Johnny Depp has already played one literary giant, having played J.M. Barrie in Marc Forster's Finding Neverland, but now the writer is considering taking on the writer of The Cat and the Hat, Green Eggs and Ham, The Lorax, How The Grinch Stole Christmas and Oh, The Places You'll Go! That's right: Depp may play Dr. Seuss in an upcoming biopic.
THR has learned that Universal Pictures, Illumination Entertainment and Infinitum Nihil are teaming up to produce a movie about the legendary children's book author and illustrator. Depp is attached as a producer to the project and is considering starring in it as well. Keith Bunin, whose credits include five episodes of the fantastic HBO show In Treatment, has signed on to pen the screenplay for the movie. While details are slim about how the film will function, it will be live-action and will possibly feature "animated bells and whistles."
Born Theodor Seuss Geisel in 1904, the author lived to be 87 years old and published 46 children's book during his lifetime. His style was defined by rhyming verse and silly made-up words that seemed to magically make sense in context. The writer was married twice, first to Helen Palmer Geisel (who was diagnosed with cancer and committed suicide when he had an affair) and Audrey Stone Dimond. He never had children, instead famously saying, "You have 'em; I'll entertain 'em."
The one major question I have for this project is how they will go about pronouncing his name. While most say "Seuss" as though it rhymes with "noose," the proper pronunciation actually rhymes with "voice." Will they keep the common pronunciation as not to alienate audiences or will they change it for the sake of reality? I guess we'll have to wait and see.
