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March 2003
page 3
March 2003
Depp charm lights up the night
The Western Mail
FANS of Hollywood heart-throb Johnny Depp spoke last night of how their idol stood for an hour signing autographs in the freezing night air on the final day of filming his latest movie, The
Libertine, in Wales.And as the crew and stars packed up and left Mid Wales yesterday the management of the five-star Llangoed Hall Hotel revealed it had looked after Depp, 40, and his wife Vanessa Paradis,
31, during their stay in the country.Ian Miles, general manager of the hotel, near Brecon, which is owned by Bernard Ashley, the husband of the late fashion designer Laura, said Depp, his wife, their security and the film's co-star
John Malkovich, all stayed at Llangoed Hall.He described them all as "charming", adding that they worked a "heavy" schedule, often returning late after a hectic day's filming.
Depp and his family left the hotel yesterday morning. "They sometimes didn't return until 10 at night so we kept our chef on to cook for them," said Mr Miles.
"Mr Depp and his family were with us for about eight days having arrived a week last Monday. They've moved on to another hotel but I can't reveal where exactly. Mr Depp, his family and the rest of the people on the film were model guests and had a great rapport with our staff - they were great communicators."
He added, "We have a policy where our staff are not allowed to take photographs or ask guests for autographs."
Emily Hinshelwood, 37, travelled from Ammanford on Tuesday to see Depp on set at Tretower, near Crickhowell, Powys.
"I'd been there from 10.30am and I was beginning to feel as though Johnny was never going to appear," said the mother-of-two.
"The locals had been told that Johnny would sign autographs for people as a way of saying thanks for their hospitality. People weren't allowed to take photographs and some people were even frisked to make sure they didn't have cameras.
"We waited while he removed his costume and then at about 8pm we saw him emerge from his trailer and some women who had come to see him screamed."
Ms Hinshelwood, a poet, added, "I'd written him a poem and when it was my turn to meet him I passed it to him and he kissed me.
"He said hello and signed an autograph for me. He seemed so gentle and calm and quite relaxed. It was absolutely freezing outside but we all were so desperate to see Johnny."
DEPP GROUNDED BY EAR INFECTION
March 8, 2004Hollywood hunk JOHNNY DEPP was forced to stay away from the New York premiere of his movie SECRET WINDOW last night (07MAR04), after an ear infection stopped him from flying.
The PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL star was expected to jet in from his French home to appear at the unveiling of his new film - the location of which was altered especially for him - but his ailment kept him grounded.
American TV personality REGIS PHILBIN, says, "Johnny was gonna come. (Film studio) COLUMBIA put the movie premiere here in New York because he lives in Paris and it would be easier for him to fly to New York than fly to LA.
"He got on the plane and had to leave because he has an ear infection and was afraid to fly. So it turned out that I was the biggest name in the house!"
WINDOW' DRESSING
GABRIELLE MITCHELL-MARELL
March 8, 2004
NEW YORK (Variety) --- The crowds stood on fire hydrants flashing cameras outside the "Secret Window" preem Sunday, but the shouts would not be heard nor would the hoped-for pictures be developed.Johnny Depp was home with an earache.
Col's old-fashioned screamer, about a writer accused of stealing another man's story, presented challenges for David Koepp.
"Sitting in a room alone staring is a large part of a writer's day, and the first half of the movie is just the guy taking a nap, eating a sandwich." said the director, who also penned the screenplay adapted from Stephen King's novella.
"When we got Johnny I was thrilled, because he is so charismatic and so inventive that he can make someone doing virtually nothing actually interesting," Koepp added.
Pic's John Turturro, Maria Bello and Charles S. Dutton were in attendance along with producer Gavin Polone and Sony's Howard Stringer, Amy Pascal, Michael Lynton, Geoff Ammer and Jeff Blake.
March 8, 2004 from BBC News
Depp on location in Crickhowell
Depp dropped into the Bear hotel for a drink after filming Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp breezed into rural Wales at the weekend to shoot scenes for his latest film and joined regulars in a pub for a Saturday night drink. Hundreds of people from nearby Brecon, Abergavenny and villages in between have been drafted in as extras for the film in which Depp plays a 17th Century earl.The 40-year-old has been working on his latest film The Libertine, in Tretower Court - a restored courtyard house with origins in the 14th Century - near Crickhowell in Powys. Some of the filming has been done at Tretower Court in Powys
Depp, voted best actor at the Screen Actors Guild awards last month for his Pirates role, will star alongside John Malkovich and Samantha Morton in the £12m production.
Judy Hindmarsh, who runs the Bear Hotel, said several film crew members were staying there. But because they are out of the hotel very early and return very late, they hardly see them.
