Mira Nair to direct Shantram?

From IMDB news:

Johnny Depp has head-hunted Vanity Fair filmmaker Mira Nair to direct his new film. Shantaram will star Depp in the lead role, and will be co-produced by Depp's Infinitum Nihil and Brad Pitt's production company Plan B, who bought the rights to the Gregory David Roberts-penned book for $2 million. Indian-born Nair, who directed Monsoon Wedding in 2001, admits she is a big fan of the book and is looking forward to the challenge of working behind the camera with Depp. She says, "I just got the offer a few days back but I will start with it soon. It is a book that completely gripped me as it did millions of others. Johnny Depp is such an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary actor. He embodies so much what Shantaram is and so when he asked me to direct him it was obviously a great honor and challenge for me." Shantaram will be based on the life story of Gregory David Roberts, who escaped from an Australian prison and fled to Mumbai, India, where he became involved with the city's powerful mafia dons.

Sasha's Story: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy

From Variety and Coming Soon;

Warner Bros. Pictures has scooped up film rights to a book on the mysterious death of former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko for Johnny Depp's Infinitum Nihil to develop, reports Variety.

As with any Infinitum project, the film about Litvinenko could be a potential starring vehicle for Depp, who has been closely following the story.

Depp will produce with Infinitum prexy Christi Dembrowski and Initial Entertainment Group president Graham King. Infinitum is an Initial Entertainment company.

The unpublished novel "Sasha's Story: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy" will be penned by New York Times London bureau chief Alan Cowell, who has been covering the story since it first broke in November.

In London, the investigation continues into the death of Litvinenko, who was poisoned in late November by polonium-210. Just before his death, he blamed Russian President Vladimir Putin's regime for the murder.

Cowell will continue covering the story before taking a leave to write the book, which will be published by Doubleday in the U.S. and Transworld in the U.K. later this year.

Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest DVD release

The release date for the R1 dvd of Dead Man's Chest will be December 5th. The movie will be available on two versions; a regular 1 disc edition and a 2-disc Collector's Edition with additional extras.

You can order the dvd from Amazon through these links (and when doing so you help support Indeppth!)

Pirates Of The Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Widescreen Edition)

Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)

Helena Bonham Carter joins Depp in Sweeney Todd

No surprise there, Tim Burton's girlfriend Helena Bonham Carter will be playing Mrs. Lovett in the upcoming Sweeney Todd.

More interesting is the rumour that Sacha Baron Cohen would be playing the role of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, but this has not been confirmed yet.

The full article can be read at Variety: http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117952135.html?categoryid=13&cs=1

Sweeney Todd confirmed

The production on "Sweeney Todd" has officially started. Tim Burton will be directing Depp once again in this movie that will be produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and DreamWorks. Paramount will distribute for DreamWorks domestically, with Warner taking international rights.

The filming is scheduled to begin in February 2007, the release date being later that year. It is likely that the movie will be released in December.

Stay tuned for more news as the production of the movie progresses. As this is a Burton/Depp collaboration, you will find news about the movie both from Indeppth and its sister-site: Tim Burton Collective. The Tim Burton Collective blog can be accessed here: http://www.timburtoncollective.com/tbcnews.html