Johnny Depp Wanted for CARTER BEATS THE DEVIL
Warner Bros. is looking to finally move forward on the film production of Carter Beats the Devil, an adaptation of the Glen David Gold novel, which is a fictionalized biography of early 1900s magician Charles Carter. The studio has put Johnny Depp at the top of their list to take on the lead role in the film, which is great because he seems like he would make a great fit.
The story is set in the 1920's and it follows Carter who "stages a sawed-in-half trick on President Warren G. Harding, only to be forced on the lam after Harding mysteriously dies shortly after. The plot mixes in other historical figures and Carter's rivalry with an archnemesis."
I love magic, and I enjoy stories told about magicians. This could end up being a really awesome film, and it would be great to actually see Johnny Depp end up in the role, but at this point it's to early to tell. The studio is also currently looking for a director to take on the project, the script for which was written by Michael Gillio.
What are your thoughts on Depp possibly taking on a roll like this?
Here's the description of the book:
America in the 1920s was a nation obsessed with magic. Not just the kind performed in theaters and on stages across the country, but the magic of technology, science, and prosperity. Enter Charles Carter -- a.k.a. Carter the Great -- a young master performer whose skill as an illusionist exceeds even that of the great Houdini. Fueled by a passion for magic born of desperation and loneliness, Carter has become a legend in his own time.
Carter the Great's thrilling act involves outrageous stunts carried out on elaborate sets before the most demanding audiences. Night after night, in towns across the nation, he performs these masterful feats, bringing his unique brand of magic to those starved for wonder. But nothing in his career has prepared carter for his most outrageous stunt of all, which stars none other than President Warren G. Harding and which could end up costing Carter the reputation he has worked so hard to create.
Filled with historical references that evoke the excesses and exuberance of Roaring Twenties, pre-Depression America, Carter Beats the Devil is a complex and illuminating story of one man's journey through a magical -- and sometimes dangerous -- world, where illusion is everything.
