Ananova:

Director Tim Burton has cast Freddie Highmore as Charlie in his upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Highmore will play Charlie Bucket who stumbles across one of the five golden tickets that wins an exclusive tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.

The other four winners are spoilt children who get their comeuppance in the course of the tour, leaving Charlie to become Mr Wonka's heir.

Johnny Depp has already agreed to play Willy Wonka reports Variety.

Highmore has worked with Depp in the past. They both appear in J.M. Barrie's Neverland due for release in the UK on the 29 October.

He also appears alongside Kenneth Brannagh and Zoe Wannamaker in the upcoming film Five Children and It due to be released in the UK on the 13 August.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will start filming later this summer at London's Pinewood Studios.