April 2004

http://www.northamptontoday.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=261&ArticleID=783551
From Really
Pirate Johnny makes Hollywood A-list

It's no secret that Johnny Depp based his eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean on grizzled rocker Keith Richards.
His follow-up to that smash hit, a crazy secret agent character in Once Upon A Time In Mexico, is based on a Hollywood sleazeball he once knew "who aimed to do you over but you almost didn't mind because he was so fascinating to watch."
So who did the handsome American actor use as a model for his dishevelled, reclusive writer isolated in a cabin in the taut psychological thriller Secret Window, which opens today?
Oddball musical genius Brian Wilson of Beach Boys fame, admits Johnny. "I remember those stories or maybe myths about his reclusive period when he didn't leave his house and had sand brought in to cover the living room floor."
In his latest film, directed by David Koepp and based on the novella Secret Window, Secret Garden by Stephen King, Johnny plays Mort Rainey, a writer plagued by writer's block and a painful divorce who has to deal with a psychotic local hillbilly.
"I liked the reclusive quality of this guy, a cynical guy who's probably too smart for his own good," explains the 40-year-old actor.
And he says he enjoyed the idea of playing a struggling writer – next up, he's due to play decadent 17th century poet John Wilmot in The Libertine.
"I've always admired anyone who can bring their thoughts and emotions out onto a page; the printed page is a powerful thing."
But as Johnny knows only too well, the power of the written word can also be an irritant.
Reports that he now lives full-time in France with actress wife Vanessa Paradis and their two children, Lily Rose, four, and two-year-old Jack, are not true, he says.
"I still live in Los Angeles as well. I just happen to have a home in France as well because my kids are half-French. I've always gone back and forth between the two," he says. "People think I've abandoned America and it's not the case at all."
On the other hand, living in the south of France gives him a different sense of things. "It's wonderful living in a tiny village with nothing around. There is still the possibility to live a simple life, the things they did 100 years ago."
In contrast, the unexpected and spectacular box office success of Pirates Of The Caribbean has finally propelled Johnny into the rarified A-list in Hollywood.
In the past, despite critical acclaim, he has never been considered a box office draw, making a habit of doing odd films like Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood, or Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.
"It was definitely outside the box, I've never experienced anything like that before," he says. "It's been fun to come back to Hollywood as a bankable actor!"
But there's never been a career path, he says – instead he's made his choices based on what interests him. "For me they're not unconventional choices. I never wanted to build a movie star career. I've never been ambitious in the sense that I chased after a project."
With talk of a sequel or two for Captain Jack Sparrow in the air – Pirates 2 is scheduled for 2006 – Johnny credits his daughter for his irrepressible characterisation.
"My daughter and I have been watching every Disney animated film and as an actor I'm thinking 'What freedom these characters have'. So going into Pirates my goal was to keep it in the arena of the cartoon but be believable in the arena of film."
His children now figure quite a lot in his film plans, he admits. Tim Burton's Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is in pre-production with Johnny as Willy Wonka and he'll play Peter Pan author JM Barrie in JM Barrie's Neverland this year.
"I do select roles differently. I think I started making choices with regard to what I might be able to leave for my kids."
30 April 2004

http://www.aintitcool.com/display.cgi?id=14036
 

STARRING alongside silver screen heartthrob Johnny Depp is the dream of every teenage girl in the land.

But, for one Barnt Green girl, that improbable dream came true when she scooped a role in his latest film, The Libertine, which is being shot in the UK.

While many of Anna Harlow's friends spent their Easter holidays studying and munching chocolate eggs, she was on a film set in Warwickshire rubbing shoulders with the Hollywood elite.

The film also stars John Malkovich and Samantha Morton and is the true story of a debauched 17th century poet.

Depp, who stared in the box office smash Pirates of the Caribbean, plays the Earl of Rochester, who died at 33 a physical wreck after a life of extreme hedonism. Malkovich plays King Charles II, while Morton plays an actress whom the Earl becomes infatuated with.

Eighteen-year-old Anna spent two days on the film

set at Charcote House, near Warwick, playing a lady in the £8.7 million production. Her moment of glory came when Depp himself lifted her out of a ditch in the ground.

However, this is not the first taste of fame the upper sixth form student has enjoyed, having already starred in ITV drama Doctors.

Anna is a pupil at the Royal Grammar School in Worcester and while she enjoys acting she plans to study law at either London or Cardiff after completing her A-levels.

She is currently studying English, business studies and politics.

School spokeswoman Sue Johnston said: "We are absolutely delighted for Anna and very proud of her indeed."

A release date for The Libertine film has not been confirmed.

"The Isle of Man and Johnny Deep seem unlikely bedfellows, yet the Oscar-nominated actor has indeed been in Manx-land (and Wales) recently to shoot this 17th Century drama, an adaptation of Stephen Jeffrey's stage play. Following in the wake of Jack Sparrow, Depp plays John Wilmot, the hellraising Earl of Rochester, whose womanising resulted in his death at 33 from syphilis. "It seems that Johnny was born to play it" says Russ Smith, who's producing, along with Depp's co-star Malkovich. "He's smart and he's very funny. Rochester was very much the rock star of his day".

Certainly our exclusive pic, for which we've made a donation to the Make-A-Wish Foundation UK, at Depp's request - suggest that Rochester's excesses will definitely be addressed. "He was provocative so we have to make the film provocative," says Smith. "Clearly, we're not trying to make Caligula here! But we want it to be sexy. It's a sexy story in dirty London".

(The Make-A-Wish Foundation is a charity for terminally ill children)
 
 

This is not the end of Essell's Hollywood career. She also makes an appearance in Marc Forster's Neverland starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet which is due to be released by Miramax on October 29. She was approached for the role a part she describes as nice and sincere while she was making Our House.

She has fond memories of the heartthrob star of the movie: "I was wearing an Edwardian costume and lying on a settee. We all had fans because it was so terribly hot and Johnny Depp came up knelt beside me and fanned me. I thought there are girls who would swoon if they were fanned by Johnny Depp! He was so sweet. He was trying to give up smoking because of his two young children. He is such a lovely person."

This is Local London
April 26, 2004

Meet Michael: You may not have heard of film composer Michael Nyman, but chances are you've heard some of his music. The Brit has recorded music for top movies including The End Of The Affair, Purely Belter and The Piano.

After writing the 1994 Bafta-nominated score for The Piano he created critically acclaimed music for the 1997 film Gattaca and went on to team up with Blur's Damon Albarn for the 1999 horror movie Ravenous.

The former music critic has released close to 100 albums including concertos and operas as well as the movie works.

Now the maestro is working on the soundtrack for two cult flicks - The Assasination of Richard Nixon (starring Sean Penn) and The Libertine (starring Johnny Depp

OUR PROPER CHARLIE
Apr 15 2004
The Wharf

DEPP'S DOCKS WONKA SHOOT
by Allison Martin

JOHNNY Depp's latest screen outing as Willy Wonka is to be filmed in Docklands.

Filmmaker's behind cult director Tim Burton's latest project Charlie And The Chocolate Factory have chosen iconic Royal Victoria Dock exhibition centre ExCeL for scenes to be shot this summer.

The new version sees Depp and Burton - who worked on Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood - together again.

On casting Depp as the eccentric chocolate factory owner, Burton said: "I just like working with him. He's always surprising and fun."

Gone In 60 Seconds and Con Air star Nicolas Cage had been tipped to take on the Wonka role and, bizarrely, it's been reported that goth rocker Marilyn Manson was keen to don Willy's top hat.

It is not clear what scenes will be filmed at ExCeL, but production is scheduled to start in June 2004 at Pinewood Studios on at least five of their largest soundstages. The movie is due for release in June 2005,

Burton has been clear that his film will not be a direct remake of the 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder in the title role.

It won't be a musical and Burton said his film will be more faithful to Dahl's book.

"Well, I don't want to crush people's childhood dreams, but the original film is sappy," Burton said.

"It's sappy when it shouldn't be sappy and it's weird. Let's just say it's not one of my personal favourites."

Burton said he's wanted to direct the Willy Wonka film for years.

"I responded to the children's book because it respected that children can be adults, and I think adults forget that.

"There can be darkness and sort of foreboding. Very sinister things are very much a part of childhood. I like that sort of humour and emotion put together."

Johnny Depp said: "It's Tim's version of Roald Dahl's classic book and it's gonna be a wild ride.

"Big shoes to fill though. Gene Wilder did such an awesome job so I mean, taking that character of Willy Wonka and going somewhere completely different - he sort of made the job infinitely more difficult."

unconfirmed roles:
Elijah Wood.......kevin (that's the talk)
Christopher Walken
Benicio del Toro
Kate Bosworth
Michael Douglas
Steve Buscemi
Maria Bello
Leonardo Dicaprio
Cody also sent in the following "This week's 'entertainment weekly' chatted with Robert Rodriguez
about his adaptation of "Sin City" & he spoke a little about Bruce
Willis' character: "..he's playing Hartigan, a cop who's retiring.
he's got a bad ticker. he might not be 60 (as in the comic), but
he'll be up there. we're aging him a little bit because Bruce, of
course, is still badass Bruce."
it has also been confirmed that Willis' segment of the film will be
shot in black & white."

