Peter Weir Quits Johnny Depps 'Shantaram'


Peter WeirPeter Weir has dropped out from the directors chair for Johnny Depps Shantaram, says the Hollywood Reporter.

Depp is still expected to star as an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and winds up a gun-runner and counterfeiter who fights against invading Russian troops in Afghanistan.

"Peter moved on from this film because his interpretation of it differed greatly than that of the studio and producers," said a Warner Bros. spokesperson.

The studio has begun speaking to other prospective replacements, and remain optimistic that production will start by spring 2007. Scouting has already occurred in India, Spain and the U.K.

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