Johnny Depp Gives Disney Edge

Did you know actor Johnny Depp had a production company? Given his anti-Hollywoodteur behavior, most may find such movie mogul business affairs a bit out of sync with Depp. But not really, the thespian is one of the most financially and critically successful cinema products ever. And he does possess a French significant other, unmarried (but not single) status, children and a French chateau.

So word is. . . .Johnny Depp's production company, Infinitum Nihil, is teaming up with ultimate Hollywoodteur branding operative Disney on a feature film version of the '70s TV movie The Night Stalker. First seen in the 1972 telepic, The Night Stalker featured tabloid styled reporter Carl Kolchak (Darren McGavin) hunting a serial killer who was draining the blood of beautiful girls on the Las Vegas strip. At its time, Stalker was pretty scary stuff for television (no cable peeps). Depp is the potential star and he and his Infinitum Nihil partner Christi Dembrowski will produce with David Kennedy executive producing.

Dembrowski and Depp expressed glowing memories of the ABC telepic and series Kolchak: The Night Stalker and pitched Disney's Rich Ross and Sean Bailey the Chicago based investigative escapades of Kolchak, a trouble magnet for supernatural situations requiring his inventive skills to destroy vampires, werewolves, zombies and other unearthly creatures, of which, Kolchak has to convince his skeptical editor the stories were not products of his active imagination.
Depp and Dombrowski, whose Infinitum Nihil has a production deal with GK Films are busy boys with The Rum Diary written and directed by Bruce Robinson and starring Depp released by FilmDistrict coming in October and the Martin Scorsese directed 3D Hugo Cabret hitting screens on November 23rd. Currently they are now shooting the TV series transfer, Dark Shadows, at Warner Bros, with Depp starring and Tim Burton directing.

Who better than the edgy international unmarried family man Johnny Depp to push the boundaries of the Disney family film formula. Disney, under Ross and Bailey's tutelage, has also taking on one time FBI filed west coast gangster rap artist Ice Cube (N.W.A.) with his feature directed Chrome and Paint.

What next - a Minnie and Mickey Mouse 3-D anime romp tape?