Pirates Of The Caribbean's Jack Sparrow is "a cross between Keith Richards and Pepe Le Pew", says Johnny Depp.

Sleepy Hollow's Ichabod Crane is based on Richard E Grant in Withnail And I, and to play a reclusive writer in new release Secret Window, he drew on the Beach Boys genius Brian Wilson.

"It reminded me of when he locked himself in his house and wrote those great classics. It made sense for a writer, whose life blood is solitude."

In Secret Window, out this week, Depp proves again he won't play it safe, even though he's now on Hollywood's A-list, thanks to the mega-hit Pirates Of The Caribbean.

In the past year we've had the bonkers pirate Sparrow, then the crazy CIA agent of Once Upon A Time In Mexico.

Now Depp plays a dishevelled writer isolated in a mountain cabin, facing up to writer's block, a bad divorce and a psychotic local (John Turturro).

Depp was fascinated by the struggle of the author he plays in the film. "There was something passive/aggressive about the character. I liked the reclusive quality of this guy."

The actor writes himself but says not to expect any of his own work to be published: "I write, but it has always been pretty much for myself. I've never really thought about letting other people read it."

Director and writer David Koepp actively courted the king-of-quirk-turned-Hollywood-hot-property for the lead role in his claustrophobic thriller.

"So much of this is a guy in a cabin alone and I needed a really charismatic actor who is never boring," says Koepp, who based the story on a Stephen King novella.

"Johnny's an actor who can make taking a nap look interesting."

From Tim Burton's Edward Scissorhands and Ed Wood to his Victorian copper in From Hell, Depp has consistently surprised fans and critics with his quirky choice of roles.

"They're not unconventional choices for me, they're the only way to go," he says.

Is this because he wants to avoid being pigeon-holed as a Tinseltown prettyboy? "I'm not rejecting Hollywood, I'm rejecting the idea of being a product."

"There were a number of years when I took offence to Hollywood, but it doesn't bother me any more," he admits.

"I understand it now pretty much. It's fun to be able to talk to studios as a bankable actor for a change."

"I've never been one of those who go and chase a movie, do that 'here's why I'm great for your movie' song and dance."

After years of specialising in leftfield movie roles, Depp refuses to take his recently earned tag as box office gold too seriously.

"I think I'm getting all this attention right now because people feel sorry for me," the 40-year-old suggests.

Secret Window director Davis Koepp is having none of it, however. He thinks Depp has been brave: "It takes guts to do that because all the forces in Hollywood are aligned against you."

The actor is currently shooting The Libertine, in which he plays debauched 17th-century poet John Wilmot.

He then depicts Peter Pan creator JM Barrie in Neverland before moving on to the Pirates Of The Caribbean sequels. Yet he considers giving up smoking to be his biggest challenge.

"I'm starting to get the better of it. One has to make the conscious decision to get hold of the habit that has had you for so long."

To call Ramsey, on the north coast of the Isle of Man, a one-horse town would be inaccurate — the horse has obviously bolted. Yet, just two miles outside this sleepy hollow, there is a surprising amount of security at the start of a rough track leading to what looks like a large cow shed. But this is no shed, this is the Isle of Man film studios and the security is to keep back the Johnny Depp fans hoping for a glimpse of their idol.
The second reason for the security is because, as my taxi driver puts it, “they’ve got 300 naked people in there”.

Depp is currently filming The Libertine on the island, the story of John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester. A rake, soldier, poet of the Restoration and leader of the “Merry Gang” at the court of Charles II , Rochester died from syphilis at the age of 33 in 1680. Samuel Johnson summed him up as having “a total disregard to every moral”.

So when the call went out for extras for the film there were many salacious stories about the “partial and total nudity” that would be called for. The casting of these extras was to be handled by an agency run by former Page Three model Nina Carter, which added an extra frisson.

“If everyone was naked,” remarks a dresser during my fitting, “then I would be out of a job.”

“My boyfriend was cast for the nude scene,” confides one girl, “but they kept upping the ante — first they wanted him naked, then to simulate sex with a woman, then to simulate sex with a man.” This may explain why the crew was looking for one more extra for the nude scene. As a common-or-garden extra earns only £65 a day, whereas the disrobed extras would trouser £250, it was definitely something to aim for.

“All hats off,” commanded a member of the production crew, which sounded like a step in the right direction but was only because Charles II was to be bareheaded, so all his subjects must be the same in his presence. So, bareheaded we remained as the hours passed and our place in the food chain became ever more apparent.

A motley selection of retired telecom engineers, taxi drivers, art students, factory workers and the unemployed would routinely stampede to the food truck for their meals of Dickensian slop, while the crew would feast on Barnsley chops with minted new potatoes only 100 yards away.

Time was passed with games of cards, yesterday’s papers, the banal conversation of strangers and simply staring into space.

“Is it true,” inquires a man with an extravagantly hooked nose to an Alan Titchmarsh lookalike who heard about the job on Manx Radio, “that it is the darkest hour before the dawn?” John Malkovich, as well as playing the part of Charles II, is the producer of The Libertine. I do my best to catch his eye. Surely he would detect a suitably debauched quality in my demeanour and pick me from the crowd to take part in Rochester’s orgiastic dream scene. I lounge in as louche a manner as possible, but he remains impassive beneath his wig.

In make-up there is a blackamoor, a dwarf and a dissolute couple with white face paint and heavily rouged cheeks — surely they must be key elements for unseemly cavorts. But no, they are “featured” extras. There is a hierarchy within the cast of extras, from myself to featured extras, to “action” extras, to “dialogue” extras, to the lucky 30 who will earn top whack in the dream scene.

Still with my mind on that £250, I concentrate my resolve. However, it is not easy to convey sexuality at 6.30 in the morning wearing a wig, a battered frock coat and mud-spattered breeches while holding two sausages in a bun.

Nudity is on the cards today. “I’ll brazen my arse,” declaims Johnny. Unfortunately it is not Depp but Johnny Vegas, who is playing the part of a hell-raising nobleman.

The subject of nudity, unsurprisingly, is the main currency of the chatter in the extras’ holding area. The men who are to take part in Rochester’s dream scene mix braggadocio with slight unease. The women who are to take part are remarkably sanguine by contrast. Karen, studying for a PhD in freshwater ecology, is no stranger to being naked in the company of strangers. “I pose for a life-drawing class, so they know I’ve got no problem with nudity — especially not with Johnny Depp.”

What about Johnny Vegas? She performs a comical shiver. And shiver they will, as another squall of wind blows in from the Irish Sea.

In the corner of a wood-panelled room heavy with drapes and gloom is a figure dressed in black. “These are the Tower rooms,” he intones. The keen wind, the memory of Vegas’s mooning, the possibility of unbridled licentiousness in the Tower rooms . . . I make my excuses and leave.

Movie hunk Johnny Depp is unsure he'll ever work with partner Vanessa Paradis on film - as their best collaborations are in their family life.
 

The Pirates of the Caribbean star - who almost worked with Paradis on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote before it was shelved - likes to keep his acting career separate from his personal life.

But the devoted couple - who are parents to children Lily Rose and Jack - insure they never spend too much time apart.

Depp explains, "If something were to come up, that would be great.

"But actively looking for it - no. I like keeping things separate - she does her work, I do mine.

"And then we get together for the important stuff - kids, family life.

"They came with me to Montreal when I filmed Secret Window. I won't go anywhere without them."

Johnny Depp is a living, walking retort to a theory I've been known to propound in my more bitter moments: That exquisitely beautiful people are by and large humourless, dumber than pond-scum, and rubbish in the sack. Now, I can't speak with any authority on Depp's abilities in the latter sphere, but he comes up trumps in the other two. His interviews fizz with wit and smarts, and more importantly, his movie choices exhibit a rare sense of good taste and quirky intelligence. You can more or less depend on his movies to be interesting - and him to be fascinating - no matter their overall quality, and that, in an age of diminishing expectations at both the multiplex and the arthouse, is reason enough to raise foaming pints aloft in his name.

Having said all that, though, his latest Secret Window is one of his major disappointments. No matter - he's interesting to watch in it, just as he was in other duffers like Nick Of Time, Blow and The Astronaut's Wife, and you can reasonably expect whatever he does next to align itself more snugly with his offbeat gifts.

