At a raucous, three-day party in 1921, a young starlet became severely ill and died four days later. Newspapers went wild with the story: popular silent-screen comedian Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle had killed Virginia Rappe with his weight while savagely raping her. Though the newspapers of the day reveled in the gory, rumored details, juries found little evidence that Arbuckle was in any way connected with her death.

Depp confided in BBC Radio London DJ Jono Coleman that he had set his sights on the lead role.

Coleman says, "Johnny recommended I read I, Fatty, Arbuckle's fictional memoirs by Jerry Stahl. He told me he had bought the rights and I got the feeling he'd like to play the title role. But he hasn't got the figure."