Johnny Depp is rolling with the punches and getting right back on the horse (so to speak). According to The Wrap, Johnny is closing in on a deal to star in the comedic crime caper, Mortdecai. 

Depp has long been attached to Mortdecai, but with movement on other fronts that suggest the project might actually see the light of day, the issue of actually agreeing to terms comes to the forefront. We’ve seen this turn from a lock to a drop recently with Depp. He was attached to star in the Cross Creek Productions/Exclusive Media production Black Mass before backing out over contract issues once the project was a go.

Depp is a wise man. He knows he owes much of his success to his pretty face and boyish charm. The Great Mortdecai Mystery, based on a trilogy of books written in the 1970’s by Kyril Bonfiglioli is the perfect antidote for some bad press (and there’s been plenty following The Lone Ranger). Mortdecai is debonair, handsome, rich, a bit of a rogue, and fond of witty repartee.

Mortdecai is an anti-hero art dealer in a race to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. He must traverse the globe, armed with nothing but his good looks, juggling angry Russians, the British Mi5, his sexpot wife, and an international terrorist.

Lionsgate picked up the film after Warner Bros. put it in turnaround. Fortuitously, David Koepp, Johnny Depp’s director in Secret Window and one of the most respected screenwriters in Hollywood (Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Mission: Impossible), is on board as director. Eric Aronson (On the Line), wrote the Mortdecai script.

Johnny Depp is producing with his Infinitum Nihil partner Christi Dembrowski, as well as Adam Lazar. Lionsgate will oversee the project.