He's come a great distance since he was teen victim number whatever in the original Nightmare On Elm Street. Appropriately, it was the original Oddfather, John Waters, who spotted his mischievous potential - and his aching prettiness - and cast him as Wade "Crybaby" Walker back in his delirious 1990 retro-rock'n'roll musical. One movie later he embarked on his long partnership with Tim Burton - he is to Burton what Divine was to Waters - and has lent his presence to the director's best films. The unbeaten track is where he learned he was happiest, and that has made all the difference, as he has teamed up with a who's-who of world cinema's more weird and wonderful directors - Terry Gilliam, Roman Polanski, the Hughes brothers, Jim Jarmusch. His performance in the latter's silvery daguerreotype of an anti-western, Dead Man, is one of the most bizarrely passive performances in cinema, and bewitching nonetheless. He has a quicksilver, ungraspable quality as an actor - indeed some of his performances are little more than turns, or decal transfers laid upon films into which he is barely integrated - but he is never less than compelling.

Career high Completely at random: Donnie Brasco, Fear And Loathing, Pirates Of The Caribbean, and Dead Man - and a dozen others at least.

Career low His failures seem mainly to be attempts to go straight: Blow, The Astronaut's Wife, Nick Of Time.

Need to know His teenage band The Kids once opened for Iggy Pop. His bar, The Viper Room, is co-owned by perennial Hollywood scenemaker Chuck E Weiss, known to fans of Tom Waits and Rickie Lee Jones.

The last word "I don't pretend to be Captain Weird. I just do what I do."
 

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

The film hunk has even persuaded his portly pal and co-star in The Libertine to do a gig on the Isle of Man this weekend.

An insider reveals, "Johnny was surprised to learn that Mr Depp was such a fan.

He said he'd treat him, John Malkovich and the rest of the cast to a night of comedy if they dug deep for the Meningitis Trust."

LOS ANGELES (Zap2it.com) - Arrgh! Keelhaul the landlubbers! Swab the poop deck or ye'll walk the plank, me hearties! This is just a taste of the pirate lingo that will likely be heard at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards where Hollywood's hottest stars will vie for precious booty.
"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" leads the fleet of nominees with six nods including best movie, best actor (Johnny Depp), best comedic performance (Depp again), best on-screen team (Depp and Orlando Bloom), best villain (Geoffrey Rush) and best breakthrough female (Keira Knightley).

Competing in the Depp love fest are "Lost in Translation's" Bill Murray, Adam Sandler in "50 First Dates," Tom Cruise in "The Last Samurai" and Christ himself (Jim Caviezel) from Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" for the best actor category. Despite his pretty face, Depp couldn't infiltrate the best actress category, which includes Drew Barrymore for "50 First Dates," Queen Latifah for "Bringing Down the House," Halle Berry "Gothika," Charlize Theron "Monster" and Uma Thurman in "Kill Bill, Vol. 1."
Johnny Depp Slide Show at Yahoo News

www.imdb.com/title/tt0401792/combined

The film co-stars a ton of known names, such as Bruce Willis (ha, JD and BW in the same flick... this I gotta see), Steve Buscemi, Leonardo DiCaprio, Michael Douglas, Christopher Walken, Benicio Del Toro and Depp's costar from Secret Window, Maria Bello.

One of the film locations listed is Austin, Texas.

Film Plot Summary:
Sin City is a violent city where the police department is as corrupt as the streets are deadly. In this movie, we follow three stories, the central of which is Marv, a tough-as-nails and nearly impossible to kill street fighter who goes on a rampage of vengeance when a beautiful woman, Goldie (King), he sleeps with for only one night is killed while lying in bed with him.

Here's a snippet from the Comic Book website:

Sin City - Wallace

Background/History:
A former Navy SEAL, Wallace won the Congressional Medal of Honor at some point (one presumes in Vietnam). Now, he lives in Basin City, working as an artist (he paints), but usually paying his rent as a short-order cook. While out driving around (and trying to clear his head), he sees a woman (Esther) throw herself off of a cliff and into the water. He rescues her, only to have her taken from him by some of the Colonel's men. Recovering from the attack, Wallace then proceeds to work his way "up the food chain," eliminating anyone who tries to stop him. Eventually, he rescues Esther a second time, and then abandons Sin City (with Esther) for a more pleasant place to live.

Personality/Motivation:
Wallace is an interesting guy. Unlike the rest of Miller's anti-heroes in Sin City, Wallace is a man at peace with himself. He doesn't have any dark secrets or hidden demons, and is quite capable of ignoring Delia's charms. He also doesn't go out of his way to enter into violence, often giving a warning to an opponent to back off, but once pressed is capable of wrecking utter havoc.

At all times Wallace is unerringly polite, usually using "Ma'am" when talking to women, and never swearing. He tires to remain calm at all times, probably because he is capable of such extreme violence, and tends to be analytical about things, doing what needs to be done but not overdoing it. He will flee if outnumbered, but will not give up or surrender if he can help it.

Wallace Quotes (from the comic book):
"Your nose is broken. Your jaw's next. It's up to you."
"You'll see me again. I'm going to kill everyone of you."

Babies, boars and Barbie ...Johnny Depp on family life

Johnny Depp has been one of the sexiest men in the movies for nearly two decades – but he’s swapped Hollywood madness for family life in France with kids, wild animals and a new kind of blonde!

For 20 years Johnny Depp has been a bit of an outsider in Hollywood, dating supermodels, trashing hotel rooms and starring as oddball characters in a string of quirky films. Theses days, though, he’s left his party days behind him – he’s got the movie Secret Window out soon, he was nominated for an Oscar for his role in Pirates Of The Caribbean, and he’s settled down to a life of domestic bliss with his French girlfriend, actress Vanessa Paradis, and this two kids, Lily-Rose, four, and two-year-old Jack.
Oh, and his goats…

It’s been an amazing time for you, with the Oscar nomination for Pirates Of The Caribbean. Does this mean you’ve left behind your trademark quirky films for blockbusters?

I don’t know. The thing that really hit me initially was shock – a film that I’d been involved with had done so well! Secondly, I was so thankful after being around for so long – it’s coming up for 20 years now – all these kids would go and see the movie. 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.

Are you happy to do a sequel to Pirates Of The Caribbean?

Yeah. The first screenplay was so good, with great attention to detail, so 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!

You based your Pirates character on rocker Keith Richards – do you know if he has seen the film?

He knows that I based it partly on him. He was very, very sweet about it.

You live in Europe now – that must be change of pace from your partying LA days?

It’s been great for me. I spend time in both places because I still live in Los Angeles as well. It’s all an education, really isn’t it? Being able to live in Europe for a few months of the year is really wonderful for me, and a great place for the kids.

Do you not want to raise your kids in LA?

I think in Los Angeles you grow up too quickly. You’re over-exposed, you’re exposed to so much. It’s too quick for children – for me, anyway. That’s just my choice. It’s such a short period of time that we get to be children, and teenagers, and then you’re spun out into the great big world. I want my kids to enjoy their childhood.

Do you think LA is dangerous?

The world is dangerous! LA is too fast-paced, there’s too much of everything.

What has living in Europe given you?

Any education changes you. It’s given me a completely different perspective on the world and a great distance from Hollywood. I’m now not being overcooked 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. I can see it from the outside. Spending months and months out of America and then going back to Los Angeles after being away for a while, it’s kind of enjoyable. You can enjoy it for what it is and appreciate it. But being in it, slugging away day-in, day-out, it’s like anything. It’ll make you nuts! If I had to live in a place where it was only about the industry, only about making movies and the worries and the box office, I’d lose my mind. I want to talk about goats and paintings and books and other stuff!

Er, why goats?

Why? I just love them. I just love them. When you love something that much, you just talk about it.

Do you keep animals?

I do keep animals – not at gun-point or anything! We have some wild boar. They were there before us, so they’re basically keeping me. We have some little horses, ponies and stuff. Three are dogs and a bunch of wild cats, that kind of thing. And many, many bugs, which is good.

Bugs! Is that why you’re doing another horror? Tell us about Secret Window

It’s based on a Stephen King novella, Secret Window, Secret Garden. I play a writer, and John Turturro is a guy who turns up and accuses me of stealing his book, of plagiarism. Then all these strange, weird things start happening. It’s a psychological thriller.

You almost worked with your girlfriend Vanessa on The Man Who Killed Don Quixote before it collapsed. Would you both like to act together?

We were one day away from doing it. If something were to come up, that would be great. But actively looking for it - no. I like keeping things separate – she does her work, I do mine. And then we get together for the important stuff – kids, family life. They came with me to Montreal when I filmed Secret Window. I won’t go anywhere without them.

You used to be known as a ladies’ man, but these days you’re dedicated to your kids. Have they changed you?

Children occupy everything. They demand attention in a good way. It’s beautiful. They want to be with their mommy, they want to be with their daddy. If Mommy’s working, then I’ll be there. Vanessa was doing a film in Portugal and I hung around the house with the kids, just wandering around.

Are you a good playmate?

No, they haven’t said that to me yet. But my daughter does like playing Barbies with me. You start assuming different characters and different Barbies. I’ve been playing the woman. I’ve done it before in film, so you not!

