Johnny Depp has signed on to play the Invisible Man in a reboot of the horror staple, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The project is part of studio Universal’s ambitious plan to bring a slew of classic monster movies back to the big screen. Tom Cruise has already signed on for a new version of The Mummy, due to be released in June 2017, while producers Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan are reportedly hoping to convince Angelina Jolie to star as the Bride of Frankenstein in a remake of the classic 1935 chiller. New films based on the original Frankenstein, as well as Dracula, the Wolfman and the Creature from the Black Lagoon are also being planned as part of a big-budget-horror “cinematic universe”.
The Invisible Man is based on the classic 1897 novel of the same name by HG Wells, which details the strange case of a former medical student who descends into paranoia and psychosis after discovering a way to render human flesh invisible to the naked eye. Universal first adapted the book in 1933, with Frankenstein’s James Whale in charge of the cameras and Claude Rains as the bandaged madman on the run.
Similar stories of invisible men have been recycled countless times on the big screen, though largely to the chagrin of critics. John Carpenter’s 1992 film Memoirs of an Invisible Man, starring Chevy Chase, and Paul Verhoeven’s 2000 effort Hollow Man, with Kevin Bacon, both received negative reviews.
Universal’s new version of Invisible Man will reportedly be written by Men in Black’s Ed Solomon, though it does not have a director attached and no other cast details are available. Nevertheless, the rampaging studio’s ability to sign up two of the world’s best-known film stars as it battles to create a cinematic universe capable of challenging Disney’s Marvel and Star Wars sagas will no doubt send shockwaves through Hollywood.
Depp was named the most overpaid actor in Hollywood in December by Forbes magazine despite the failures of movies such as Mortdecai, Transcendence and The Lone Ranger, all of which bombed at the box office on the back of derisive reviews. But the Oscar-nominee’s career is considered to have turned a corner following his acclaimed turn as Boston gangster Whitey Bulger in mob thriller Black Mass last year.
