The writers strike has made Johnny Depp’s winter vacation to arrive early this year.

He should begin the shooters of Warner Bros' Shantaram, this winter in India and Afghanistan. The character who will play Depp is an Australian heroin addict who escapes from prison, reinvents himself as a doctor who ministers to the poor in India, and is later able to put his criminal connections to good use in the fight against Russian troops in Afghanistan.

The studio has said that, while the start of monsoon season in India and a skyrocketing budget also helped slow the project down, the script adapted from Gregory David Roberts' novel just isn't ready yet.

Also on hold is the film Depp was planning to make after Shantaram, Warner Independent Pictures' adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's The Rum Diary, loosely based on the gonzo journalist's experiences reporting from Puerto Rico in the 1950s.

Depp, who played the late gonzo journalist in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, will in The Rum Diary chronicle his surroundings as the Thompson-inspired character Paul Kemp.
The project is still in the developmental stage, where it will apparently remain for some time.
 


Publication date: 23 November 2007   

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