Elfman to score CATCF...
Elfman hired to score 'The Corpse Bride':

Danny Elfman's agent has confirmed to Music from the Movies that the popular composer has been hired to score The Corpse Bride, the dark animated fairytale produced by Tim Burton scheduled for release in October 2005. The film is based on an old Russian folk tale telling the story of a man who weds a corpse by mistake. The screenplay is being written by Caroline Thompson (of Edward Scissorhands fame) and Pamela Pettler. Directing the film is Mike Johnson, who previously worked as an animator on The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach. Like both of those, The Corpse Bride will be created using stop-animation technique.

Danny Elfman will also score Tim Burton's next directorial effort, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp. Coming first, however, is the eagerly anticipated Spider-Man 2, premiering on 30th June.

WASHINGTON: Johnny Depp has branded himself a failure after watching Clark Gable in Gone With The Wind because it made him realise that his career pales into insignificance compared to those of vintage screen stars.

 Therefore, despite winning an Oscar nomination for his role of Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl this year, Depp deems his career to be a series of disasters and failures.

"If anything, mine has been a career of failures. I think I'm getting all this attention right now because people feel sorry for me. I'm an underdog. Other actors look at me and think, 'That poor b**tard is still hacking away at it," Teen Hollywood quoted Depp as saying.

Depp's conception of a real movie star came after watching the 1939 classic blockbuster Gone With The Wind . "When it was over, I remember saying to myself, 'Boy, that Clark Gable is a real movie star," said Depp.

By Liza Foreman and Borys Kit
Original Film is boarding Paramount Pictures' big-screen adaptation of the TV series "21 Jump Street." Original's Neal Moritz will produce "21 Jump Street" with Stephen J. Cannell and Douglas Rosen, while Original's Tania Landau will executive produce. The project has been in development for a couple of years at the studio, which originally made a deal in 2002 with series co-creators Cannell and Patrick Hasburgh to pen the project. The project is out to writers. Airing from 1987-90 on Fox, "21 Jump Street" followed a group of cops who worked undercover in high schools. The series helped launch the career of Johnny Depp. Other cast members included Peter DeLuise, Holly Robinson Peete, Dustin Nguyen and Richard Grieco. Other current Original projects include "To Catch a Thief," the remake of the Hitchcock classic that Original is producing for Paramount. Other features from the Sony-based shingle include "2 Fast 2 Furious," "S.W.A.T." and "Out of Time."

My mom thinks he's nice, my sister thinks he's gorgeous, my bro thinks he's the shiznit, my dad would prefer to have him as a son rather than me, my logo looks like him, my "girlfriend" likes to pretend that he's the bad lay in our bed, and my grandma, in her 80s and forgetful of all things useless in life, thinks he's a plum decent actor. Me...well, I've got my own "Johnny" thing happening, but that's one for my shrink to figure out in a few years. Long story short, June 22nd is the day that all Depp fans should scoot on over to their favorite videostores in order to nab the release of SECRET WINDOW, with J's fat face, smack-dab in the middle of it all (yes, I'm bitter). Kudos to DVDAnswers.com for nabbing the cover and CLICK HERE to see what else you can find on the disc.

Columbia have kindly sent over the artwork for the region one release of Secret Window which stars Johnny Depp. The film will be available to own from the 22nd June this year, and should retail at around $28.95. As well as a 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen transfer and Dolby Digital 5.1 track, the disc will include an audio commentary by Director David Koepp, a three part making of documentary, animated storyboards and four deleted scenes.

NEW YORK: Oscar nominee Johnny Depp was born wild. The actor was suspended from his high school for a fortnight after he flashed his backside at a teacher.

According to Teen Hollywood, the Edward Scissorhands star showed early signs of his legendary Wildman behaviour when he expressed his distaste to a bullying teacher by dropping his pants.

"There was this vicious woman, a teacher. If you weren't in her little hand-picked clique, you were ridiculed and picked on. She was brutal and unjust. One day she told me to do something. Her tone was nasty. She got very loud in my face in front of the rest of the class and tried to embarrass me," he recalled.

"I saw what she was doing, that she was trying to ridicule me. I turned around and walked away. As I did, I dropped my drawers and mooned her. She went out of her mind. Then, of course, I was brought before the dean and suspended," said the Pirates of the Caribbean star .

By Gavin Wilson

Hollywood megastar Johnny Depp is to star in a fundraising music video for Celtic legend Jimmy Johnstone's favourite charity.

The screen hunk was desperate to help pal Shane MacGowan in his bid to help beat motor neurone disease.

Pogues singer Shane and folk musician Phil Ferns have written a new single - On The Road To Paradise - for Lisbon Lion Jinky, who has battled against the illness since 2002.

MacGowan persuaded Depp to lend a hand while the pair were filming period drama The Libertine in Gloucestershire.

Now the movie idol - star of Blow, Donnie Brasco and What's Eating Gilbert Grape - is to appear with Shane and Phil in the promo for the song.

Phil said yesterday: "Johnny Depp is set to be in the video to go with the song.

"He and Shane MacGowan have become good pals since they started filming together.

"So it wasn't too hard to get him to help out.

"The song is fantastic - there's already a huge buzz around it and it's been getting heavy rotation on the Radio 2 playlist.

"Jinky loves it and he thinks it will make a lot of money for charity."

Hoops fan Phil, who co-wrote the Celtic song Best Days of Our Lives with Westlife songwriter John McLaughlin, said Depp was great to work with.

He added: "Jinky's a total legend so if there's anything we can do to help him, we will."

The Rolling Stones' horn section also play on the northern soul-style track, which is in the shops on May 3.

And the double A-side features Jinky himself in a duet with former Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr, covering the Ewan MacColl classic, Dirty Old Town.

All profits from the single will go towards the Jimmy Johnstone Motor Neurone Disease Tribute Fund.

MND is a disease of the nervous system which kills five people a day in the UK. There is no known cause or cure.

Meanwhile, Lord Of The Wing, a film charting Jinky's illustrious playing career, will be premiered on Sunday at the SECC in Glasgow.
 

SHANE MacGowan is acting up. Again. The great bacchanalian street-poet of Irish popular culture is to hit the silver screen next year. And I don't mean with a pint glass of brandy either. Shane's best friend Johnny Depp has asked him to play the part of a rowdy balladeer in Liberty, a movie about Lord Rochester, the half-brother of King Charles II.

"It is a new film in which Johnny is not a pirate," laughed Shane from the set in London where he filmed his scenes last week. "Pirates of the Caribbean wasn't really my scene but this is a swashbuckling movie with blood, guts and intrigue set in scuzzville 1660s Moll Flanders-London." In one scene, Shane makes up a song to ridicule the king (played by John Malkovich). The former Pogues icon liked his costume so much that he asked Depp could he keep it. "So I've now got a big puffy pair of black velvet pantaloons."

In return for the trousers, Shane is going to let Depp play guitar on his new album, out later in the year. I can hardly wait for the world tour. Expect the hellraisin' partnership to announce some future night in Toronto: "We saw a notice that said 'Drink Canada Dry' and we've just started . . ." BE

© Irish Independent
http://www.unison.ie/irish_independent/ & http://www.unison.ie/

HOLLYWOOD -- The $46 million Johnny Depp thriller "Secret Window" will have an unusually short window of less than 15 weeks before it arrives on DVD on June 22.
 

It's the latest in a series of DVD releases by Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment with quick turnarounds from their theatrical debut. Most of the previous ones have been productions by Revolution Studios, including "Radio" (14 weeks), "The Missing" (13 weeks) and "Mona Lisa Smile" (12 weeks).
 

While most films come to DVD slightly less than five months after their theatrical release, on average, Columbia TriStar has been selectively releasing certain titles with windows ranging from barely three months to four months. The studio recently announced a window of less than 16 weeks for "You Got Served" -- another non-Revolution Studios production -- to arrive May 18.
 

Bonus features on the "Secret Window" DVD will include audio commentary by writer-director David Koepp, four deleted scenes and a three-part behind-the-scenes documentary.
 
 

The film is based on Roald Dahl's classic novel of the same name - and it will be one of the most lavishly budgeted to shoot in the UK this year.

Director Tim Burton had been searching for a young actor to join Johnny Depp on the movie, which begins filming at Pinewood Studios near London in June.

Kate and Johnny became friends after filming J.M. Barrie's Neverland in England together.

When Kate heard that director Burton and producer Richard Zanuck were having trouble finding someone to play Charlie, she said: 'Oh, what about the great kid in Neverland?' That's how Freddie Highmore landed the job. A casting agent tracked him down to his private school in North London - and later he met with Burton and the film's production team.

In J.M. Barrie's Neverland Freddie plays Peter Llewelyn, who became the inspiration for Peter Pan. Ms Winslet plays his screen mother. Kate will soon be seen here in the inspired romantic comedy Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind opposite Jim Carrey.

In the film Kate lets her hair down (as well as changing hair colour often) and shows why she remains one of our major talents.

Depp, who was so good in Pirates Of The Caribbean, has been in the UK filming The Libertine with Samantha Morton.

