It was rumored that BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN was to be Universal’s follow-up to THE MUMMY FEAT. CRUISE, and that they wanted Angelina Jolie to play the titular creature. While that gets cemented, the studio has gotten another A-list star to join their monster roster: Johnny Depp.
Depp will play THE INVISIBLE MAN, taking on the role originated by Claude Rains back in 1933. There is no word how closely they will adhere to the story of the original/H.G. Wells’ novel, but I think the idea is to interlink the films, so a modern-day setting is likely.
Depp has had an unenviable run of goofy costumes and accents; some of these films have faired better than most (BLACK MASS, the underrated LONE RANGER), and others…not so much. He’ll likely have a straight British accent in this, if anything, but will spend most of his time under shrouds (that’s if he goes the mo-cap/green sock route on set, a la Bacon in HOLLOW MAN, and not voice-only like Slater in HOLLOW MAN 2). He also played a mad scientist type in TRANSCENDENCE (with middling results), where he also didn’t have to actually show his face on camera for the bulk of the running time.
Still, there’s no doubt having a massive international superstar like Depp playing the title character is a huge win for Universal, the same way Cruise was and Jolie could be. Getting this level of A-list talent for these films is obviously a priority, and you don’t get more classically A-list than Cruise, Jolie, and Johnny Depp. Who they get to direct is just as important (all we know now is that, as with the other monster flicks, Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan will shepherd as producers), but now that they have Depp in their pocket as the updated character, they can start building the movie about his unquestionable, though often misused talents.
We’re definitely going to have to hear a lot of his disembodied voice, however you cut it, but we all love RANGO, don’t we?
