September 2004
September 2004
From Reuters
Helmer Dunsmore Goes to 'Pieces' for Warners
September 29, 2004
By Liza ForemanLOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - Laurence Dunmore has signed on to direct "A Million Little Pieces" for Warner Bros. Pictures.
The British helmer directed "The Libertine," starring Johnny Depp (news), which was unveiled in September at the Toronto International Film Festival.
"Million" is based on the book by James Frey, who also wrote the screenplay.
The story is described as a first-person nonfiction account of a man's recovery from a near-fatal addiction to drugs and desperate living.
From BBC
Christopher Lee on Star Wars (and more)
Last updated 29 September 2004Christopher Lee's career has taken an odd twist. He's teamed up with an Italian rock group called Rhapsody to narrate on their album.
Despite being 82 he's is still really busy, he is currently working on 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' with Johnny Depp.
He's also finished work on 'Star Wars' so of course Radio 1 had to try and wheedle some information out of him about the third instalment:
"It was hard work physically. But I enjoyed it enormously because George (Lucas) is a marvellous person to work with. So laid back, so helpful and right there beside you all the time."
"I haven't seen 'Star Wars' I won't see it probably until the world sees it next May. I don't know what they're going to do with it, and of course - blue screen..."
From RTE Entertainment
Depp - Nominated29 September 2004
IFTA Best Actor nominees announcedJohnny Depp and Sean Penn are among the nominees for Best International Actor at this year's Irish Film and Television Awards.
Depp is nominated for 'Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl', while Penn makes the shortlist for his performance in 'Mystic River'.
The other nominees are: Jake Gyllenhaal ('The Day After Tomorrow'), Jude Law ('Cold Mountain') and Bill Murray ('Lost in Translation').
The winner will be decided by the general public with more information on how to vote available online at: www.iftn.ie/awards.
The Irish Film and Television Awards take place on 30 October.
From the BBC
Depp ranked top in coolness poll
Johnny DeppActor Johnny Depp currently rates as the coolest celebrity, Audi the coolest car and Diesel the coolest clothing, a survey of all things "cool" indicates.
The Cool Brandleaders Council asked 3,000 city dwellers aged from 18 to 44 to rank 63 people and brands for coolness.
David Beckham appeared as number five in the cool celebrity list, but also the third uncoolest celebrity - just behind Jordan and his wife, Victoria.
It was bad news for politicians as only one made the list - MP Boris Johnson.
Fashion, celebrities, drinks, technology, venues, cars, musicians, movie directors, authors and business people were ranked, with a "coolest of the cool" also picked.
COOLEST...
Fashion: Diesel
Drink: Stella Artois
Technology: Bose
Venue: London Eye
Motor: Audi
Music artist: The Streets
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Author: JK Rowling
Businessman: Sir Richard Branson
Celebrity: Johnny Depp
Uncoolest celebrity: Jordan
Source: Superbrands LimitedThat accolade went to department store Selfridges, which only scored 19% in the coolest venue category, behind the London Eye at 31%.
Magazine Dazed And Confused came in second, followed by upmarket lingerie brand Agent Provocateur, Hakkasan restaurant in London, and finally Goldsmiths art college in the capital.
But it was not just cool brands and people who were ranked.
Other people ranked as uncool included Jordan's boyfriend, Peter Andre (ranked fifth), Sven Goran Eriksson (sixth), Jade Goody (ninth) and Catherine Zeta-Jones (10th).
Actors who did make the grade included Brad Pitt, Keira Knightley and Jude Law.
Asked to define "cool", respondents said brands needed style, innovation, originality, authenticity and to be unique.
Word of mouth was the best way to become known as a
From ContactMusic
DEPP'S CHARACTER AMBITIONJOHNNY DEPP
Actor JOHNNY DEPP hates being a Hollywood pin-up, insisting his ambition was always to become a character actor.
The PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN actor claims he became a star by accident and has always taken on roles because the characters interested him.
Depp says, "I never wanted to be a movie star. I take roles because I fall in love with the character. It was never my goal to become a big box-office star."
And he points at some of his early roles - EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and BENNY + JOON - as proof of his motivation.
He adds, "The constant theme in things I do seem to be with people who are considered 'freaks' by so-called 'normal' people.
"I've never been bothered with the way I look as long as it's right for the character.
"Ugliness is better than beauty. It lasts longer and in the end, gravity will get us all."
The 41-year old also claims he is not motivated by money, adding, "It was never my goal to be a big box-office star. Before now, my movies never seemed to make any money.
"It's been tempting to accept a big paycheck, but I never saw the point of doing something that has been done thousands of times."
From Manchester Online
Excerpt
Jordan and Beckham just not coolHOLLYWOOD heart-throbs Brad Pitt and Johnny Depp were today crowned the kings of cool while celebrity couple Jordan and Peter Andre were deemed distinctly naff.
A survey of "urbanites" - city dwellers aged 18 to 44 - sought to define who, and what, epitomised "cool".
Depp and Pitt were seen as having it in abundance, along with actors Keira Knightly and Jude Law, plus England football captain David Beckham.
From Nom de Plum
Pirates on next weeks Charmed on what ever channel you get it on, even with a reference to Johnny
Depp...Charmed is on the WB at 8pm on SUNDAY nights. It reruns on TNT Tuesdays at 10 pm. The pirate episode will air Sunday, October 3, at 8:00.
Another article about tattoos and Johnny's "Winona Forever" tattoo HERE
Hollywood Reporter review of Finding Neverland HERE
Event news - for those of you on the East Coast of the USA who cannot make it to our POTC Interactive at DeppCon - you're not out of luck. They are having one on the East Coast. Carol DiBerardino wrote to say she is heading up a POTC InteractiveWHERE: Wildwood, NJ at the Sea Theatre - located at 4005 Pacific Avenue in Wildwood, and easy to get to by car or by bus.609-729-0337
WHEN: Saturday, October 2 at 4:00 PM and Sunday, October 3, at 1:00 PM .
WHY: Pirates, wenches and poppets will gather at the theater in full costume to interact with the movie, in the spirit of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Spurred on by the love of this film, fans from all points of the compass are gathering to dress as their favorite characters and interact with the actors on the screen. Organizers will hand out scripts, with suggested opportune moments for the audience to interact with the movie. The event is a fundraiser for Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Magnolia, NJ.
More information is listed on www.potcinteractive.com.
FromEntertainment Today
For those who want to be ahead of the curve of significant film releases this fall, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art has, on Oct. 19, Marc Forster’s follow-up to Monster’s Ball, namely Neverland, with Johnny Depp as Peter Pan author James Barrie. Oct. 21 will be the bow for Taylor Hackford’s biopic of the recently passed Ray Charles, with Jamie Foxx in the title role. Dec. 21 is a way off but there is already Oscar buzz around Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, with Leonardo DiCaprio as Howard Hughes in his rambunctious, world-shaking youth. (www.lacma.org)
Elle's Polls recognize Johnny found at the Detroit Free Press
Excerpt:
Isn't this exciting! The October Ellegirl magazine has released its first-ever global reader survey that decodes what's on teen minds, thanks to the mag's 10 international editions.A sampling of the results, with the United States first -- Coolest Guy Celeb: Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Ashton Kutcher; Coolest Girl Celeb: Angelina Jolie, Julia Stiles, Beyonce, Hilary Duff, Christina Aguilera; Coolest Couple: Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson; Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston; Carmen Electra and Dave Navarro. Uncool Celeb Couple: Ashton Kutcher and Demi Moore, Jennifer Lopez and 'name here'; Coolest Designer: Tommy Hilfiger, Marc Jacobs, Betsey Johnson; Coolest Career: fashion designer, actress, rock star. Coolest Historical Figure: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Abraham Lincoln, Statue of Liberty (!).
The International results? Coolest Guy Celeb: France -- David Beckham, Germany -- Johnny Depp, Holland -- Orlando Bloom, Italy -- Valentino Rossi, Japan -- Perry Farrell, Korea -- Bin Won, Spain -- Jude Law, Taiwan -- Takeshi Kaneshiro, U.K. -- Bloom; Coolest Fashion Brand: France -- Chanel, Germany -- Miss Sixty, Holland -- Diesel, Italy -- Benetton, Japan -- Undercover, Korea -- Banilla B., Spain -- Zara, Taiwan -- Louis Vuitton, U.K. -- Gucci; Coolest Mode of Transport: France, Italy, Spain, U.K. -- Mini Cooper. Coolest Couple: Germany, Holland, Italy, Korea, U.K. -- Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston. Coolest Jeans: France, Italy, Spain, Taiwan, U.K. -- Levis; Coolest city: France, - Holland and Italy -- Paris; Japan, Taiwan and U.K. -- New York.
More on the release of 21 Jump Street from Nashville City Paper
Johnny Depp was an unknown, struggling actor who didn't even initially always get top billing when 21 Jump Street debuted on Fox in 1987. The show was really an updated version of The Mod Squad, only this time the trick was to send youthful looking police officers into high schools (a tactic that the producers quickly began retreating from once the show became a hit) and undercover in gangs. Of course, once the show garnered an audience Depp took off for film stardom. The show didn't last much longer, but for a brief moment it was an '80s phenomenon. 21 Jump Street-The Complete First Season arrives Oct. 26 and not only spotlights Depp's adventures, but those of the other cast members that included Holly Robinson, Dustin Nyugen, Peter Deluise and Steven Williams. Despite the fact there was a time when this program was almost as popular as Miami Vice, it has seldom been seen in reruns, something that should make the desirability of this set even greater
NECA announces more in its POTC actin figure line-up HERE
Fall Moive line-up includes "Male Weepies" at The Seatle Times
DeppCon is auctioning off two tickets at a discount on Ebay - check HERE
From SkyNews
(Please see our POTC 2 & 3 page for even more related news)
Friday September 24, 02:44 PMCrook To Become A Pirate Again
After his hugely successful role in Pirates of the Caribbean, Mackenzie Crook has revealed he has signed up for two sequels.The former Office actor appeared as a baddie in the first movie, in which he appeared with Johnny Depp.It was Mackenzie's first foray into movie bigtime and he did his job so well, film bosses were desperate to get him back for more.
He said: "Yep. I'll be swashbuckling again next year."
The 32-year-old went from sad in Slough to stardom in the States in the space of just a couple of years.
But some of his old pals don't like his new-found Hollywood status.
The Daily Express quotes him as saying: "It is weird. I love doing what I'm doing... but not everyone likes it when you get famous."
He added: "Some old friends, mainly actors, I can tell that they see me and think, 'Oh look at him, he thinks he's better than us now'. It's sad."
From BellaOnline The Tattoos of Johnny Depp - Click link to read and see photos.
From Only Punjab.comOzzy to stop swearing for Children In Need
9/24/2004Ozzy Osbourne has vowed to stop swearing for charity. The Prince of Darkness has had his mouth taped shut for the fundraising stunt, in which he hopes to "raise a fortune" by cutting out bad language for 24 hours.
Ozzy can be seen gagged with black tape on a TV commercial for UK charity Children In Need in the run up to the 25-year-old BBC fundraising show in November.
His wife, Sharon, also appears in the advert, saying: "Ozzy is going to raise a fortune by not using swear words for 24 hours."
But the 55-year-old rips off his tape and shouts: "No swear f***ing words? You've got to be f***ing joking! I'm the Prince of Darkness - they expect me to f***ing swear."
Meanwhile, Sharon and Ozzy are desperate for Hollywood star Johnny Depp to play the eccentric rocker in a film of his life.
Sharon, 50, is eager to make the movie and believes Depp would be perfect for the role.
Sharon said: "We're talking to Johnny but it's not 100 per cent yet."
They are currently in talks with ITV to host a style chat show and have already agreed to appear in An Audience With The Osbournes this autumn.
From ContactMusic.com
DEPP HANDS OVER VIPER ROOM TO MISSING PARTNER'S DAUGHTERJOHNNY DEPP
LATEST: JOHNNY DEPP reportedly gave up his co-ownership of trendy Los Angeles nightclub THE VIPER ROOM following the controversy of his missing ex-partner.
Depp has been caught up in the scandal surrounding the disappearance of businessman ANTHONY FOX, who went missing two years ago, and hasn't been heard of since.
Now, as part of a legal settlement, Depp has quietly handed over his ownership of the trendy club to Fox's daughter, who plans to sell the Sunset Strip club.
Sources close to Depp claim the movie star lost interest in the club in recent years after his friend RIVER PHOENIX died outside The Viper Room in 1993.