"I'm told that he [Johnny Depp] did come in for a drink. He blended in with the rest of them because of his long hair. Joy Rossiter, 51, was one of the extras who took part in the film after replying to an advert.
"I played a merchant in the market place and was just nine feet away from Johnny Depp.
"He was wearing a mask and had pock marks on his face - I think he plays a bit of a rogue in the film because he dies of syphilis in it.
"He arrived on set in a very flash car with all the windows tinted out and there was about 200 of us queuing for our food when he came.
"All in all, he was there for about three hours, but I'm told the next day he turned up late because he had a sleepless night."
Mrs Rossiter said that despite being a well-known movie star, she had not seen any of his films.
"My daughter, who is 19, was ecstatic that I got to be so close to him, but to be honest I have never seen anything he has been in," she added.
In the film, Depp plays John Wilmot, the Earl of Rochester, a well-known scoundrel in the court of Charles II (who is played by John Malkovich).
The earl died aged 33 from syphilis after making a name for himself as a poet, a womaniser and pornographer.
Found by spadesmamma61
THE SECRET LIFE OF JOHNNY DEPPFILMLINK’s HARPER SLOANE chats to JOHNNY DEPP, and amongst talk of goats and Barbie dolls, finds out that despite doing adult chillers like SECRET WINDOW, Depp’s heart is on doing it for the kids…
If there was ever a good time to go to Montreal to film Secret Window, Johnny Depp is happy he did it when he did. Whisking his kids and their mother Vanessa Paradis off to Montreal for the film’s shoot mid-2003, he avoided the sweltering heat wave of last summer in his family home of Provence, France. “10,000 degrees or something like that,” exaggerates Depp. “Luckily being in Montreal I missed the whole heat nightmare – it was pretty crazy there.”
There’s no doubt Depp could have stood the heat, for the actor’s pretty hot himself right now. On the eve of the release of his latest film, Secret Window, Depp is enjoying his most prevalent spell of mainstream recognition. While already respected as one of the industry’s leading offbeat character actors, Depp’s double-barrel action whammy of Pirates Of The Caribbean and Once Upon A Time in Mexico has lifted his profile to new levels.
Secret Window is based on Stephen King’s novella Secret Window, Secret Garden. “I play the writer, and John Turturro is a guy who turns up at my door and accuses me of stealing his book,” says Depp of the film version. “Then all these strange, weird things start happening. It’s a psychological thriller.”
While Depp hadn’t fared too badly in the acting stakes for a boy who gave up school to become a rock musician, prior to his recent increase in fortunes, he was feeling a tad diffused about life as an actor. Experiencing a crisis of conscience as he got swept up in the industry, to some extent, he felt he was betraying the spirit of his freewheeling rock and roll roots. “People were saying to me, ‘Come on man, you’ve got to make a big movie, make some money, you’ve got to be a big star’,” says Depp. “But that really wasn’t anything that I wanted out of life.”
His spark for his work started to dim with the under-realised Blow and From Hell released in 2001. They marked a disillusionment with the industry, with his feelings magnified as a result of the disintegration of Terry Gilliam’s dream project, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. The film went off the rails, which was charted in the excellent documentary Lost in La Mancha. Crushed, Depp took a step back from the industry.
“After Quixote fell apart, I basically didn’t work for a year,” recalls Depp. “The only thing I did was the nine days on Once Upon a Time In Mexico, which I did because one just needs to keep the brain occupied, keep the imagination occupied; otherwise it starts to dig away at you. I guess on some level I missed it, because when I was able to jump back in, it felt very good, it felt like home, it felt comfortable.”
The enforced break heightened Depp’s appreciation of the filmmaking process. “I enjoy it more now than I have for many, many years,” reflects Depp, rolling the first of many of his trademark roll-your-own cigarettes. “I really enjoy the collaboration. It can be fun. The result is whatever the result is – it’s none of my business – but the process itself I really enjoy."
His year off also gave him time to be with his girlfriend, French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, and play dad to the couple’s first born. Depp claims it was Paradis who ultimately gave him the focus he sought.
“For any of us, if we don’t feel a sense of purpose in life, you’re going around in circles,” says Depp. “Especially in Hollywood, which can be for the most part very superficial. When you’re swimming around in that goldfish bowl, it can get pretty confusing, so Vanessa pulled me away from in front of a really fast train and saved my life. Not because I was self-destructive or poisoning myself, but because I had no sense of purpose. I didn’t really understand what it was all about.”
