Yo Ho, Me Hearties! Johnny Depp Does Keith Richards

Hollywood star looking to chronicle the life and times of his rock 'n' roll mentor in big-screen documentary

We've long known Johnny Depp has some sympathy for that devil Keith Richards.

Now Depp plans to salute his Capt. Jack Sparrow-inspiring hero by directing a feature-length documentary on the hard-livin', hard-rockin' Rolling Stones guitarist.

Depp has been combing through archives of Richards and his bandmates in action. E! News spied Depp, who will be onscreen March 5 as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, filming with Richards on location at the Los Angeles Theatre this past weekend.

The project would be good timing for the 66-year-old Richards, whose tell-all autobiography is slated to be published this fall.

Depp and Richards have been pals for more than a decade. Richards even played Depp's dad in 2007's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

—Additional reporting by Lindsay Miller and Claudia Rosenbaum