According to the Los Angeles Times, Depp would play an important role in the film, as well as his production company, Infinitum Nihil, which may produce the project. The film was inspired by the novels by Arvid Nelson and Eric Johnson.
In the film, Rex Mundi, (King of the World) governs a society in which the Reformation never occured. In 1933, Europe was dominated by the Catholic Church and the rest of the world was just colonies.
Depp, 43, would play a pathologist investigating the mysterious death of a priest who found him as an orphan.
"There are murders and a mystery, and the lead character discovers a massive conspiracy, biblical in its origin."