Depp's interesting career choices continue apace...

[Kahnee]

Johnny Depp is to play sidekick Tonto in a Disney remake of The Lone Ranger.

The Hollywood star is also set to reprise his role in Pirates Of The Caribbean and has confirmed reports that he has been cast as the Mad Hatter in a Tim Burton remake of Alice In Wonderland.

The actor announced his new projects at a Disney gala, packed with Hollywood stars, at the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles.

Tonto is the trusty Native American sidekick of cowboy hero the Lone Ranger, which started life on the radio in 1933 and became a hit US TV show in the 1950s.

Depp, 45, has Cherokee Indian as well as German and Irish ancestry.

The opening titles to the TV show featured the hero galloping on his horse, Silver, to the William Tell Overture and the slogan: "A fiery horse with the speed of light, a cloud of dust and a hearty 'Hi-yo, Silver!"'

The big screen version of The Lone Ranger is being made by Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

The new Pirates of the Caribbean will follow three previous blockbuster films with Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow.

Alice in Wonderland will feature a mix of live action and performance capture CGI.

Released in 2010, it will be Burton and Depp's most recent collaboration following Sweeney Todd.

Disney also announced that Oprah Winfrey will voice the character of Eudora, the mother of an African American heroine, in the Princess and the Frog.

Disney's original story-board was reported to have been torn up after criticism that the lead character was a cliched subservient role with echoes of slavery.

Dame Helen Mirren has also been confirmed to play an Israeli secret agent in spy drama The Dead.

[BDB]

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[Snakebite]

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