Gene Wilder starred in a 1971 film version of the book called Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory

Superstar Johnny Depp was the perfect guest, says the hotelier who put him up during a film shoot in the Cotswolds.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star stayed 14 nights at the luxury Cotswold House Hotel, in Chipping Campden, while working at locations including Stanway House, near Winchcombe. Filming the £8.7m movie The Libertine, in which he plays a debauched 17th century poet, he needed a secluded, but top-notch retreat.

Hotel manager Ian Taylor revealed Hollywood heartthrob Depp enjoyed the exclusive Old Grammar School suite, opposite the grade II listed High Street hotel, at £595 a night.

With two bedrooms, two bathrooms, a lounge and state-of-the-art kitchen, the 1487 suite cost £75,000 to convert.

Mr Taylor said: "He was kind and polite to the staff and appreciative of the hotel's service. We pretty much treated him as every other guest.

"He had quite a few friends staying at the Noel Arms.

"He went over there and they did a bit of gathering in the suite."

The chef at the Noel Arms was made up when Johnny took a shine to his sticky toffee pudding.

The actor was so impressed by Daniel Howe's creation that he vowed to bring girlfriend Vanessa Paradis and children from the US to Gloucestershire to taste it.

Swindon-born Daniel, 24, said: "I had to make it from memory as it wasn't on the menu and had to make 13 of them."

The sweet rounded off a main course of a pave of beef with fondant potatoes and Madagascan peppercorn veloute.

Once Johnny had finished the pudding he told his personal assistant he wanted to speak to the chef.

Daniel went to change his clothes, had a couple of pints for Dutch courage and ventured into the secluded Top Bar restaurant.

"When I was introduced to him he said 'Wow' and put his hands on his heart. He was so laid back and charming.

"Every question I asked about his films he would answer.

"I was sat there for about an hour-and-a-half just chatting.

"He did say the sticky toffee pudding was the best sweet he'd ever had.

"I would have said his words were just empty platitudes if it wasn't for the fact that he wrote on my menu 'Thank you Daniel for all your hard work. The sticky toffee pudding was psychotic'."

Johnny Depp has a personal DJ on the set of his movies beaming music into his ears while he works - a technique which helps him get into character.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star - who is also a part-time musician - relies on music to create the feel of a role.

Actress Sophia Myles, who starred with Depp in From Hell, explains, "Johnny has his own personal DJ who beams him music from the side of the set.

"He has a tiny earpiece in one ear and an aerial that he wears around his neck like a lucky charm.

"All those scenes you saw him play in Pirates of The Caribbean, he probably had some kind of sea shanty sing-along blasting in his ears the whole time for inspiration."

Posted by Ted Elliott on Wednesday, 14 April 2004, at 6:20 p.m., in response to Pirates of the Caribbean 2, posted by nancydrew124 on Wednesday, 14 April 2004, at 5:58 p.m.

You know, you have just guaranteed that there can never be a "Jack's niece character" in any Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Similarly, every single person that has posted suggestions here on Wordplay that included teen girl characters -- nieces, daughters, runaways, whatever -- has absolutely guaranteed that there can never be a teen girl character in any Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Every single idea anyone posts on the Wordplay website is an idea that Terry and I cannot use, because of legal reasons.

And since we are employees of Disney, it means Disney can never use them, either.

So if you, or anyone, ever wants to see an idea they had show up in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, the one thing you should not do is post it on Wordplay.

And, no, the movie will not be called "Treasure of the Lost Abyss" -- it was never going to be called that, and now it never can be.

Thanks for your interest,

Ted
 
 

Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp was staying at the 21-bedroom Cotswold House Hotel in Chipping Campden at the time of the break-in, which happened in the early hours of last Thursday morning.

Heart-throb Depp, who had been filming scenes for his new movie The Libertine at various locations around the area, including Stanway House near Winchcombe, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire, and Charlecote Park near Stratford, was staying in the hotel's two-bedroomed Old Grammar School suite, across the High Street from the main hotel.

The hotel was full at the time but, along with other guests, the actor was totally unaware of the break-in, which police believe was part of a well-planned operation by a gang across the north Cotswolds.

He checked out later the same day after a two-weeks' stay said Cotswold House Hotel owner Ian Taylor.

The gang broke in through the Garden Room restaurant at the back of the hotel and used a crowbar to force open a door into an office at the back of the reception area, where they tried to remove a safe from a built-in cupboard.

"They didn't succeed because it is bolted to the floor," said Mr Taylor. The burglars removed the phone from the reception area wall and stole the hotel's collection of 100 DVDs, worth around £1,500.

During the other raids, a 4ft by 4ft safe was removed from a wall at the Charingworth Manor Hotel.

General manager Walter Fallon said: "They dismantled the wall and took the safe out."

"I think it would have taken two strong guys to have carried it." He said the safe contained "less than £1,000".

Movie star Johnny Depp's two-week stay at the Cotswold House Hotel in Chipping Campden would have provided him with an ideal break away from the pressures of filming in the surrounding area.

He was staying at the hotel's Old Grammar School suite, which has all the modern comforts a Hollywood star of Depp's calibre will have come to expect.

The two-bedroom suite is across the High Street from the main hotel, next to Gordon Hammond's Antiques, affording guests a high level of privacy.

The suite, which was built in 1487 and converted last year at a cost of £75,000 in a style which hotel owner Ian Taylor describes as "contemporary but traditional", costs £595 a night to stay in, is believed to be one of the most expensive hotel rooms in the area.

It boasts flat screen TVs in the bedrooms, a fully-fitted kitchen with a state-of-the-art coffee machine, two bathrooms and an impressive 40ft by 18ft lounge, complete with two stone fireplaces and the latest Bang & Olufsen plasma screen TV.

Dinner parties for up to 12 people can be catered for in the suite, with the hotel's chefs preparing the food and carrying it across the road to be finished off.

During his stay at the hotel Depp mainly ate at the hotel's Hick's Brasserie as the Garden Room restaurant was closed for refurbishment.

"He did a bit of cooking but was certainly very grateful for the coffee machine," said Mr Taylor.

Since it was opened last year the suite has proved popular, with many UK visitors.

"It's people having a special time," said Mr Taylor.

He said that during his stay Depp was a model guest.

"I saw him a couple of times and he was very pleasant, very easy to deal with and non-demanding.

"He was very appreciative of the staff and the way he was looked after," said Mr Taylor.

Oscar-nominated actress Samantha Morton, who co-stars in The Libertine was also a guest at the hotel during filming.

Four Weddings and a Funeral star Andie McDowell also stayed at the hotel while filming Crush in Chipping Campden a few years ago.

Curiously the Noel Arms in Chipping Campden claim Johnny stayed there. I wonder if both these stories can be true ...

Johnny Depp, currently filming The Libertine in the UK, is as unstinting as ever in his efforts to get into character, in this case that of the notorious 17th-century poet and sensualist, the Earl of Rochester. Relaxing with his co-stars, the festivity-loving thesps Samantha Morton and Johnny Vegas, Depp and two other people allegedly consumed two bottles of port and 14 bottles of wine between them at the Noel Arms in Chipping Campden.

The evening climaxed with Depp pretending to take an old knife from the wall and threatening, in jest, to kill the chef for making scrummy sticky toffee pudding and custard, which he'd eaten there for three days in a row. "He says it's the most delicious thing he's ever eaten," said a staff member.

If youve seen the film Once Upon a Time in Mexico, you may have wondered how puerco pibil tastes. It's the dish Johnny Depp's character orders again and again until he finds the perfect version. Depp explains to Antonio Banderas' character: ``It is a slow-roasted pork. Nothing fancy, just happens to be my favorite and I order it at every dive I go to in this country and honestly, this is the best it's ever been. . . . It is so good that when I'm finished with it I'll pay my check, walk straight into the kitchen and shoot the cook. Because that's what I do. I restore the balance to this country.''

In the DVD, director Robert Rodriguez includes a lesson on cooking puerco pibil, so when my son had to bring a dish to his Spanish class, we decided to try it. Pibil refers to the Maya method of steaming meats in a pit, a pib in the Maya language. Many Mexican and Latin American cookbooks have recipes for it that call for making a seasoning paste (recado) from annatto seeds, lots of other ground spices and citrus juice.

Rodriguezs cooking lesson is a little vague on procedure. He says grinding the many spices yourself is essential, but doesn't say anything about marinating the meat -- a necessary step in all the other puerco pibil recipes I found. On our first try, following Rodriguez recipe exactly, the meat simmered rather than steamed in the oven packet and as a result was a bit tough, though incredibly flavorful.

We watched the lesson again, saw that when Rodriguez opens his roasted packet there is no visible liquid, and determined that we needed to marinate. Adding this step meant the meat absorbed a lot of the liquid before going into the oven.

If you want to have a Johnny Depp puerco pibil party (and who doesnt!), here is my adaptation of the director's recipe, with a nod to Diana Kennedys The Essential Cuisines of Mexico (HarperCollins, 1972).

