Johnny Depp to be Universal's new INVISIBLE MAN

Over the last few years, Johnny Depp has had the increasingly annoying habit of taking roles where he has to wear some silly makeup/prosthetic/costumery on his head. And it looks like he will be at it again, except this time he won’t have a head! Not one you can see anyway!

Deadline are reporting that Universal have tapped Depp to star in the modern reboot of The Invisible Man, one of the planned films meant to comprise their new shared cinematic monster movie universe. The 1933 original film was an adaptation of HG Well’s classic sci-fi horror novel of the same name, and saw Claude Rains star as Dr Jack Griffin, a scientist who accidentally discovers a chemical formula for invisibility but is driven insane from its use. The film was a massive critical success (spawning a whole series of relatively unrelated sequels) and was famous for its groundbreaking special effects showing off Griffin’s invisibility.

Clearly Universal is taking this whole thing very seriously, as Depp is just the latest A-list name that the studio has gone after for its monster movie universe. While the roles of the Wolf Man and Frankenstein are still up for grabs (and who knows if they’re going to recast Dracula Untold‘s Luke Evans), they’ve already recruited Tom Cruise for their new version of The Mummy, and it’s rumoured that they also have their sights set on Angelina Jolie for The Bride of Frankenstein.

Coincidentally, the original Bride of Frankenstein was directed by James Whale who also directed the original The Invisible Man as well as the legendary Frankenstein with Boris Karloff. There’s no director been revealed yet for this new Invisible Man but the film will be produced by Alex Kurtzman and Chris Morgan, who are spearheading this entire movie universe.

Depp is a pretty good choice for Dr Griffin, as we’ve definitely seen him do justice to roles where he has to go off the deep end. With the nature of this movie, we probably shouldn’t expect to *see* too much of him on-screen though, so it will be interesting to see how he puts a spin on things. Of course, we’ve already seen a modern version of this story though, as Paul Verhoeven directed a 2000 adaptation of Wells’ novel starring Kevin Bacon called Hollow Man. But the less we talk about that flop the better, as even Verhoeven himself said that it was “the first movie that I made that I thought I should not have made…”. Lets hope Universal and Depp have better luck this time around.

Last Updated: February 11, 2016