A Cat In A Hat To Play Theodore Geisel

Of the many Johnny Depp projects in the pipeline, the one I think has the most potential to be genuinely interesting is a biopic of Theodore Geisel, better known, of course, as Doctor Seuss. Geisel’s work is both wildly commercially successful and intensely political, and his political cartooning (which I highly recommend) veers between contradictory impulses of anti-Japanese racism and condemnations of anti-Semitism and racism directed at African-Americans. He both created great entertainment for children (The Cat in the Hat is the result of a challenge to see if he could write an educational book using only 250 words important for young readers) and never had any — in fact, a long-term affair contributed to his wife’s suicide. I don’t really know that I think Depp is the right person to play Geisel — he runs the risk of being purely wacky — but Geisel is an enormously fitting and interesting subject for a biopic, and not merely because I’m so manifestly pleased by anyone who manages to make great entertainment out of serious political ideas.