"Can a foreigner be a native?" Mira Nair discusses her upcoming film SHANTARAM with Johnny Depp

In a recent interview with NST Online, director Mira Nair shared her perspective on her next project, a $100 million film of Gregory David Roberts’ ambitious novel SHANTARAM, starring Johnny Depp. She feels at home with the novel’s concerns and with the protagonist’s efforts to find a new home and a new identity in India, which are themes which resound through all of her film work. “He is a man who disappears into the fabric of another place,” Ms. Nair said, describing Johnny’s character. “The theme I’m most interested in is, can a foreigner be a native? I’m interested in the seesaw of it, because I’m not sure that in the deepest way that’s possible. Ultimately you have to understand where you came from. Otherwise,” says Ms. Nair, “you’re lost.” She sees her leading man as particularly well-suited to portray a character caught between two worlds: “There’s something about Johnny Depp that embodies the fluidity between East and West,” says Nair.

The Zone thanks shadowydog for the Mira Nair interview; you can read the full article here: http://tinyurl.com/36ytce SHANTARAM is scheduled to begin filming on January 19th. –Part-Time Poet