After doing two Pirates movies in a row, Johnny Depp has to be getting sick of working in front of a green screen . So it’s no surprise that he’s lining up a few more effects-light movies to cleanse his palate of the Caribbean. The Guardian says his next role may be that of poisoned Russian dissident Alexander Litvinenko.
If you’re only a casual news watcher, and if you recognize his name at all, then it’s probably only as that guy who was poisoned. The real life Alexander Litvinenk was indeed poisoned, in 2006 he suddenly fell ill and died three weeks later, a victim of a type of radiation poisoning that it would have been almost impossible for him to come into contact with by accident. The guy was either murdered by the Russian government, or was exposed to it while refilling his flux capacitor.
Before he became known as that dead guy, Alexander was a member of the KGB who accused the Russian government of assassinating a billionaire and faking terrorist attacks to put Vladimir Putin in power. Knowing the Russian government isn’t fond of dissidents, Litvinenko fled to he UK where he received political asylum and lived until his bizarre death.
A documentary about Litvinenk’s life debuted at Cannes this year and Warner Brothers has acquired the film rights to the book written by Alexander’s widow. If the Guardian knows their business, then it’s probably those film rights that the WB will use to develop his life into an unhappy ending movie for Depp.
