Johnny Depp isn’t one to wait around. While Disney continues to decide the fate of The Lone Ranger and wrangle over that film’s budget, the actor is moving forward on The Thin Man, a remake of the classic 1934 mystery comedy starring William Powell.
David Koepp, writer and director of Depp’s 2004 thriller Secret Window, has been hired to adapt the screenplay for The Thin Man, according to Deadline, based on the original Dashiell Hammett novel. Rob Marshall, director of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, will reteam with Depp to helm this remake for Warner Bros., and apparently plans to include at least two musical numbers in the movie (he did, after all, start his professional career as a choreographer).
The story centres on Nick Charles, who, after marrying wealthy socialite Nora Charles, decides to quit being a detective to become an alcoholic “trophy husband.” However egged on by his wife, who thinks it’s all very exciting, he ends up reluctantly investigating a murder case, reconnecting with all his old cronies along the way. The 1934 movie version spawned five sequels and a Thin Man TV series, which ran from 1957 through 1959 on NBC, so it could be that Depp is looking at this as a potential franchise.