May 2004
Dentro de las categorías de películas internacionales, la audiencia de MTV consideró a Orlando Bloom en Los Piratas del Caribe como el “Héroe Más Sexy”, mientras que Johnny Depp en la misma película se llevó el premio al “Mejor Look”. Translation of the important bit: Orlando Bloom won the Sexiest Heroe and Johnny Depp was the Best Looking
Found by SueB
The Official POTC website has a new fun desktop toy HERE
Click on "Screen Matey" on the left side and get an animated Captain Jack Sparrow who can spend time on your desktop. Do not skip the intro.
More news about the Libertine over at the LIBERTINE pages
Teen Hollywood has another report on The Gypsy's Curse
Depp's Movie Paradis
May 29, 2004 - BANG Showbiz
Johnny Depp is set to star with love Vanessa Paradis in an upcoming movie.
The Hollywood heartthrob will play a gypsy in the $17 million adaptation of Harry Crew's book 'The Gypsy's Curse', while the mother of his two children will play a scheming temptress.
The movie, which is due to start filming in August, tells the story of a disabled man who falls under the spell of Paradis' character and is warned of his fate by Depp.
Only last week, Vanessa hinted she could never make a movie with her longtime partner - because he would make her laugh too much.
The French singer-turned-actress confessed: "Neither of us knows whether
it would work. My worry is keeping a straight face in front of him - he
makes me laugh all the time. So trying to be serious, to give him a look
without having to giggle - honestly, I don't know if I could do that."
From EurWeb
IT'S TIME FOR THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS: Rock, Cube, Diesel, Hilton present.
(May. 27, 2004) *The MTV Movie Awards are set to blast off and some of the presenters sound like a construction site near the Hilton. But it wouldn't be any fun to say Dwayne Johnson, O'Shea Jackson, Mark Vincent, and Paris Hilton have agreed to share the stage as presenters at the upcoming MTV Movie Awards. You probably wouldn't even know who these people are.
Other presenters, who go by their real names, announced Tuesday by the music channel include Ashton Kutcher, "Friends" star Matthew Perry, Queen Latifah and Marlon Wayans and Shawn Wayans.
They will join previously announced participants Snoop Dogg, Dave Chappelle, Kirsten Dunst, Eve, Jimmy Fallon, Kate Hudson and Scarlett Johannson.
Up for the most MTV Movie Award nominations is "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." The Johnny Depp led flick has six, including best movie and best on-screen team for co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom.
Among bands scheduled to perform is D12, the Beastie Boys and the Yeah
Yeah Yeah. Lindsay Lohan, the 17-year-old star of "Mean Girls," will host
the show which will be broadcast June 10, but tapes June 5 at Sony Pictures
Studios in Culver City, Calif.
From Movieweb
European visual effects for Charlie & The Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire and Sahara
Friday, May 28th, 2004 - 01:17 AM PST
Source: Variety
Special Effects: According to Variety, Cinesite Europe has brokered deals with Warner Bros. and Paramount to create visual effects sequences for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Sahara and What's It All About, Alfie?.
London-based shop had previously landed Disney's Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for which it will create 300 shots, and Fox's Alien vs. Predator. It is completing 500 shots for Disney's King Arthur, which Jerry Bruckheimer is producing.
It's unclear just how many f/xf/x shots Cinesite will create for the new slate of pics, but tentpoles "Chocolate Factory" and "Goblet of Fire," which are ramping up production, and "Sahara," which is already filming, are considered large, effects-heavy productions, with each requiring hundreds of shots. The remake of "Alfie" is a much smaller project effects-wise.
Pics will require Cinesite to create 3-D sequences and models.
Cinesite recently completed extensive compositing and animation work
for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Phantom Of The Opera
and Troy.
Company's physical effects subsid Effects Associates, based at Pinewood
Studios, recently worked on Thunderbirds, Hellboy and Wimbledon.
Thanks to Emma, we now have a photo of the auctioned undies Johnny donated (see articles below)
Sent in by Tina
Tina writes:I
am a native of the Northern-English town of St. Helens where, coincidentally,
the comedian - Johnny Vegas, originates from. Mr. Vegas has recently been
filming 'The Libertine' in the Isle of Man with Johnny D, and the two have
become firm friends.
On May 15th this year, the St. Helens Rugby League team played in the Challenge Cup Final at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff (Wales), where we beat our arch-rivals, the Wigan Warriors 32-12.
Johnny Vegas - a life-long supporter of "The Saints" - recruited Johnny
D (and John Malkovich) to support the team on Cup Final day, hence the
photo' him urging the team on as seen in the May 17th issue of 'Rugby League
weekly'.
Found by Emma
Helen House show helps raise £50k
Organisers of the star-studded variety performance at the Oxford Playhouse on Sunday in aid of Oxford's Helen House children's hospice are hoping the event has helped raise more than £50,000.
Money is still being counted but with ticket sales, auction prizes and cash donations totalling nearly £25,000 -- and an Internet auction still to come -- fundraisers are hopeful of reaching the magic target.
From today (26 May), Internet auction site Ebay will sell off a plethora of rare film and television memorabilia in aid of the hospice.
Lots include a Lord of the Rings film poster signed by Oscar winning actor Sir Ian McKellen, a Pirates of the Caribbean film poster signed by actor Johnny Depp, drumsticks and drumskin signed by Radiohead's Philip Selway and a scrub shirt from the American hospital drama ER signed by the current cast.
The memorabilia was donated by friends and colleagues of Gosford Park actor Tom Hollander who organised the performance. His one-year-old niece Imogen is a regular the hospice.
Visit www.ebay.co.uk to see all the items or to make a bid.
http://www.thisisoxfordshire.co.uk/oxfordshire/archive/2004/05/26/OXNEWS2ZM.html
Sleepy found update from Latino Review
The scooper for Dark Horizons was mistaken about Johnny Deep being up for the role as Lex Luthor. Deep is actually up for the role for Jor-El.
From JoBlo
Dark Horizons got some huge information on the upcoming revival of the
SUPERMAN franchise via a scooper named The Smile Face Poster. Everything
to
do with this film is still speculation but man, Warner Bros should
start
believing the hype. Click here to read the whole article. You're gonna
want
to after you check out some of the details below.
"I finally got a word on the casting for McG's SUPERMAN. I will tell
you
this, and tell it to you first: Henry Cavill is Superman. This is the
director's favorite and a majority of the fan's favorite also. Warner
Bros.
realizes this, and they also see how the casting of Christian Bale
for
Batman got high-ups from the fanbase. They want to do the same."
"Rose Bryne and Selma Blair are "this close" to getting the role of
Lois
Lane, and one of them will get it."
"While Topher Grace auditioned for the role of Jimmy Olsen, apparently
it
may (the key word is may) go to THE OC co-star Adam Brody."
"Now comes the main event. I can safely say that you can expect Johnny
Depp
to be the next Lex Luthor. That is, because he is the studio's favorite
and
McG wants to work with him. He's tied because he's not exactly sure
if he
wants to accept, and he also has CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
filming
soon under the direction of Tim Burton. But WB and McG are really
trying to
nab Depp, since he turned out the most viable in his screentest
(I
heard it
was "f**king amazing")."
Found by Emma
THE RAZZ: WRITE MOVE FOR DEPP
May 26 2004
With Lee-Ann Fullerton And Beverley Lyons
JOHNNY DEPP'S decision to buy a house in the village of Rye, East Sussex, is part of his attempt to re-invent himself as a writer.
Depp has been nursing a secret ambition to become a scriptwriter, and
is well advanced in working an idea into a successful story. A source on
the set of The Libertine, Depp's latest project, says the actor's been
looking at potential nests to hide himself away and write. The source said:
'He loves the fact Rye was once home to literary giants HG Wells and Joseph
Conrad.'
From HELLO
Who could believe the teenage pin-up who set hearts aflutter in Cry Baby and 21 Jump Street turned 40 on June 9 last year? Of course, the actor's youthful looks belie his age, and he was crowned "Sexiest Man Alive" in 2003, beating 20-somethings Ashton Kutcher, Colin Farrell and Justin Timberlake to the title. The reformed wildman is happy to confess his hell-raising days are behind him and he has no desire to be a youngster again. "As soon as you turn 30, you go: 'Oh no!' 40's next!," he explains. "But by the time you reach 40, you think, 'This isn't so bad'." Now living in Paris with girlfriend Vanessa Paradis and their daughter Lily-Rose, Johnny says he is loving life as a family man. He can still turn teenage heads, however, as his Pirates Of The Caribbean co-star Keira Knightley found out. "He's a gorgeous guy," she declares. "Eye candy!"
