Peter Weir ("The Truman Show", "Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World") will next direct "Shantaram," the Warner Bros. adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that will star Johnny Depp reports Variety. Weir will develop the script with Eric Roth and hopes to begin production late next year.

The story follows an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison and reinvents himself in India as a doctor in the slums of Bombay. His attempt to find medicine for his destitute patients leads him into counterfeiting, gunrunning and smuggling.

Themes in the film follow political and wartime tensions reminiscent of Weir's early efforts like "The Year of Living Dangerously" and "Gallipoli." Warners is also expecting an epic, paying a good $2 million for worldwide rights to the novel last year.