Wow, the production of The Tourist is quite the bumpy ride as recently announced director Florian von Donnersmarck and Tom Cruise replacement and Avatar star, Sam Worthington, have both left the production citing creative differences leaving Angelina Jolie all on her own… at least for a brief moment as Variety is now reporting Johnny Depp is in talks to fill in for Worthington and star alongside Jolie in the now director-less thriller.
Should things work out, Depp would play an American tourist drawn into a web of intrigue and danger by a female Interpol agent (Jolie) as she attempts to locate a criminal who was once her lover.
With the director’s chair wide open, Variety‘s Mike Fleming reports there are names already circling the project, including Children of Men helmer Alfonso Cuaron.
At one point this was a film with Bharat Nalluri directing Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron, which then had Cruise being replaced by Worthington, Nalluri dropped off, followed by Jolie replacing Theron, which is when von Donnersmarck filled in for the vacated director’s chair.
The film is slated to begin production in February for Graham King’s GK Films. If Depp signs on I can only wonder what this means for films such as Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, The Lone Ranger and the proposed team-up with Tim Burton for Dark Shadows. I guess time will only tell.
