Johnny Depp Signs On For Dr. Seuss Biopic

In between stints as a pirate, a scissor-handed freak and a chocolate-factory wizard, Johnny Depp has played a real-life hopped-up writer, a cross-dressing director and a notorious bank robber. Now, the star has signed on to work on a film about one of the most-beloved authors of all time: Dr. Seuss. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Depp will produce and potentially star as Seuss (born Theodor Geisel), author of children's classics such as "Green Eggs and Ham," "The Cat in the Hat," "Horton Hears a Who!" and "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!" In addition to being turned into a number of hit movies ("Grinch" and "Cat in the Hat"), Geisel's books have sold more than 200 million copies worldwide. The movie is unlikely to rely as heavily on CGI as Depp's $1 billion-grossing foray into "Alice in Wonderland" with director Tim Burton, but it's possible the Seuss film will include animated elements. Universal and production house Illumination Entertainment, currently joined in postproduction on an animated adaptation of Seuss' "The Lorax," and Infinitum Nihil also will work on the biopic. Seuss began his career in the late 1920s as a magazine illustrator, then shifted to drawing ads for companies including General Electric and NBC during the Great Depression, before shifting to political cartoons during World War II and, finally, turning his focus to children's books in the 1950s. Among his first efforts was "Horton," as well as 1957's "Cat in the Hat" and "Grinch." Geisel died of throat cancer in September 1991 at the age of 87. Depp already has a number of planes on the runway, including a turn as journalist Paul Kemp in "The Rum Diary," a reported cameo in Martin Scorsese's 3-D adaptation of "Hugo Cabret," another collabo with Burton on "Dark Shadows" and a possible starring role as Tonto in the stalled big-screen remake of "The Lone Ranger." For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com. Johnny Depp Photo: Pascal Le Segretain/ Getty Images