Rob Marshall has officially signed on to direct a new version of the Dashiell Hammett mystery classic The Thin Man for Warner Bros., from a script by Jerry Stahl; the film will star Johnny Depp as sophisticated sleuth Nick Charles. The plum role of Nora Charles, Nick’s partner in wit, glamor and crime-solving, is not yet cast, and is certain to have every A-list actress in Hollywood phoning her agent at once. Marshall and John DeLuca also join the project as producers, with their Lucamar Productions partnering with Johnny’s Infinitum Nihil and Kevin McCormick’s Langley Park Pictures. “John [DeLuca] and I are overjoyed at the idea of working with Johnny again, especially on such a classy and classic project,” Marshall told the press. “We are also thrilled to be partnering this time with such wonderful producers as Christi Dembrowski [for Infinitum Nihil] and Kevin McCormick, and we are looking forward to working with Warner Bros. to create a reinvention of a beloved story.”

The Thin Man first graced the screen in 1934, with William Powell and Myrna Loy playing Nick and Nora Charles. The film was a critical and popular success and spawned several sequels.

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD and Fireflydances for sharing articles about The Thin Man; you can read more about this project on the Zone’s Porch general discussion forum.