JohnnyDepp-Zone.com

Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil is joining with Warner Bros. to produce Mortimer Wintergreen, a family film based on Myron Levoy’s young adult novel, The Magic Hat of Mortimer Wintergreen. According to the Hollywood Reporter, Nanny McPhee Returns director Susanna White is attached to direct, and Jack Thorne has been hired to write the screenplay. Thorne’s adaptation of Nick Hornby’s A Long Way Down arrives later in movie theaters later this year. He also has had a distinguished career in British television.

Here’s Amazon.com’s description of the book’s plot: “In 1890s South Dakota, Amy and Joshua escape from their mean Aunt Vootch. They plan to find their grandparents in New York, and manage to team up with a traveling magician, Mortimer Wintergreen, who is also New York bound. Mortimer owns a truly magic hat with a temperamental, mischievous mind of its own. Adventures abound as their way is blocked by outlaws, runaway hot-air balloons, geese, and their persistent Aunt Vootch. But the hat is always ready for action. Buoyant comedy. A fine addition to stories that truly entertain.”

Johnny will produce Mortimer Wintergreen with his Infinitum Nihil partner Christi Dembrowski. John Carls of Wild Things Productions is also producing. Johnny also might star as the magician, subject to script approval and his schedule.

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD for breaking the news; you can read more about Mortimer Wintergreen on the Zone’s News & Views forum.