Mike Fleming

When Deadline broke the story that Johnny Depp would star as Whitey Bulger in the Barry Levinson-directed Black Mass, it raised a lot of questions about his intentions to star in Transcendence, the film directed by Chris Nolan’s visionary cinematographer Wally Pfister. His reps have now clarified the dance card of Depp, who’ll next be seen reuniting with Gore Verbinski in The Lone Ranger this summer. Here’s the deal:

LOS ANGELES (February 27, 2013) — Johnny Depp is set to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The film will begin principal photography in April.

The film is being financed and produced by Alcon Entertainment’s Broderick Johnson and Andrew Kosove and will be released by Warner Bros. The film will also be produced by Straight Up Films’ Annie Marter, Marisa Polvino and Kate Cohen along with David Valdes. Pfister will direct from newcomer Jack Paglen’s screenplay, which was developed with Annie Marter, with the most recent draft by Noah Oppenheim. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers. Straight Up’s Regency Boies will co-produce.

Producers are not revealing the film’s plot.

Following Transcendence, Depp will segue into the crime thriller Black Mass, about notorious Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, to be directed by Barry Levinson, with Jez Butterworth writing a new draft of the screenplay by Mark Mallouk, based on the New York Times best-seller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill.

Filming is beginning in early summer of 2013.

The film will be produced by Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson along with John Lesher via his Le Grisbi Productions and Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s Exclusive Media, with Cross Creek and Exclusive Media co-financing.

Depp will next be seen starring in Disney’s big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger directed by Gore Verbinski and debuting July 3, 2013. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Verbinski along with Depp and Christi Dembrowski’s Infinitum Nihil banner. Infinitum Nihil’s credits also includeHugo, Dark Shadows and The Rum Diary.

Depp is represented by UTA and Bloom Hergott Diemer Rosenthal Laviolette Feldman Schenkman & Goodman, LLP.