Johnny's Stunt Double Comes up On His Feet
By Janie Nelson
DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER
Remember the first sword fight in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," when Johnny Depp goes flying through the air? Wonder how he did that?
Surprise - he didn't. The guy doing the acrobatics was Tony Angelotti, a graduate of Tallahassee Tumbling Tots. His antics won him the Taurus World Stunt Award 2004 for Best Fight Scene. The award show, which was held May 16, airs tonight on the cable channel Spike TV.
The honor - it's like winning an Oscar for a stunt man - came as no surprise to his dad, Jerry Angelotti.
"When he was a very little person, every time I went looking for him, I would see his feet up in the air. He and a little neighborhood girl just walked every place on their hands."
Now Tony's walking on air.
"I'm still sort of on cloud nine," he said Tuesday from his home in Santa Monica, Calif.
So how was it working with People magazine's Sexiest Man Alive for 2003?
"Johnny Depp is an amazing actor and individual," Angelotti said. "Very calm and very intellectual. ... He's a very genuine and down-to-earth person."
But how was it trying to "be" Johnny Depp?
"When you're stunt-doubling, you have to act like the actor you're working with," he said. Trying to emulate Depp's foppish walk wasn't easy. "I watched him and watched him and watched him in rehearsal. I'd practice and practice and practice.
"I would try to add that Johnny Depp flair as much as possible. When I'd overdo it, the director would say: 'Tone it down a bit."' When he didn't have quite enough flash: "Let's have a little more Jack Sparrow (Depp's character in the movie)."
Although Angelotti won his Taurus for the fight scene, that wasn't the only appearance he made in "Pirates."
Remember the scene when Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom's main squeeze, passes out and falls off the cliff because her corset is too tight?
That was Angelotti diving to the rescue.
"They wanted to see a nice, pretty dive with a half twist into the water," Angelotti remembered.
Another scene he's proud of is memorable to the movie's fans.
"When Johnny was standing on the end of (the) gangplank and Geoffrey Rush throws his sword and scabbard and gun overboard, and you see Johnny going over, that's me," said the 36-year-old Florida High grad. "I was all over the place."
Literally. When he wasn't doubling for Depp, he played a pirate or villager.
Angelotti had some insider information on some of the other movie characters.
In the gangplank scene, Knightley appeared to go overboard on her own. That's not quite how it happened.
"One of the big pirates knocked her in by shaking the gangplank," he said.
Angelotti shares the stuntman award with his fellow fighter, Mark Wagner, who doubled for teen heartthrob Bloom.
The former Tallahasseean remembers calling Wagner, who is in Morocco shooting another movie with Bloom. "He was equally floored."
Although "Pirates of the Caribbean" is his first award-winning role, it's not the first time Angelotti has taken hard knocks for major stars.
The University of Michigan grad doubled for both Antonio Banderas and Anthony Hopkins in 1998's "The Mask of Zorro." Asked how he could double for actors who look so different, he laughed. It took hours for makeup people to create a whole facial mask to help him pass as the venerable Hopkins.
Other credits include "Unsolved Mysteries" and the movie "Starship Troopers." Currently he's working behind the scenes on the hit reality show "Fear Factor" testing the equipment.
As for what's next, Angelotti is hoping for an encore.
"'Pirates 2' is supposed to be starting in the fall," he said, "and I'm hoping that's on the horizon."
His friends in Tallahassee hope so, too.
"We pull up the movies and stop them," said Katy Johnston, supervisor with the Trousdell Gymnastics Center, formerly Tumbling Tots. "We can see our Tony. It's real exciting."
Found by Emma at Skymovies.com
Depp's Undies Zapped By Jude
It's all tit for tat in the world of Hollywood hunks, as Jude gets over excited and decides to strip because his suit is worth more than Mr Depp's undies.
Jude Law obviously likes to feel loved and so was overly jubilant at a charity auction when his suit went for £400 more than Johnny Depp's knickers.
Jude and his girlfriend Sienna Miller were at the Oxford Playhouse, watching fellow thespians Bill Nighy, Michael Gambon and Jeremy Irons performing poetry and prose to raise money for a hospice.
When it came to the auction part of the evening, things started to look up for Cold Mountain star Jude...
He sat by whilst a pair of underpants belonging to Johnny Depp started a bidding war, which ended at the final price of £1,600.
Then it was Jude's turn, a suit that once hung in his wardrobe came onto the stage, Jude's palms must have been getting a bit clammy as the price neared that of Johnny's grundies... only for him to sigh with relief when his suit managed to rake in £2,000.
In fact, so relieved was he, that Jude took it upon himself to mount the stage and offer the very shirt on his back as well.
A member of the audience told the Daily Mail:
"He went up onto the stage, took off his shirt in the wings and that
was auctioned too, for another £1,000."
However, much to the disappointment of his female fans in the audience, when Jude reappeared he had swopped his shirt for a t-shirt backstage.
More on The Gypsy's Curse
Johnny Depp to get up and close to wife on the big screen!
Washington | May 26, 2004
Hollywood hunk Johnny Depp, must be quite excited about this one, for he is all set to star in an upcoming movie with his wife Vanessa Paradis.
According to Teen Hollywood, Depp plays a gypsy and Paradis a dangerous temptress in the 18 million dollar adaptation of Harry Crews novel, The Gypsy's Curse.
The film is the story of a disabled man who is enchanted by Paradis' femme fatale while Depp warns him of his impending fate.
Depp had recently claimed that he was not looking forward to working with his wife.
"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," he said. (ANI)
More from Ananova on The Gypsy's Curse
Depp and wife team up for new film
Johnny Depp is to team up with wife Vanessa Paradis for his latest film.
He'll play a gypsy in the new adaptation of The Gypsy's Curse. Singer
Paradis will play the femme fatale in the £10million movie, which
is due to go into production in August, says the Daily Record. The
film tells the tale of a disabled man who falls under the spell of a devious
temptress and is warned of his fate by Depp.
Release date: 2005
Following up from the Oxford Mail:
"A pair of Johnny Deep’s underpants signed ‘Thanks for all your support, Johnny Depp’ raised £1,600...and John Malkovich’s signed copy of his The Libertine script made £1,500."
Found by Really at NitroMovies
They are giving a release date of October 2004 in the USA for Libertine..
Found by Emma
Artnet News
5/19/04
“MODIGLIANI: BEYOND THE MYTH”
The Jewish Museum’s stunning new exhibition, “Modigliani: Beyond the Myth,” May 21-Sept. 19, 2004, features over 100 paintings, sculptures and drawings by the Italian Jewish artist Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920), whose portraits were “a vehicle for his egalitarian vision” as well as a reflection of his concern with “the nature and ambiguity of identity.” Many public and private collections were tapped for the show -- lenders include the actor Johnny Depp, who owns a ca. 1910 drawing of a Female Acrobat inscribed with a Symbolist poem about nighttime fairies and pillars of light; New York dealer Helly Nahmad, who lends both La belle épicière, a 1918 oil of a placid grocer, and a 1917 portrait of Oscar Miestchaninoff; and Sotheby’s majority owner A. Alfred Taubman, who provides a 1919 portrait of Paulette Jourdain. And the 1919 Portrait of Thora Klinckowström is from the estate of Evelyn Sharp, which has been a big seller at recent art auctions.
The show also features five of the more than two dozen large reclining
nudes the artist made between 1916 and 1919 (and which were censored when
they were first shown), including paintings on loan from the Guggenheim
Museum, the Osaka City Museum of Modern Art and three private collections
-- though not the Reclining Nude from 1917 that Las Vegas casino mogul
Steve Wynn sold at Christie’s New York last fall for $24 million. The exhibition
is organized by critic and Jewish Museum curator Mason Klein, and is slated
to appear at the Art Gallery of Ontario, Oct. 23, 2004-Jan. 23, 2005, and
the Phillips Collection, Feb. 26-May 29, 2005.
Found by Conny
http://www.idowa.de/
Johnny was voted most beautiful actor by the users of "idowa", the online pages of a newspaper group in Lower Bavaria, Germany.