POTC 2 & 3 news - use the link above - about the casting.
From ContactMusic.com
DEPP UPSET OVER ELTON SONG
JOHNNY DEPP hates the ending of his upcoming JM BARRIE biopic FINDING NEVERLAND, because it features a terrible SIR ELTON JOHN song.The movie star admits he's far from impressed with Elton's latest movie composition, but can't fight it because producer HARVEY WEINSTEIN loves the tune.
He says, "It doesn't feel right. I think that Elton John and BERNIE TAUPIN (songwriting partner) have written some sublime pieces of music with equally sublime lyrics over the years, but this isn't one of those."
23/09/2004
Found by Joni at MSN
Waters: I'm working on "Cry-Baby," the musical.ENW: Do you stay in touch with your former stars, like Johnny Depp and Rikki Lake?
Waters: Yes. I see Rikki all the time. She's in this movie. The only way I could get her in it is on the talk show because of her schedule. Johnny is doing an interview for the director's cut of "Cry-Baby" for DVD.
ENW: Are you amazed at their careers?
Waters: Not amazed, because I knew how great they were then. But I'm proud of them. Rikki told me a long time ago, "I'm going to be a TV star" and I said, "Who wants to be a TV star? You're going to be a movie star." I still hope she goes back to acting because she's really good. Johnny, I'm not surprised. I believe I was lucky to get him when I did. Everybody knew he was going to be a star.
You can get in a lottery to get a bleachers seat for the Oscars Red Carpet www.oscars.org/bleachers
Found by Really at ioFilm
Story of Peter Pan Author Touched By Fairy Dust
Finding Neverland, starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, stirs debate about nature of troubled author JM Barrie.
By Brian PendreighIn his day JM Barrie was Britain’s top playwright, but ironically only Peter Pan has survived the test of time, with most of Barrie’s other works virtually forgotten. And it is not just Barrie’s literary reputation that has taken a battering. In recent years detractors have suggested that behind his one enduring hit lay an unhealthy obsession with young boys.
But this most awkward of Scottish period celebrities is about to benefit from a major Hollywood makeover. Johnny Depp plays him in a new film that has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is already being tipped by film industry press as a front-runner for the Oscars.
Todd McCarthy, Variety’s influential reviewer, described Finding Neverland as “an impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author JM Barrie came to write Peter Pan”.
“Depp takes a cue from the soft lilt of his beautifully rendered Scottish accent to create a gently nuanced portrayal of an artist who at least this once found a way to transform troubled reality into an imaginative work for the ages.”
Mike Goodridge of Screen International called the film a “finely-crafted period tearjerker, which will have women especially clamouring to see it” and reckoned Depp was a certainty for an Oscar nomination.
However he also predicted a bumpy ride from “historical purists” alarmed by the dramatic licence the film takes in its portrayal of the playwright’s friendship with the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired Peter Pan and whom he adopted after the death of their parents.
In Finding Neverland their father Arthur is conveniently dead by the time they meet, allowing the film to suggest the possibility of romance between Barrie and their mother Sylvia. But she dies, just as his play opens. In reality Peter Pan opened in 1904, Arthur died in 1908 and Sylvia in 1910, both of cancer.
There was fierce controversy over the liberties Mel Gibson took with ancient Scottish history in Braveheart, but it seems on this occasion the experts are happy to have Hollywood rewrite the past.
“I personally wouldn’t get wound up by literal freedoms,” said Professor Ronald Jack, author of the book The Road to Never Land. “When you’re dealing with an author who is not terribly interested in things literalistic and realistic, I think you have possibly greater scope to change history in order to bring the message across.”
Andrew Birkin, author of the book JM Barrie and the Lost Boys, which was adapted as a BBC mini-series, said: “I don’t think it matters. Provided they don’t portray him as a paedophile, I would think it would be good.”
Ingrid Turner, custodian of Barrie’s Birthplace museum in Kirriemuir in Angus, said: “I don’t really feel they’ve distorted anything. I think it’s fantastic that Johnny Depp is the person to represent Barrie. I think he’s absolutely perfect and he’s going to make Barrie’s image more positive, which is a great thing.”
The son of a weaver, Barrie was born in Kirriemuir, Angus, in 1860, and worked as a journalist before moving to London and becoming a successful novelist, with A Window on Thrums and The Little Minister, sentimental tales set in Scotland.
Quality Street, The Admirable Crichton, Peter Pan and What Every Woman Knows made him the foremost playwright of the age and a millionaire, with Hollywood churning out film adaptations by the dozen. There were at least four silent versions of The Little Minister before the Katharine Hepburn talkie in 1934.
But his literary reputation fell into almost immediate decline following his death in 1937. Most of his works were virtually forgotten, with the notable exception of Peter Pan, the story of a boy who never grows up and lives in a magical place called Neverland, populated by orphans, pirates and Red Indians.
More recently, critics, researchers and even psychologists have been dissecting the text and digging into Barrie’s life, including his relationship with the tragic Llewelyn Davies boys. One died in the First World War, one drowned himself, while Peter, who gave his name to Barrie’s greatest creation, eventually killed himself as well.
Birkin, who had access to surviving family members and to personal papers, raised the question of Barrie’s sexuality in his book in 1979.
Barrie’s wife’s correspondence seemed to confirm long-standing rumours of impotence, though Nico Llewelyn Davies, the youngest boy, who was now an old man, told Birkin he “never heard one word or saw one glimmer of anything approaching homosexuality or paedophilia... He was innocent – which is why he could write Peter Pan.”
But the floodgates of analysis and speculation were open. Much more recently theatre critic Lyn Gardner called Peter Pan one of the most “darkly disturbing” plays ever written. “It is the story of a strange, dysfunctional boy who refuses to grow up, who hangs around at a nursery window and lures its children away,” she wrote.
“There is no evidence that J. M. Barrie ever acted on any of his impulses and most contemporary reports describe him as distinctly asexual, but his predilection for hanging around Kensington Gardens making friends with small children would today set alarm bells ringing and send social workers running to take protective action.”
It did not help that Michael Jackson declared himself a Barrie fan, claimed he identified with Peter Pan, called his theme-park home Neverland and invited children to share his passion.
There are some dubious episodes in Barrie’s writing, including what seems like a bath-time fantasy, but no evidence he acted improperly towards any children by the standards of the time and probably not even by today’s stricter standards.
Turner said: “Barrie has this image of being a strange little man with various quirks and Johnny Depp plays to that, but in a positive way, whereas if someone else played it, it could come off negatively.”
Attendance figures at Barrie’s Birthplace have been running at a modest 4,500 annually, but are up this year, probably as a result of the Peter Pan centenary and the recent live-action film, even though it did poorly at the box office. Turner is hoping a successful film could have the sort of effect Braveheart had at the Wallace Monument, where visitor numbers more than doubled.
“I think it’s just overall good news,” she said. “I’ve seen the trailer for the film and I’m certainly impressed. I thought it was fantastic.”
Background
Peter Pan is now Barrie’s most popular story by far and a favourite at pantomime season. The character first appeared in 1902 in a book called The Little White Bird, a fictionalised account of Barrie’s relationship with the Llewelyn Davies boys. The play Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up, was first staged in 1904 and Barrie later adapted it into the novel Peter and Wendy, subsequently reissued as Peter Pan.
Disney’s animated feature came out in 1953 and delighted later generations on television and video, prompting a sequel Return to Never Land in 2002. It was intended primarily for video, but was a surprise hit in cinemas too. Steven Spielberg offered his take on the story in Hook (1991), with Robin Williams as Peter and Dustin Hoffman as Hook, and there was another live-action version last year, with Jason Isaacs.
Barrie donated the rights to Peter Pan to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital, but the copyright expires in Europe in 2007 and last month the hospital announced it was looking for an author to write a sequel to ensure Peter continued to sprinkle fairy dust on hospital funds.
Brian Pendreigh is author of the Pocket Scottish Movie Book.
Johnny-related news from Reuters
Film industry to get new boost
Tue 21 September, 2004LONDON (Reuters) - The government will today announce subsidies to help the film industry, which has flourished in recent years but was knocked sideways by tax changes earlier in 2004.
Officials said Treasury minister Dawn Primarolo will unveil new subsidies on Tuesday to replace the old tax relief regime which, when it was withdrawn earlier this year, caused outcry in the industry.
Then, film-makers said they would be forced to cancel projects -- including Johnny Depp in The Libertine, and Tulip Fever, starring Keira Knightley and Jude Law -- as the government closed a tax loophole which had attracted wealthy investors to pump funds into planned movies.
2003 was a record year for film production in Britain.
DeppCon update September 20, 2004
Larry Karaszewski ,one of the screenwriters of Ed Wood, has personally invited DeppCon to a special screening of Ed Wood. The screening will take place on Sunday Oct 24 at 4 p.m. There will be a Q&A afterwards with him and Scott Alexander ( the other screenwriter of Ed Wood ) . This screening ties into the upcoming DVD release of Ed Wood and is by invitation only.Larry and Scott met while roommates at USC college in Los Angeles. They became writing partners shortly after. They won the Golden Satelitte, The Writer's Guild's Paul Selvin Honory and the Golden Globes Awards in 1997 for the screenplay of People vs/ Larry Flynt. They were also nominated for a Writer's Guild Award for Best Screenplay written directly for the Screen for Ed Wood.
They have written the screen play for the upcoming movie The Pacifier staring Vin Diesel in theaters later this year. They have recently announced that they will be writing the screenplay for an upcoming movie on The Marx Brothers.
Photos of Jerry Reyes (orange shirt)
and Louie Lambie
Stay tuned for more details on this exciting event from DeppCon.
Reviews of "LIBERTINE" over on the Libertine pages (Link above)
Inspired by Depp has a great forum and an entire section for those talking about Depp Con HERE
Found by Emma at U-PressTelegram
ohnny Depp gets Pan-nedBy Glenn Whipp
Film Critic
Friday, September 17, 2004Johnny Depp finished "Finding Neverland" before he became a box-office star in "Pirates of the Caribbean." His motivations behind making the two films were identical: He wanted to give his two young children something to watch before they were of voting age.
"I couldn't exactly sit them down and put in 'Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,' " Depp says, laughing. "But I did want to give them something. When you become a parent, your head gets into a different space. You give to your kids, you play with your kids, and it awakens the play within you."
In "Neverland," Depp plays J.M. Barrie, the English eccentric who was inspired to write "Peter Pan" after meeting a widowed mother (played by Kate Winslet) and her two children.
"I always saw him in the part," says director Marc Forster ("Monster's Ball"). "He sort of has the child within him very much alive."
The film was completed more than a year ago. Forster and Miramax co-chairman Harvey Weinstein planned to release it last fall but ran into a roadblock with Universal's "Peter Pan" arriving at the same time. "Neverland" was contractually obligated to wait at least 90 days after "Peter Pan" opened, which meant, ultimately, that it had to wait an entire year so Miramax could capitalize on its potential with Oscar voters.
"I think it has a nice, warm, honest feel to it," Depp says of the movie. "We're not glossing over his life, just focusing on a period when he was probably the happiest. Everyone knows 'Peter Pan.' This shows the process behind it. I hate to use the word 'inspirational,' but it got to me, you know?"
From Contactmusic
DEPP SELLS HIS SHARE OF VIPER ROOMHeartbroken actor JOHNNY DEPP has sold his share in the nightclub where his friend RIVER PHOENIX died in 1993.
The SLEEPY HOLLOW star says The Viper Room brings back too many upsetting memories and he's decided to sever all ties with the exclusive establishment.
Depp is also fed up and disgusted with people who travelled to the club just to see the spot where close friend Phoenix collapsed and died from a drugs overdose at only 23-years-old.
The 41-year-old Hollywood hunk hasn't set foot in the in Los Angeles venue for two years and has been looking for a buyer for several months.
A club insider says, "Johnny really loved the club and put his heart and soul into the place. But the years since River's death have taken their toll. He thought the bad memories would fade over the years but it has just got harder.
"Johnny was really upset people just came to gawp at the spot where River died. That's what led to his decision to let his stake go."
19/09/2004 15:05
Found by Cathy
Check out Johnny through the years at In Style HERE
Found & typed by Emma at Mail on Sunday
Mail on Sunday
September 12, 2004How Johnny Depp has made a romantic hero out of a stunted misfit who only loved beautiful boys
By BRIAN PENDREIGH
In recent years, much has been made about his allegedly 'unhealthy' interest in young boys. But now literary scholars believe a new film about JM Barrie, the creator of Peter Pan, could help restore the Scottish author's slightly tarnished reputation thanks to a sympathetic portrayal by Hollywood superstar Johnny Depp.
