Johnny Depp to play John McAfee on silver screen - report

John McAfee's life is set to get the Hollywood treatment, with Johnny Depp apparently lined up to portray the anti-virus doyen in a new movie.

According to Deadline, King of the Jungle will focus on the time McAfee spent with a Wired magazine writer at his Belize compound.

At the time, McAfee (pictured) was reportedly wanted in connection with the murder of his next-door neighbour in the central American country.

Depp is reportedly attached to play the lead character, who recently tried to block Intel from resurrecting the McAfee name.

McAfee, who founded his eponymous anti-virus brand in 1989 before selling it for a reported $100m in 1992, stood in the last US presidential race, and also hit the headlines last year by predicting that cyber war is "clearly on the horizon".

The film is reportedly being directed by Glenn Ficarra and John Requa, who wrote the screenplay for Cats & Dogs.

McAfee is no stranger to controversy, and in 2013 recorded a bizarre video of himself cavorting with women and pretending to take drugs. The film looks set to mirror his colourful life, reportedly focusing on the "Apocalypse Now-like tour" McAfee gave a Wired magazine writer of his Belize compound, an episode filled with "paranoia, machine guns, sex and murder", Deadline reports.

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