Depp to become head Oompa Loompa?

Posted Monday, July 28, 2003 at 1:18 PM Central

by John Couture

It's good to be Johnny Depp right now. Riding the wave of his swashbuckling box office champ The Pirates Of The Caribbean, the world is truly his oyster for the taking.

But, it's the phone call from an old friend that may allow Depp to keep his status in Hollywood. The word out of Tinseltown is that Tim Burton has moved his old friend to the top of the list to play Willy Wonka in his adaptation of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.

The list was impressive before Pirates set sail with names like Christopher Walken and Michael Keaton being tossed about to play the lead. In the original adaptation, Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory, Gene Wilder played the eccentric owner of a chocolate factory who devises a clever contest in the hopes of finding a child to inherit the chocolate factory.