Found by Liz
From Coming Soon
Freddie Highmore Visits the Chocolate Factory Source: Variety Friday, May 21, 2004
We received rumors earlier this week that Johnny Depp's young J.M. Barrie's Neverland co-star Freddie Highmore was also cast in Depp's upcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which Tim Burton is directing. Variety has now confirmed this. Highmore also stars in the upcoming British film Five Children and It.
In "Chocolate Factory," he plays the poverty-stricken boy who stumbles across one of the five golden tickets that wins an exclusive tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory. The other four winners are grotesque brats who get their comeuppance in the course of the tour, leaving Charlie to become Mr. Wonka's heir.
Johnny Depp plays Willy Wonka with shooting starting this summer at London's Pinewood Studios. Here's a pic of the two in J.M. Barrie's Neverland:
From AintItCoolNews(see item below from Pam and Hollywood Reporter)
May 21, 2004
More on The Gypsy's Curse
"So, some small bites for yers. Harvey Keitel and Mrs. Depp - Vanessae Paradis are to topline The Gypsy's Curse for French Prod company Davis Films. The movie is an adaptation of what has been said to be a huge cult among pulp ficton dime store novel fans. Johnny Depp has also been tipped to have a role in the film. In fact, a pivital part - the character of the Gypsy who reveals the future for Harvey's character Marvin."
From Pam
From today's Hollywood Reporter:
France's Davis puts 'Curse' on Keitel, Paradis.
Cannes - Harvey Keitel, French singer-actress Vanessa Paradis and David Toole, a British dancer who has no legs, are to star in an adaptation of "The Gypsy's Curse" for French independent Davis Films.
The film will mark the directing debut of French event designer and choreographer Phillippe Decouffle and will be produced by Samuel Hadida, who heads up Davis Films with his brother Victor.
"Gypsy" is based on the eponymous cult pulp fiction novel by Harry Crews. Toole will play Marvin, who is part of a freakish athletic club run by Keitel's character. "It's a powerful love story with a femme fatale (played by Paradis)," Hadida said.
The script is by Decouffle and Sarah Levy. Hadida said the role of the gypsy who foretells Marvin's misfortune would ideally suit Johnny Depp, Paradis' husband.
The movie starts shooting Aug. 16 for three weeks in Britain before moving to Portugal for six to seven weeks. "Our intention is to present the completed movie to Cannes next year," Hadida said.
Decouffle has produced for television and directed adverts but is probably best known in France for orchestrating the spectacular show that preceded the opening of the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville.
Budgeted at about $15 million, "Gypsy" is co-produced by New Line and Filmes do Tajo in Portugal, and negotiations are being finalized with a U.K. tax-fueled production fund.
Summit Entertainment is handling sales on all international territories outside France and Portugal. The Hadida brothers' distribution arm, Metropolitan Filmexport, will release the picture in France.
It is the latest addition to a growing slate of titles that Davis is
producing, including the video game adaptations "Onimusha" and "Resident
Evil: Apocalypse" and the Keitel-Robert De Niro starrer "The Bridge of
San Luis Rey."
From lafilmfest.com
Dead Man will be showing at the L. A. Film Festival - Guest Director/Artist in Residence, Sat, Jun 26, 1:30 pm
Laemmle Theatre 1 $10.00 located at 8000 Sunset Blvd., West Holywood. Individual tickets for the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival will go on sale May 20, 2004.
Mutley sent in this scan of the Undies story:
Found by Emma
Release date for Libertine in the UK - November 26, 2004
BBC Films
Found by Meeps
Johnny is in the following magazines:
TOTAL FILM - June, 2004.
Page 30. Secret Window. (2 stars - disappointing)
Total Film doesn't like Secret Window ... But does add:
"So thank God for Mr. Johnny, whose inability to turn in a bad performance extends even to loose, flaccid fare like this"
----------
FILM REVIEW - June, 2004.
Page 40-41: BIG picture from the movie Neverland. Johnny standing with the bright yellow kite.
Page 54-55: One page interview with Johnny about Secret Window. A fullpage (p. 55) close up of Johnny's face.
Conny reports Johnny is in the French Playboy Magazine No. 47 dated May 18, 2004.
E Bronte reports: On AOL homepage,Go down to Entertainment section and click on "5 Gemini Celebs and Their Traits." Nice Oscar pic and astrological profile of him (who cares about the other celebs!)
Found by Reemi
Brad Pitt on Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
You’ve formed a film production company Plan-B with Jennifer Aniston. Since her TV series Friends has ended, will the company initiate star vehicles for her?
"Jennifer and I are making Willy Wonka but we aren’t in it. It’s to
be directed by Tim Burton, we’ve got Johnny Depp on board too." Plan-B
is also co-producing a remake of the Chinese film Infernal Affairs. We
liked its story but it isn’t right for me. Similarly we’ve got the rights
for filming the story of the killing of journalist Daniel Pearl, again
it isn’t a vehicle for either Jen or me. We’ve set up the company to make
films, not to be in them. For the Daniel Pearl film, we’re hoping to get
Martin Scorsese to direct.
Found by Reemi at Sci-Fi Wire
Elfman tunes up for Charlie
May 17, 2004
Film composer Danny Elfman told SCI FI Wire that, while he's finishing the score for Spider-Man 2, he's doing preliminary work on Tim Burton's upcoming fantasy film Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "As soon as I'm done with Spider-Man 2, I jump right into both Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and another animated Tim Burton film called The Corpse Bride," Elfman said in an interview.
Elfman, who previously composed the music for such Burton films as Batman, Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Big Fish, sounded particularly excited about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "It just looks like it's going to be tons of fun," he said. "The first attempt at writing a first idea for a song [was] so whacked out. I just sat there writing this crazy thing in the middle of the night and put 20 voices on it myself as a demo. I sent it out there, and Tim liked it."
Elfman added, "[The film] is going to be really great. It seems like
really fertile ground. The script is good. I like Johnny Depp a lot. So
I think doing an adaptation from the book could be great. I know it's always
dangerous doing a remake of something that's much loved. I've been down
this road before. I just hope it gets a shot at being its own thing." Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory, based on the Roald Dahl children's book, is
in preproduction now with an eye toward a July 2005 release.
From Shazy - Johnny voted best Actor by the Brittania Music & Film Club Members.......
Found by Really
Stunt actors praise Pirates fight
BBC News
Monday May 17, 2004
The Pirates of the Caribbean fight involved swords and acrobatics
Stunt actors have named a swashbuckling battle from Pirates of the
Caribbean as the best film fight of the past year Tony Angelotti and Mark
Wagner won the World Stunt Awards prize after standing in for actors Johnny
Depp and Orlando Bloom during the acrobatic sword fight.
(Full Article HERE)
From Mom in Depp Camp
Here is the picture in In Touch Magazine May 24th issue
Found by Casual Viewin'
London Sunday Times Online
May 16, 2004
(Large photos from the article are at Cosh5's website HERE)
Cover story
Paradis found
The last we heard from France's most famous nymphet was when she snagged
Johnny Depp off Kate Moss. So what's she been doing? Falling in love and
making films, music and babies, she tells Lisa Grainger
It is 10am on a foggy Saturday morning in Brussels, on a street coloured
only by gaudy neon signs offering sex toys, porn films, Eurotrash CDs and
female flesh for hire. It is not star territory. It certainly isn’t the
sort of area where you would expect to find a Chanel model and girlfriend
of a Hollywood star. Yet, somehow, meeting Vanessa Paradis in such insalubrious
surroundings isn’t one bit odd.
After all, this is the woman who, at the age of 15, became a male fantasy
overnight with her Lolita-like pop song Joe le Taxi. The schoolgirl who
had “whore” graffitied on her home when she appeared, as she admits, in
“short skirts that were hardly there”. The young girl who was taken under
the wing of the notorious Serge Gainsbourg, to be tutored in the art of
Jane Birkinesque love songs. The actress who bared all in her César-winning
performance of Noce Blanche. And finally, and this is the last time we
heard from her, the seductress who supposedly “stole” Johnny Depp from
Kate Moss. A clean-living Gwyneth Paltrow type she isn’t.
