Johnny Depp is set to star in Transcendence, the directorial debut of Oscar-winning cinematographer Wally Pfister. The film will begin principal photography in April, Deadline said.

Pfister will direct from newcomer Jack Paglen’s screenplay, which was developed with Annie Marter, with the most recent draft by Noah Oppenheim. Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas are serving as executive producers. Producers are not revealing the film’s plot.

Following Transcendence, Depp will segue into the crime thriller Black Mass, about notorious Boston mob boss Whitey Bulger, to be directed by Barry Levinson, with Jez Butterworth writing a new draft of the screenplay by Mark Mallouk, based on the New York Times best-seller Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob by Boston Globe reporters Dick Lehr and Gerald O’Neill.

Filming is beginning in early summer of 2013.

The film will be produced by Cross Creek’s Brian Oliver and Tyler Thompson along with John Lesher via his Le Grisbi Productions and Nigel Sinclair and Guy East’s Exclusive Media, with Cross Creek and Exclusive Media co-financing.

Depp will next be seen starring in Disney’s big screen adaptation of The Lone Ranger directed by Gore Verbinski and debuting July 3, 2013.