When we do count the clock that tells the time, we note that nothing ‘gainst Time’s scythe can make defense—not even Johnny Depp, who (to put it in less English Lit 101 terms) certainly ain’t getting any younger, and who has only a few more years to play all of the many dream roles he’s kept under his boho floppy hats. Today it’s Nick Charles, dapper drunk detective of Dashiell Hammett’s The Thin Man series, which Depp is reportedly pursuing as a remake with his Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides director Rob Marshall at the helm.
Vulture says that Depp is “aggressively courting” Marshall to develop the property with him at Warner Bros., and although at this point there’s obviously no script, they definitely would not be left wanting for sources of inspiration: Hammett’s Thin Man novel spawned six hit films and an NBC TV series, some of which—well, After The Thin Man, anyway—were as good as or better than the original. Of course, the key ingredient will be casting the role of Nick Charles’ similarly boozy socialite wife Nora, someone with whom Depp can wittily spar convincingly. After seeing previews for The Tourist, we nominate anyone but Angelina Jolie.