It is widely believed that the writer never actually consummated his marriage, and psychoanalysts have questioned his relationship with the young children who inspired his most famous character.
But in Finding Neverland, Depp plays Barrie as a kindly, bumbling figure who escapes the hardships of his own life by creating the fantasy world of Peter Pan and the Lost Boys.
With its world premiere last weekend at the Venice Film Festival, it has attracted glowing reviews and is now being talked about as a serious contender for the Oscars.
The movie follows Barrie's relationship with the Llewelyn Davies boys, five young brothers he meets in London's Kensington Gardens. After becoming enchanted by the children, he formed a friendship with their beautiful mother Sylvia and her husband Arthur.
When Arthur died, his widow and children became Barrie's 'fantasy' family.
He doted on the brothers, spending as much time as possible in their company and even sending them to Eton at his expense. His hero Peter Pan, was based on the best looking of the young brothers.
But there was a darker side to the Kirriemuir- born author. When his nephew Charles was killed on the Somme during the Great War, Barrie became financially responsible for his three young children, but remained emotionally detached from them and never even visited the family.
Although Barrie was married at the time he met the Llewelyn Davies boys, the union is thought to have been loveless and unconsummated. This has led to speculation about his real interest in the handsome young brothers.
Recently theatre critic Lyn Gardner called Peter Pan one of the most 'darkly disturbing' plays ever written.
She added that Barrie's 'predilection for hanging around Kensington Gardens making friends with small children would today set alarm bells ringing and send social workers running to take protective action.' In Finding Neverland, the boys' father is conveniently dead by the time they meet Barrie allowing the film to suggest the possibility of romance between him and their mother.
But she dies just as the play Peter Pan opens. In reality it opened in 1904 while Arthur died in 1908 and Sylvia in 1910, both of cancer. Barrie then became the boys' guardian.
Yesterday, Ingrid Turner, custodian of Barrie's birthplace museum in Kirriemuir, Angus, said: 'The film is historically inaccurate, but I would imagine they've done it to simplify the plot.
'The important thing is his relationship with the boys, far more so than his relationship with Arthur Llewelyn Davies.
' I don't really feel they've distorted anything. Barrie has this image of being a strange little man with various quirks and Johnny Depp plays to that.
But he does it in a positive way, whereas if someone else played it, it could come off negatively.
'He's absolutely perfect and he's going to make Barrie's image more positive, which is a great thing.' Last night, Andrew Birkin, author of the biography JM Barrie and the Lost Boys, which was the basis for a BBC miniseries, said there had been much recent speculation 'based on no evidence whatsoever', about the author's sexuality. 'I don't think it matters that they have changed the facts about his life in the new film as long as they don't portray him as a paedophile,' he added.
Mr Birkin, who had access to surviving family members and to the author's correspondence examined Barrie's sexuality in his book, published in 1979.
Barrie's wife Mary's letters seemed to confirm longstanding rumours of impotence and Mr Birkin concluded Barrie was more or less asexual.
Nico Llewelyn Davies, the youngest brother, told Mr Birkin he 'never heard one word or saw one glimmer of anything approaching homosexuality or paedophilia.
'He was innocent which is why he could write Peter Pan.' Despite Barrie's lavish attentions, the brothers suffered a series of tragedies.
One died in the First World War and another drowned himself, while Peter, who gave his name to Barrie's greatest creation, also committed suicide.
The son of an impoverished weaver, Barrie was born in 1860. His plays were hugely successful on both sides of the Atlantic and made him a millionaire.
Barrie's literary reputation fell into almost immediate decline following his death in 1937, with his books and plays virtually forgotten apart from Peter Pan.
However, the tale of the little boy who will never grow up has proved one of the most enduring children's stories of all time.
Aint It Cool News reviews "Finding Neverland"
Ghost Boy on FINDING NEVERLANDFinding Neverland
What a warm, cheerful film Finding Neverland -- like a cup of tea on a winter's day -- and what a surprise it is coming from director Marc Forster, whose previous two films, Everything Put Together and Monster's Ball explored such radical depths of human desperation. This new film, which recounts the origin of Peter Pan, is appropriate for the whole family. This may come as a bit of a disappointment to fans of more serious cinema, and I admit was taken aback by the mildness of the material. This is a film designed to make you shed a few tears and then leave the theater smiling broadly; there's room for a little sadness, but not darkness.Forster and screenwriter David Magee certainly could have taken a darker route; in telling the story of playwrite J.M. Barrie, they certainly must have considered the rumors that still circulate about how his consideration for young children might have bordered on the inappropriate. These rumors are given only a few moments' acknowledgement in Finding Neverland, although being a grown friend to children is shown to be tricky business, particularly when one eschews one's own wife to spend time wth a lot of boys -- but as many spouses before and after Mary Barrie certainly learned, being married to a creative genius is never easy.
Johnny Depp plays that creative genius, and in the opening scenes when his latest adult oriented play flops and he has to answer to his financier (a droll cameo by Dustin Hoffman), I was reminded of his performance in Ed Wood, and his immortal claim that "my next film will be better!" Depp's Barrie is very much like Wood, actually, with the main difference being that Barries was actually very talented; his next play was better.
Barrie wrote Peter Pan for -- and, to some extent, about -- the three sons of a put-upon widow named Sylvia Llewyn Davies (Kate Winslet), one of whom was of course named Peter. He meets them one day in a park and finds in their innocence and exuberance all the inspiration that is devoid in the stifling social parties his wife Mary (Rhada Mitchell) wishes he'd attend with her. In Peter, especially, whose wide eyes express a sadness that he's far too young for, he sees a reflection of himself, a creative soul adrift in a world with no imagination. Peter is played by an utterly winning young lad named Freddie Highmore, and his scenes with Depp are the best in the film.
The play is written between scenes of domestic strife between and beautifully realized excursions into the world of make believe. Little figments of inspiration occupy the corners of the screen in the form of clocks and alligators, and Peter's games with the boys involve wild Indians and pirates and flights of fancy involving flight itself. Mary Barrie, meanwhile, suspects her husband of dalliances with Sylvia, and Sylvia's wealthy mother (Julie Christie) assumes likewise; Barrie seems to scarcely comprehend these accusations, but then he's operating on a completely different plane.These are lovely themes that the movie deals with. Constant readers will surely know of my affinity for Peter Pan and all that it represents, and I was pleased to see the story celebrated and not condemned. But -- and of course there is a but -- I was also rather unimpressed; the film moved me, to be sure, but it never surprised me; it was very much about creating art, and yet too little artistry seemed present in it. From Marc Forster I sensed endless confidence and occasional joy, but too little passion; to be blunt, this film fits all too perfectly in the tailor-made-for-Oscar-season category, and that's something that always seems to hamper great directors. Particularly when they're working for Miramax (just look at Lasse Hallstrom).
After confessing my problems with a film like this, I always feel the need to backtrack and offer assurances that it's still worth seeing, and indeed there are many wonderful things about it; the performances, for example, are truly outstanding all around. But then mentioning the performances reminds me of poor Julie Christie's utterly thankless role, which exists merely to provide conflict and a terribly cheap bit of satisfaction at the end; in keeping with the Miramax-Oscar theme, this could have been the Judi Dench role. And somehow that leads me to the score, so technically perfect, so pervasive in every scene, so consistent in making sure we feel what we need to feel for the movie to work -- in advance, just for safety. At a certain point, I wondered if this might actually be a brilliant film buried beneath a layer of oppressive music.
Enough of that, though. You know by now what type of movie this is, and any disappointment that the film is not a masterpiece does not alter the fact that it's still a decent enough film, and that it will most likely succeed where it counts: audiences and Oscar voters alike will love this, will find their dispostions lifted by it, will most likely be enchanted, particularly the young and young at heart and those like me who feel their heartbeat surge every time they hear the phrase "I do believe in fairies." If that scene doesn't work for you, then there is another that you might sympathize with. There comes the inevitable moment where Mary reads Peter Pan for the first time, and comes to Barrie and wonders, sadly and enviously, what it's like to go to Neverland; she knows that she's far too grown up to ever experience it herself.
Ghostboy
Found by Emma at Film Journal
Film Journal International
October 2004Peter Pan Complex
Marc Forster Enters J.M. Barrie's World With Finding Neverland
By Harry HaunIf only he had grown up, Peter Pan would be 100 this year. The birth of fantasyland’s eternal boy—which occurred, in a roundabout way, in the mind of Scottish playwright James M. Barrie—is a matter of Finding Neverland, some handsomely produced (circa $20 million), sweetly tempered, sentimental speculation “inspired” by the actual events.
Miramax’s Oct. 22 release is, as a sprite flies, light years away from Monster’s Ball, 2001’s grim, earthbound drama about a Georgia prison guard (Billy Bob Thornton) who executes a criminal and then falls in love with the criminal’s vulnerable widow (an Oscar-winning Halle Berry). Nevertheless, “The minute I saw Monster’s Ball, I knew Marc was right for Finding Neverland,” contends the man who made the connection, producer Richard Gladstein.
Then, putting his money where his mouth is, Gladstein hired Marc Forster—a 35-year-old German-born, Swiss-raised director with a 1993 degree from NYU film school—to make the leap from Halle Berry to J.M. Barrie. The culture shock wasn’t as severe as you might imagine, because Gladstein had indeed detected the same emotional undercurrent in both.
“Pretty much all my work—from Everything Put Together on—is concerned, in one way or another, with death,” Forster acknowledges. This eliminates his first time at directorial bat—Loungers, !@#$%-narrative experimental film about lounge singers—which got the Slamdance International Film Festival Audience Award in 1996 but didn’t get released. (“The music that the people sang was never cleared, so the film stopped in its tracks.”)
Right after that invisible debut, Forster went through a rough patch of life that has since informed and defined him as filmmaker. First his brother committed suicide, then his father died three months later, and three months after that his grandmother died. Such a series of emotional body blows in such a short span of time inevitably affected his work.
“Death has had a central part in my life, and you always work issues in your life out in your work. There is definitely a process of grief. It brings out different aspects in people.”
Everything Put Together put him back in the cinematic business in 2000, and his new grave tone was apparent, even palpable. It told of a woman (Radha Mitchell, who plays Barrie’s neglected, resentful wife in Neverland) coping with the death of her newborn child from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. In Monster’s Ball, aside from the execution that connects them, both lovers suffer in the course of the film the loss of a son.
In Finding Neverland, Barrie creates Peter Pan as an escapist entertainment for some neighborhood brothers who are well on their way to becoming orphans. Stay, which Forster just finished, is a tense thriller about a psychiatrist (Ewan McGregor) whose suicidal client (Ryan Gosling) makes some bizarre predictions that begin to come true.
The professional look of the above has also been the same, a natural by-product of using the same cinematographer (Roberto Schaefer) and the same editor (Matt Chesse). “They did Everything Put Together for free, so I fought for them to do Monster’s Ball so they’d get some money—and I kept them on for Neverland and Stay. It’s a good collaboration.”
The cast Forster assembled for Finding Neverland is deliberately, and delightfully, against type. The incompetent Ed Wood, Johnny Depp, is the craft-conscious and acclaimed Barrie; the Titanic ingenue, Kate Winslet, is the TB-doomed mother; the campy Captain Hook, Dustin Hoffman, is the producer who doubts Peter Pan’s power; the promiscuous Darling, Julie Christie, is the prudish grandmother who battles Barrie.
“It was very hard for Julie to play this woman because she’s so warm and lovely in person,” says Forster, “but she was very committed to that character and did beautifully. The only person who wanted to rework his dialogue a little bit was Dustin Hoffman, but the writer and I loved his input. He had some very good ideas about how to make the character more specific. When the writer wrote the script, he was concentrating mostly on the Barrie role, so smaller parts often got overlooked a little bit or weren’t dimensional.”
There is a lot to Hoffman’s character that doesn’t meet the eye here (or has to, given the film’s focus): Barrie’s loyal producer, Charles Frohman, was a London-based American moneybags who brought Ethel Barrymore and Maude Adams to Broadway and had hits with Oscar Wilde and W. Somerset Maugham as well as with Barrie. He drowned when a German sub sank the Lusitania 11 years after his Peter Pan triumph; reportedly, his last words were from Peter Pan: “Why fear death? It is the most beautiful adventure in life.”
