The project in the works for years, Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Shantaram is back on track with Joel Edgerton eyed for the leading role. Deadline has the news, reporting that Edgerton would take over the part from the formerly-attached Johnny Depp, who remains aboard as a producer.
Originally planned for Mira Nair to direct before being delayed by the Writers Guild strike in 2008, Shantaram is based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts and follows an Australian heroin addict who escapes from a maximum-security prison and reinvents himself as a doctor treating the destitute in the slums of Bombay. His drive to procure medicine leads him into counterfeiting, gun-running and smuggling.
Edgerton, who was recently said to be in talks to join Ridley Scott’s Exodus, can be seen coming up in Matthew Saville’s Felony, Gavin O’Connor’s Jane Got a Gun and Jeff Nichols’ Midnight Special.
Depp will produce through his Infinitum Nihil alongside Christi Dembrowski and, through GK Films, Graham King.
(Photo Credit: C. Smith / WENN.com)
