Johnny Depp Could Join Kathryn Bigelow’s ‘Sleeping Dogs’ With Tom Hanks

Johnny Depp and Tom Hanks. Two actors we thought we’d probably never hear in the same casting sentence.

But it may happen. Filmmaker Kathryn Bigelow is ramping up her first, post-‘Hurt Locker’ film, a South American drug parable called “Sleeping Dogs” (previously known as “Triple Frontier”), and with Hanks reported to be in talks for the lead late yesterday, now Depp is also potentially joining the fold. Deadline says the director is courting the actor, he apparently likes the role and is down with the idea of working alongside Hanks, but as usual, it’s all up to scheduling.

The film is set to shoot in South America in February, but that’s also the same time when Tim Burton’s “Dark Shadows” is looking to start production. Aside from his longtime allegiance to Burton and a project that has been on the table for a lot longer than “Sleeping Dogs” has, “Dark Shadows” is also a co-production with Depp’s company and Graham King’s who has worked closely on several Depp projects including the still unreleased, “The Rum Diary” which King’s new company will probably release next fall.

Suffice to say, “Dark Shadows” is all in the family and the priority. Frankly, we’d love to see Depp ditch Burton and work on a real film for once — one that will have Academy and Awards-prestige written all over it — but we’ll see. Apparently all companys involved are looking to make it happen, which may mean some tight rescheduling, but who knows if it’s possible. We won’t be surprised at all if Depp doesn’t do it. His precious nth collaboration with Burton is just too important (someone kidnap that director, please).

We’re mostly wondering what this means for Emir Kusturica’s ‘Pancho Villa’ film which Depp was supposed to star in alongside Salma Hayek for a Feb 2011 shoot. It’s probably been delayed, or worse, not happening, but it’s nice to see Depp wanting to reteam with the director (they worked on “Arizona Dream” in 1993).

Written by Mark Boal (who won an Oscar for penning “The Hurt Locker”), the Paramount film’s setting is ‘la triple frontera,’ where the Igazu and Parana rivers converge at the border of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil making it a haven for criminal activity. Previously rumored/discussed actors include Sean Penn, Will Smith, Javier Bardem and Christian Bale, but there’s only two major leads in the film so we assume all these other actors are out (what, Sean Penn’s gonna take a supporting role?). Either way, anyone got a recent script? We’d love to get our hands on it.