On the Alice front, Depp and Burton — who first worked together in 1990’s Edward Scissorhands and most recently collaborated on Sweeney Todd — have formed one of the longest-running director-actor partnerships in modern Hollywood. When Burton committed to filming a new live-action/CG-animated version of Alice, Depp was touted as the most likely candidate to play the Mad Hatter — after all, having worked with Burton on Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, he’s practiced in wearing a top hat. Mia Wasikowska, the young Australian actress who appeared in HBO’s In Treatment, has the film’s title role.

Matt Lucas, who stars in the sketch comedy series Little Britain USA, which debuted on HBO last Sunday, is set to play the dual roles of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Ranger, meanwhile, puts Depp back in business with Bruckheimer, who produced the Pirates movies. Tonto is the Native American colleague of cowboy hero the Lone Ranger. The casting could stir up controversy with Native American groups, who might accuse the studio of putting a white actor in the role. One factor that could counter such an argument is Depp’s mixed ancestry, which includes German, Irish and Cherokee. Ranger is being written by Pirates scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and has no director at this time.