Or rather, wasn’t. “Unless you’re a tomboy, every 14-year-old wants to be a woman,” Paradis, now 31, protests, dragging on the first of several black roll-up cigarettes. “I wore make-up and very short clothes — almost no clothes — because I wanted to be sexy, and be a woman. I wanted to be faster than life. But I don’t regret it. I’m not ashamed of it at all.” And today? “Being older, and especially being a mother, I don’t think about it. I suppose because I am a satisfied woman now, I don’t have to try to be anything else. My life is so beautiful, and I have everything I want and need.”
“Everything” Paradis needs is not only her two children, Lily-Rose, nearly 5, and Jack, 2, her second film in a year, a starring role in the new Chanel campaign (the first was for Coco perfume 13 years ago, in which she posed in a birdcage) and couture dresses given to her by the designer Karl Lagerfeld, but a partner millions of women fantasise about — Johnny Depp.
Paradis is in Brussels, playing the part of a prostitute in the French director Serge Frydman’s new film, My Angel. It means that she and Depp are apart “for the first time in years”, and she says she misses him every day. “What is it about him I love? Everything. Everything,” she whispers, half American schoolgirl, half French seductress, her pale-green eyes misting over. “It would be silly to tell you how smart and funny and brilliant and special and beautiful he is. I mean, it is all this, but it is beyond that. I don’t know... He is just the one. Before I even met him, I knew. I had been in love with him for quite a while.”
Since they have had children, she explains, they try to be together almost constantly — whether that is at their villa near St Tropez or at home in LA. “We can’t be apart for long,” she says. “Luckily for me, I have spent my life travelling, so I am used to going wherever Johnny is, whether it’s England, Prague, Mexico or Paris. And the kids like it, too. I hope it will make them broad-minded and open. As long as we have everything they need — which is a lot, like about 40 bags — we have as normal a life as possible.”
Not that their life is normal, she is quick to point out, with “so much privilege in our life and many, many more material possessions than we need”. But, she adds, “You learn that what matters is the friends who surround you wherever you are. To us, a good life is about having good people around you, people you love, who care for you. That’s what life and home and family is about. And that’s what we’ve got.”
When the pair are not filming, she says, they spend their time at home in France, playing in the garden, walking on the beach, like any other family. “In LA, it’s doing things that normal mums do — like going to the kids’ gym with them.” Jack (whose umbilical cord was cut by his father) is a real boy, Paradis says. “One minute, he wants to be a pirate, like his dad (who starred in Pirates of the Caribbean). The next, he wants to be a cowboy.”
Lily-Rose, by contrast, is a fashion babe; she even has her own Chanel handbag. “She is already such a lady, such a girlie girl,” says Paradis. “So, when I started modelling the Chanel bags, I had to ask for a little pink one for her, which she loves. I mean, she was rocking perfectly in my Chanel pumps when she was two. She is so ready to be a woman, this one.”
Prior to fatherhood, Depp was known as a wild boy, drinking in his Viper Room club in LA and partying heavily for four years with Kate Moss. Having children with Paradis has clearly calmed him down. “Children bring out the best in you,” she says. “They teach you things in your life, they show you the real beauty of life and love, and everything that is open and honest and direct and pure.” They’d both love more children, she says; they’re what she’s been “waiting for from such a young age. I don’t know how many more: one, maybe two. I don’t know if I can stop. I just love having babies”.
When asked if she worries about Depp falling for other women (after all, he met Paradis when he was seeing Kate Moss), she just shrugs her shoulders. “There are lots of pretty women out there and everyone, whether they are a plumber or a lawyer, has occasions to be unfaithful. He is confronted by people every day who, you know, are prettier than me. Or funnier than me. Whatever. You know, I don’t care. I’m his best friend. And I guess that being away and seeing other people just brings us closer together. Because we know we’ve got the best to come — when we’re together again at home.”
Getting married isn’t a priority either, she stresses. “We’ve never said we don’t want to get married, but we’re neither opposed to it nor excited about it. You know, we might do it for the kids one day. But we are more than married: we have two children. It’s not like we need to.”
They haven’t managed to work together, although they came close with Terry Gilliam’s The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, which was axed when the lead actor fell ill. “Neither of us knows whether it would work,” says Paradis. “My worry is keeping a straight face in front of him; he makes me laugh all the time. So trying to be serious, to give him a look without having to giggle — honestly, I don’t know if I could do that.”
In the meantime, she’s working on her seventh film, composing songs for her seventh album (with three fingers on the piano, or the guitar when she’s travelling) and feeling slightly nervous about the public’s reaction to the posters of her modelling the new Ligne Cambon handbags in Chanel’s shop windows in London. “I hope they don’t paint a Hitler moustache on,” she giggles, remembering the time when women shouted “Whore!” at her in the street. “I suppose you can’t be loved by everybody, and when you’re in the public eye, reactions are excessive. Fortunately, that was long ago.”
Besides, she adds, pulling her wild blonde hair into a scraggy chignon,
being a busy mother, she doesn’t have time for gossip. “My life is away
from silly magazines, which are good for one thing — making fires.” With
that, she grins, revealing her famously gappy teeth, collects her black
Rizlas and tobacco, and is off — back to her children. And next week, lucky
woman, to Johnny Depp.
Found by johnnylubber
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 confirmation
From Comingsoon.net:
Pirates of the Caribbean Sequels Confirmations! Source: Coming Soon!
Saturday, May 15, 2004
Two cool news bits have come in this weekend about the Pirates of
the Caribbean sequels. First up, Dark Horizons received a report
from the NATO (North American Theatre Owners) annual meeting where
Disney talked about the franchise.
He went on to talk about the sequel(s) to Pirates and said the
entire cast and production team would be back. He said production
would begin shortly on Pirates of the Caribbean 2 & 3 and they
would
be released six months apart in 2006. This was news to me as I had
only heard their was going to be one sequel.
This confirms earlier speculation by the Hollywood trades that
Disney was going to shoot two sequels at once, much like the second
and third "Matrix" films.
ComingSoon.net has also confirmed with a very reliable source that
Johnny Depp's wish has come true. Rolling Stones' Keith Richards
will indeed play Captain Jack Sparrow's dad in the sequel. As you
probably know by now, Depp modeled Sparrow in the first film after
the musician.
Take JoBlo's Johnny Depp Quiz
If you dare..
Another from Spoof.com
Kerry Dumps Depp, Chooses Jay Leno
Written by Jeff Tamarkin
The chins have it.
In a complete surprise to everyone, including himself, John Kerry has
already dropped Johnny Depp and chosen Jay Leno to be his VP in the upcoming
general erection. When asked about this perplexing decision, Kerry said:
"It's in Jay's chin. I have always admired his chin. It's more elongated
than mine. So, what the hay, it's now Jay."
Republican observers were amazed, and elated. Senator Orifice Hatch: "We're in. Again." Veep Dickass Lamey: "It's the chins to win. I don't think so." Condopizza Gaptoothricecake: "Why he didn't pick John McFeign or Bigcalf Billary Clitwoman, I don't know. What I do know, next to nothing, is that I'm celebrating at KFC tonight. In fact, I may buy my own KFC and start speaking Jamaican."
Democrats were equally flabbergasted. Joe Loverman, Connecticut's Kosher Senator: "Well, I would have chosen Alfred E. Neuman. I think he's Jewish. At least he reminds me of me." Howard Dean: "Huh? What about me? Who am I?" Al Sharpton: "That ain't chillin. Coulda been me and Tawana Brawley."
The Greens also voiced their opinion. Ralph Nader: "So, what idiots were worried about my throwing this erection to the Republicans? F--- everybody! I'm going back to airbags, and Princeton, and other intellectual stuff." From International Green Party Headquarters in Berlin, Adolf Grossbummsenkopf: "Achtung! Alles in Ordnung. Arbeit und Chins macht frei!"
Found by Emma in the Daily Mail
It’s Friday!
By Baz Bamigboye
What am I bid for Johnny's undies? Click on pic to see full size
Johnny Depp will be lending support, ahem, to a special fund-raising event by donating a pair of his underpants for auction.
Actor
Tom Hollander who appears opposite Johnny in the film The Libertine has
organised a charity revue, Childish Things: A Celebration of Childhood,
at the Oxford Playhouse on May 23. And Mr Hollander was able to speak,
firsthand, about the charity pants (described as Y-fronts-boxers cross),
having seen the Oscar- nominated star in them.
‘They’re wholesome, snugly-fitting, and offer the support of Y-fronts, Hollander told me, somehow keeping a straight face. He added that they are black, with an inscription by Johnny which reads: 'Thanks for all the support.’
