Weirless

I must admit, I am a little bit sorry to hear the recent news about Peter Weir and Johnny Depp’s project, Shantaram.

Peter Weir has always been one of my personal favorite directors, although I didn’t really get into him until film school. A few years back he did Master and Commander, one of the best sea-fairing movies ever, in my honest opinion, and since then, I’ve been intrigued by future possibilities and old projects.
Shantaram caught my eye because it was his first collaboration with Johnny Depp. Weir has done good things with actors before (Paul Bettany in Master and Commander is worth the viewing alone), and I figured that Depp’s “weirdness” would be an interesting new energy for him to try and harness. Moreover, Shantaram is about a drug addict who becomes a doctor in the slums of India, eventually moving on to defend Afghanistan against invading Russians. So, basically, it's one of those films that combines every single element I’ve ever written about or will write about. Of course I’m going to be intrigued.
Sadly, they had differing views about how the material should be handled. I can’t say whose interpretation would have been better as they both seem to have a keen eye about these things…but I’d venture to say that Weir’s take might have been gold. Ah well.
It’s still an intriguing idea and could make for a fine film…but the producers (I’m looking at you Depp) need to find a director with as much vision and integrity as Weir.