Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, is rumored to be in negotiations to buy the film rights to Scottish author James Meeks’s critically acclaimed novel THE PEOPLE’S ACT OF LOVE. The book’s publisher, Jamie Byng, has confirmed Depp’s company’s interest in the book, but refused to discuss further details until a contract had been signed. “We are in discussions,” Byng told reporter William Lyons. “It is pretty much agreed.” The reporter adds that no actors have been approached about the project yet, but “it has been likened to a Siberian APOCALYPSE NOW with a possible pairing of Depp and Russell Crowe.”

THE PEOPLE’S ACT OF LOVE, published just five months ago, has already been translated into 20 different languages. The story is set in a remote Siberian village in 1919, and has been compared by reviewers to Joseph Conrad’s HEART OF DARKNESS and to the work of Franz Kafka. Marc Lambert, chief executive of the Scottish Book Trust, sees the novel’s fascinating characters and complex plot attracting Johnny’s interest: “I am not surprised that Johnny Depp, who is quite a cultured person, has his ear to the ground, does read and is interested in good writing, would be interested in this book. It is a complex tale to bring to the big screen but [. . .]I think Johnny Depp is a good one to try.” The Zone thanks emma for posting the story on the Zone’s News & Views forum.