News / Entertainment
Johnny Depp Planning Movie About Poisoned Russian Agent, Alexander Litvinenko
The events surrounding the death of former Russian agent Alexander Litvinenko have already surpassed cloak and dagger lore and entered the realm of international mystery. Now Johnny Depp appears poised to bring the true-story to the big screen.
Depp could be partnering with Warner Bros. to bring the film into production. It has already been suggested that Depp, the star of “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” “Edward Scissorhands,” and “Finding Neverland” could play the lead role in the movie.
The movie would be based on a yet to be released book written by New York Times reporter Alan Cowell.
Litvinenko had served in Russia’s KGB and later became a lieutenant-colonel in the agency that succeeded the KGB, the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB). In 1998 Litvinenko accused the Directorate for the Analysis of Criminal Organizations of ordering the assassination of Boris Berezovsky, a Russian billionaire with close ties to then President Boris Yeltsin.
After being dismissed by the FSB, Litvinenko was arrested on several occasions for charges that were eventually dropped. Litvinenko fled the country in 2000 and after being granted asylum in England he charged the Russian government with the apartment bombings in 1999 that killed more than 300 Russian citizens. Litvinenko claimed that the government blamed Chechen terrorists as a means of bolstering support for military force in Chechnya.
In 2006 Litvinenko fell ill and doctors determined that he had been a exposed to a lethal level of polonium-210 radiation poisoning. The former Russian agent immediately blamed the Russian government for his poisoning. Within a few weeks he was dead.
The Russian government has denied any involvement in Litvinenko’s death and has said they will continue to investigate the matter.
