Johnny Depp has been cast alongside Mark Rylance and Robert Pattinson in 'Waiting for the Barbarians'.

Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp

The Hollywood star has signed on to star in the upcoming indie movie, which is being directed by Colombian filmmaker Ciro Guerra.

The project is based on the allegorical novel by J.M. Coetzee, which tells the story of a a British magistrate living in a colonial town who starts to develop a growing sense of unease about the Empire.

The magistrate, who is to be played by Rylance, does his best to ignore the impending war with the so-called barbarians.

As yet, it's not known who Depp and Pattinson will play in the film.

Meanwhile, Depp recently claimed that Disney wanted to "fire" him over his 'Pirates of the Caribbean' performance.

The 55-year-old actor's portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in the first film in the swashbuckling franchise left bosses baffled, and he admitted they didn't understand the character.

Depp - who starred in 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl' in 2003 - said: "Disney hated me. [They were] thinking of every way they could to get rid of me, to fire me.

"'Oh, we're going to have to subtitle him.' 'We don't understand Captain Jack Sparrow. What's wrong with him?' 'What's wrong with his arms?' 'Is he drunk?' 'Is he mentally f***ing stupefied?' 'Is he gay?'"

The actor revealed that Sparrow's sexuality was brought up in a conversation with Disney's Nina Jacobson, who has campaigned for greater diversity in Hollywood's boardrooms.

He recalled: "It was a lady called Nina Jacobson from Disney at the time and she asked me a couple of questions and then said, 'What is it, Johnny? Is he gay?'

"My tendency, of course, is to be irreverent so I said, 'Nina, didn't you know all my characters are gay?' That was a pretty abrupt end to the conversation. And I just continued shaping Jack the way I believed was best."