Johnny Depp jumps onboard with Dr. Suess movie about the writer Ted Geisel

Johnny Depp signing autographs

Johnny Depp is onboard with developing a live-action movie about the life of the internationally known author of childrens books, Dr. Suess also known as Theodor (Ted) Geisel as reported yesterday October 7, 2011 by the Hollywood Reporter.*

Johnny Depp as Dr. Seuss, Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan, Willie Wonka and of course Disney’s Captain Jack Sparrow. It’s wonderful to see a Hollywood icon like Depp turn much of his attention to producing family friendly films.

Illumination Entertainment and Infinitum Nihil are developing the movie with Depp producing and potentially starring as the Cat in the Hat iconic author. The screenplay will be written by Keith Bunin.

With Depp and Geisels (Dr. Suess) unmatched popularity the movie is sure to join the ranks of Depps other billion dollar projects. Universal and Illumination worked together last year on the $543-million dollar grossing Despicable Me and are in post production of Suess’s The Lorax opening in theaters in March.

Next up for Depp as far as acting is The Rum Diary and Hugo opening at Thanksgiving both in completed. In post production 21 Jump Street and Dark Shadows and another fun Disney role for Depp, Tonto in Disney’s adaptation of the Lone Ranger is in pre-production.

We all know that Dr. Suess (Ted Geisel) wrote 46 childrens books often characterized by “imaginative characters, rhyme and frequent use of the trisyllabic meter including his bestselling Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish, Horton Hatches the Egg, Horton Hears a Who! and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

Geisels books have been adapted into 11 television specials, three feature films, a Broadway musical and four television series. He won the Lewis Carroll Shelf Award in 1958 for Horton Hatches the Egg and again in 1961 for And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street.

What you might not know is that he started his writing career with humorous and not so humorous cartoons during World War II.

As World War II began, Geisel turned to political cartoons, drawing over 400 in two years as editorial cartoonist for the left-leaning New York City daily newspaper, PM. Geisel’s political cartoons, later published in Dr. Seuss Goes to War, denounced Hitler and Mussolini and were highly critical of non-interventionists (“isolationists”), most notably Charles Lindbergh, who opposed US entry into the war. One cartoon depicted all Japanese Americans as latent traitors or fifth-columnists, while at the same time other cartoons deplored the racism at home against Jews and blacks that harmed the war effort. His cartoons were strongly supportive of President Roosevelt’s handling of the war, combining the usual exhortations to ration and contribute to the war effort with frequent attacks on Congress (especially the Republican Party, parts of the press (such as the New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune and Washington Times-Herald),and others for criticism of Roosevelt, criticism of aid to the Soviet Union, investigation of suspected Communists,and other offenses that he depicted as leading to disunity and helping the Nazis, intentionally or inadvertently. Wikipedia

Geisel’s birthday, March 2, has been adopted as the annual date for National Read Across America Day, an initiative on reading created by the National Education Association. Geisel died of cancer at the age of 87 in 1991.

Bringing Johnny Depp and Dr. Suess together seems like sheer genius. What do you think? Will you go see the movie? Do you hope Depp plays the character of Suess?

*Source: The Hollywood Reporter