Looks like we’ll be seeing a lot more Johnny Depp. He’s signed to star in two new high-profile Disney projects, one of which is as Capt. Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie now in development.

He’ll also play sidekick Tonto in a big-screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger and will team up again with frequent collaborator Tim Burton for Alice in Wonderland, where he will star as the Mad Hatter.

Man, I am so sick of the Tim Burton and Johnny Depp live-fest. Stop humping each other already and work with different people.

Johnny Depp as the Riddler? Sorry, but that sounds really stupid. I would be very surprised if that one came to pass.

Casting directors are also supposedly hard at work convincing Philip Seymour Hoffman to take on The Penguin. Now THIS would be one brilliant bit of casting. I hope this one pans out. But it’s so early, I doubt it.

Johnny Depp is playing 1930’s bank robber John Dillinger for his upcoming movie Public Enemies. He was shooting on location in Wisconsin in April when a local boy Jack Taylor saw him on the set, and he liked Depp/Dillinger’s hat.

Depp said Taylor could have the hat once the movie was finished. So last week Depp delivered the hat to him.

My respect just went up for this sort of metro-sexual who stars in every damned Tim Burton flick ever made.

[People]