Such errors of omission were necessary to Finding Neverland. David Magee’s screenplay, in fact, is based on a largely fictionalized play by Allan Knee (The Man Who Was Peter Pan) which plays fast and loose with the facts and condenses like crazy. “Obviously, there are a lot of different changes,” Forster allows. “When Barrie met the Llewelyn Davies family, the boys’ father was still alive and died later of cancer of the jaw. When we filmed it, we had him already dead. Also, we eliminated the youngest of the five boys, Nico, who was born just as Barrie started to write Peter Pan for his brothers.”
Nico’s daughter, Laura Duguid, is the last of the Llewelyn Davies lineage and contributes a cameo to the picture: She plays the aristocratic theatregoer who suggests at the opening-night party that young Peter Llewelyn Davies (Freddie Highmore) must be the original Peter Pan, only to have Peter point to Barrie and reply: “But I’m not Peter Pan—he is.”
“I was only trying to capture the spirit of the story, not the literal truth,” Forster admits, “and essentially this comes down to the fact that the kids—and their mother [Sylvia du Maurier Llewlyn Davis]—inspired Barrie to write Peter Pan.” Certainly, Barrie’s credits seem to confirm that contention. Nothing in his canon, before or since—Quality Street, The Admirable Crichton, What Every Woman Knows, et al.—came close to the flamboyant flights of fantasy of Peter Pan. He needed a special set of muses to get there from here.
Of course, there were suspicious cynics then, as there are now, who questioned if Barrie had a sinister ulterior motive in hanging with the Llewelyn Davieses. (The movie touches on this issue, ever so lightly, wondering if he had a thing either for Sylvia or for her sons.)
“I’ve researched this very well because it’s an important point to the movie,” says Forster, “and most historians say he was asexual. Also, the children themselves said he was not a pedophile—but, of course, all the pedophiles in the world claim him, just to have a famous person on their side. But nothing was ever proved. All the historians and all the people who have lived around him say this was not true. He was simply inspired by the children because, basically, he was a child, too.” Consequently, Forster dearly hopes nobody reads Michael Jackson’s Neverland into the title. “You can’t control the media in this day and age, but I do sincerely hope that people see that Finding Neverland is quite different.”
Next stop is a comedy, but death won’t necessarily be taking a holiday: “It’s called Stranger Than Fiction. So far, I’ve only cast one person: Will Farrell. It’s about an IRS agent who suddenly has a narrator in his head who tells him he’s going to die…”
© 2004 FilmJournal International. All rights reserved
From Veronica & DeepInDepp
ABOUT SUPERBIT
OUATIM is being released in Superbit. Check it out HERE
Update on DeppCon. (Jerry is bottom right in orange shirt)Louie Lambie will be one of our special guest speakers at DeppCon 2004. Louie was a member of the Lady Washington when she sailed to the Caribbean for the Pirates of the Caribbean film. He played a British seaman in several scenes. Then in the very last shot of the movie of Jack arriving back on the Black Pearl, he was added to Jack's crew. Since Louie is an actual sailor, he's the one you see start to climb the rigging in that last scene.
Then we have Jerry Reyes. Jerry is a full time actor. He is currently filming a movie with Adam Sandler. Jerry was one of the members of Jack's crew. He travelled to all locations during the filming and he got to be in many scenes with Johnny.
Both have been contacted for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and will soon start preproduction in Los Angeles.
Jerry and Louie will be doing full talks and Q&A about their filming experiences. They will also be demonstrating pirates techinques. They will discuss working with Johnny. They will show our convention goers some scenes from the movie and explain them in more detail. This is not a treat to miss. We may even get a slight hint about POTC 2..... Photo opps and autographs will be available after the Q&A.
Stay tuned for more information on this special event. You will recieve an additional email of photos of Jerry and Louie from the movie... Spread the world. It is not to late to have your friends join us.
See you at the convention!!
Found by Emma at The Hollywood Reporter More news on the Libertine Pages - see link above.
Excerpt:
Meanwhile, all eyes turned to the high-profile feature "The Libertine," which was slotted for a gala screening Thursday night. The film stars Johnny Depp, Samantha Morton and John Malkovich, and even while many top execs were heading out of town, Miramax Films honcho Harvey Weinstein was said to be landing in Toronto to screen "Libertine." Besides checking out the film, Weinstein was likely on hand to support Depp, who plays the lead in Miramax's Oscar hopeful "Finding Neverland."
Video interview with Johnny, Kate & Marc from Finding Neverland
Transcript: Photos on Neverland Page 11
JOHNNY DEPP: Sadly, growing up I wasn't so familiar with the book, you know, or the play, when I was a kid. It was much more the animated feature, the cartoon from Disney. I mean, Which is great. I mean, it's a great thing. But it wasn't until much later in life that I read the book and went back and read the play. So but, I wasn't, I mean, it wasn't something that I was really deeply attracted to as a child. I was, you know, personally, I sort of tended to go a little bit more towards, I was kind of, I loved, like, monsters and stuff, you know? Like, I wanted to hang out with Frankenstein and Dracula, you know, the Mummy.DAVID: Captain Hook's a monster.
JOHNNY DEPP: Captain Hook was, obviously was, yeah was my favourite, you know.
KATE WINSLET: J. M. Barrie really came into Sylvia's life at a time when, you know, she'd dealt with a lot. Her own husband had passed away not long before and she was left with four children to deal with all on her own. And, you know, I think that he put happiness and affection back into her world.
MARC FOSTER: Johnny Depp has this beautiful sense about him of being, having this child within him alive. And he's so good with children. He just could fit right in there and play with them. And that's the beauty about him. So I could never have signed anybody else. Apart from that he's obviously a brilliant actor.
JOHNNY DEPP: As a parent, you know, I mean, one of the most important things is to protect that world, you know, to not let my kids see the horrors of the world through the, you know through the, for lack of a better word, the 'glass tit' - you know, the television. I remember being a kid in the early '70s watching Vietnam, you know, the war, on television. And, like, it was nothing. It was just another TV program. And I don't want that for my kids. I think, I think, Yeah. To maintain that ability to dream and believe in beautiful things.
From the New York Times Style Magazine
The Unsinkable Kate Winslet
By LYNN HIRSCHBERGPublished: August 29, 2004
Despite having starred in ''Titanic,'' the most successful movie of all time, and having been nominated for three Academy Awards, Kate Winslet still had to mount a campaign to land her role in ''Finding Neverland.'' Johnny Depp had already been cast as J.M. Barrie, the author of ''Peter Pan,'' and the studio, Miramax, was hoping for a more marketable name to star opposite him, like Gwyneth Paltrow, perhaps, or Nicole Kidman. The film, directed by Marc Forster, weaves together a tragic family story and the creation of Barrie's greatest artistic triumph. Out in theaters in October, ''Neverland'' is eloquently sentimental, a movie that beautifully depicts the link between art and life, where influences overlap and inspire.
''I loved the script,'' Winslet recalled, ''but I'm not sure Johnny even knew my work.'' She laughed at the memory. Winslet was calling from her car, which was parked outside her house in London. ''This is the only place I can get any privacy,'' she explained. Just outside the car, her husband, the director Sam Mendes (''American Beauty''), entertained their 6-month-old son, Joe, while Winslet's 3-year-old daughter, Mia, played inside the house. Winslet resists the usual battalion of nannies and housekeepers and managers and assistants (''I couldn't cope with lots of people''), and she projects a mood of happy chaos -- things always seem to be in a half jumble. But even with the hubbub, there's a stunning directness, a kind of passionate belief in life's possibilities, that sets Winslet apart. She has not only consistently voiced her values, as so many other actors know how to do, but she has also lived them: sacrificing a cushy box-office career for art-house films; working in England to support the British film industry; giving up plum parts to be with her family; not becoming twig thin, even for nude scenes, although members of the press have attacked her weight; and fighting for parts that were offered to actresses who have more closely looked after their bankability.
''I've never really had a plan,'' Winslet said, ''other than to do interesting work. Passion is a tremendously important thing to me, and I will, frankly, beg for something if I really believe in it. That happened with 'Neverland.' I don't believe in holding back.''
Winslet tracked down Forster and invited him to lunch at a restaurant near her home. ''The food was wonderful,'' he recalled. ''Kate had gone through the script line by line. The woman in the movie has four boys, and although Kate is only 28, she has her own kids, and you believe her as a mother. When she went through the script, I could tell that she studied details. Miramax may have wanted Nicole, but Nicole would not have had that mix of gorgeous and maternal.''
Winslet said she had no desire to do another period piece. Throughout her career, Winslet has almost never been cast as a modern girl. From her first movie, ''Heavenly Creatures,'' which was directed by Peter Jackson, to ''Titanic'' and on to ''Iris,'' in which she played a young Iris Murdoch, around 1950, and for which she was nominated for an Academy Award, she has consistently been seen, like many English actresses, as a throwback. ''Oh -- it's the accent,'' Winslet explained. ''The studios definitely think I'm period, and that only makes it more difficult to get parts. But I don't go and watch a lot of period movies. I'm more a Charlie Kaufman - ''American Splendor'' kind of girl. I'm there opening day for those films. That's why 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind' was so thrilling to me. It's boring to keep saying this, but I fought for that movie also.''
Winslet's performance as Clementine Kruczynski in the Kaufman-scripted ''Spotless Mind'' is, so far, the most original and thrilling acting in an American film this year. The movie spins back and forth in time and memory, and Winslet's character provides the focus. Unlike every other madcap but lovable heroine in films today, her Clementine is charismatic and maddening, fascinating and completely irritating. ''Clementine is such a complex mixture of positives and negatives. I did not want her to be obvious. I didn't want her to be a nail-biting neurotic with a twitch, but at the same time, I didn't want her to be all hearts and chocolates. I didn't want their love affair to be some blissful daydream. They had lots of highs and lows. And I loved her hair colors. She went from blue to orange to pink and back. I had so much fun with those wigs. That was my fake nose.'' Winslet laughed at her reference to Kidman's Oscar-winning proboscis.
From Aint it Cool News on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Wednesday, September 15, 2004Hi, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab...
I got a little sneak peek at some design work from this film the other day. Not a lot. Just enough to whet my appetite. I have to say... this may be the most perfectly cartoonish Burton film in quite a while if they make the whole world look like the bits and pieces I saw.
Sometimes, you pick up news in the oddest places. I was watching the magnificent new FORBIDDEN ZONE DVD the other day, and in the extras, there’s a big batch of interviews with the principals in the film conducted by Richard Elfman himself. One of the most interesting ibts of that interview is when he ends up talking to Danny Elfman. They talk a bit about their days in The Mystic Knights Of Oingo Boingo, and then Richard asks Danny about playing the Devil in FORBIDDEN ZONE. And then he compliments him on his work as Jack in THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, which leads Richard to ask, “Is there any chance you’ll ever sing in a movie again or perform a part like that again?”
And, perfectly casual, like it’s already common knowledge, Danny says, “Yeah, actually. I’m singing all of the Ooompa Loompa songs in CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY. I’ll be doing the voices of the Oompa Loompas.”
This sounds freakin’ great. Danny Elfman doing an adaptation of the Roald Dahl work and actually performing the parts? Sign me up for a copy of that soundtrack... RIGHT... NOW.
Found by Emma
Thursday, September 16, 2004Toronto crowd in take-off mode
By BRENDAN KELLYTORONTO --- The Toronto Film Festival closes Saturday night, but things began to wind down as early as Wednesday.
There was a lot less activity at the hotels that host the interview and business action, and many press and industry reps have left already or are set to fly out shortly.
The early exits, intensified this year due to the start of the Jewish high holidays Wednesday night, underline that Toronto has become a front-loaded event with many companies wanting to preem pics on the first weekend.
That's particularly true for the Hollywood studios, which take advantage of the heavy media presence on opening weekend. It's also thought to be harder to sell pics later in the fest, since some buyers hit the road midweek.
Lions Gate Films prexy Tom Ortenberg cautions that an early preem can be a double-edge sword.
"The greatest concentration of press is there for opening weekend, but you have to be careful," Ortenberg said. "If you don't have a film with big stars, you run the risk of being overwhelmed by all of the other stars."
Acquisitions execs can't leave Toronto just yet. Many were sticking around to check out Helen Hunt/Scarlett Johansson starrer "A Good Woman," which preemed in the Wednesday gala slot, and the much-hyped Johnny Depp vehicle "The Libertine," which screens tonight. The Depp pic could not have screened any earlier --- the filmmakers reportedly were racing this week to complete last-minute post-production.
