Two more movies have been reportedly set back by the WGA strike, now in its third week. According to WENN, Shantaram, starring Johnny Depp, should have started filming in February but won’t be able to make that shooting date. The same goes for Penelope Cruz’s Nine, which was aiming for a March date. Obviously, as there is no scheduled end for the strike, there’s no new scheduled starting date for either picture, so they’ll both move into production limbo for the time being.

Depp’s Shantaram has already faced production problems in the past. Director Peter Weir was scheduled to head up the project but exited June of 2006, due to “creative differences” (rumor has it there was a rift between Weir and Depp, but the official story was that the studio and director’s interpretations were too different). Now, a year later, with director Mira Nair attached, the film is on hold again.

Negotiations are supposed to start back up again next week between writers and producers, but resumed negotiations don’t guarantee the two sides will instantly come to an agreement. In fact, expectations is this could be long and painful, because the final terms of the writer’s agreement will most likely influence the upcoming actors and director’s contract negotiations as well. Don’t expect Shantaram and Nine to be the last films affected.