We used an electric coffee grinder for the spices, but be aware it wont be suitable for coffee again. Another note: Leave the fat on the meat while it is roasting. We pulled it all off the first time, and the meat came out dry. Better to leave it on during the cooking and remove before serving.

JOHNNY Depp's latest screen outing as Willy Wonka is to be filmed in Docklands.

Filmmaker's behind cult director Tim Burton's latest project Charlie And The Chocolate Factory have chosen iconic Royal Victoria Dock exhibition centre ExCeL for scenes to be shot this summer.

The new version sees Depp and Burton - who worked on Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Ed Wood - together again.

On casting Depp as the eccentric chocolate factory owner, Burton said: "I just like working with him. He's always surprising and fun."

Gone In 60 Seconds and Con Air star Nicolas Cage had been tipped to take on the Wonka role and, bizarrely, it's been reported that goth rocker Marilyn Manson was keen to don Willy's top hat.

It is not clear what scenes will be filmed at ExCeL, but production is scheduled to start in June 2004 at Pinewood Studios on at least five of their largest soundstages. The movie is due for release in June 2005,

Burton has been clear that his film will not be a direct remake of the 1971 film Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory starring Gene Wilder in the title role.

It won't be a musical and Burton said his film will be more faithful to Dahl's book.

"Well, I don't want to crush people's childhood dreams, but the original film is sappy," Burton said.

"It's sappy when it shouldn't be sappy and it's weird. Let's just say it's not one of my personal favourites."

Burton said he's wanted to direct the Willy Wonka film for years.

"I responded to the children's book because it respected that children can be adults, and I think adults forget that.

"There can be darkness and sort of foreboding. Very sinister things are very much a part of childhood. I like that sort of humour and emotion put together."

Johnny Depp said: "It's Tim's version of Roald Dahl's classic book and it's gonna be a wild ride.

"Big shoes to fill though. Gene Wilder did such an awesome job so I mean, taking that character of Willy Wonka and going somewhere completely different - he sort of made the job infinitely more difficult."
 

and
 

Bell linked with Willy Wonka
Now we're not normally the types to indulge in mindless tittle-tattle or idle rumour-mongering but....

Is Jamie Bell up for a role in Tim Burton's new adaptation of cult Roald Dahl book Charlie And The Chocolate Factory? Well if not, why was the Billy Elliot star seen poring over a copy of the movie's script during a recent flight across the Atlantic?

At 18, it's likely that the Bafta-winner is a touch old to play the the impoverished Charlie Bucket but, given that quirky genius Burton is in charge, anything is possible.....

Johnny Depp is to play eccentric factory owner Willy Wonka in the big-budget movie which is due to start filming later this year.

BARRY KOLTNOW reports on the belated rise of a man who "could make a nap interesting".

Johnny Depp has just confessed he didn't know what a movie star looked like until he watched Gone With the Wind for the first time.

"My four-year-old daughter Lily-Rose watches the movie a lot, and I'm embarrassed to say that I had never seen it," Depp says. "So, when I stumbled into a room recently and found her watching it, I sat down and watched it with her.

"When it was over, I remember saying to myself, 'Boy, that Clark Gable is a real movie star'."

Many would suggest Depp need only look in a mirror to see a real movie star. But he'd dismiss that as utter nonsense.

Even after Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl passed the magical $US300 million ($408 million) mark at the box office, anointing him as the new King of Hollywood, and his peers seconded the nomination with a Screen Actors Guild award and an Oscar nod, Depp just doesn't get it.

The 40-year-old actor, who evaded becoming a heartthrob while working on the TV show 21 Jump Street and then fought commercial success in a 13-year, unbroken string of oddball film roles, is a star despite himself.

"I never wanted to build a movie-star career," Depp explains. "I don't even understand that kind of thinking.

"If anything, mine has been a career of failures. I think I'm getting all this attention right now because people feel sorry for me. I'm an underdog. Other actors look at me and think, 'That poor bastard is still hacking away at it'."

Depp's latest film is the Stephen King-inspired thriller Secret Window. He plays a tormented writer living in an isolated cabin fighting writer's block and assorted demons.

Filming on Secret Window began the week before Pirates opened, the casting process beginning long before that.

Director David Koepp says he had to convince the studio to hire Depp, who has a history of appearing in under-performing movies.

"Johnny's always been respected as a fine actor, but he's never been known as a person who opens movies," Koepp says.

"Of course, once Pirates opened huge, we became the studio's favourite movie. Suddenly, we didn't cost that much to make and we had a big movie star."

Koepp, who wrote the screenplay for Secret Window based on a King novella, says he broke his own rule against assigning a particular actor's face to a character during the writing process.

"Johnny sort of popped into my head midway through the first draft and he wouldn't leave. But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense," Koepp says. "In the first half of the movie, this guy is in the house, not doing anything. I really needed an actor who is inventive and who will make enough idiosyncratic choices to make it entertaining to watch. And let's face it, Johnny Depp could make a nap interesting to watch."

Depp has no regrets about the choices he has made in films.

"I am glad I did every single role," Depp says. "My career was never about commercial success. I was in it for the long haul. I decided early on to be patient and wait for the roles that interested me, not the roles that would advance my career. I never wanted to be remembered for being a star.

"It wasn't that I was rejecting Hollywood; I was rejecting the idea of being a product."

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star said he often thought about proposing to the mother of his two children but the name issue had held him back.

'It's so perfect and so beautiful,' he added. 'It would be a drag to stick her with Paradis-Depp. It's like a flat note.'

But he said he would not hesitate if she was to propose to him. 'She's the woman of my life,' he insisted. 'I would do it in a second.'

The Libertine, in which fashionable heartthrob Johnny Depp, pictured, plays the Earl of Rochester, is now being filmed on the tax-friendly Isle of Man.

They 'outsourced' the finding of some 300 extras ('full and part nudity required') to the agency of former Page 3 model, Nina Carter. The corseted lovelies were asked to feign awe in the presence of King Charles II, played by creepy-looking John Malkovich. 'Pretend it's Johnny and his friends,' they were prompted. 'Suddenly we all knew what to do,' says my cutie-pie source.

Hollywood actor Johnny Depp is so sword-happy from his time spent making Pirates Of The Caribbean, The Curse Of The Black Pearl he recently treated hotel guests to an impromptu sword fight.

Depp, who is currently shooting The Libertine alongside co-star Samanthe Morton, grabbed an old sword off a bar room wall at the Noel Arms hotel in Gloucestershire, England, before jokingly chasing the chef round for making "amazing" pudding.

A source at the hotel says, "Depp's always in our upstairs bar with different people having a laugh.

"He was drinking with Samantha Morton, (British comedian) Johnny Vegas and some off-duty staff.

"At about two in the morning they'd finished off two bottles of port and 14 bottles of wine between five of them.

"Then Johnny got this look in his eye and started yelling that he had to kill the chef for making such amazing sticky toffee pudding and custard.

"He had it for three days on the trot and says it's the most delicious thing he's ever eaten."

OSCAR nominee JOHNNY DEPP was such a heavy boozer during his twenties - he feared he would never make it to 30.

The hunky actor, who recently turned 40, admits his binge drinking was at its worst when he shot WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE? - and he remains thankful he survived to become a devoted dad.

Depp tells the new issue of PLAYBOY, "There were drugs, too - pills - and there was a danger that I would go over the edge. I could have. I thank God I didn't.

"I was never a cokehead or anything like that. I always despised that drug. I thought it was a waste of time, pointless. But I was poisoning myself with alcohol and medicating myself. I was trying to numb things.

"I was trying not to feel things, and that's ridiculous. It's one of the dumbest things you can do, because all you're doing is postponing the inevitable... It's how I dealt with life, reality, stress, change, sadness, memories. The list goes on. I was really trying to feel nothing."

Depp quit boozing when he realised how miserable his conduct was making his family and friends.

He adds, "Family and friends sat me down and said, 'Listen, we love you. You're important to us, and you're f**king up. You're killing yourself, and you're killing us in the process.' At a certain point they intervened."

Contact Music

Filmink’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.”

Johnny Depp was in London last week with friend and writer Nick Tosches. The expat actor recorded the audiobook of Tosches' much-hyped September thriller "In the Hand of Dante," reciting lines like "Louie pulled off his bra and threw it down upon the casket." "Johnny was one of the first people to read the book," says Tosches' agent Russell Galen. "Nick was prepared to kill the audio deal if Johnny couldn't read it. He literally would not have let anyone else read his book." While nothing's been confirmed, look for Depp on the Los Angeles leg of Tosches' five-city tour.

AFTER Pirates Of The Caribbean, Johnny Depp, 40, can't stop swashbuckling. While filming The Libertine, he and Samantha Norton stayed at The Noel Arms Hotel in The Cotswolds.
A source revealed: "Johnny loved our battle sword collection. After several glasses of red wine, he chased our head chef around the kitchen with a 4ft blade in his hand. He also said the sticky toffee pudding was the best thing he'd ever tasted - and he'll be back for another portion."