"There are good movies yet to show," said IFC Entertainment prexy Jonathan Sehring. "There are still two or three that we're tracking."
Major pics that unspooled the first weekend with loads of talent in tow to promote them included "I Heart Huckabees," "Beyond the Sea," "House of Flying Daggers," "Shark Tale," "Kinsey" and "Ray."
Toronto festival co-director Noah Cowan admitted there is pressure from distribs to have their high-profile, star-studded pics programmed in the first three days.
"The truth is most stars work a lot, and the days they tend to be available are Saturday, Sunday and Monday," said Cowan. "That's why the junketing takes place over those three days. But I think some films get hurt by insisting they be early in the event. 'Mysterious Skin' (which screened Monday and Wednesday) is getting a lot of buyer attention and that's because it stayed off opening weekend."
Found by RupertBear at Ohio.comJohnny Depp has joined other celebrities in showing off their favorite body parts for charity in a book called "Precious" due out this fall. Johnny's photo shoot presented a unique challenge, since he chose his breath as his favorite body part.
Johnny question in this quiz about the 90's at the Omaha World Herald
From Variety
A 'PAN' FOR ALL AGES
Mon Sep 13,11:56 AM ET
TODD MCCARTHYQuiet emotions run deep in "Finding Neverland," an impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan." Based on people and events that have been maneuvered in a way to evoke the sources of inspiration for one of the enduring classics of the last century, Marc Forster's astutely judged follow-up to "Monster's Ball" is the rare modern film that, like Hollywood fare of the classic studio era, can play well to all age groups. It also will reduce many viewers to tears, which, along with a stellar cast led by Johnny Depp (news), gives Miramax plenty to work with in positioning the picture as a remunerative, classy late-year release.
With the flop of last Christmas' elaborate "Peter Pan" not yet forgotten, "Finding Neverland" offers the public something different. Most importantly, there is Depp's delicate and inviting portrait of an unusual man, a celebrated playwright of the Edwardian era whose own refusal to abandon his childlike instincts allowed him to create a fantasy about a boy who didn't want to grow up.
Then there's the rare success of David Magee's screenplay, based on Allan Knee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan," in making the life of a writer not only interesting but plausible in the connections made between life and work. The key here is Barrie's chance encounter in Kensington Gardens with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four young sons. Fresh off a West End flop in 1903, Barrie is looking for fresh ideas when he meets Sylvia, the daughter of artist and author George du Maurier and a recent widow, now quite overburdened.
Barrie starts playing games with the boys in the park and becomes intensely drawn to Sylvia. The odd woman out in this dynamic is Barrie's beautiful wife, Mary (Radha Mitchell), whose tenuous connection to her husband is soon snapped by his new, albeit nonsexual alliance.
One of the pic's minor flaws is its lack of inquiry into the nature of this marriage; one suspects there is a whole level to Barrie and his relations with women that must remain off-limits for various reasons.
Also put out by the growing affection between Barrie and Sylvia is the latter's proper mother, Emma (Julie Christie (news)), who views the attachment as not only socially incorrect but potentially destructive to all concerned.
Still, there is no stopping Barrie (who was 44 when he wrote "Peter Pan") from pursuing his increasingly elaborate adventures with the boys, play that soon incorporates elements of cowboys and Indians and pirate escapades that work their way into his writing in key ways.
The film establishes confidence from the outset, as it deftly evokes the world of white-tie theatrical openings and a sophisticated artistic class, just as it nicely suggests Barrie's daily routine, which involves working from a park bench in the company of his enormous dog.
Entirely opposed to contemporary convention, most of the dialogue is spoken in hushed, confidential tones, and this understatement contributes significantly to the slow burn of emotion that gathers in intensity through the film's second half.
During a summer in the country, Sylvia develops a worrisome uncontrollable cough; when her hacking interrupts a garden performance of a play written, with Barrie's encouragement, by her son Peter (Freddie Highmore), the latter angrily destroys the little set and rips up his manuscript, fearing his only remaining parent may be taken from him.
At the theater, Barrie's producer, the American impresario Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman), frets along with the cast at the sheer oddness of the new play now in rehearsals about animals, Indians, pirates, fairies and flying kids.
Movie marketing and publicity types will especially appreciate the key detail in the depiction of the opening night of "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up," which took place Dec. 27, 1904. The playwright insisted 25 seats be set aside for his own use, and he filled them with children from a nearby orphanage. The kids' quick and delighted laughter at the antics of Nana, the hulking dog in the play's first scene, served to immediately disarm and quell the skepticism of the largely gray crowd, and the rest is history.
But the picture's real climax comes afterward, at a private performance of the play for the benefit of the now seriously ailing Sylvia. Barrie's devotion to her and her boys, along with his manner of revealing Neverland to her, is exceptionally touching; many moments of the film's final stretch will have audiences welling up and blubbering away.
Forster's directorial restraint has much to do with this, as do the performances of Depp, Winslet and little Highmore. Impeccably groomed and as boyishly handsome as ever, Depp takes a cue from the soft lilt of his beautifully rendered Scottish accent to create a gently nuanced portrayal of an artist who at least this once found a way to transform troubled reality into an imaginative work for the ages.
Winslet, who played Wendy onstage when she was 15, vibrantly brings both resilience and vulnerability to Sylvia, a woman whose early gifts in life are rapidly taken away. Christie, the epitome of carefree bohemianism in her youth, here goes effectively to the opposite extreme to stand for the strictest Victorian attitudes. Mitchell is the picture of a beauty in full flower who cannot be neglected for long. Hoffman spryly underplays the theatrical producer who shrewdly allows instinct to trump logic, and Highmore is crucially emotive and heartrending as the boy whose name Barrie took for his fictional creation.
Shot entirely in England, pic is aces in the craft areas, from Gemma Jackson's warmly detailed production design and Alexandra Byrne's resplendent costumes to Roberto Schaefer's lustrous lensing and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's unobtrusively supportive score.
Only wrong note is struck by a silly Elton John (news)-Bernie Taupin song clumsily pasted over the end credits, destroying the hard-won tenderness of pic's closing moments. No matter the distinguished pedigree of the composition, it should go.
--
(U.S.-U.K.)
A Miramax release of a Film Colony production. Produced by Richard N. Gladstein, Nellie Bellflower. Executive producers, Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Michelle Sy, Gary Binkow, Neal Israel. Co-producer, Michael Dreyer.Directed by Marc Forster. Screenplay, David Magee, based on the play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan" by Allan Knee. Camera (Deluxe color, widescreen), Roberto Schaefer; editor, Matt Chesse; music, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek; production designer, Gemma Jackson; art director, Peter Russell; set decorator, Trisha Edwards; costume designer, Alexandra Byrne; sound (SDDS/DTS), David Crozier; sound designer, Matthew Collinge; special effects supervisor, Stuart Brisdon; visual effects designer, Kevin Tod Haug; associate producer, Tracey Becker; assistant director, Martin Harrison; casting, Kate Dowd. Reviewed at Telluride Film Festival, Sept. 4, 2004. (Also in Venice Film Festival.) MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 106 MIN.
Barrie ..... Johnny Depp
Sylvia Llewelyn Davies ..... Kate Winslet
Mrs. Emma du Maurier ..... Julie Christie
Mary Ansell Barrie ..... Radha Mitchell
Charles Frohman ..... Dustin Hoffman
"Peter Pan" ..... Kelly Macdonald
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ..... Ian Hart
Mrs. Snow ..... Eileen Essell
Stage Manager ..... Paul Whitehouse
Davies ..... Freddie Highmore
Jack Llewelyn Davies ..... Joe Prospero
George Llewelyn Davies ..... Nick Roud
Michael Llewelyn Davies ..... Luke Spill
Copyright © 2003 Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Variety is a registered trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc. and used under license. All Rights Reserved.
Found by RupertBear at The Toronto Star
Girls say boys are just too, er, boyish
by MARGO VARADIBlame it on Johnny Depp. Teen crushes on the 41-year-old hottie, father of two, could be part of the reason so many 15-year-old girls are wearing pearls, dressing '50s glam and, most important, setting their sights on older males.
"I went out on a date with someone who was 25," says Jane, 15. "I was fine until he asked me when I wanted to have kids. That was weird."
For most teens, the age gap is not quite so pronounced. Still, the girls I talked to one evening at a café in Little Italy insist on some age difference.
"I don't know a single person going out with somebody the same age," says Kamilla, 14. "I've always been with someone at least two years older."
"I couldn't go out with someone my age. They're so immature," Jane says. "Guys our age are still running around hitting each other and laughing. Older guys are more normal."
Louisa is 15 and dating a man who's about to turn 20. "The perfect guy should stimulate my mind," she says. "I have to have some debate."
"They (older guys) are a lot more intellectual," says Jane.
Your average parent would be more likely to view a 20-year-old guy dating a 15-year-old girl as perverse rather than enlightened. Conversely, girls feel that the perv factor applies more to boys their age.
"Guys our age are even more desperate to experiment with sex than an older guy who's already been through the experience," Jane says. "I dated a younger guy and we did the classic fool-around thing but, past that, there was nothing. I want someone who knows how to treat a woman."
Certainly, some 15-year-old boys aren't thrilled about losing their girls to guys in the higher grades. Zak thinks a lot of girls his age over-idealize older guys.
"I talk to these older guys and most of the time they're just playing younger girls because it's easier for older guys to get younger girls who are intrigued by them," says Zak.
"Younger girls think they're more mature than they are and often don't know what they're getting themselves into."
Having been in a relationship for 10 months with an older guy, Louisa admits there are pitfalls. "He can drink, I can't. He can smoke, I can't. I can't even go to a concert unless it's all ages. I'm not having a 15-year-old relationship. He's thinking about jobs and being by himself. I've got four years of school left."
Then there is the social stigma....
"It's not always socially acceptable," Louisa says. "I've had teachers approach me and tell me my relationship was bad."
Zak complains that, for him, a younger girl would be too young and older girls are looking elsewhere.
"It does bug me because I'm not getting any," he says. "I think it's funny that girls date older guys because they think they're wiser and more loyal.
"In most cases, they're not loyal if they're dating 15-year-olds."
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E-mail Margo Varadi at mvaradi@thestar.ca.
From the Denver Post
From summer froth to heftier fareThe Oscar buzz heats up as the weather cools off and a new season rolls out
By Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post Film CriticIn town last month for a special Denver Film Society screening of "Finding Neverland," director Marc Forster admitted he was starting to get that odd feeling, the one filmmakers get when their movies begin generating Oscar buzz weeks before they hit theaters.
Certainly the director of "Monster's Ball" has been the beneficiary of buzz before, although it was mostly after the fact, when Halle Berry took home an Oscar in 2001.
"We didn't do much for it," Forster says about the publicity push for that dark drama. "Halle really went to bat for it."
Now a different Barrie is bringing Forster attention.
"Finding Neverland," which opens in November, tells the story of Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie. The movie's star, Johnny Depp, had just been featured on the cover of Entertainment Weekly accompanied by the question: "Is 'Finding Neverland' His Oscar Movie?"
Welcome to the season of performance anxiety. The season when film lovers and Oscar handicappers begin to ask: Who will shock us with scene-stealing performances? Transport us with an unforgettable character? One-up our expectations with new roles?
Some of the names are no surprise: Sean Penn ("The Assassination of Richard Nixon"). Others may look familiar but their names elude us: Imelda Staunton ("Vera Drake") Still others are in breakthrough roles: Jamie Foxx ("Ray").
Typically, the fall movie season is when we discard the frothiness of summer to embrace heartier fare. Only summer 2004 - indeed, this entire year - has been stranger than most.
Movies have mattered - from "The Passion of the Christ" to "Fahrenheit 9/11" - but the focus has more often been on the message, not the performances.
Although there was Oscar buzz for spring and summer performances (Tom Hanks in "The Terminal" and "The Ladykillers," Meryl Streep in "The Manchurian Candidate," Tom Cruise and Jamie Foxx in "Collateral") the prognosticating is really gearing up as the weather cools off.
Foxx on a roll
Two films opening this fall that promise remarkable performances are themselves about performance.
Even before "Ray" screened for a gathering of journalists of color in August, Jamie Foxx was getting attention for his portrayal of Ray Charles in Taylor Hackford's long-brewing biopic. On the heels of his turn as a taxi driver who gets taken for an edgy ride in "Collateral," Foxx is due for serious recognition.
In "Being Julia," Annette Bening gives a portrayal as an actress of a certain age. Based on the M. Somerset Maugham novel "Theatre," and set in London in the late 1930s, the movie finds Julia Lambert at the height of her profession. She's triumphant on stage but in need of assurance off. That comes in the form of a younger man. Or does it?