Moving to live in Paradis’ native France also gave Depp a reflective distance from Hollywood. “It’s given me a completely different perspective on the world,” he enthuses of his French lifestyle. “It’s given me a great distance from Hollywood, just in terms of perspective. I’m not being over-cooked in that big stew-pot. I can have distance and see the game for what it is, as opposed to trying to understand the game from within.”
Depp, however, still keeps a house in LA, which is actually rumoured to have once been owned by Bela Lugosi. “I’ve heard that over the years, but I don’t know – I hope so!” says Depp. The house allows him to appreciate LA more when he does visit, but more importantly it has given him time to contemplate the finer things in life…
“If I had to live in a place where it was only about the industry, I’d lose my mind,” smiles Depp. “I want to talk about goats, and paintings and books and other stuff!”
Hang on a minute…‘Goats’?“Why would I want to talk about goats?” laughs Depp. “I just love them. I just love them. When you love something that much, you just talk about it.” Living in the countryside in Provence, it seems, has gone to Depp’s head, and from the sounds of things, he’s in danger of becoming a bit of a farmer in his spare time.
“I do keep animals – not at gun-point or anything,” laughs Depp, running with the theme. “We have some wild boar. They were there before us, so they’re basically keeping me. We have some little horses, ponies and stuff. There are dogs and a bunch of wild cats…that kind of thing. Many, many bugs – which is always good.”
The mention of his children - Lily-Rose Melody aged four, and Jack aged 2 – brings out the proud and gushing father in Depp. Enjoying fatherhood (“It’s absolutely perfect”), Depp admits to worrying about losing the day-to-day joy of his relationship with them. “I remember talking to a friend of mine who’s got quite a few kids,” recalls Depp. “And he said, ‘wait until that day comes when you’re walking down a hallway of your house, and you open a door that was the room they lived in and were raised in, and now they’re away at school’ – that kind of thing rips you open.”
Talking to the self-professed “luckiest guy in the world,” once you get on the subject of his kids, there’s no stopping him, and there’s nothing he’s afraid of not admitting to. Apparently, when he’s not making creepy films based on Stephen King books, he likes to play with Barbie dolls.
“My daughter does like playing Barbies with me,” says Depp who, even dragging on one of his rollies, can’t make that sound cool. “You start assuming different characters and different Barbies. I’ve been playing the woman – I’ve done it before in film, and why not!”
Depp looks to be undertaking roles with his kids in mind too. He’s slated to play Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s remake of Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. The sure fire way for Depp to give the younger generation what they want though, was always going to be to do a sequel to the universally acclaimed Pirates Of The Caribbean.
“It sounds great to me,” says Depp of the sequel’s go-ahead. “But if you’re going to do a sequel, it’s got to be that much better. I don’t like the idea of just riding the wave to get the dough in, obviously because it has never happened to me before!”
The original film was kind to Depp, and taking great pride in his Oscar nominated performance as Jack Sparrow, he doesn’t dismiss it as a throwaway blockbuster. While he’s still cutting a cool and dashing figure at the age of forty, he’s noticeably embarrassed when it comes to his effect on the female gender. “I don’t know anything about that stuff,” he says of his heartthrob status. “Maybe it’s a fluke misspelling, or they’ve seen a retouched photograph.”
Nowadays it seems the humble actor would rather be doing it for the kids than for the ladies. “I was so thankful that after being around for so long – it’s coming up to twenty years now – all these kids would go and see Pirates, and I was really touched. Out on the street, I would meet all these little kids and they would say ‘You’re Captain Jack Sparrow!’ It doesn’t get better than that.”
By Robert Hanashiro, USA TODAYWith his fine-boned good looks, longish dark hair and slightly boho demeanor, he could still pass for 25, but Johnny Depp is 40. And his days of drugs, drink and trashing hotel rooms are a thing of the past. (Related photo gallery: See photos from Johnny Depp's film career)
Now, he sports three colorful bracelets made by his 5-year-old daughter Lily-Rose. He seems settled, content and, well, grown up.
"I just kind of stumbled around for 35 years," Depp says. "And then when my daughter arrived, it was like 'Now, I see.' Suddenly everything else is just kind of shavings, morsels, little tidbits. And this is what it's all about. This is real life. Boy, it couldn't have come at a better time."
His new movie, Secret Window, opens Friday, capping a pretty great time indeed for Depp. He's happily settled down with Vanessa Paradis, a French pop singer, and their children, Lily-Rose and Jack, 23 months. He divides his time between homes in France and Los Angeles. He won a Screen Actors Guild award last month for his staggering, swaggering buccaneer in Pirates of the Caribbean. Though he lost the Oscar to Sean Penn, there was a sense that Depp had come awfully close, based on the fact that the onetime bad boy who's still taking chances is now one of Hollywood's most respected actors.
