MUMBAI: Illumination Entertainment‘s Christopher Meledandri and David Kennedy have tied up with Infinitum Nihil partner Christi Dembrowski and Johny Depp to make a film on the life of classic children‘s author and illustrator Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel).

Throughout his early years, Geisel drew advertising and comic strips, then political cartoons during World War II. By 1950, Geisel was publishing the books that became worldwide classics. He died of throat cancer in 1991.

With Depp already having brought to life the Mad Hatter, Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie and Willy Wonka, the iconic Seuss seems a great fit for his chameleonic personality and recent desire to make family films.

Universal, that will eventually distribute the film, paired with Illumination in last year‘s $543-million grossing Despicable Me, is in the post-production process of an animated adaptation of Seuss‘s The Lorax.