What makes "Being Julia" (screening at the 27th Denver International Film Festival, beginning Oct. 14) such tart joy is the way Bening provides a tutorial in film versus theatrical acting.
"The internal work, the cooking it up, whatever you do to convince yourself you have this emotional life is similar in theater and film," said Bening, sitting in the lounge of Telluride's Sheridan Hotel recently. "How you express it is different.
"The primary difference for me is when you do a play, you do it over and over and over," she said. "You go from the beginning to the end each time you do it. Whereas in movies, it's like a mosaic. You do work that's like a little tile and you do only that work for the day. After that day, you don't do it again, unless there's a nightmare and you have to reshoot."
It is part of cinema's illusion that the best screen performances seem to stand apart from a film. But little excellent is ever separate from the film.
"In theater, you're on your own," says Galina Volk, who teaches at the Colorado Film School's Acting for the Screen program. "If an actor's bad, nothing can help them. But in film everybody works for the actor."
Purer form of acting
It's a crazy irony then that one of the least performance-driven films of the season seems to be putting the craft on display.
It would be enough that "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" director Kerry Conran was being hailed as the creator of a new kind of film. But having put his cast, starting with stars Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow, in front of blue screens not just for action sequences but for things as mundane as conversation, Conran may be distilling a purer form of screen acting.
"For better or worse, I do think actors are going to have to anticipate, expect and develop skills to deal with this sort of big genre movie," said the 38-year-old, first-time director, who was in Denver to promote "Sky Captain," which opens Friday.
"Acting shouldn't be limited by what's not there," he said. "To me it's a philosophical approach to the way you act. When people struggle in front of the blue screen, when they're still expecting all those things to be there that would be on a normal film. When those things are suddenly gone, they're lost.
"But Jude and Gwyneth approached it more like theater. Jude had even said early on that he sometimes found in film that you get lost in the set. Sometimes the scenery does some of the work for you."
Early in "Sky Captain," Paltrow has to evade the gargantuan feet of massive robots.
"We wanted all these very sophisticated things to cue the actors and allow them to interact," recalls Conran. In the end, though, Conran and crew went for old-school make believe.
"We resorted to shouting," he says. "Duck ... duck!"
Film critic Lisa Kennedy can be reached at 303-820-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com .
From the Sunday Hearlad
Johnny Depp set to ‘rescue’ JM Barrie
12 September 2004Oscar-tipped movie may restore Peter Pan creator’s reputation after paedophile whispers
By Brian PendreighIN his day, JM Barrie was Britain’s top playwright, but ironically only Peter Pan has survived the test of time, with most of his other works virtually forgotten. And it is not just Barrie’s literary reputation that has taken a battering. In recent years, detractors have suggested that behind his one enduring hit lay an unhealthy obsession with young boys.
But this most awkward of Scottish period celebrities is about to benefit from a major Hollywood makeover. Johnny Depp plays him in a new film, directed by Marc Forster, that has just premiered at the Venice Film Festival and is being tipped for Oscars.Todd McCarthy, Variety’s reviewer, described Finding Neverland as “impeccably made and genuinely moving ”. He added: “Depp takes a cue from the soft lilt of his beautifully rendered Scottish accent to create a gently nuanced portrayal of an artist who transformed troubled reality into an imaginative work for the ages.”
Mike Goodridge of Screen International called the film a “finely-crafted tearjerker” and reckoned Depp was a certainty for an Oscar nomination. But he predicted a bumpy ride from “historical purists” alarmed by the dramatic licence the film takes in its portrayal of the playwright’s friendship with the Llewelyn Davies boys, who inspired Peter Pan and who Barrie adopted after the death of their parents.
In Finding Neverland their father, Arthur, is conveniently dead by the time Barrie meets the family, allowing the film to suggest the possibility of romance between Barrie and the boys’ mother Sylvia, played by Kate Winslet. But Sylvia dies, just as his play opens. In reality, Peter Pan opened in 1904, Arthur died in 1908 and Sylvia in 1910, both of cancer.
There was fierce controversy over the liberties Mel Gibson took with Scottish history in Braveheart, but it seems on this occasion experts are happy to let Hollywood rewrite the past.
“I wouldn’t get wound up by literal freedoms,” said Professor Ronald Jack, author of The Road To Never Land. “When you’re dealing with an author who is not terribly interested in things literalistic and realistic, you have scope to change history .”
Andrew Birkin, author of the book JM Barrie And The Lost Boys , said: “I don’t think it matters. Provided they don’t portray him as a paedophile, I would think it would be good.”
Ingrid Turner, custodian of Barrie’s Birthplace museum in Kirriemuir in Angus, said: “I don’t feel they’ve distorted anything. I think it’s fantastic that Johnny Depp is the person to represent Barrie. He’s going to make Barrie’s image more positive, which is great.”
The son of a weaver, Barrie was born in 1860, and worked as a journalist before moving to London and becoming a successful novelist, with A Window On Thrums and The Little Minister, sentimental tales set in Scotland.
Quality Street, The Admirable Crichton, Peter Pan and What Every Woman Knows made him the foremost playwright of the age and a millionaire, with Hollywood churning out film adaptations by the dozen.
But his literary reputation fell into decline following his death in 1937. Most of his works were virtually forgotten, with the exception of Peter Pan, the story of a boy who never grows up and lives in Neverland, a magical place populated by orphans, pirates and Native Americans.
More recently, critics, researchers and psychologists have been dissecting the text and digging into Barrie’s life, including his relationship with the tragic Llewelyn Davies boys. One died in the first world war, one drowned himself, while Peter, who gave his name to Barrie’s greatest creation, eventually killed himself as well.
Birkin, who had access to family members and personal papers, raised the question of Barrie’s sexuality in 1979.
Barrie’s wife’s correspondence seemed to confirm long-standing rumours of impotence, though Nico Llewelyn Davies, the youngest boy, then an old man, told Birkin he “never heard one word or saw one glimmer of anything approaching homosexuality or paedophilia … Barrie was innocent – which is why he could write Peter Pan.”
More recently theatre critic Lyn Gardner called Peter Pan one of the most “darkly disturbing” plays ever written. “It is the story of a strange, dysfunctional boy who refuses to grow up, who hangs around at a nursery window and lures its children away,” she wrote.
“There is no evidence that Barrie ever acted on any of his impulses , but his predilection for hanging around Kensington Gardens making friends with small children would set alarm bells ringing today.”
It did not help that Michael Jackson declared himself a Barrie fan, called his home Neverland and invited children to share his passion.
There are some dubious episodes in Barrie’s writing, but no evidence he acted improperly towards children .
Turner said: “Barrie has this image of being a strange little man with various quirks and Johnny Depp plays to that, but in a positive way .”
Attendance figures at Barrie’s Birthplace have been running at a modest 4500 annually, but Turner is hoping a successful film could have the sort of effect Braveheart had at the Wallace Monument, where visitor numbers more than doubled.
“I’ve seen the trailer for the film and I thought it was absolutely fantastic,” she said.
From Digital Spy
Depp's new film too raunchy for his kids
Sunday 12th September 2004 -- by Daniel KilkellyJohnny Depp doesn't think that his children will be able to watch his latest movie, The Libertine.
Depp told reporters at the Venice Film Festival that his children would have to wait 40 years before he allowed them to watch the film, in which he plays a poet who is obsessed with sex.
"When I was approached to do Finding Neverland it was certainly a plus being a film my kids could watch," Depp explained.
"But I think they'll have to wait to see The Libertine - something like 40 years. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under say - well my children are two and six - so let's say 26."
From Reuters
September 13, 2004
Will Venice Be Remembered for Films or Follies?
By Shasta DarlingtonVENICE, Italy (Reuters) - The Venice Film Festival dazzled like never before this year with its string of Hollywood stars and hot arthouse directors, but the festival's new chief may find delays and embarrassing blunders are what people remember.
Marco Muller, a film producer and former director of the Locarno film festival, was named to organize the world's oldest cinema competition just months before it was set to kick off.
He wowed critics with his line-up, but producers, publicists and moviegoers who flocked to the Lido for the 61st edition of the festival say organizers bit off more than they could chew.
"We just weren't able to make miracles even if we tried," said Davide Croff, president of the Venice Biennale, which oversees the festival.
At the height of the confusion, Al Pacino found himself without a seat at the premier of his own film, while Johnny Depp (news)'s stroll down the red carpet for the screening of "Finding Neverland" was delayed by two hours until 2 a.m.
Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein joked at the pre-dawn premiere that he would have his revenge on Muller. "I'll drown him in the lagoon, with his feet encased in cement," he jested.
At the awards ceremony on Saturday night, the presenter forgot to award the prize for best director and had to go back to it just before bestowing the Golden Lion on "Vera Drake."
Perhaps one of the most diplomatically delicate incidents, however, was the lengthy delay at the premiere of Malaysia's most expensive film ever.
The crown prince and an entourage of musicians in traditional costume found a virtually empty theater when the screening finally began well after midnight. The festival put on a free public show a week later in amends.
JOBS IN JEOPARDY?
A veteran European publicist called the festival "amateur," but officials said they are the victims of their own success.
They blamed the problems on bigger than expected crowds, demands by Hollywood studios to concentrate their films in the first five days, stars' lengthy autograph sessions on the red carpet and outdated infrastructure.
Still, speculation has grown that senior jobs may be in jeopardy, especially after Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani boasted ahead of the festival that with his hand-picked team in place this would be a year to remember.
"I don't think we will make the same mistake twice," Muller, who has a four-year contract, said during the festival.
Organizers already have a long-term solution: the construction of large cinema to replace the traditional Art Deco theater which only seats about 1,000, but they have at least another three festivals before that goal will be achieved.
"My main problem is the American films," Muller said, adding that next year he might eliminate the "out of competition" slots that Hollywood blockbusters snap up as launching pads for their films in the European market.
He might also consider reducing the number of films in the main competition -- this year there were 22 -- or eliminating the Horizons section for trend-setting movies.
"The problem is that those who are suffering the gridlock the most are the small and fragile films that we are supposed to highlight," Muller said.
Found by Patience in the Daily Mail
September 10, 2004
The Daily Mail
September 10, 2004JOHNNY'S DEPTHS OF DEPRAVITY
JOHNNY DEPP is enjoying the best of both worlds -- he's in the year's most enchanting movie and in another that could be called the most debauched.
In Finding Neverland, he portrays J.M. Barrie in a fictional story based on the idea that the author was inspired to write Peter Pan when he met a widow and her brood of boys.
Kate Winslet stars as the woman he befriends, Sylvia Llewelyn Davies, and gifted British schoolboy actor Freddie Highmore plays her youngest son, Peter.
All three actors could be in line for Oscar nominations.
But now let us look at the debauchery.
In The Libertine, which will be shown at the Toronto International Film Festival next week, Depp stars as lecherous Restoration era poet and writer John Wilmot, the second Earl of Rochester.
'He was a great and very overlooked British poet. He was very clever but debauched,' Depp told me. 'He died aged 33, of drink and syphilis. He was a wild man, but also a very sad and tragic figure.'
Wilmot also wrote such treasures as Sodom, Or The Quintessence Of Debauchery. Samuel Johnson wrote of him: 'He blazed out his youth and health in lavish voluptuousness.'
Lately, Depp has been in a string of family films in the hope that they will appeal to his two young children.
'When I was approached to do Finding Neverland it was certainly a plus that it was a film I felt my kids could watch. Pirates Of The Caribbean was too, to some degree, and certainly Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,' Depp told me in Venice.
'But I think they'll have to wait to see The Libertine . . . something like 40 years. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone under say -- well my children are two and nearly six -- so let's say 26!'
Depp's Finding Neverland co- star Freddie takes the title role in Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, with Depp playing Willy Wonka.
And Depp will reprise his turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates Of The Caribbean 2, early next year.
Finally, we talked about how devastated he was by the death of Marlon Brando, with whom he had worked.
Depp said Brando had a 'cool' way of dealing with gossips. 'He'd look them in the eye and say: "Was you there, Charlie? Was you there?" '
'Then they'd back down because, of course, they hadn't been "there" and knew nothing.
