Poor Johnny Depp. Sure, he rakes in millions of dollars, but aside from a fun cameo in a certain comedy last year, it’s been a long time since he’s starred in a live-action project that’s one can whole-heartedly recommend. Coming off one of the biggest financial failures of his career last week with The Lone Ranger, any time he doesn’t star in the latest Disney blockbuster, our interest is piqued.
So, it comes with promising news that the actor has lined up a new project over at Lionsgate, reteaming with his Secret Window director David Koepp. According to THR, Depp is circling the lead role and producing role for Mortdecai, based on Kyril Bonfiglioli‘s book The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery. The film will find him as our art-dealing title character who must traverse the globe armed only with his good looks and special charm in a race to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold.
While Koepp has had his scripting hand in a number of major Hollywood franchises (Mission: Impossible, Jurassic Park, Spider-Man) his directorial efforts haven’t amounted to more than simple fun, but that will still be a cut above Depp’s recent projects. The actor will next be seen in Wally Pfister‘s Transcendence and then he’ll jump to this before shooting the next Pirates of the Caribbean film.