Hollander along with Griff Rhys Jones and Hugh Laurie, is organising the show to raise cash for Helen House, an independently funded home-from-home centre for children with serious illnesses and their families.
Hollander whose sister and two-year-old niece use Helen House, added that Sam Mendes, Kate Winslet, Judi Dench, Liam Neeson and Pierce Brosnan have given personal items and movie memorabilila to be auctioned off.
Those providing sketches, songs anecdotes – and generally ‘mucking around’ on the night – will include Michael Gambon, Bill Nighy, Francesca Annis, John Mortimer, Emilia Fox, Sinead Cusack, Jeremy Irons, some members of Radiohead and many others.
Chef Raymond Blanc will provide food for the post-show reception.
Call the box office on 01865 305 305 or go to www.oxfordplayhouse.com
for ticket details.
Found by Sugarbutt
Cry Baby will be shown in Austin Texas at the Alamo Draft House on May 20th and Traci Lords will be there in person. Entire story on their website :http://www.drafthouse.com/downtown/frames.asp
Found by Really
'Dumb ass' Depp talks about drugs past
From Digitalspy
Thursday 13th May 2004 -- by Neil Wilkes
Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp has said he was a "dumb ass" in the days when he was hooked on booze and drugs.
Depp, 40, told OK! magazine that opium was the biggest threat. "It's highly dangerous because it's so nice," he said. "It makes you completely relaxed."
He added that he always kept clear of cocaine: "I was never, ever a cokehead - I despise that drug.
"I was totally poisoning myself with alcohol and I was medicating myself. I was trying not to feel stuff and that was ridiculous. I was simply a dumb ass."
The star is currently filming The Libertine on the Isle of Man.
Found by Reemi
Why Johnny Depp is so attractive
Thursday May 13, 2004
The Guardian
Scientists have been grappling with a real puzzle: why is Johnny Depp
so attractive to women? According to Eleanor Weston at the Research Institute
Senckenberg, Germany, the reason Depp-like faces with prominent cheekbones
are appealing could be down to evolutionary history.
With colleagues at Cambridge University, Weston studied primates' remains,
measuring skull width and the length of their canine teeth. In most primate
societies, large canines are handy: they make you look more aggressive,
so it is easier to chase potential suitors away from your mate.
Weston found that chimps with wide faces had much smaller canines, and so looked much less aggressive. The most likely reason, she says, is that at some point females began choosing their mates, going for males with more broader, more attractive features instead of the narrow, vicious look sported by many males.
Weston, whose work appears in Biology Letters, doesn't know why a wider
face is more appealing, but the preference isn't confined to primates.
"We know that women tend to find prominent cheekbones attractive," she
says. "Is it a legacy of our evolutionary past?"
From CNN: "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" has the most MTV Movie Award nominations with six, including best movie and best on-screen team for co-stars Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom. You can vote at MTV.com
From Frenchy
French radio this morning said that JD just arrived at Cannes....Don't forget to watch TV (especially Canal + in France). He may show up on the entertainment shows in the US and UK. (editor's note: JoBlo is in Cannes, we can expect news from him)
Johnny Depp Struggles to Quit
Found by Emma
SkyNews Showbiz
Wednesday May 12, 2004
Despite claiming on his 40th birthday that he was going to quit smoking, Johnny Depp is finding it harder than he first thought.
He said: "I've tried gum, patches, you name it. But I really miss holding a cigarette in my hand, so for now I am just planning to cut down."
Found by Karen
5/11/2004
Charlie & the Chocolate Factory
The Pinewood website is actually listing C&TCF as still "in production", rather than "filming" or "In Production". I guess that they are getting the various stages decked out before Johnny arrives.
Found by Reemi
Johnny Depp wants 100 children
Johnny Depp says he'd have 100 children with Vanessa Paradis if she'd let him.
He told OK! magazine: "You can't plan the kind of deep love that results in children.
"Fatherhood was not a conscious decision but now I have become the perfect example of all the paternity cliches I laughed at for years.
"I look forward to having more children. I'd have a hundred if Vanessa were willing.
"For me family is the most important thing in the world. It's your foundation, your roots. It's the only unconditional love you'll ever get."
Depp adds that his happy family life helped him enjoy the making of Pirates of the Caribbean.
He said: "I really had a ball every single day - it was just a gas! It's probably the most centred and content I've been.
"It actually started a little bit before that point because everything comes from home. I have a great relationship, my girl was three and a half and my little boy was just in the throes of the caveman period!"
http://www.ananova.com/entertainment/story/sm_952884.html
From Reemi found at Zreview
Pirates of the Caribbean 2 Update:
News reaches us that Keith Richards has confirmed that he WILL play Johnny Depp's characters Dad in Pirates of the Caribbean 2. His role will involve four days of filming so it sounds like it will be little more than a cameo appearance.
From Kate2
The Daily Express reports :
Depp sets his sights on Britain
Johnny Depp, who left Hollywood to live a quiet life in France, is
on the move again - this time to Britain. The oscar-nominated actor is
thought to have bought a house in the East Sussex village of Rye which
he will use as a half way house between filming in London and the family
home he shares in France with his partner, actress and singer Vanessa Paradis,
and their two children.
Johnny's arrival is the talk of the area, we understand. One estate
agent admitted, "It's a small town so word has been spreading fast that
he's looking around. As to whether he's actually bought yet - officially,
I can't confirm or deny one way or the other."
From Still-Rather-Timid
A town full of Jack Sparrow look-alikes?
From Reemi
More on Diamond Dead
May 8, 2004 - World Entertainment News Network
David Bowie, Ozzy Osbourne and Marilyn Manson are in negotiations to play the undead in a new horror musical.
The project, Diamond Dead - about a rock band that comes back from the grave - is being created by B-movie horror mogul George A Romero and Rocky Horror Picture Show composer Richard Hartley.
Johnny Depp has also been approached to play a character in the movie.
Romero's past credits include cult zombie films Night of the Living
Dead and Dawn of the Dead.
Found by Really
RICHARDS JOINS PIRATES SEQUEL AS DEPP'S FATHER
ROLLING STONES legend KEITH RICHARDS has finally agreed to appear as JOHNNY DEPP's father in the sequel to blockbuster PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: THE CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL.
The wild BROWN SUGAR guitarist - who provided the inspiration for Depp's OSCAR-nominated performance - will appear as CAPTAIN JACK SPARROW's dad in PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN II.
Depp has been sweet-talking Richards for months, and his determination paid off when the 60-year-old recently guaranteed he'd be on set for four days of filming.
Found by johnylubber
GQ Italy has on line info about Johnny's clothes and how to dress like him.
Link:http://www.gqonline.it/cont/050fas/010man/0405/0600/iindex.asp
More Spoof News (check back there - it's a continuing series)TheSpoof.com
Jay Leno dumps John Kerry for Johnny Depp
Written by ej moore
Leno doesn't want to become butt of his own jokes.
HOLLYWOOD - In a pre-election upset, Tonight Show host Jay Leno has dumped John Kerry and asked Johnny Depp to run in Kerry's place.
"I prefer the vice presidential office," Leno told reporters, "It's less stressful, more fun and I could keep my full-time job as a comedian."
Just days ago, John Kerry offered the Democratic VP running slot to Depp who was said to be heavily considering acceptance.
A source close to the actor said Depp, now faced with running for president,
“feels the role just wouldn't be much of a challenge because there's no
depth to the character... [the] role of vice president is far more appealing."
From Ichabod's Baby Gurl
Details of the Extras in the Secret Window DVD
-Region 1 Keep Case Widescreen Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1 - English Dolby Digital 5.1
-Audio Commentary: David Koepp
----Writer/Director Featurettes:
-A LOOK THROUGH IT
-FROM BOOK TO FILM
-SECRETS REVEALED: Deleted Scenes with Optional Director's Commentary
----Animated Storyboards
-Opening Titles
-Pushing Car Off Cliff
-The Twist Revealed
-In the Garden
Johnny among celebrities (including Hunter S. Thompson and Brad Pitt) who supports freeing a woman in prison - article in The Denver Post
Found by Sandsgirl From E Online! Gossip the Awful Truth
Johnny Depp or Keanu Reeves or maybe Ethan Hawke.
--The perfectly made-up but perfectly doable (in a mahn-ly way) Dave Navarro isn't afraid to say whom he'd do were he batting for the other team. (Dubya, I won't stop the same-sex polling till you reply.)
