Johnny Depp Offered Lead In 'Snow White And The Huntsman'

Tom Hardy Will Be Too Busy Being Awesome In 'The Dark Knight Rises'

It speaks to how far Tom Hardy has come that his name was in the early mix for the lead in Universal's "The Snow White And The Huntsman," but the timing always seemed a little too close for comfort. The actor will be shooting "This Means War" until December and then will begin work on Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" in the spring. Alas, we'll have to wait a while yet for Hardy to land his own franchise vehicle. However, undaunted, Universal has put an offer to the biggest A-list star there is.

Johnny Depp is being sought for the titular role of the huntsman. The revisionist buddy movie spin on the popular fairy tale, sees the titular huntsman being hired by the evil queen to track down her runaway stepdaughter, the fairest in all the land. When he realizes that the queen intends to kill Snow White, he helps her escape, and the pair go on the run. Apparently, the huntsman and Snow White will be chained together for a good portion of the film, and there is still a handsome prince who will win the fair lady's heart.

Of course, this is just an offer and Depp is already linked to another project set to shoot in early 2011, namely Tim Burton's "Dark Shadows." However, last we heard, that project still wasn't a 100% certainty as Burton is weighing either "Dark Shadows" or "Monsterpocalypse," and is waiting on a finished script on the former before making a decision. Considering Depp's long and fruitful collaboration with Burton, we'd wager he's gonna wait and see if the director officially moves forward with "Dark Shadows." If he does, so will Depp, and a new huntsman will need to be found.

As for the evil queen Ravenna, Charlize Theron and Depp's "The Tourist" co-star Angelina Jolie have been linked, though the latter seems unlikely given she will be in post-production on her directorial debut. A casting call is currently out in England for Snow White, with producers hoping to find a fresh face for the part.

"Snow White And The Huntsman" is a big project for Universal, they paid $1.5 million for the script and also racing against another revisionist picture based on the fable, "The Brothers Grimm: Snow White" that most recently had an offer out to Tarsem Singh to direct. Commercial and music video helmer Rupert Sanders will direct "Snow White And The Huntsman" and it will hit theaters on December 21, 2012 right up against "The Hobbit" (good luck with that).