shantaram Tagged Articles at Cinematical

So it looks like it's not just the big productions that are now DOA thanks to the writer's strike; it's hitting some of the 'the little guys' too. Variety reports the next two features that have been put on hold are the big-screen adaptations of Castlevania and the period action flick, Ironbow: The Legend of William Tell.

First up was Castlevania, which had been struggling to make it to production. This might not be the worst thing in the world when you consider the script problems the film was having in the first place; it was probably in serious need of some tweaking. Sylvain White (Stomp the Yard) had been signed to direct and the film was due to start shooting in South Africa this April. Rogue Pictures had hoped that Castlevania would have been the start of a new franchise for the studio. Rather than waste the $40 million budget, Rogue decided to focus on some of their other projects that were slotted for 2008 that were ready for production. Instead, Rogue is going to work on the remakes of Near Dark and The Last House on The Left.

Hopefully Spyglass, who was behind the action adventure story Ironbow: The Legend of William Tell, also has another project ready to occupy these long lazy strike days. Ironbow was written by Count of Monte Cristo scribe, Jay Wolpert. Director Kevin Reynolds (Tristan and Isolde) had just been signed and the film was ready to begin casting. But, the need for some re-writes to the story of the 15th-century Swiss crossbow legend William Tell who returns home to lead his people to independence (and maybe some fruit target practice) has put the film on hold for now. Well, at least these two films are in good company as 'victims' of the strike, along with Angels and Demons, Shantaram and Pinkville. So if the strike doesn't end soon, I have a feeling we are going to be seeing a lot more of these kinds of announcements in the near future.

Well it looks like we can chalk up another victim of the writers strike. Right after news broke that The Weinsteins had put their big-screen version of the musical Nine on hold, it now looks like Johnny Depp's Shantaram will be joining the list of casualties as well. Variety reports that Warner Bros. has halted production on the adaptation of Gregory David Robert's best-selling novel. Depp was set to co-produce and star in the drama about "an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and eventually uses gun-running and counterfeiting skills to fight against the invading Russian troops in Afghanistan". Mira Nair had signed on to direct back in January after Australian director Peter Weir left the project due to those pesky "artistic differences".

As was the case with The Weinsteins Nine, Shantaram's delay was a direct result of the strike. Mainly because it meant there was zero chance of any re-writes taking place before the film was set to begin shooting. According to Variety, screenwriter Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) was working on the project until the very last minute before the strike. But when combined with the problems securing a location for the shoot due to monsoon season in India, it looks like the film is going to be put on hold for the foreseeable future. I wouldn't worry though, the film has been a passion project for Depp for some time now, so I doubt he will let if fall by the wayside. There is no word yet on whether Depp is looking for a replacement project in the meantime, but stay tuned for any updates that come our way.

Of all the actors who are regularly mentioned on Cinematical, Johnny Depp certainly seems to be the most popular. So, I am glad to be able to give the readers another update on Depp's passion project, Shantaram, which has just acquired a new director. Indian auteur Mira Nair has signed on to the film, which is based on Gregory David Roberts' mostly autobiographical novel. Shooting is now slated to begin later this year, once Depp is done with Sweeney Todd.

It has been awhile since we last heard about this film -- its formerly attached director, Peter Weir, dropped out last summer. But there were probably few worries that Depp would run out of projects to work on. Aside from Sweeney, he's also slated for The Rum Diary and maybe Rex Mundi. Plus, his production company has a number of adaptations he could star in. Still, Shantaram is the film that Depp paid $2 million for rights to, so he was probably most interested in getting it off and running again.

Late last year, the news broke that Johnny Depp was to star in Shantaram, an Eric Roth-penned adaptation of Gregory David Roberts' novel of the same name. The novel is a story of drug addiction, armed robbery, prison and other similarly romantic subjects, and is based on Roberts' real-life experiences in Melbourne, Bombay, and Germany; it's thought that the movie will focus on Roberts' time in Bombay, where, among other things, he acted as a slum doctor and dabbled in organized crime.

Reportedly driven almost entirely by Depp's passion -- it was at his urging that Warner Brother's dropped $2 million on the rights to the story -- the movie was originally to be directed by Australian helmer Peter Weir, he of Gallipoli and The Year of Living Dangerously fame (and Green Card infamy, though I admit I sorta liked it). This morning, though, Variety reported that Weir has left the project. Depending on who you believe, Weir and Depp either disagreed over the direction of the film and parted amicably, or Weir was so out in left field with his interpretation that he had no one in the studio on his side, and finally just moved on. Either way, the movie has a star and a new rewrite (which Roth penned and Weir supervised), now all the cast needs is someone to tell it what to do. The hope is that production will being next spring.