INFINITUM NIHIL PROJECTS

Confirmed projects to date...

SHANTARAM


Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts
JDR spoke with Greg Roberts in 2007, read our interview here:

October 06, 2004
There is much information about this projects and the trials to bring it to the big screen. On October 06 of 2004 heard about this when Variety reported it to be "one of the biggest film rights deals of the year" as they reported "In a $2 million outright purchase, Warner Bros., Brad Gray and Initial Entertainment prexy Graham King have acquired screen rights to Gregory David Roberts novel "Shantaram." Johnny Depp will star in the film and produce with Grey and King. Roberts will adapt the book, which is set in the 1980s, and is about an adventure similar to one that Roberts lived. "

At that time, Warner Brothers was to have domestic distribution rights while Initial controled the foreign. WB executive vice president Kevin McCormick was to oversee the project.

Variety described the story this way: "Protag is an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery. He escapes from a maximum-security prison and flees to India and reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of Bombay. He gets involved in counterfeiting, smuggling and gunrunning, which leads him to Afghanistan, where he and a mob boss battle the Russians."




October 25, 2005 brought the news that screenwriter Eric Roth was hired by WB to take over for novel author Gregory Roberts who had written the first draft.
November 30, 2005 Peter Weir was named as the film's director.
June 11, 2006 Peter Weir exits the project because of reported interpretation differences.
June 12, 2006 Depp attaches to Burton's Sweeney Todd in light of Shantaram's postponement.
February 21, 2007 Mira Nair's name is linked to Shantaram as director.
August 10, 2007 Strike fears put Shantaram filming in jeopardy, citing script, location and budget issues.
September 07, 2007 Gives a January 2008 start date.
October 30, 2007 Still trying to trim the film's budget while strike looms.
November 19, 2007 Strike puts Shantaram on hold.
November 21, 2007 Depp suddenly available.
November 29, 2007 Other forces cause many delays, Variety's Anne Thompson examines the situation, a partial quote "Similarly, while neither Warners, producer Graham King, nor star Johnny Depp had script issues with "Shantaram," they couldn't afford to proceed with a movie of this scope on location in Mumbai with destructive monsoons looming. That meant they had to commit to a "hot start date" by the third week in February. And while director Nair could make cuts in the too-long script to accommodate the studio's budget demands, she couldn't add anything. Again, Depp, who was playing a heroin addict who escapes from prison and flees to India to become a slum doctor, had too much at stake to go forward without the usual read-throughs, enhancements, and writer changes. Warners says it is committed to starting production in September. Depp will likely stick with the project -- after all, Warners bought the Gregory David Roberts book for him for $2-million -- until the ideal conditions can be met."
February 07, 2008 Mira Nair to direct Amelia.
February 22, 2008 Depp does Dillinger.
October 16, 2008 In an article about Peter Weir, Variety says that Weir
"developed but dropped out of "Shantaram," the Warner Bros. project which was to star Johnny Depp."