Director Peter Weir has quit on the Johnny Depp project "Shantaram," forcing producers to scramble to find a new one by next spring. It's a story of those old "creative differences," and perhaps a case of a few too many cooks in the kitchen.

From Variety: "Warners has just begun talking to directors to replace Weir but remains optimistic that production will start by spring 2007. Scouting has already occurred in India, Spain and the U.K.

Depp is still expected to star as an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and winds up a gun-runner and counterfeiter who fights against invading Russian troops in Afghanistan."

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Johnny's got his own investment in the projext: He's the one who convinced WB to purchase the Greg Roberts novel for a cool $2 million.