Charlie Hunnam will head up a project that had been in development as a feature film for some time.
Charlie Hunnam – he of Sons of Anarchy and Pacific Rim fame – will play the lead role in the forthcoming adaptation of Shantaram, based on Gregory David Roberts’ 2003 novel.
For the uninitiated, the best-selling Shantaram tells the story of an Australian bank robber and heroin addict who escapes from prison and flees to India.
Deadline reports that Hunnam will take on the role of Lin, who looks to get lost in Bombay, only to find that life is quite tumultuous outside prison walls.
Apple picked up the rights to Shantaram over a year ago, following a competitive bidding war.
Justin Kurzel, who directed Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard in both Macbeth (excellent) and Assassin’s Creed (decidedly not excellent), is attached to helm the first two episodes, of which there will be 10 in total.
A previous effort to adapt Shantaram for the big screen saw Warner Bros. part with $2 million for the rights back in 2004, with Johnny Depp attached as leading man.
That project was derailed by the writer’s strike and it went dormant until Depp reverted to a producer role, positioning Joel Edgerton to star in his place, but that version never came together.
Production on the Hunnam-fronted take will begin this October in India and Australia.
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