From Emma
The Times
May 6, 2004
Depp Frenzy
Johnny Depp's latest movie, The Libertine, about the 17th-century Earl
of Rochester, caused hysteria while shooting in the UK, not least among
the paparazzi eager to get a shot of the star. Fed up with the harassment,
Depp had the publicists sell an on-set picture to the highest bidder -which
turned out to be Empire magazine -and gave the proceeds to the Make-A-Wish
cancer charity. More chaos was wreaked when a Somerset radio station offered
to text listeners Depp's location. Packed mother-driven people-carriers
pulled up within the hour.
Found by Emma From Ananova
Stars lined up for zombie rock movie
Johnny Depp, David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne and Gwen Stefani are being sounded out for roles in a movie about a rock band that comes back from the dead.
Zombie flick Diamond Dead would be made by George A Romero, who directed Night of the Living Dead, and Rocky Horror Show composer Richard Hartley.
The film comes with a ready-made fan base - its website, www.diamonddead.com, has already attracted eight million hits.
Unusually, it gives fans the chance to read the film's script and engage in regular webchats with the makers about all aspects of the movie including casting and financing.
In one post, producer Andrew Gaty reveals: "We discussed several casting possibilities. Zach is exploring the possibility of Johnny Depp in any role, who I heard is a Romero fan.
"We are also finding out about David Bowie, Marilyn Manson, Ozzy Osbourne. We also discussed Gwen Stefani for Aria. I am particularly interested to hear your thoughts on Gwen."
And, later, he adds: "The script is out to Marilyn for the role of Jesus Christ. Any comments?"
Ridley and Tony Scott's Scott Free Productions have signed up to co-produce the project with Gaty.
The black comedy, based on a script by Brian Cooper, sees an aspiring female singer attempt to join an up-and-coming garage band, only to accidentally cause their demises.
She makes a deal with Death to bring the group back, whereupon they become an overnight success.
Spoof news found by Sleepy
from TheSpoof.com
John Kerry names Johnny Depp as running mate
Written by ej moore
Depp may decide to take a stab at politics.
WASHINGTON – Presidential hopeful and Massachusetts Senator John Kerry
today announced he has offered Johnny Depp first refusal of the coveted
VP spot in his Democratic bid for the White House.
“I first saw Johnny in that scissors movie,” Kerry told reporters, “and I’ve wanted to run with him ever since.”
A source close to the Kerry campaign stated that Kerry believes “Depp’s charm, charisma and intense global popularity is just the thing needed to sway voter support of post-teen females, twenty-something housewives, every woman in middle-aged America and that ‘certain section of guys’ towards the Democratic ticket” in November.
Depp’s oddball je ne sais quoi is much admired by fans around the globe and Kerry is eagerly awaiting Depp’s decision to take on the challenging role of Vice President .
The somewhat shy actor is said to be “favorable” regarding acceptance of Kerry’s offer and will come on board only if he and his family are allowed to remain in France.
“Also, I must be able to chase anyone I please around the Lincoln bedroom while brandishing my sword,” said Depp. “That’s if I decide to show up at all.”
Kerry told reporters: “George Bush spooked the French with his highfalutin attitude but Johnny will bring ‘em back around."
“I’ll bet my discarded ribbons on it,” he added.
From liz
Buy a Pizza and get Don Juan
The Courrier Journall
Papa John's said it still expects its comparable-store sales to increase up to 2 percent, pinning its hopes on new menu items, promotions such as offering a free DVD movie, and increased national advertising.
The first movie offerings are "Weekend at Bernie's" from 1989, the 1995 Johnny Depp film "Don Juan DeMarco" and 1997's "Trial and Error." Customers get their choice of one movie when they buy a large pizza.
From liz
Rediff
May 05, 2004
Even as the world loves Johnny Depp, the actor himself is a fan of Rolling Stone Keith Richards. Apparently, Depp modelled his Jack Sparrow act in the blockbuster Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl on Richards. The role won him an Oscar nomination.
According to the BBC, Depp claimed he did not want to imitate Richards, but only offer a salute. He said he perceived pirates of the 18th century to be 'rock stars' and for him, the greatest living rock star is Keith Richards.
Now, People claims that Depp, 41 on June 19, wants Richards, 60, to play his father in the sequel, even if it is a cameo.
The sequel to Pirates Of The Caribbean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl will go on the floors next year.
Though Depp missed the Oscar, he won the presitigious Screen Artists Guild trophy for his performance, three MTV awards in the best male, best comedic performance and best on-screen team (with Orlando Bloom) categories. Pirates also won the MTV best film, best villain (Geoffrey Rush) and breakthrough female (Keira Knightley) awards.
Found by Really at Ananova
Johnny loses sleep before new films
Johnny Depp says every time he starts a new film he feels stressed and nervous.
"The days before shooting are always incredibly stressful for me," Depp revealed to Financial Times Germany.
The 40-year-old actor admitted he loses sleep in the days before shooting if he still hasn't figured out his role before he's due to act his first scene: "It's especially bad when I know that the shooting is about to start
and I haven't quite found my role yet - when I don't know how I'm going to act it yet."
Depp said once the filming starts it usually clicks because he becomes the character, but that doesn't stop him from getting nervous at the start of his next film.
"I become this other person when I start shooting, but each time I start from scratch again," he said.
Video Interview with the actress from "What's Eating Gilbert Grape" HERE
Listen to BBC 1 Radio Interview with Jo Whiley
From Reemi
WINDOW OF SUCCESS
Taunton Times
Pirates of the Caribbean propelled Johnny Depp into the Hollywood A-list, but he is still motivated by roles that interest him, he tells Robin Walker
It's no secret that Johnny Depp based his eccentric Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean on grizzled rocker Keith Richard. 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 who this time sports glasses and copper-coloured long hair.
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 on to 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 because my kids are half-French. I've always gone back and forth between the two," he maintains.
"People think I've abandoned America and all that, and it's not the case at all."
Johnny has gone on record denying any anti-American sentiments. "I love my country and have great hopes for it. It's for this reason I speak candidly and sometimes critically about America."
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, and do the things they did a hundred 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 mainstream 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 for a change."
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 went out and chased after a project."
These days it's the projects which are being dropped in his lap. But after 13 years in films he also harbours no illusions about his current high status in Hollywood, where you're only as good as your last box-office return.
"I've also been around long enough to know that one week you're on the exclusive list, then the next week you're off the list," he says wryly.
With talk of a sequel or two for Captain Jack Sparrow in the air - Pirates 2 is scheduled for 2006 - Johnny credits his irrepressible characterisation to his daughter.
"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 later 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. Films that they would one day be proud of."
Repeat of Johnny's edition of 'Inside the Actors Studio' on the Bravo channel at 3am PDT (US)
In the UK Johnny's 'Secret Window' interview on the Breakfast show sometime between 7- 9am - Heart Radio
You can listen on the internet - about 10pm PDT
Sweetness And Light
by
Stephen Dalton
from www.Scotsman.com
IT’S easy to hate Johnny Depp. Just think of his pretentious aspirations to rise above the Hollywood fray like some aloof poet-rebel, or his naff ambitions to be a millionaire rock star, or his hair-trigger reputation for trashing hotel rooms and punching out photographers. Not to mention his Olympian cheekbones and long history of exquisitely dim trophy girlfriends. Jammy sod.
But when Depp glides into the Venice hotel ballroom, he does so with the other-worldly serenity of a man with nothing left to prove. As disarming as a sleepy kitten, the eerily ageless star seems to silence the room with his haunted beauty and dreamy, faraway whisper. And when he talks, his humour is dry and self-mocking. Depp is, after all, the world’s most famous Fast Show fan.
"The first thing I look for in a script is humour," Depp says, rolling up the first in an endless chain of weedy-looking cigarettes. "It’s really important that a character has humour or, if they have no humour at all, one should try to make that funny."
Looking a decade younger than his 41 years, Depp can afford that Cheshire Cat smile. His Hollywood stock has unexpectedly rocketed over the past year after more than a decade of well-meaning flops punctuated by a scant couple of commercial hits.
He is basking in the glory of a rare run of box office smashes, including his Oscar-nominated role as buccaneer Jack Sparrow in the theme-park swashbuckler Pirates of the Caribbean, and as a CIA assassin in Robert Rodriguez’s blood-splattered "taco western" Once Upon A Time in Mexico. After years playing loopy outsiders in low-budget features, Depp is the star who came in from the cold.
