Another film hits the strike graveyard.

Mira Nair’s adaptation of Gregory David Robert’s 2003 novel SHANTARAM has been delayed because of the WGA strike. You have to feel a little for the movie’s star Johnny Depp. He’s long wanted to produce and lead this tale of a convicted Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escaped from Pentridge Prison and fled to India where he lived for 10 years.

After finally getting a free couple of months on his schedule to star in it, the strike has halted the project (because the script simply wasn’t ready) and Depp now finds himself out of work for the February/March slot.

The Warner Brothers project is still expected to be made at some point. The studio had spent $2 million on getting the adaptation off the ground mainly because of Depp’s own enthusiastic ambition to get it made and they won’t want their option to disappear after spending so much on the film already.

So where does this leave Depp?

Well he has THE RUM DIARY on his schedule which he was expected to shoot after SHANTARAM and director Bruce Robinson has no other projects right now… so this has a chance of moved forward. Ironically, this is another long gestured Depp project.

He has the adaptation of the dark 60’s show DARK SHADOWS which at one time I was convinced Tim Burton would direct. If they can find a director, that one could be a go but that would depend on whether a completed script has been turned in.

A movie about the death and continuing investigation behind the murder of Alexander Litvinenko but that WB project seems to be stalling as they await more real life developments in the case.

Then there’s REX MUNDI, the adaptation of the 1930’s graphic novel set in an alternative world where magic is real and our lead is on the hunt for the Holy Grail. Again, that depends if the script has been turned in.

Or of course he could get attached to another project which is in need of a star. Actors like Depp don’t stay out of work very often.

source – variety