Oh good... the National Enquirer has reported the story... my mind is now at ease
Yes, I'm sure we're all breathing a sigh of relief now that they've reported it!
I suspect that the "official confirmation" is simply the IESB report that everyone has been citing.
Actually, and it's probably my fault for not quoting the entire sentence from the article, but what screamindemon.com said was, "While both the writer and director have been officially confirmed outside of the interview [meaning IESB's interview with Peter Segal], Depp’s starring role hasn’t been", which certainly implies they received confirmation from some source other than IESB/Peter Segal - but they don't say or even hint who - which doesn't exactly make their claim as credible as they would probably like, even if it is true. Throwing it out there without citing anyone at all is worse that citing "unnamed sources."
Speaking of Danny Elfman, though I love his work, I cringed a little at first at the prospect of him possibly being involved in DS, because somehow, I thought his music might be too fantasy-like to suit DS. However, by pure coincidence, I was watching a film called A Simple Plan today (great film, by the way) and was surprised to see that Elfman did the score. The music was really great- serious and haunting yet beautiful- and reminded me that his range of styles is probably much wider than I recall from the familiar Burton films.
I've probably seen several things that Elfman has scored, but I never watched them with DS in mind. If he signs on to do the Depp/DS film, I suppose I might revisit some of his films with an ear to DS.