Johnny Depp

With all the news about the release of Sweeney Todd, I haven’t talked much about Johnny’s other upcoming projects. Shantaram is set to begin filming in January. It will be directed by acclaimed Indian director, Mira Nair, whose recent films include The Namesake and Vanity Fair. The screenplay was written by Eric Roth, whose other screenplay credits include The Good Shepherd, Ali, and Forrest Gump, among many other popular films. The only two cast members confirmed have been Johnny and Indian actor, Amitabh Bachchan. I’ll give you other Shantaram news as it becomes available. In the meantime, here’s a synopsis of the book, as it appears on Amazon:

Crime and punishment, passion and loyalty, betrayal and redemption are only a few of the ingredients in Shantaram, a massive, over-the-top, mostly autobiographical novel. Shantaram is the name given Mr. Lindsay, or Linbaba, the larger-than-life hero. It means “man of God’s peace,” which is what the Indian people know of Lin. What they do not know is that prior to his arrival in Bombay he escaped from an Australian prison where he had begun serving a 19-year sentence. He served two years and leaped over the wall. He was imprisoned for a string of armed robberies peformed to support his heroin addiction, which started when his marriage fell apart and he lost custody of his daughter. All of that is enough for several lifetimes, but for Greg Roberts, that’s only the beginning.

He arrives in Bombay with little money, an assumed name, false papers, an untellable past, and no plans for the future. Fortunately, he meets Prabaker right away, a sweet, smiling man who is a street guide. He takes to Lin immediately, eventually introducing him to his home village, where they end up living for six months. When they return to Bombay, they take up residence in a sprawling illegal slum of 25,000 people and Linbaba becomes the resident “doctor.” With a prison knowledge of first aid and whatever medicines he can cadge from doing trades with the local Mafia, he sets up a practice and is regarded as heaven-sent by these poor people who have nothing but illness, rat bites, dysentery, and anemia. He also meets Karla, an enigmatic Swiss-American woman, with whom he falls in love. Theirs is a complicated relationship, and Karla’s connections are murky from the outset.

For more movie news, visit Movie Review Report.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Shantaram, Sweeney Todd, Mira Nair, Forrest Gump, Ali, The Good Shepherd, The Namesake, Vanity Fair, Amitabh Bachchan

Johnny has bought a new house for himself, Vanessa, Lily-Rose, and Jack! According to reports, Johnny has bought a $2.6 million, 150-year-old Somerset mansion in Britain’s West Country. Apparently, he fell in love with it as soon as he saw it.

Reports are that he, Vanessa, and the kids are waiting for $5 million dollars worth of renovations to be done before moving in. There’s also talk that he is planning to install a helicopter pad and swimming pool!

“He’s made regular trips overseeing the work,” a source told British newspaper The Sun.
Johnny already owns homes in France and the United States, as well as his island in the Bahamas.

Looks like there’s not much chance of the family being homeless anytime soon! Those old British mansions are lovely. I wonder if they’ll release any photos of the renovations. Seeing how he and Vanessa decorate the place would be wonderful!

And, speaking of home decorating, if you’re into it, visit Household Tips

Johnny Depp, Depp, Vanessa Paradis, Britain, Depp buys house

In this week’s Friday Film, I’m featuring the great video from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers’ Into The Great Wide Open. The video features Johnny in the role of Eddie Rebel. It’s about a young man who goes to Hollywood and becomes a rock star, but falls victim to all of Hollywood’s excesses, and is unable to handle the pressure. I loved this song, and the video!

Along with Johnny and Tom Petty, the video also features Gabrielle Anwar as Eddie’s girlfriend, and Faye Dunaway as Eddie’s agent. I’ve always been a huge fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

It’s a great opportunity to see Johnny onstage playing guitar! If you haven’t seen this video before or, at least, not for a long time-feast your eyes and ears!

For more info on music, go to Music Bender.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tom Petty, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Into the Great Wide Open, Faye Dunaway, Gabrielle Anwar

EW.com(Entertainment Weekly) is giving us a real treat-an interview with Johnny all about Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street! Johnny talks all about the making of the movie, working with Tim Burton again, his impressions of Stephen Sondheim, and a few other things as well! Here’s a brief excerpt from the interview. Be sure you go to the above link to read the entire interview. It’s fantastic!

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ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: This Sweeney dude — he is messed up! You are going to freak out a lot of pre-pubescent girls with this character.
JOHNNY DEPP: Ah, finally! It’s a radical left turn, that’s for sure. The difficulty and the challenge [was] taking a character like that and attempting to make people feel for him, at the same time that he’s slashing people up. Not easy. But I certainly hope it came across that way.

Musical lovers and Stephen Sondheim fanatics know Sweeney Todd really well. What about the general public?
Somebody sent me this thing from online. Somebody said, after they saw the trailer, ”I don’t understand why in the middle of that trailer Depp broke into a song.” Like, ”Whoa — What is he doing?”

Singers say Sondheim’s melodies can be incredibly tough. Why?
It’s real obtuse stuff. When you start to take those pieces apart, melody line by melody line, it’s a lot of half-steps, which is not real easy to do. Kind of go G to A-flat to A to B-flat. It’s super, ultra complicated, these notes that shouldn’t work together at times. But he made them so.

Did Sondheim have any good advice for you?
He said to me early on, it was much more about the acting work than the singing. He felt the singing was secondary to hitting the notes emotionally. I didn’t believe him. [Laughs] I think he was probably saying that to make me feel better about what I was about to attempt.

And what did that feel like?
Frightening. Really frightening! When Tim asked if I’d be into it, he said, ”Do you think you can sing?” And I said, ”Honestly, I don’t know.” I’m not tone deaf, so I knew I could stay in key to some degree. But I didn’t know if I could sustain a note, or belt one out.

You were in a number of rock and roll bands before you became an actor. Didn’t you do any singing in those?
Virtually none. Just backup.

And yet Sondheim approved you without an audition.
Sondheim, bless him, had barely heard me talk. So when he said, ”He’ll be fine,” it was a real shock.

What did Tim Burton say to you after he finally heard your singing voice?
He couldn’t have been sweeter about it. He was really supportive, and said he really liked it. It was the reaction I was praying for.
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Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tim Burton, Stephen Sondheim, Helena Bonham Carter