With his not-so-hot box office performance of Disney's The Lone Ranger now behind him, Johnny Depp is setting his sights on an adaptation of a different sort.  Depp is in negotiations to star in Mortdecai, an adaptation of author Kyril Bonfiglioli's novels about a wealthy art dealer and anti-hero.  The film is said to be based on the posthumously-published novel The Great Mortdecai Moustache Mystery, completed by author Craig Brown.  David Koepp (Premium Rush) is set to direct.  Hit the jump for more.

The Wrap reports

that Depp is in talks to star as the lead of Mortdecai.  The plot follows him as "he races to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold. Of course, he'll have to contend with angry Russians, the British Mi5, his impossibly leggy wife and an international terrorist first."  The project has been in the works at Warner Bros. for some time, with Depp and Koepp set to reunite after Secret Window.   Lionsgate has acquired the project, as it was put into turnaround by WB.  Depp hopes to fit Mortdecai in between his work on Into the Woods and Pirates of the Caribbean 5.

Here's the description of the book (via Amazon):

Kyril Bonfiglioli's final novel follows the Hon. Charlie Mortdecai from adventure to misadventure via Jersey and Moscow to a final showdown in a Buckinghamshire bungalow of unparalleled hideousness. Tackling en route an unhealthy sprinkling of well-seasoned academics, a cryptic monk, an aristocratic Chief Constable, and more spies than you could shoehorn into a black stretch limo, Mordecai finds himself embroiled in another mission of international insecurity. Left unfinished at the time of the author's death, the celebrated satirist and parodist Craig Brown supplies the penultimate, plot-resolving chapter.