Depp’s latest star turn, as reclusive writer Mort Rainey in director David Koepp’s eerie Stephen King adaptation Secret Window, is his first headline role for three years. Koepp has gone on record saying that he hired an actor and got a movie star, a reflection of Depp’s born-again pin-up status in Hollywood. But even though King is the acknowledged master of blockbuster horror, Koepp’s film is more about low-key suspense than gore, and Depp says it was the offbeat plot that attracted him.
"I had a huge emotional investment in the character," he says, "and I allowed it to take me on this journey where I was sure it was going to end up one way and it went the complete opposite. I was so shocked and surprised by the story that there was no way around it. I had to do it. It’s nice to be surprised and it’s rare that you are surprised."
Ever the rock fan, Depp based Jack Sparrow’s louche cockney mannerisms on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, just as he borrowed from former Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan as the romantic Irish troubadour in Lasse Hallstrom’s Chocolat. For Secret Window, he modelled his obsessive anti-hero on another unlikely musical source, the reclusive and mentally fragile Beach Boys legend, Brian Wilson.
"I remember hearing those famous stories, or maybe myths, about him in this very reclusive period where he didn’t leave his house and had sand brought in to cover his living room floor," says Depp. "Then he dropped the baby grand on top of that and wrote these great beach classics. That was the level of reclusiveness I was looking for."
Depp has always been a hands-on actor, bringing quirky personal touches to his roles. "He makes this movie more offbeat," said Jerry Bruckheimer, the Hollywood producer behind Pirates, whose noisy blockbusters are generally anything but offbeat. "He wanted to play Jack Sparrow as half-baked, out at sea too long, drinking too much but very smart beneath it all. And he’s very visual: he created the look of the character."
Likewise, director Koepp confirms that Depp was instrumental in forging his character in Secret Window. "He brings such imagination in his choices," says Koepp. "They are so idiosyncratic, but they seem to strike a universal chord with people. I think that’s a great combination. He’ll pick up stuff all around like a sponge."
By Depp’s standards, Secret Window is a fairly orthodox piece of work after a long run of garish, gothic, troubled characters. From drag queens to prison guards, seedy cocaine smugglers to opium-addicted Victorian detectives, Depp rarely takes obvious leading-man roles. Despite his tailor-made looks, he seems to have stubbornly shunned star vehicles since his last hit, Mike Newell’s 1997 underworld drama Donnie Brasco. Does he ever regret taking the road less travelled?
"No no no," he says. "I think everything’s worked out just perfectly, and I’m certainly amazed I’ve been able to stick with it this long. Because I started about 20 years ago, so it’s amazing to me that I still get jobs. Then when something like Pirates happens - you get the call, and it’s a hit! I was still like, come on, you’ve got to be kidding? But I did it for the right reasons. I never thought about the money. Getting paid to do a job is always nice, but that wasn’t what it was about for me."
Despite the beckoning embrace of Hollywood, Depp is not about to turn prodigal son just yet. His main home is in Paris with his French girlfriend, singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, Lily-Rose and Jack. The family also own a Provencal farm and a house in Los Angeles, although the Europhile star’s heart clearly lies on this side of the Atlantic.
"LA is too fast, too pacey," Depp says. "There is too much of everything, just too much. In France, I can have distance and sort of see the game for what it is, rather than trying to understand it from the inside. I’m not swimming in the soup bowl. I’m not getting overcooked in that big stew pot.
"I go there now and again just because I think it’s important for my kids to experience America as well. We spend a lot of time in France but we’re starting to spend more time in the States and abroad for them. We almost have no choice but to live a kind of gypsy, nomadic lifestyle, just constantly moving and not in one spot. So at some point I think it’ll be important for us to just settle down somewhere for the kids."
From his European vantage point, Depp has been uncharacteristically vocal in his condemnation of America’s invasion of Iraq, declaring last year he would not live in his own country again before there was regime change. But despite heightened friction across the Atlantic over US military intervention, Depp denies experiencing any anti-American sentiment among his French friends.
"Oh no," he says. "I was just embarrassed when that whole thing came out about people in high-up government positions deciding to change the name of French fries to ‘freedom’ fries. But at the same time I laughed so hard - it made me feel good that those people had revealed themselves globally to be the morons that they actually are. But no, the French were amazing. When they speak of the President of the United States, whatsisname, they speak with a bemused smile."
The price of Depp’s mercurial outsider tastes is that often he becomes involved in left-field projects that flop or fall apart. His 1998 turn as Hunter S Thompson in Terry Gilliam’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, for example, was savaged by critics and ignored by audiences. "You do something a little different - what’s the risk?" he says. "You fall flat on your face or make an ass of yourself or you get fired."
Despite box office failure, Depp remains loyal to all his collaborators on Fear and Loathing, and he will soon be reunited with co-star Benicio del Toro to make another Thompson adaptation, The Rum Diaries. Equally, he remains close to Gilliam, and agreed to star in the former Python’s time-travelling comic fantasy, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote. That project was even more ill-fated, imploding due to health problems and budget restrictions barely a week into production. It made for a jaw-dropping behind-the-scenes documentary, Lost in La Mancha, but will the real film ever resurface?
"I hope so," Depp says. "Somebody told me Terry might have gotten the rights back - boy, it was one of the most satisfying six days I’ve ever had on a film, but it was one of the most dissatisfying experiences because it was coitus interruptus. It was going to be a great film, that’s the problem. I mean, if it was going to be a dog, you could at least say, phew, thank god.
"We still talk all the time, Terry’s a great friend and someone that I worship. But things like that happen, you know, and they happen for a reason."
Disasters aside, Depp’s name is a box-office boost right now, with a full slate of films on the horizon or already in the can. With Secret Window behind him, he is shooting The Libertine, Laurence Dunmore’s portrait of the notoriously hedonistic 17th- century poet, the Earl of Rochester, on location in South Wales, Cornwall, Somerset and the Isle of Man.
He also plans another film with Robert Rodriguez, the comic-book adaptation Sin City, and will soon be seen as Peter Pan creator JM Barrie in Marc Forster’s period piece, Neverland. Among his co-stars will be his friend and Fast Show star, Paul Whitehouse. "I did an episode of The Fast Show, which was one of the most satisfying moments for me," says Depp. "I was a huge fan of those guys, but I also somehow talked Paul into doing a cameo on Neverland. He plays the stage manager. I mean, I love him as an actor, I think the guy’s brilliant. But mainly I just wanted to hang out with him."
Anticipation is also high for Depp’s role as Willy Wonka in Tim Burton’s forthcoming remake of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, his fourth collaboration with the director he credits with saving him from being "a loser, an outcast, just another piece of expendable Hollywood meat". Looking at their exemplary work together in Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow, Depp has cause to be grateful.
"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is such a magical book, such a magical story," Depp says. "I remember reading it at school or something - I’ve read it a couple of times. And also, having kids, my daughter’s pretty interested in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. So I think it’d be really nice to be Willy Wonka for a while."
Targeting this new young demographic once more, Depp has also signed on to play Jack Sparrow in a sequel to Pirates of the Caribbean. Whether this upturn in his commercial profile is actually a good thing for those of us who treasure his outsider loopiness is a moot point. But for Depp, his swashbuckling comeback has clearly been a vindication
"After being around for so long - it’s coming up on 20 years for me - all these kids were going to see the movie and I was just really touched, you know. Really, really moved."
Depp smiles down at the ashtray, stubbing out his sixth hand-rolled cigarette of the interview. "Like, when you come out on the street and meet little kids and they go, ‘Oh man, you’re Captain Jack Sparrow!’ You know, it just doesn’t get any better than that."
Oh yes, it sure is easy to hate Johnny Depp. Until you meet him.
From Emma
Wilder OK with 'Wonka' remake
By Christina S. N. Lewis
Staff Writer
May 2, 2004
STAMFORD -- Gene Wilder admits he initially was troubled by the news that his classic film, "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory," was being remade.
"I was disturbed at first," Wilder said. "But when I heard that Tim Burton was writing and directing . . . and that Johnny Depp (was starring), then I stopped worrying about it. They're not going to remake the movie that I made."
