Depp gets poisoned?

Now that Johnny Depp is all but through hardy-har-harring his way as Captain Jack through the PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN movies, it’s time for him to get back to doing what he does best: passion projects. A while back Depp’s production company Infintum Nihil nabbed the rights to the book SASHA’S STORY: THE LIFE AND DEATH OF A RUSSIAN SPY, about the suspicious death of ex-KGB spy Alexander Litvinenko, who was poisoned by polonium (a form of radiation) in 2006.

But now, after the industry orgy that was the 2007 Cannes film festival, a gaggle of new projects have been proposed, and old ones reworked. At the fest, a documentary called REBELLION: THE LITVINENKO AFFAIR screened, and the spy’s widow spoke about the possibility of a feature. Marina Litvinenko has also written her own book on the affair DEATH OF A DISSIDENT, which Warner Bros. has the rights to, and according to the Guardian, which Michael Mann is the front-runner to direct.

Now here’s where the reworking comes in. Rather than have two competing projects, Depp will most likely jump ship and hop aboard Mann’s vessel to bring this story to the big screen. This project likely won’t get underway for a little while, as Depp is currently has THE RUM DIARY and his real passion project SHANTARAM lined up, while Mann is also considering several projects. We’ll definitely keep you up to date on this one because the prospect of Johnny Depp and Michael Mann working together is much too salacious to ignore