Depp has worked with director Tim Burton on three other films

Depp has been offered the part by director Tim Burton, US film magazine Variety said.

If Depp accepts, the film would start shooting next year.

The film will be the second based on the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. The 1971 version starred Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka.

Dahl was said to be unimpressed with the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, despite adapting his book for the screen himself.

The film is to be produced by Warner Bros and Plan B, the production company whose partners include Brad Pitt and wife Jennifer Aniston.

Mystery factory

If Depp accepts, it will be the fourth film has made with Burton, after Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow.

The story is about a reclusive chocolate manufacturer who opens his mysterious factory to the winners of golden tickets secreted in a handful of his chocolate bars.

One of them is won by Charlie, a poor boy who lives with his parents and grandparents.

Earlier reports had said that controversial rock star Marilyn Manson would play Willy Wonka in Burton's version of the film.

Depp, 40, has already had one of the biggest hits of the summer with the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean, which has topped the film charts in both the UK and the US.

He has also recently made the films J.M Barrie's Neverland and Secret Window, Secret Garden.