Eric Roth to Write Shantaram Script

Posted on October 27, 2005

Oscar-winning writer Eric Roth has been chosen to adapt the Gregory David Roberts novel Shantaram for the upcoming Warner Bros. Pictures feature film adaptation.

Set in the 1980s and based loosely on Roberts's life, the story centers on an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery who escapes to India, where he reinvents himself as a doctor. When he gets involved in smuggling and gun-running, his adventurous life leads him to Afghanistan and battles with Russians. Roberts wrote the initial draft.
The book was acquired in October 2004 in a $2 million purchase by Warner and Initial. Brad Pitt's Plan B and Graham King, through Initial, are producing, as is Johnny Depp, via his Infinitum Nihil banner. Depp also is attached to star.
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Roth won an Oscar for his adaptation of 1994's Forrest Gump and shared a nomination with Michael Mann for their adaptation of The Insider. His recent credits include working on Steven Spielberg's Munich, Curtis Hanson's Lucky You and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd.

It something that drives authors crazy. The first thing the prodcuer asks after buying the film rights to a novel is: "Now what writer do we know that could turn this book into a screenplay?" Of course, the truth is that screenwriting for a feature film is a very different skill than novel-writing. That's not to say that the same skills can't exist in the same writer, of course.