PETER WEIR - DIRECTOR WEIR QUITS DEPP MOVIE

Director PETER WEIR has quit new film SHANTARAM after failing to see eye-to-eye with JOHNNY DEPP. The MASTER AND COMMANDER director and Depp, who is also producing the film, had creative differences on how to approach the story. A source for Warner Bros confirms, "Peter moved on from this film because his interpretation of it differed greatly than that of the studio and producers." Depp is still expected to star as an Australian heroin addict who escapes from 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. Production is still expected to begin by spring 2007 in India, Spain and the UK.