Depp is 'In the Hand of Dante' (VAR)

By Nancy Tartaglione-Vialatte

Johnny Depp’s Infinitum Nihil has acquired screen rights to the Nick Tosches novel "In the Hand of Dante." The project is to be developed as a potential star vehicle for Depp who will produce with Christi Dembrowski. The book revolves around Dante's masterwork "The Divine Comedy," and tells parallel storylines involving Dante in 14th-century Italy and Tosches in contemporary times.

Depp would play Tosches, says Variety. The novel was published in 2002.

Infinitum Nihil, meanwhile, is getting close to the starting line on its first film, “The Rum Diary,” in which Depp will star as Hunter S. Thompson.

Depp’s other starring projects include Tim Burton’s "Alice in Wonderland," another "Pirates of the Caribbean" film, "The Lone Ranger" and voicing the title character in the Gore Verbinski-directed animated film "Rango."

By the by, Dante, it would appear, is having something of a renaissance. Last month, Universal won a bidding war for rights to an as-yet unreleased Electronic Arts game unofficially titled “Dante’s Inferno,” which involves a journey through the depths of hell.