Found by Truly Madly Deeply at Times Online
September 09, 2004Festival
Venice is reborn as a Hollywood neverland
by James Christopher
Big american money-spinners and lots of celebrities have attracted record crowds, but the quality of the movies has been worth the queueing. Our critic reports from the LidoTHE PRE-SEASON pilgrimage by the festival director Marco Müller around the richest studios in America has had an enormous impact on the 61st edition of the Venice Film Festival. The Lido is infested with Hollywood stars. The programme is stacked with commercial money-spinners. And the tills are singing. Müller has been duly rewarded with fanatical crowds and chaos. This must be the first festival where a press conference was called to apologise for too many people turning up. I watched it on a huge screen outside the Cinema Palace along with 500 other journalists pointlessly queuing for a Hayao Miyazaki animation that was wildly oversubscribed.
Even the stars are feeling the squeeze. The cross-eyed heroes of Marc Forster’s Finding Neverland crawled up the red carpet for their gala screening at 2.15 in the morning. It was scheduled to start at midnight. Harvey Weinstein promptly bounced on stage and said: “Welcome to the breakfast screening of Neverland. This morning Marco Müller will be serving the croissants and I’ll be teaching him the meaning of ‘timing’. Then I’ ll drown him in the lagoon with his feet encased in cement.”
That said, most films have been worth the wait. Finding Neverland is a surprisingly thoughtful Edwardian drama about J. M. Barrie’s relationship with the Llewelyn Davies family who inspired Peter Pan. Johnny Depp plays the Scottish playwright with dashing sensitivity. Crushed by a brittle, sexless marriage and stung by reviews of his last West End outing, Barrie becomes hopelessly beguiled by Kate Winslet’s family on his daily walks around Kensington Gardens. They ambush him while he’s writing; he invents potty adventures to distract them from painful home truths.
The film celebrates the transforming power of a childish imagination, but it also questions the stunted wisdom. Dustin Hoffman’s silky theatre impresario can’t afford to believe in fairies. Julie Christie’s icy grandmother is suspicious of Barrie’s interest in young boys. And Depp’s wife (Radha Mitchell) quivers with resentment. The starched atmosphere of the time is beautifully evoked. The sentiment is harder to swallow. Kate Winslet is not the world’s most convincing consumptive, and it’s hard to suspend your disbelief at the triumphant first night of Barrie’s most famous play.
If celebrity is the defining theme of this festival, one wonders what on earth Hollywood’s leading men have to say to each other on the terrace bars. Tim Robbins seems to be running his own festival a taxi ride away from the cinema that officially opened his anti-war, thump-Bush satire, Embedded: Live. It’s neither fish nor fowl. It’s basically a film of his scathing stage play, currently at the Riverside Studios in London.
Tom Hanks (Republican) paddled into Venice with Spielberg to promote the virtues of hanging around airport departure lounges in The Terminal. And no one can think of a single sensible reason why Denzel Washington pitched up for the opening of the execrable thriller, Man on Fire, when most of us wished he was on the Moon by the second reel.
Tom Cruise is currently leading this battle of the egos, courtesy of Michael Mann’s sizzling thriller, Collateral.
A Love Song for Bobby Long features another Hollywood icon, but it’s quite clear that style and John Travolta haven’t mixed for some time. He plays a chronic alcoholic and the title role in Shainee Gabel’s low-budget movie, and though most of the critics hated it, I was oddly seduced by the complete lack of airs and graces. Bobby is a shambling drunk and disgraced academic, but he’s the only “family” Scarlett Johansson’s trailer-park waif has got left in the world. When her mother dies, they both inherit her rambling shack in New Orleans and spend the rest of the film booting each other out into the street. Ultimately, it’s a soap opera about wasted lives, tough love and bittersweet redemption. But I like the moody patience of the film and its bluesy philosophising.
Reese Witherspoon is equally effective in Mira Nair’s sumptuous production of Vanity Fair. Most adaptations bungle Thackeray’s feminist satire on a society that structures the class system on the spoils of its colonies. But this is spot on. Witherspoon’s Becky Sharp is a sublime piece of casting: she is effortlessly witty and scandalously out-of-synch with the powdery cleavages and pinched faces who thwart her rise in society.
The four suitors in the governess’s life are as doomy as old clichés. They smoulder and shunt like disgruntled steam trains every time she enters a room, be it a military ball in Brussels in 1815 or a seedy gambling house 12 years later. This is comfort food for the ladies, and a politically acute period piece for the Monsoon Wedding director’s growing number of fans.
Despite the endless supply of iconic beefcake, it is actresses who are making the deepest impression on Venice audiences. Imelda Staunton is not a name to launch a thousand posters, but her performance as a middle-aged mother in Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake is something I’ll wear to the grave. There are moments in this movie, set in the 1950s, that should be framed and hung in every courtroom in the country.
Staunton plays the jaunty title heroine with indecent amounts of energy. Vera cleans houses, tends to her mother and drinks alarming quantities of tea. She is the pride and joy of her working-class family, but her secret sideline — namely helping young women terminate unwanted pregnancies — has appalling consequences when a needy waif is shipped to hospital.
Leigh has a natural gift for turning meagre ingredients into gripping tragedy, and it’s rarely been put to better use. Who, or what, one wonders, is being put on trial? Staunton delivers the performance of her career as the hapless Vera. The camera-shot of her face when the police come knocking on Christmas Eve is a genuinely traumatic piece of cinema.
Thankfully, there is no shortage of clowns on the Lido, notably the female prankster who handcuffed herself to Quentin Tarantino during the press launch of the Italian B-movie sidebar, and the frogmen dispatched to an impenetrable canal to defuse a phantom bomb behind the Casino.
The American maverick Todd Solondz has spiked the festival in his own inimitable fashion. Palindromes is an absurd fantasy about a disgruntled 13-year-old girl who is desperate to become a mum. The script is a slice of genius. The performances are terrific. Half a dozen young actors (all shapes, colours and sizes) play the part of Aviva as she embarks on a picaresque road trip to ghastly motels and apple-pie Jesus Freaks. Needless to say, her yuppie parents (Ellen Barkin and Richard Masur) are scared and horrified.They are also fabulously inept. What’s remarkable is the ever-changing chemistry between Aviva and her prospective mates as her identity slides between the young actresses. It’s an unholy blend of deadpan jokes, kitsch morals and wobbly acting. Yet it feels original to the point of inspired.
Another chance to see "Finding Neverland" before it is relased from the IndyStar
Heartland Film Festival to close with 'Neverland'By Bonnie Britton
bonnie.britton@indystar.com
September 9, 2004The high profile film "Finding Neverland," starring Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, will close the Heartland Film Festival Oct. 29, playing at the IMAX Theater in White River State Park(Indianna). Despite a more than two-hour late start at about 2 a.m. Sunday at the Venice Film Festival, the movie about "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie received a standing ovation from the audience. The closing night screening and reception were announced at the Indiana History Center tonight by Heartland Film Festival president Jeff Sparks, who also unveiled the 21 Crystal Heart Award winners, opening film and other Oct. 21-29 festival events.
Opening the festival Oct. 21 at the IMAX Theater is "Because of Winn-Dixie," starring Jeff Daniels, Cicely Tyson and Dave Matthews. The movie is scheduled for theatrical release in 2005. Directed by Wayne Wang ("Maid in Manhattan," "The Joy Luck Club"), it's based on the novel by Kate DiCamillo about an orphaned dog that helps a girl in a small Florida town make friends. Wang and DiCamillo will attend the opening, along with Annasophia Robb, one of the stars, and select cast members.
Crystal Heart Awards and $100,000 in cash prizes will be handed out at the Oct. 23 gala in Conseco Fieldhouse when the $50,000 grand prize winner and other cash awards are revealed.
Crystal Heart Award-winning films playing at the festival include "A Place Called Home: An Adoption Story," "Dear Frankie," "Love's Brother," "Tackle Box," "Chestnut," "Les Choristes," "Birthday Boy," "Killer Diller," "Miracle Mile," "When Zachary Beaver Came to Town," "Let Go," "Burying the Past: Legacy of the Mountain Meadows Massacre," "Breakfast with Mary & Chet," "Full Circle," "The Conscientious Objector," "The Angel of Chilside Road," "Casanova at Fifty," "Alone Across Australia," "Nellie: A Life Worth Living," "Flyaway," and "Hardwood Dreams: Ten Years Later." The original "Hardwood Dreams," a 1993 winner, also will be shown during the festival.
Mike Rich, the screenwriter of "Finding Forrester," "The Rookie" and "Radio" will be honored at the gala, along with Academy Award-winning songwriters Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman for their contributions to musicals ("Mary Poppins," "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"). Other confirmed guests include film music editor Joseph DeBeasi ("What's Eating Gilbert Grape" and "Winn-Dixie"); and Mike Tollin, Crystal Heart winner and executive producer of "The Days" TV series.
Children of all ages will have the opportunity to participate in a supercalifragilistic sing-along with the musical movie "Mary Poppins" Oct. 24 at the Indiana History Center Theater as part of this year's festival, as well as meet Richard M. Sherman, part of the songwriting team responsible for the film's music.
DeBeasi and Rich also are slated to conduct an all-day educational seminar Oct. 25 at 30 South Meridian on film music and creative screenwriting.
Movies this year will be shown at various Indianapolis venues, including the IMAX, Indiana History Center Theater, AMC Castleton Arts and Greenwood Park 14.
The non-profit annual film festival, founded in 1991, "recognizes and honors filmmakers whose work explores the human journey by artistically expressing hope and respect for the positive values of life."
Winning features will be paired with one or two shorts in 11 programs during the festival.
Jim Caviezel, Robert Wise, Richard Dreyfuss, Marcia Gay Harden, Karl Malden, Gary Sinise, LeVar Burton, Robert Duvall, Vivica A. Fox and Horton Foote have attended past festivals.
A Truly Moving Musicals program featuring seven classic musical films has been added to the festival this year, curated by Jack Everly, principal pops conductor with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra. Those films will screen at various venues.
A brunch, where filmmakers will be available for a meet and greet reception at the Marriott Downtown, is scheduled for Oct. 24. Last year, attendees were treated to Q&A's with several filmmakers including Dick Cook, Walt Disney Studios president.
Tickets for all special events go on sale Friday through Heartland's toll-free ticket line at (866) HFF-1010; or at www.heartlandfilmfestival.org. Festival 10-Packs, with 10 general admission tickets for screenings are available in advance for $50 through the ticket line, Web site or at select Indianapolis-area Marsh Supermarkets. Single advance tickets are $6 at Marsh or $7 at the theaters before the screenings.
Call Star reporter Bonnie Britton at (317) 444-6258.
From Oscar Watch
Quiet emotions run deep in "Finding Neverland," an impeccably made and genuinely moving account of how Scottish author J.M. Barrie came to write "Peter Pan." Based on people and events that have been maneuvered in a way to evoke the sources of inspiration for one of the enduring classics of the last century, Marc Forster's astutely judged follow-up to "Monster's Ball" is the rare modern film that, like Hollywood fare of the classic studio era, can play well to all age groups. It also will reduce many viewers to tears, which, along with a stellar cast led by Johnny Depp (news), gives Miramax plenty to work with in positioning the picture as a remunerative, classy late-year release.
With the flop of last Christmas' elaborate "Peter Pan" not yet forgotten, "Finding Neverland" offers the public something different. Most importantly, there is Depp's delicate and inviting portrait of an unusual man, a celebrated playwright of the Edwardian era whose own refusal to abandon his childlike instincts allowed him to create a fantasy about a boy who didn't want to grow up.
Then there's the rare success of David Magee's screenplay, based on Allan Knee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan," in making the life of a writer not only interesting but plausible in the connections made between life and work. The key here is Barrie's chance encounter in Kensington Gardens with Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Kate Winslet) and her four young sons. Fresh off a West End flop in 1903, Barrie is looking for fresh ideas when he meets Sylvia, the daughter of artist and author George du Maurier and a recent widow, now quite overburdened.
Barrie starts playing games with the boys in the park and becomes intensely drawn to Sylvia. The odd woman out in this dynamic is Barrie's beautiful wife, Mary (Radha Mitchell), whose tenuous connection to her husband is soon snapped by his new, albeit nonsexual alliance.
One of the pic's minor flaws is its lack of inquiry into the nature of this marriage; one suspects there is a whole level to Barrie and his relations with women that must remain off-limits for various reasons.
Also put out by the growing affection between Barrie and Sylvia is the latter's proper mother, Emma (Julie Christie (news)), who views the attachment as not only socially incorrect but potentially destructive to all concerned.
Still, there is no stopping Barrie (who was 44 when he wrote "Peter Pan") from pursuing his increasingly elaborate adventures with the boys, play that soon incorporates elements of cowboys and Indians and pirate escapades that work their way into his writing in key ways.
