Director Peter Weir, who made hits like "Dead Poets Society", "The Truman Show" and "Master And Commander: The Far Side Of The World", will direct Johnny Depp in "Shantaram".

According to ananova.com, Depp will play a heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison in Australia and starts a new life in India. He then finds himself working as a counterfeiter, gunrunner, smuggler and a doctor in the slums of Mumbai.

Weir will work on the script with Eric Roth and the Warner Bros studios hopes to begin production late next year.