John given more importance than Chris Cooper

By: Subhash K. Jha, IndiaFM
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

So far Indian actors, whether it was Shabana Azmi in The Revenge Of The Pink Panther or Kabir Bedi in Octopussy, had to be content playing secondary parts in Hollywood films.

It looks like Hollywood no more thinks of 'Bollywood' as third-world entertainment. Proof of this lies in the fact that Deepa Mehta's Luna which has been postponed from winter this year to spring 2008, will star our own John Abraham along with Hollywood biggies Rachel Weisz and Dustin Hoffman.

The latest Hollywood stalwart to join the Luna cast is Chris Cooper, the Oscar-winning actor from Adaptation who was also seen at his brilliant best in American Beauty, Syriana and Sea Biscuit.

"Chris is an actor I've admired for years," says Deepa. "He'll play Dustin Hoffman's right-hand man. But yes, John is the male lead of Luna, no two ways about it."

More proof of India"s growing clout in Hollywood? Deepa Mehta offered to pull out of Luna when the project got delayed. But the producers Warner Brothers insisted on Deepa directing the film. "It's true. When Luna got delayed, I told my producers I"d only film it in February 2008 because I wanted to capture a particular look in Philadelphia. I did offer to pull out. But they very kindly agreed to postpone the project," says Deepa gratefully.