Johnny Depp has come full circle, from Johnny Be Bad to one of the world's best-loved stars.

He was nominated for an Academy Award for his swashbuckling turn as Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and, while his latest movie, Secret Window, failed to dislodge Mel Gibson's all-conquering The Passion of The Christ from the No. 1 spot at the box office, it opened at No. 2 with weekend takings of $25 million.

These days Johnny Depp is cooler than the other side of the pillow. His uncanny knack of choosing off-beat roles and making them universally popular has created "a character actor in a leading man's body", as his Secret Window co-star John Turturro put it.

Depp also happens to be sincerely courteous.

"I've seen people go out of their way to be rude and it's such a devastating injustice," he said. "My throat closes when I see it. I despise it."

Even the downside of Hollywood fame can prompt one of those flashing Depp grins.

"Any of the discomforts that happen to me are tolerable. I put myself into the racket, so this is what you signed up for, kid. Deal with it," he said.

He does draw the line, though, at unsolicited attention of his family.

'If I'm working and my girl takes the kiddies to the park to push them on the swing set and stuff like that, there's like 12 paparazzi with lenses that long taking photographs of my children as, you know, they're just trying to be children.

"What happens is those photographs get circulated on the Internet and my children are exposed on that sort of global level. It's not unfair to me, it's unfair to them because they didn't ask for any of it."

While that unscheduled photo session in a Los Angeles park was taking place, Depp was driving to a restaurant in another part of town for a meeting.

"I noticed in the rear-view mirror somebody tailing me," he said.

After detouring down a couple of side streets he counted not one but seven cars.

"I think it's probably more confusing to the paparazzi," he said with a smile. "They must be saying to themselves, 'This guy's been around 20 years. Why are we so interested in taking his picture now?'

"I handle it but I don't think it's the kind of thing you ever get used to. I certainly hope not -- that would really freak me out if I got used to it.

"What does bother me is that they exploit my kiddies. That's unforgivable."

Depp, his girl and their kiddies live only part of the year in Los Angeles, visiting his native Kentucky twice a year to see his mother, Betty Sue, and spend the rest of their time in the comparative seclusion of the south of France, near Paradis's tight-knit family.

There, he said, movies became part of his cure for the sleep deprivation that came with being the father of young children.

"When I get on the couch -- and the funny thing is I can be totally fine, rested and everything -- I throw in a movie and at the end of the opening credits I'm sort of . . ."

He made a snoring sound.

"Movies do that to me, maybe because I've been making them for too many years. They put me right out immediately, especially ones that I'm in.

"The best thing for me is just spending time with the kids, hanging out and reading books to them. I'm lucky, really blessed.

"I'm kicking 41 in June and, personally, it's been an incredible past year. I couldn't have written it better. I mean, a great gift.

"I don't know if it had anything to do with turning 40. Maybe it did: 40 feels good.

"I've said this before, but the first sort of real solid feeling I had, where I felt I was actually myself for the first time, was when my daughter was born.

"Now my boy is almost 2 and I think I'm getting pretty good at fatherhood and that feels good. That's everything to me, honestly. I feel very strong in that foundation of fatherhood and family."

Now we know why Johnny Depp fell in love with France: He didn't know how to speak French.

"I loved that, because I didn't have to talk," the "Secret Window" star says in the May issue of Playboy. "It was great just to be out among people and not have the responsibility to say anything."

Syntax may have been the problem when he was quoted in France as saying, "America is like a dumb puppy that can bite and hurt you."

Depp, who's now spending most of his time in L.A. with his partner, Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, counters, "I essentially said the United States is a very young country compared with Europe....I would never be disrespectful to my country, especially the kids who are over there in the armed forces. My uncle was wounded in Vietnam."
(Side note: Vanessa's latest CD is entitled "BLISS")

Johnny will be in the MAY issue of PLAYBOY - teaser HERE (beware of pop-ups if you do not have blocker software)
PLAYBOY: Here is the Playboy article
Found by:   mooter

FORMER BAD BOY JOHNNY DEPP COMES CLEAN IN PLAYBOY'S MAY INTERVIEW
Brooding Actor Discusses Growing Up, Getting Sober, Being Bankable and
Smacking the Paparazzi With a Wooden Plank

"I was never a cokehead or anything like that," says Johnny Depp in the May 2004 Playboy Interview. "I always despised that drug. I thought I was a waste of time, pointless. But I was poisoning myself with alcohol and medicating myself."

"I was trying not to feel things, and that's ridiculous. Someday you'll have to look all those things in the eye rather than try to numb the pain."

The Oscar-nominated actor has thrived with roles as misfits, outcasts and loners in offbeat and uncommercial films. As the star of last year's $300 million blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean, Depp - now 40 years old - has finally emerged as a premier Hollywood star. In the May Playboy Interview, he discusses whether or not he's bankable, his fear of being on a lunch box, how Nicolas Cage introduced him to acting and why he hit a photographer with a wooden plank.

Following are selected quotes from Depp's May Playboy Interview (on newsstands Friday, April 9), conducted by Bernard Weinraub:

On now being considered a bankable star: "I don't know if Hollywood's view of me has changed. I'm certainly getting calls from people and filmmakers who maybe didn't know my name before."

"I've always been some distance from that game. I guess there have been times when I was on the brink of being bankable. But that's all so weird. All these weird lists - top five stars, top 10, 'Let's get this guy because he's bankable.'"

"You're on the list two weeks and then - poof - you're gone. It never jarred me that I wasn't on the list. If I'm considered bankable this week, that's great. Next week I'll be totally off. I'm used to that. I've never had an allergy to the idea of commercial success. When you put a movie out and it's successful, that's great. I just wanted to get there in the right way, in a way that's not too compromising or demeaning or ugly."

On acting: "I never really had an interest in it in the beginning. Nicolas Cage-we had some mutual friends-introduced me to his agent. She sent me to a casting director, and I auditioned for the first Nightmare
on Elm Street. I got the job. I was stupefied. They paid me all that money for a week. It was luck, an accident. I did it purely to pay the rent."

On what appeals to him: "I do have an affinity for damaged people, in life, in roles. I don't know why. We're all damaged in our own way. Nobody's perfect. I think we are all somewhat screwy, every single one
of us."

On becoming famous: "I went from anonymity to going to a restaurant and having people point at me. It was a shock. But what really bothered me was that I could see the machine."

"Fox was creating the Fox network, using 21 Jump Street to build it. They were shoving my face out there, selling me as this product. It made me crazy. I thought, After this you'll be in a sitcom. You'll be on a lunch box and then a thermos and a notebook. And in two years, you'll be ridiculous. It paid good money and was a good gig, but I wanted something else."

On the paparazzi: "We were at a restaurant, and Vanessa was extremely pregnant. All they wanted were photographs of me and Vanessa and the belly."

"She was in the car, so everything was going to be cool, but they were so sh***y. One guy was trying to hold the door open. He had his hand wedged in there. I looked down at the ground, and there was a 17-inch wooden plank, a two-by-two or something. Instinct took over. I picked it up and whacked the guy's hand. I went outside and said, 'Now I want you to take my picture, because the first f***ing guy who hits a flash,
I'm going to kick his skull in. Let's go. Take my picture.' They didn't take my picture. I was livid."

"The next thing I knew, I saw flashing lights on the buildings around me. And a paddy wagon."

On his childhood family life: "At my house dinner easily could have consisted of a bologna sandwich, and then you'd split. You might come back later and grab a few peanuts, and then you'd split again. That was it. I could go to my buddy Sal's house for dinner. I couldn't understand what was going on with everyone sitting down together. I'll never forget seeing romaine lettuce for the first time. I thought it was weird-I was afraid of it. There was salad and appetizers and soup. I had no idea about that. I grew up on hillbilly food."

On his rebellious youth: "There was this vicious woman, a teacher. If you weren't in her little handpicked clique, you were ridiculed and picked on. She was brutal and unjust. One day she told me to do something, I can't remember what. Her tone was nasty. She got very loud in my face in front of the rest of the class and tried to embarrass me. I saw what she was doing, that she was trying to ridicule me. I turned around and walked away. As I did, I dropped my drawers and mooned her."

On Pirates of the Caribbean: "Four- and five-year-old kids and people in their 50s, 60s and 70s-a broad spectrum-loved that movie. That hasn't happened to me before. That was great. I just want to continue
getting good jobs."

On being a movie star: "The real movie stars were Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Spencer Tracy, Montgomery Clift. How could I put myself in the same category as Clark Gable? Tom Cruise is a great movie star. Do I consider myself a movie star? I consider myself a guy with a good job, an interesting job."
 

HOLLYWOOD heart-throb Johnny Depp was in Stratford and the Cotswolds last week while filming his latest movie.

The Oscar-nominated star of Pirates of the Caribbean spent last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday shooting scenes for The Libertine at Charlecote Park, the National Trust property near Stratford.

