HERE'S JOHNNY!

Depp, 41, whose recent roles include Peter Pan playwright JM Barrie in Finding Neverland and lovable rogue Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean, will be back on screen in July as Willy Wonka in the summer blockbuster film version of Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

But the two times Oscar nominee is seriously considering a script about a former drug addict who went from living among the high rollers of swinging London in the 1960s to sleeping rough on the streets of Boscombe before cleaning his life up some 20 years ago.

Producers of the film - to be called Addict - are close to signing Depp, having already secured the services of Andy Serkis, the voice of Gollum from The Lord of the Rings trilogy, as director.

Addict is based on the best-selling autobiography of Stephen Smith, who spent 10 months in 1978-79 living rough on the streets and beach at Boscombe.

The book, which has sold some 1.2 million copies, tells the story of Stephen's 20-year amphetamine addiction from being given his first tablet by the psychiatric doctor who sexually abused him at the age of 14, to his eventual triumph over adversity.

In his topsy-turvy world he became a getaway driver for shady London crimelords and lived the high life, but as the Swinging Sixties lost momentum he ended up penniless and living rough.

A chance meeting with a German student in a Chelsea pub not long after he left Bournemouth set Stephen on the road to recovery. He married her and today divides his time between homes in London and Germany, where he is a successful property developer.

"The story is part comedy, part drugs drama, part love story and it comes out with a positive ending," says Stephen.

"The Hollywood people are talking about Johnny Depp and we're just waiting for him to come back and confirm. We think we'll get him because it's such an attractive story.

"He gets to be a playboy gangster, a down and out, a reformed character - all in the same film. It's a potential Oscar winner.

"My life was sheer madness for years. I had money in my pocket, a head full of pills and free rein in the red light district of Soho.

"There was so much speed inside of me I don't think I ever had a handle on what was going on or knew who I was. Also, because of the abuse I was very confused sexually."

Overcome by paranoid psychosis, Stephen buried hundreds of pills and thousands of pounds in various locations across London.

Arrested and sent to an asylum he was given electric shock treatment, forgot where his stash was and ended up living rough.

Eventually he got on a train to keep warm and dry and was thrown off in Bournemouth.

"Drinkers, drug addicts and drifters are always drawn to each other and I fell in with a crowd living in a run-down house in Boscombe. We begged for cash, but I gradually started to get things together in Boscombe. It was the start of my recovery."

Recognising the area has ongoing problems, Stephen has since returned to Boscombe and plans to come back soon to scout locations ahead of shooting, which could start as soon as September.

He wants to use money made from the film to set up the Addict charity and open clinics where addicts are encouraged to help themselves.

"There are lots of factors but part of the problem is we tend to create our own ghettos by concentrating people with problems in certain areas.

"You can get treatment if you're able to pay £2,000 fees in advance, but that's no good for kids on the streets. I'd like to open one or two clinics to treat people who want help.

"Be realistic. At first drugs are great. I had a wonderful time, but then things start to go wrong and you pay a terrible price.

"Equally, not everybody gets to meet a beautiful student and turns their life around. A lot of addicts die along the way, but my story is one of hope. I still have problems - I've got a metal plate in my head and I get very nervous if I'm out - but all I have to do is stay sober today and not worry about tomorrow until it becomes today."

It is not the first time there have been hopes of luring Mr Depp to Bournemouth.

In 2002, he starred in the film From Hell as Inspector Frederick Abberline, the Blandford-born detective who hunted Jack the Ripper.

But hopes that he might be able to unveil a blue plaque at Abberline's home in Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, came to nothing, and Jeremy Beadle presided over the ceremony instead.

First published: May 7