His performance as the irresistibly silly swashbuckler Capt. Jack Sparrow was the major reason for the success of Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean, which made $305 million.
"You put a genius in the middle of a pirate movie and it becomes effervescent," says Gary Ross, who directed another summer hit, Seabiscuit. " It would have made $100 million without Johnny Depp."
Depp will revisit Captain Jack for the Pirates sequel, due in theaters in 2005.
He fused the cartoon Pepe Le Pew with the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards to fashion the slightly mincing, charismatic Captain Jack.
"What I hoped was to create a character that could be as fun and as interesting to a 5-year-old as it could be to the most jaded, hoity-toity intellectual," he says.
Richards had no idea he was being studied by his friend until just before the movie was released.
"He sent me a message to cover his (behind)," Richards says. "I've known Johnny for a couple of years, and he'd always pay for dinner. Now I realize that was his way of paying me for modeling."
Depp's voice is soft and smoky. As he talks he casually sweeps up his bangs and puts his hair in a ponytail in one smooth move. He asks permission to smoke.
"I cut down, I'll have you know," he says. "I cut down drastically. After all these years, I've finally figured it out. It's really pointless."
He has stumbled on a new way to relieve stress: Running.
"I started working with this guy I had trained with when I did Donnie Brasco. He said every human being should be able to run for 30 minutes. In any emergency, you should be able to pick up your kid and run, as fast you can, for a good length of time. And it just made sense to me."
As his life has grown calmer and more conventional, he still finds an outlet for outlandish behavior in his work. This week he began filming The Libertine, in which he plays a debauched, brilliant poet, John Wilmot, in a Restoration drama co-starring John Malkovich and fellow Oscar nominee Samantha Morton (In America). In June he takes on the seminal role of Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, teaming with Tim Burton for the fourth time. Later this year, he'll play Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in Neverland.
In Secret Window, a psychological thriller based on a Stephen King story, Depp plays a blocked novelist.
"I'd never done a film like this. I read David Koepp's screenplay, and it really kept me on the edge of my seat," he says. "Also, it's nice to go from one extreme like Captain Jack, where the volume's kind of on 11, as it were, then go to something very subdued and internal."
Though it has been only a few months since Depp's last starring role in Once Upon a Time in Mexico, audiences can't seem to get enough of him.
"He's in this zone that every now an then an actor hits, where the audience completely identifies with him," says Koepp, who also directed Secret Window. "We saw it at the test screening. With the first shot of the movie, a close-up of Johnny in a car, the audience burst into applause."
Koepp admires Depp's edgy portrayals and the actor's integrity.
"He's made choices that sort of float his boat and that's what people respect about him," Koepp says. "He's never seemed to pursue stardom."
Depp was shooting Secret Window when Pirates opened, and Koepp said Depp was "bemused" by the surge of attention.
"To have a performance acknowledged on this scale is something I'm not used to," Depp concedes. "Sometimes five people see my movies, sometimes 20. It feels a little strange because I really didn't do anything different than I've ever done."
Depp says the Oscar nomination was a great honor but beside the point.
He's a big reader and recently spent time skulking in British libraries doing research for his Libertine role.
"More than anything, I love being with my family," he says. "I'm like a total homebody, just hanging out with my kids."
Depp's comments to GQ about drugs and children provoked some outrage. Depp sets the record straight: "The journalist asked me, 'What about when your kids get to the age where they want to experiment with drugs?' All I was saying was I pray that they don't. Who wants their kids on drugs? All I was trying to say was that if it gets to that point, if they're going to do it, I don't want them going out on the street and getting something illegally that could put them in trouble and could kill them, because it could be laced with something.
"And all I was talking about specifically was marijuana. Rather than have them go out on the street and get some nasty, potentially fatal stuff, I would rather say, 'Look, this is marijuana. I know where it came from. And if you really need to try it, try it here in the house and be safe.' They immediately misconstrued it, like I was prepared to go out and score all kinds of drugs for my kids. It was just ludicrous."
As ludicrous as denying Depp's heartthrob appeal. Pirates brought him a new legion of fans — mostly young and female — typified by 13-year-old Oscar nominee and Whale Rider star Keisha Castle-Hughes, who said Depp was the one person she wanted to meet at the Oscars.
For Secret Window, Depp insisted on looking disheveled, as a writer deserted by both his wife and his inspiration.
When he spotted a torn, frayed bathrobe in an early costume fitting, "he lunged across the room and said 'This is it,' " Koepp says. "He wanted to wear it for the whole movie."
