, with Cross Creek and Exclusive Media co-financing.
Depp will next be seen starring in Disney’s big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger directed by Gore Verbinski and debuting July 3, 2013. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Verbinski along with Depp and Christi Dembrowski’s Infinitum Nihil banner. Infinitum Nihil’s credits also includeHugo, Dark Shadows and The Rum Diary.
Depp is represented by UTA and Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP.
Are you looking forward to Depp’s two upcoming roles?