After co-directing Top of the Lake with Jane Campion, Garth Davis looks set to direct his first feature, Shantaram, for Warner Bros.
The news was broken by Deadline.com, which said Aussie Davis is in early talks with the producers, Johnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski.
Joel Edgerton is attached to play an Australian heroin addict who escapes from a maximum-security prison and redeems himself as a doctor treating people in the slums of Bombay. Later he uses his expertise in counterfeiting, gun-running and smuggling to fight against the invading Russian troops in Afghanistan.
Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button) has written the screenplay based on the Gregory David Roberts novel. Peter Weir was attached to the project but dropped out in 2006, when Depp intended to play the lead.
Davis co-directed five episodes of Top of the Lake. His credits include Love My Way, the short film Alice and documentary P.I.N.S.