Upcoming & rumoured projects
There's a slate of projects rumoured to be on Johnny's future filming schedule. Only a handful of them might finally get made. They include:

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
This remake of Roald Dahl's famous children's novel has been announced as a project for Tim Burton, with filming commencing in London in summer 2004. Several actors have been mooted for the lead role of Willy Wonka, including Christopher Walken and Michael Keaton. In July '03 Variety announced that, after the success of Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny was now being considered as the front runner for the role. In August '03 Variety had a small quote from producer Richard Zanuck: "Though we're still getting the script right and haven't made a deal with Johnny, Tim is excited about him and things look good for a June [2004] start. We've already secured five stages in Pinewood." During OUATIM interviews in September '03, Johnny said that he loved Roald Dahl's book and that he's very interested in the part: "I'm keeping all my digits crossed."

The Rum Diary
This adaptation of Hunter S Thompson's semi-autobiographical novel has been circulating as a production rumour for a couple of years now. The story chronicles Paul Kemp's time spent as a rookie journalist in Puerto Rico in the 1950s. Benicio del Toro was due to direct. Personal circumstances have caused Benicio to step aside from the director's chair, although he still hopes to play one of the major roles in the movie. Josh Hartnett is the only confirmed cast member, although Johnny and Nick Nolte have both been mentioned in press snippets about the film, which also suggested that filming would begin in early 2004 . According to Liz Smith's column (November 2003), Johnny will move in again with Hunter S Thompson to observe the writer in his lair for a few weeks before filming. She also reported Costa Rica as the filming location, rather than Puerto Rico where the novel's story is based. (With so little solid news about this film project, we're not sure if that's a reporting error.) If this project goes ahead, it now looks like filming might begin in autumn 2004 or later.

Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3
Following the phenomenal success of Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of The Black Pearl, Disney are planning two sequels to be filmed back-to-back. According to reports, all of the principal cast members and director Gore Verbinski have indicated that they'll be interested in signing up if the scripts are good enough. Disney are hoping to secure the services again of Pirates' scriptwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio. Filming is unlikely to begin before late 2004 or early 2005. But the films, they hope will be released 6 months apart in 2006. 

The Man Who Killed Don Quixote
This is Terry Gilliam's take on the famous story of Don Quixote by Cervantes. Gilliam's screenplay is about a modern-day advertising executive, Toby Grosini (Johnny), who is transported back in time and meets Don Quixote, who believes that Toby is his squire Sancho Panza. Gilliam began filming this in Spain in September 2000 with Johnny, Jean Rochefort and Vanessa Paradis, but it was beset by problems including the ill-health of Rochefort. Filming was abandoned. The documentary Lost in La Mancha followed the cast and crew during the shooting, from initial planning through to the winding-up of the production. Terry Gilliam has been working to get the funding together to restart this project, and Johnny has said that he still wants to do it.

Trois Petite Filles ('Three Little Girls')
The French magazine 'Studio' reported in November 2003 that Johnny and Vanessa Paradis would have small roles in this French film directed by Jean-Loup Hubert. The movie was shot in Corsica, Marseilles and Paris in winter '03, and tells the story of three Parisian girls who escape to Corsica in the hope of meeting their idols, Johnny Depp & Vanessa Paradis.

Paris Je t'aime
This film is reported to be a tribute to Paris, France with different directors filming their favourite districts of the city. In 2002 the Johnny Depp-Vanessa Paradis site reported that Johnny would direct the section about the 3rd district of Paris, using the French actors Jean Rochefort and Annie Girardot. Johnny's segment was due to be filmed in January/February 2003. The film has a projected release of Spring 2004. We haven't heard any recent news about this project.

Ozzy Osbourne biopic
This biopic about lifetime rocker and former Black Sabbath frontman Ozzy Osbourne was first mentioned by The Hollywood Reporter in October 2002. Ozzy's wife Sharon caused a stir by saying that she wanted Johnny Depp to play the role. Johnny was asked about the project on the R:I:S:E tv programme during Pirates publicity interviews for the UK, and he said that it sounded interesting. The story hit the web at the Teen Hollywood site in August '03. You can read more about this project at the excellent Z Review site.

Bad Business
Robbie Coltrane, Johnny's From Hell co-star, has written a script called Bad Business and he's now looking for funding so that he can direct it. In early November 2003 there was an interview with Coltrane in the UK's 'Daily Telegraph' newspaper: Bad Business is about "America, oil and the exploitation of the Third World.... Johnny has already said that he'll play the baddie - we worked together in From Hell - and I want to get a couple of Scottish actors involved as well. The film asks, what will happen when the oil reserves in the Third World run out? In my film, America tries to sell the Third World GM crops, but the seeds don't grow and everything falls apart. The film will make the audience question greed and corporate business ethics.'''

Nailed Right In
This was a rumoured project that never made it into production. Unfortunately it's still listed on Johnny's filmography at IMDb, even though Johnny never made this film.

Marlowe
This is another project that's been circulating for a couple of years. The story is about the Elizabethan playwright Christopher Marlowe. The British production company Natural Nylon is expected to produce it, with Jude Law playing one of the principal roles. We haven't heard any news to suggest that Johnny is attached to this project.