The film, a costume drama about the life of the John Wilmot, the 2nd Earl of Rochester, is being produced actor John Malkovich's Mr Mudd company.

Malkovich, who plays Charles II in the film, was not at Charlecote though Depp's co-stars Samantha Morton, Bond Girl Rosamund Pike and comedian Johnny Vegas were.

During filming, Depp is believed to have been staying at The Cotswold House Hotel in Chipping Campden "A rumour went round that he was here," said visitor information centre manager Dorothy Hart.

One fan, Louise Moorman of Little Compton, near Moreton, was lucky enough to catch sight of the star after waiting seven hours at Charlecote Park last Friday.

By Sarah Portlock
 

Heart-throb actor Johnny Depp swopped Hollywood for Warwickshire to film his latest blockbuster.

The star called into Charlecote Park, near Stratford, to film The Libertine, an 18th century drama based on the story of John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, famed for his debauched life-style.

Depp, star of blockbusters Pirates of the Caribbean and Once Upon a Time in Mexico, stars as the earl, with British actresses Samantha Morton as his lover and Rosamund Pike as his wife.

Secrecy around the set was paramount last week, causing a flurry of excitement among villagers.

Ben Waters, landlord, of the Boar's Head, in Church Street, Hampton Lucy, said he had heard Depp had been in the area - but he hadn't popped in for a pint.

"We were aware something was going on. I know he was about but he did not come in here. I think people in the village may have seen him around though."

Charlecote villager Helen Hoggarth said she did not know of anyone who had seen the star.

"We saw all the security but we did not see the actors. We were all aware that filming was going on at the park. But, I did not see him - I wish I had."

Sal Ransome, speaking for the National Trust, said they had been been delighted to have the stars at Charlecote Park.

"They just filmed outside in the park - they did not come into the house. I don't think anyone here bumped into the stars. We are closed on Wednesdays and Thursdays in April anyway."

Julia Finn, for the film company, said Depp had been in the area but had been very busy.

"Things were on a tight schedule. I have not heard if he had time to have a look around or socialise, but I expect he would have been very busy."

Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp is shooting his latest £8.7m movie in the heart of the Cotswolds.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star has set pulses racing at Stanway House, near Winchcombe filming scenes for The Libertine, a real-life story of a debauched 17th century poet. The Hollywood heartthrob swapped his skull and crossbones for a family crest to play John Rochester Earl of Rochester and a life of skulduggery on the high seas for a heady sexual romp in high society.

The notorious nobleman died at 33, a physical wreck after a life of sensual excess.

Depp stars opposite John Malkovich, whose movies include Dangerous Liaisons and Ripley's Game, as King Charles II.

It also stars Samantha Morton, who featured with Tom Cruise in Minority Report. She plays a failing actress - the object of the Earl's affections.

Stanway, an idyllic Jacobean manor house and the home of Lord Neidpath, is the stunning backdrop for five days of filming.

It is set in sweeping grounds, a church nestling next-door, and surrounded by a cluster of honey- coloured stone cottages.

Star-struck residents have been queuing for parts as extras in the lavish period piece - but as yet haven't spotted Johnny.

Mavis Jenkins, who lives opposite Stanway House, landed the part of a street woman, and started filming at 3.30am.

She said: "I have to look alluring. It's amazing how they transform someone. I wear a grey wig to make me look very old, a tatty shirt and a blouse with a corset on top.

"I look about 90. It's lovely to use Stanway as a location and they've made several films here before."

Neighbour Susan Greenhalf said: "I'm playing a lady in a street scene. I've walked up and down in the courtyard wearing a long bronze-coloured dress with a blue cape.

"Our shot will probably be about two seconds. I'll have to freeze it to see if it's me."

Another resident on set said: "I haven't see Johnny Depp.

"They're probably keeping him under wraps."

Depp fan Kelly Stephens said: "I love him so much that I told my boyfriend I'd camp down at Stanway grounds for the week."

Boyfriend Anthony Johns had hoped the star would pop into his father Colin's pub The Mount in nearby Stanton.

He said: "But we do have a policy of just letting famous people just get on with it and have a nice, quiet drink, like everyone else.

"I like his films and we watched one last night. But my girlfriend's got a thing about him."

Depp stayed at a hotel in Chipping Campden.

Its owner said: "He's very quiet, very charming and was relaxed. He hasn't been demanding at all.

"He was fascinated by the history of the town and thought it was a beautiful place."

Stanway House was built by the Tracys of Stanway from 1580.

The family owned land in the county since before the Conquest. The country pile has only changed hands once, other than by succession, in the past 1,260 years.

Stanway Hosue has been the base for a number of films.

Last year, a Hollywood version of Vanity Fair was filmed. In 2001 The Clandestine Marriage starring Joan Collins was filmed there.

It was also used for scenes from Buccaneers.

Hollywood hunk Johnny Depp has flown girlfriend Vanessa Paradis to Britain for a night of passion. The 41-year-old star was missing his sweetheart so much while filming his latest movie 'The Libertine' in Britain, that he seized the chance to bring her over from their home in France for one evening.
Johnny has been living in with the French actress for the past six years. He was spurred into instant action by co-star Samantha Morton who noticed how much he was missing Vanessa.

The lovey-dovey couple spent a romantic night at a majestic home where Depp even serenaded the mother of his two children. The 'Pirates Of The Caribbean' star had recently admitted that falling in love with Vanessa had saved him from depression and alcohol.

"I lived the first 35 years of my life in a fog. I didn't really know what I wanted or who I was," TeenHollywood quoted an emotional Johhny as saying.

Johnny and Vanessa had daughter Lily-Rose soon after they met and added son Jack to their family in 2002.

"I pretty much fell in love with Vanessa the moment I set eyes on her. As a person, I was pretty much a lost cause at that time in my life. She turned all that around for me with her incredible tenderness and understanding," said Johnny.

Depp claimed 29 per cent of the people.com vote with BRAD PITT three per cent behind, while Zeta-Jones beat HALLE BERRY on the beauty list.

In other online polls compiled for the 30th anniversary issue of the American magazine, REESE WITHERSPOON beat ANGELINA JOLIE in the Favourite Female Film Star category and ASHTON KUTCHER claimed the Favourite Male TV Star.

Meanwhile, in another poll, HUGH JACKMAN was a clear people's favourite to play the next JAMES BOND, beating JUDE LAW by 16 per cent.

Step forward the man who has helped save the former Pogues singer Shane MacGowan from destruction-Hollywood star Johnny Depp.

The pair are so close Johnny 40, wanted Shane, once arrested for possessing heroin, to appear in his blockbuster The Libertines.

So legendary wildman Shane, 46, shot his scenes as a 16th Century bard at Hampton Court, West London, last week alongside John Malkovich.

I am also told Depp, who has clubs in LA and Paris wants to open one in London.

From Isle of Man Online
Found by Reemi

LIBERTINE LOVELIES ON PARADE
03 April 2004

THESE are some of the glamorous models who'll be appearing alongside Hollywood star Johnny Depp in forthcoming movie, The Libertine.

The raunchy £13 million production will begin filming on Easter Monday for three weeks at Island Studios, near Ramsey.

The models are some of 66 people who Nina's People, the firm casting the extras for the film, has brought over from the UK.

They were part of a 500-strong group which auditioned for parts at the Hilton Hotel, Douglas, on Sunday.

The Libertine is the story of the Earl of Rochester, the 17th century poet who drank and debauched his way to an early grave only to receive widespread posthumous acclaim. Depp takes the title role and John Malkovich and Samantha Morton co-star.

Nina's People boss Nina Carter said: 'My job is to find as many people as I can to fit the description the film production company has given me.

'They wanted people between the age of 20 and 65 to appear in this movie and contrary to popular belief it is not a "nude" film — it is a movie where some people will be asked to reveal certain parts of their body, but it is to create an illusion of a 17th century theatre and all the extras that we are providing will be there to create the ambience of people surrounding the Earl of Rochester at that time. Some extras will be asked to shout things out from the audience, some will be wearing elegant costumes, some will be wearing dresses off the shoulder and those who are doing scenes where they may be asked to reveal parts of their body have been thoroughly briefed.

'If you can imagine, it's the time of King Charles, when morals were low and it was a decadent lifestyle. Therefore the scene that will be shot will be decadent and it will be pretty wild in places, but it is all going to be shot in Island Studios in a mock-up theatre. It is not nudity for the sake of it, it is portraying a story from that time.'

Nina said the models pictured, who are from an agency in Liverpool, are among those who might be asked to do 'some of the more revealing scenes'.

But she added: 'We're not just looking for "glamorous" people – we're looking for large people, men and women, people with character. We need a mixture of people of all ages.

'We had 500 people at a casting session at the Hilton Hotel on Sunday and most of them were from the Isle of Man, but we did bring in 66 people from the UK.

'I have been looking for people who are uninhibited, but it is only a small section of the total number of extras, possibly only 30, who will be required to be naked or semi-naked. I've covered my back by interviewing people in the Island and bringing some to the Island.'

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