Wilder, a Stamford resident and star of "Willy Wonka" and other films, made a brief public appearance yesterday at a screening of the 1971 movie at The Avon Theatre.
The event was the launch of Kidz Flix, a new family-friendly program at the Avon Theatre that shows films at a discounted price every Saturday.
In the 1971 movie, Wilder plays a mysterious and eccentric candy kingpin who opens his marvelous confection factory to five lucky children: Four are wretched brats, but one, Charlie, has a chance at an even greater prize.
Wilder said the Depp movie will have a different title, "Charlie & The Chocolate Factory," which is the title of the book by Roald Dahl.
He wondered why they decided to remake "Wonka" when there are many older classics.
"Why don't they remake 'The Wizard of Oz' first?" he asked.
Wilder said he doesn't believe the new "Producers" film will detract from the 1968 original, which starred Wilder and was written and directed by Mel Brooks.
"I loved the Broadway musical, but it's very different from the movie that Zero (Mostel) and I did," he said.
The Kidz Flix event drew families from as far as Bethel and Fairfield.
Speaking to the audience, most of whom were not born when the film first came out, Wilder related some behind-the-scenes details about "Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory."
For instance, Peter Ostrum, the young actor who played Charlie, is now 6-foot-2 and a veterinarian. Wilder said Ostrum and the rest of the cast and crew were wonderful, though the actor who played Mike Teevee -- one of the movie's peevish preteen antagonists -- had trouble getting out of character.
"He was a little brat," Wilder said.
Wilder has pledged to join the nonprofit theater's fledgling board of directors because he frequented the Avon when he was younger and enjoys their selection of movies.
"The reason I'm here is to make sure the theater is a big success, and I'm sure it will be now," Wilder said. "They're showing the kinds of films I'd travel a long way to see."
Recent films screened at the Avon include "Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter . . . and Spring," a well-reviewed Korean film about the inevitable seasons of human life; and "A Clockwork Orange," the 1971 Stanley Kubrick film about a juvenile delinquent who agrees to try an experimental form of aversion therapy.
The Avon will host another movie great, director Robert Altman, on Wednesday night at screenings of "The Company" and "McCabe & Mrs. Miller." Tickets are nearly sold out.
Wilder, dressed casually in a blue-and-white striped shirt and khakis, autographed posters for fans young and old, and posed for a picture with the theater's staff.
How does it feel to appeal to so many generations?
"Strange, but wonderful," he said.
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-nor.wilder6may02,0,669576,print.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
Copyright © 2004, Southern Connecticut Newspapers, Inc
From Emma
Johnny Depp at the double
by Matthew Woodcock
SWOONING fitness fanatics at a York gym nearly fell of their exercise
bikes when movie superstar Johnny Depp walked in.
But the hunky figure at Next Generation, off Hull Road, turned out
to be a Depp look-a-like, who was accompanied by producers to find somewhere
for the star to stay in shape if he comes to York to film.
The Evening Press recently revealed that Nestlé Rowntree's Wigginton
Road plant was being lined up as a location for a new version of Roald
Dahl's classic book, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory.
Depp has signed up to play Willy Wonka in the film, which will be directed
by Tim Burton, whose past triumphs include Batman and Edward Scissorhands.
Next Generation manager Sally Frisby said the look-a-like had been
hired to do some tester shots with a camera crew outside the Nestle factory
and then visited the gym to see if it would be suitable to keep Johnny's
biceps toned.
"If Johnny does film in York they will need somewhere for him to exercise,
so they checked us out," she said.
"He would be very welcome to train here."
We previously revealed that nine executives from the movie's producers,
Warner Brothers, had flown to the Nestle factory on a private jet to meet
managers to discuss using it as a possible location.
A spokesman for Nestlé Rowntree said negotiations were still
on-going with the producers about the site being used in the film.
Updated: 10:21 Saturday, May 01, 2004
http://www.thisisyork.co.uk/york/news/YORK_NEWS_LOCAL2.html
From Emma
Three Blondes, Three Brunettes and Johnny Depp
We knew it was going to be a special day the moment Simon Trafford, a normally slight of hair 6ft 2" Brummie, strolled nonchalantly from the make-up room looking like Farrah Fawcett Major in a fight with a pair of crimson velvet curtains.
This was the day that six ordinary dads from Wrington acted their wigs off with Johnny Depp and John Malkovich. And it had all begun rather innocently.
A passing remark by Nick Lalande, husband of Jess, employee of Bristol's Oscar winning wig-making company OKT, had been the catalyst.
"How about making a bit of money for the PTA by acting in a bawdy Hollywood romp called The Libertine for a day, boys?"
We all nodded our acceptance of the offer. Little did we know that this was to be a once in a lifetime opportunity.
And so we found ourselves, early one crisp March morning in the town square at Wells, be-wigged, clothed in the finest floor-to-ceiling robes over flouncy blouses, stockings or tights (depending on your preference) and black shoes with bright shiny buckles. Our mums would have been so proud of us so like the daughters they never had.
The whole square was a tottering mass of men in wigs, with tide marks slowly rising up their once glistening drapes as the drizzle set in. Around 130 "Lords" in all, awaiting the call from Wells Cathedral where we were due to film.
As I said to Emma later that night: "It was just like being on a proper film set," (probably because it was). Vast catering vans, dozens of baying schoolgirls demanding to know if we were "famous" and a number of confused elderly tourists asking whether there was a "special service" on and whether we would be prepared to have our pictures taken.
By 10.00am we were on set. Everything was just how you would imagine it to be. Hoards of "crew", each with a very specific job "bloke that looks after props", "woman that snaps clapperboard", "chap that has lightmeter".
The director had his hat the wrong way round, they were all far too young and they seemed to shout "turning", "action" and "cut" on a regular basis when nothing really appeared to be happening.
Nick, a ribbon having been tied to his hair by Peter (Jess's boss), was positioned by the director to be in shot for the first scene. The rest of us extras gathered in the centre of the set awaiting selection. Memories of being "picked" for football at school came flooding back. Simon "Fawcett Major" and Al Cruse were chosen immediately no doubt for their innate acting talent and "character-filled" faces. Dozens of extras were swiftly whittled down to a remaining few. Myself, Dave Smith and Fionn McDonald were left standing like lemons, the boys that neither team wanted, our day of fame apparently over before it began. And then, finally, the call came:
"You, there, you, next to him, you, just above him".
Soon John Malkovich was filming a short scene and by midday, a hush of anticipation had enveloped the whole set. "OK everyone, prepare for rehearsal."
All went quiet, and then, through the doorway a dishevelled, bent-double figure supported on crutches dragged himself in. It was Johnny Depp, in character, as the disease-riddled 17th century poet, The Earl of Rochester.
Line after perfect line, expression after intimate expression. What a professional. An impromptu round of applause resounded around the set.
Over and over again the same scene was filmed. Different parts of the speech, from different angles with different reactions demanded. We had to learn lines. Complex lines demanding the height of eloquence. Lines like "hurrah" and "boooohh". Nick was serene. Dave Smith brooding like a professional. Fionn was resplendent in his Little Bo Peep wig set off by a beige ribbon (the sign of a lady's favour), and Al was asked if he could be available for a second day's filming.
We all concentrated. Focus on the actor, NOT the camera, we were told. Half way through the afternoon I found myself in shot. Johnny Depp just four feet in front of me, reciting his lines. Me, directly behind him, in camera.
Focus on Johnny, I thought to myself as I turned my head to follow his stumbling body. I congratulated myself for not looking at the camera. However as I turned my head I realised that my wig wasn't coming with me. I felt the left side of my face disappearing into the flowing mass of hair, my right ear eventually exposing itself with a slight "ping".
"Cut," shouted the director. "Johnny we need to do that again."
Then one of those surreal moments that brought home the magnitude of what we were doing. It was just a slight nod, almost unnoticeable. It was Simon Fawcett Majors, our own "Traff" directing Johnny Depp where to stand to continue shooting the same scene.
By 6pm filming for the day was over. We went back to the town hall,de-wigged, disrobed and dishevelled. A beer and a curry followed with a lifetime's experience to be mused over. And £500 raised for PTA funds.
So thank you, Jess, thank you, Liz at OKT for dressing Simon like a Charlie's Angels heroine, thank you Mr Malkovich and thank you Johnny.
The Libertine is due out next year.
Ian Noble
http://www.wringtonsomerset.org.uk/journal/items2.htm