The film establishes confidence from the outset, as it deftly evokes the world of white-tie theatrical openings and a sophisticated artistic class, just as it nicely suggests Barrie's daily routine, which involves working from a park bench in the company of his enormous dog.
Entirely opposed to contemporary convention, most of the dialogue is spoken in hushed, confidential tones, and this understatement contributes significantly to the slow burn of emotion that gathers in intensity through the film's second half.
During a summer in the country, Sylvia develops a worrisome uncontrollable cough; when her hacking interrupts a garden performance of a play written, with Barrie's encouragement, by her son Peter (Freddie Highmore), the latter angrily destroys the little set and rips up his manuscript, fearing his only remaining parent may be taken from him.
At the theater, Barrie's producer, the American impresario Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman), frets along with the cast at the sheer oddness of the new play now in rehearsals about animals, Indians, pirates, fairies and flying kids.
Movie marketing and publicity types will especially appreciate the key detail in the depiction of the opening night of "Peter Pan, or The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up," which took place Dec. 27, 1904. The playwright insisted 25 seats be set aside for his own use, and he filled them with children from a nearby orphanage. The kids' quick and delighted laughter at the antics of Nana, the hulking dog in the play's first scene, served to immediately disarm and quell the skepticism of the largely gray crowd, and the rest is history.
But the picture's real climax comes afterward, at a private performance of the play for the benefit of the now seriously ailing Sylvia. Barrie's devotion to her and her boys, along with his manner of revealing Neverland to her, is exceptionally touching; many moments of the film's final stretch will have audiences welling up and blubbering away.
Forster's directorial restraint has much to do with this, as do the performances of Depp, Winslet and little Highmore. Impeccably groomed and as boyishly handsome as ever, Depp takes a cue from the soft lilt of his beautifully rendered Scottish accent to create a gently nuanced portrayal of an artist who at least this once found a way to transform troubled reality into an imaginative work for the ages.
Winslet, who played Wendy onstage when she was 15, vibrantly brings both resilience and vulnerability to Sylvia, a woman whose early gifts in life are rapidly taken away. Christie, the epitome of carefree bohemianism in her youth, here goes effectively to the opposite extreme to stand for the strictest Victorian attitudes. Mitchell is the picture of a beauty in full flower who cannot be neglected for long. Hoffman spryly underplays the theatrical producer who shrewdly allows instinct to trump logic, and Highmore is crucially emotive and heartrending as the boy whose name Barrie took for his fictional creation.
Shot entirely in England, pic is aces in the craft areas, from Gemma Jackson's warmly detailed production design and Alexandra Byrne's resplendent costumes to Robert Schaefer's lustrous lensing and Jan A.P. Kaczmarek's unobtrusively supportive score. Only wrong note is struck by a silly Elton John (news)-Bernie Taupin song clumsily pasted over the end credits, destroying the hard-won tenderness of pic's closing moments. No matter the distinguished pedigree of the composition, it should go.
Found by Emma
For those who live in the New York City area - in other words, the center of the universe - the FN press junket is supposed to be held October 23-25, and Johnny is expected to participate.
Here is the latest on Depp Con - I can tell you we have 3 confirmed guests at the moment (more to come) three are actors who have worked with Johnny, two were on POTC playing pirates in Jack's crew. Offical word will come out tomorrow.DEPPCON UPDATE 9/9
Due to many requests, we have an adjusted age limit for attending DeppCon :
Any Johnny Depp fan 18 and over. Depp fans between the ages of 14 and 17 may attend the DeppCon PROVIDING they are accompanied by a parent or guardian AT ALL TIMES during the convention. This means if a teen between 14 and 17 registers, the teen's parent or guardian must also register. Each registration is $40. By registering the teen and parent or guardian agree to abide by the terms of this
restriction. One parent or guardian may be responsible for more than one teen from the same family.DeppCon has a few new sponsors :
LA Tours will be offering a special rate for city tours. This is perfect for any guests coming from out of town who may want to see a few sites of Los Angeles while they are here. They even offer pick up and drop off from the Hyatt hotel. If you are interested in this, let us know. Once we get a count we can set up the best time. The tour will take place before DeppCon starts or during a break. We want to be sure that you get to see the city and not miss any of the DeppCon activities.
House of Blues, located across the street from the convention has joined on as well. House of Blues is a restaurant, retail store and night club all rolled into one. House of Blues will be offering us discounts during our convention stay. They also will be opening up their VIP secluded Foundation Room to us at various times during our stay here . There is a dress code and age limit. We will give more information on this in upcoming weeks.
Enclosed is a link that has more information and photos of the room.
Foundation Room : House of Blues Sunset Strip : HOB.com
http://www.hob.com/venues/clubvenues/sunsetstrip/foundationroom.asp
Our Sunday morning good bye breakfast has been set. It will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. The location will be the chic new restaurant " CHI " , part owned by Justin Timberlake which is located in the lobby area of the hotel. Enclosed is the website with a slideshow of the place. The breakfast menu is not listed on the site but will be provided to you at the convention.
welcome to chi
http://chionsunset.com/We have recieved a few Johnny related items to use for our door prizes and raffle items. We will start to list a few of these items shortly.
We are also checking the archives and finding some rarely seened TV apperances and movies by Johnny. We got old episodes of Johnny's guest apperances on Charlie Rose, Rosie, Blockbuster Awards , 21 Jumpstreet, and many more. These will be showned in our screening room though out the weekend.
Don't forget to check out our merchandise links set up on line. You will see a variety of Depp related merchandise and DeppCon merchandise. We suggest that you place your DeppCon merchandise now on line as all of it will not be at the convention. It can also make great gifts for friends and family who make not be able to attend the convention.
Depp Con 2004 | CafePress http://www.cafepress.com/deppcon2004
Stay tuned next week update for the announcement of our first two guest speakers.
If you already registered for DeppCon we will send you an advance email of the announcement.Be on the look out for vendors and other activities for DeppCon coming soon .
See you there. Visit our website for more details.
http://www.deppcon.com
Make plans to join us now.DeppCon Committee
From the Seattle Times
September 9, 2004
Excerpt
Many of the films making their world premieres at Toronto are without studio backing and available for acquisition — and chief among these is Laurence Dunmore's irresistible-sounding "The Libertine," which features Johnny Depp as a 17th-century poet and wit. John Malkovich and Samantha Morton ("In America") co-star.
From SciFi.com
Depp In Venice For Neverland
Johnny Depp, who plays Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in the upcoming biography film Finding Neverland, appeared at the Venice Film Festival over the weekend for the film's premiere amid talk of an Oscar nomination, the Reuters news service reported.
The film, directed by Marc Forster (Monster's Ball), is scheduled for release in the U.S. on Nov. 12, but critics are already touting Depp, who adopted a flawless Scottish accent for the film, as a contender for Best Actor, the news service said. When asked about the rumors, Depp was modest. "I don't know anything about it," he told the service.
Neverland is based on Allan Knee's play The Man Who Was Peter Pan. Kate Winslet also stars as a widowed mother whose children inspire Barrie to write the story. The film has been warmly received by critics at the 61st Venice Film Festival, where it is one of 70 features in competition.
From E! Online
Toronto '04 Looking for Oscar Buzz
by Barry Brown
Sep 8, 2004, 1:00 PM PT
TORONTO--Blame Canada, indeed. If those Canucks didn't know how to throw such a kick-ass cinema party, then there would actually be players in Hollywood this week.
Instead, Los Angeles is emptying out for the better part of two weeks and heading north of the border for the camera-ready 29th installment of the Toronto International Film Festival.
If anyone needs more evidence that the Toronto film orgy is challenging Cannes as the most important staging ground for filmgoers and film financiers from Hollywood to Bollywood, this year's lineup of a record 100 world premiers among its star-studded 328 films from 61 countries should make even the most cynical critics blush.
Filmmakers and distributors have "decided that we're the first place they want their films shown," says festival co-director Noah Cowan, adding the city's multicultural make-up offers a unique proving ground for the increasingly global nature of the Industry.
Of course, the "savvy, knowledgeable and appreciative" film lovers in this city, many of whom skip work to attend the largest publicly attended film festival in the world, are another factor, he added.
This year, those spearheading Toronto's movie star invasion include Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Scarlett Johansson, Johnny Depp, Sandra Bullock, Kenneth Branagh, Helen Hunt, Penélope Cruz, Jamie Foxx, Kevin Bacon, Dustin Hoffman, Danny Glover and native daughter Sarah Polley, most of whom are starring in films seeking some early Oscar heat.
Kicking things off on Thursday night is Being Julia, in which Annette Bening plays a waning middle-aged British stage actress circa 1930 who has a fling with a younger man. Nine days later, on Sept. 18, the fest concludes with Canada's own Martin Short in Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. The cynical satire of celebrity culture features Short's bloated film critic, Jiminy Glick, at the Toronto fest, where he becomes embroiled in a scandal of sex and murder. The film features cameos from Steve Martin, Kurt Russell, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Kline and Whoopi Goldberg.
Along the way there's plenty to keep the popcorn-crunching set bound to their seats--and the Oscar handicappers buzzing all the way to Vegas.
Spacey writes, directs, stars and even sings in his biopic of '50s pop icon Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea. Hunt and Johansson star in A Good Woman, based on the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere's Fan, a searing social satire about the clashes and quandaries that bind the rich and famous to the "infamous and poor" among the American expat set in 1930s Italy.
Hoffman and Lily Tomlin bring their brand of ensemble comedy to the party in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees.
Theron and Cruz share a kiss in the romantic drama, Head in the Clouds, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and WWII.
If that isn't sexy enough, Liam Neeson and Laura Linney steam up the screen--at least intellectually--in Kinsey, a flick about Alfred Kinsey, America's pioneer in sex research.
And no one can accuse the lineup of not having any soul. Foxx stars as the late musical genius Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, while Antoine Fuqua will screen his concert doc Lightning in a Bottle, which chronicles a blues tribute concert held last year at Radio City Music Hall featuring such all-timers as B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Solomon Burke.
For those who like a good costume drama, Toronto has plenty with solid pedigrees. Pacino headlines a new version of Shakespearke's The Merchant of Venice; Modigliani stars Andy Garcia in the title role in the film about the impressionist painter's bitter rivalry with Picasso; The Libertine features Depp as a seedy poet in the court of Charles II (John Malkovich) who nearly sparks a war between England and France; and Arsene Lupin stars Romain Duris as the 19th century gentleman burglar alongside Kristin Scott Thomas in a swashbuckling adventure based on the novel The Countess of Cagliostro.
Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels and Emile Hirsch offer up the coming of age tale Imaginary Heroes, about a family coping with the suicide of their "perfect" son, while Bullock and Matt Dillon star in Crash, a story of eight characters drawn together by a car wreck and the subsequent murder investigation.
Keeping with the murder theme is The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Penn and Watts star in the film, based on a true story of a failed salesman who tries to off Tricky Dick in 1974.
A different kind of murder-themed movie has stirred up all kinds of controversy. Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat, a film that looks at the motivations of three people who videotaped their grisly felinicide has sparked outrage among the PETA set.
But fest co-director Cowan defends the documentary as "a journalistic essay" that "tries to come to a larger social understanding" of the crime. Cowan notes that not a single frame of the actual cat torture made by the subjects of the documentary appears in Casuistry, but because of threats made against the filmmakers, security will be beefed up for the screenings.
These Two articles - Found and transcribed by Emma:
The Independent
Wednesday, 8 September,2004
PandoraJohnny reveals hidden depths
Vunlikely though it sounds, Johnny Depp has become a client of the Queen's wine merchants, Berry Brothers & Rudd.
Last week, the Hollywood star, left - who once spent pounds 11,000 on a bottle of claret in a London restaurant - attended a "tasting dinner" in the cellars of the company's St James's Street store.
"He dropped in one day and spent 45 minutes here discussing wines with one of our salesmen," says a spokesman for the firm. "Then he made his purchases. I can't disclose details of what he bought, but he was invited back later to a private dinner."
According to one who was there, many guests at the dinner were blissfully unaware of their companion's identity.
"It was hilarious," I'm told. "Mr Depp spent half the evening telling toffs who didn't recognise him that his name was Johnny, and that he was an actor."
*
Daily Variety
Thursday, September 09, 2004
MIRAMAXDavid Rooney
In what has been an uncommonly turbulent year for a company that's no stranger to drama, all long-range forecasts regarding Miramax are on hold until furth