With the robe, nerdy spectacles and a severe case of bed head, Depp pulls off a witty performance.
"You can rumple him, but you can't make him unattractive," Koepp says. "You can try, but it won't happen."
Depp over the years
Scissors for hands, absinthe for brainsThe characters Johnny Depp takes on are usually quirkiness incarnate. Among his 30-plus movie roles:
Edward Scissorhands (1990), the first of three films he has done with director Tim Burton, propelled Depp into the upper echelons of Hollywood actors. He played a man with scissors for hands.
Benny & Joon (1993), a Buster Keaton-esque street performer
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (1993), a lost Midwestern soul
Ed Wood (1994), the title's cross-dressing B-movie director
Don Juan DeMarco (1995), a disturbed young man who thinks he's a Latin lover
Donnie Brasco (1997), an FBI agent who infiltrates the Mob
Chocolat (2000), a mysterious gypsy
Blow (2001), America's biggest cocaine dealer
From Hell (2001), an absinthe-addled policeman
- Claudia Puig
March 6, 2004
For anyone living in/near Wales who might want a chance of spotting Johnny, he's been shooting in Crickhowell this week and again next week and flying in and out of Cardiff Airport. He's due back there next Wed. or Thursday.March 5, 2004
NECA's Pirates of the Caribbean Action Figures Plus Capt. Jack W/Motion Activated SoundNECA is producing a series of seven-inch action figures based on the surprise summer blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean. The "PG-13" rated Pirates earned well over $305 million at the domestic box office, making it the third highest grossing film released in 2003 behind only The Return of the King and Finding Nemo. For NECA, which specializes in creating movie-based action figures for older collectors (see "NECA Targets Older Collectors"), Pirates of the Caribbean, driven by Johnny Depp's wildly eccentric performance, which liberated his buccaneer character's inner Keith Richards, could be the perfect property. The first series of seven-inch action figures should retail for $9.99 (MSRP) each and include Capt. Jack Sparrow, Will Turner, Capt. Barbosa, and a Skeleton/Zombie Pirate. In addition to the seven-inch action figures NECA is also planning to get to the heart of the film's appeal by releasing an eighteen-inch Capt. Jack Sparrow with Motion Activated Sound (MSRP: $39.99).
The fact that NECA's Pirates of the Caribbean figures will debut a year after the film opened, is actually a plus for many independent pop culture retailers. The heavy discounters aren't likely to waste precious shelf space on action figures for a film from last year. The question for pop culture retailers becomes, is Pirates of the Caribbean the kind of cult film that inspires toy collectors like a Nightmare Before Christmas? NECA is betting it will. No images for NECA's Pirates of the Caribbean figures are currently available. Stay tuned we will put them up as soon as they are released.
Johnny has done a press junket for SECRET WINDOW February 28, 2004 and HERE
More (good) news on Libertine - please see the LIBERTINE page
Upcoming events
May 5, 2004 Saturn Awards
Johnny nomiated for best actor for Pirates: the Saturn awards/for sci/fi/fantasty films.(Thanks to Lynn at Moments of Inspiration)
March 7, 2004 Premiere of SECRET WINDOW in New York City The premiere is scheduled for Sunday, Loews Lincoln Square (1998 Broadway @ 68th St) (info from Anon in L.A. via Newbie )February 22, 2004 - JOHNNY WON THE 2004 SAG AWARD BEST ACTOR FOR CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW! February 13, 2004
The 3rd Annual Joblo Movie Awards: Golden SchmoesJohnny Depp WON:
Best Actor of the Year (POTC)
Favorite Celebrity of the Year
Coolest Character of the Year (Jack Sparrow, POTC)
Best Line of the Year ("But why is the rum gone?", POTC)February 10, 2004 - Johnny in this weeks Vanity Fair magazine
February 2004 - Johnny wins The Empire Award for Best Actor. Since Johnny could not be there, Mackenzie Crook, Jack Davenport and Kevin McNally accepting for him:
"C'mon you cannot be disappointed. There's three of here, that's at least equal to one Johnny Depp. We all have these qualities. For a start Johnny smokes roll-ups - Mackenzie also smokes roll-ups. Kevin has unchanging youthful good looks. And then there's Jack. But no seriously, Johnny will be very chuffed with this when we get round to giving it to him. So thanks!"
And..."Jack Davenport (who is working with Depp again, on a film about King Charles
II) picked up the award on the winner's behalf and told PEOPLE that his most
memorable moment filming with Depp was simply " trying to understand what he
was saying." This sounds like Jack will be in Libertine with Johnny.
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