Depardieu stars in an Uzbek film

TASHKENT - Agence France-Presse

French actor Gerard Depardieu has agreed to star in a historic serial penned by the eldest daughter of Uzbekistan’s strongman President Islam Karimov, a screenwriter said.

Gulnara Karimova wrote a screenplay for the eight-episode “The Theft of the White Cocoon,” a story about the origin of the famed Central Asian silk and set in the 5th-6th centuries in Central Asia.

Depardieu travelled to Uzbekistan earlier this week, said Akbar Khakimov, who co-wrote the script.

“Depardieu visited the ancient Silk Road town of Bukhara on November 27 and yesterday he held meetings with Uzbek filmmakers to review and discuss his role in the serial,” Khakimov, director of the annual Tashkent film festival, told AFP in the Uzbek capital Tashkent.

Initial reports said Depardieu would be starring as a wandering monk but he is in fact to play the role of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian, the producers said.

They said that Depardieu was particularly interested in the Silk Road and during his visit to Uzbekistan this week had visited Tashkent and the historic cities of Bukhara and Samarkand.

In an interview with Uzbek television, the French actor heaped praise on the project.