JOHNNY DEPP is the latest A-list actor to fall victim to the writers' strike in Hollywood. The actor was scheduled to film "Shantaram" -- Warner Bros. and Initial Entertainment Group's adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel -- in the winter, but that project has now been postponed.

Among the reasons the film has been delayed is that the script was not in the shape the filmmakers wanted; the current strike prohibits any revisions.

Budgetary concerns also were a factor. Sources said "Shantaram's" budget was heading north of US$75 million, outside the studio's comfort zone for the drama set in India and Afghanistan.

The story revolves around an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery who escapes from a maximum-security prison, flees to India and reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of Mumbai. He gets involved in counterfeiting, smuggling and gunrunning, which leads him to Afghanistan, where he and a mob boss battle the Russians. Eric Roth, whose screenplay credits include "Forrest Gump," "The Horse Whisperer" and "Munich," did the latest script rewrite.

Also put on hold for Depp is "The Rum Diary," an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel for Warner Independent Pictures. Bruce Robinson, whose 1987 comedy "Withnail & I" gained a cult following, was adapting and directing.

"Rum," loosely based on Thompson's experience working as a freelance journalist in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s, is in the development stages. Depp had planned to make the film after "Shantaram."

Depp next appears on the big screen in "Sweeney Todd," which premieres Dec. 3 in New York.

(SD-Agencies)