Johnny Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil has picked up screen rights to the Nick Tosches novel In the Hand of Dante, which will be developed as a potential starring vehicle for Depp, according to Variety.

Depp will produce with his Infinitum Nihil partner Christi Dembrowski. The company, which has a first-look deal with Warner Bros. and Graham King's GK Films, optioned the book with its own coin.

The book revolves around Dante's masterwork "The Divine Comedy," and tells parallel storylines involving Dante in 14th-century Italy as he tries to complete the work, and a contemporary storyline involving Tosches, who is asked to authenticate what might be Dante's original manuscript. Depp would play Tosches. The novel was published in 2002.

No production date has been set.