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.

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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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See Cinema Hype for more news on the latest movies.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Tim Burton, Stephen Sondheim, Helena Bonham Carter

There are several Johnny stories floating around these days, so I thought I’d take a break from Sweeney Todd stuff, tantalizing as it is, to talk about just Johnny. There’s a story going around that Johnny is househunting in England. Apparently, he’s been looking around Fressingfield, near the Suffolk/Norfolk county boundary.

A property expert in the area, Nigel Steele, said “I have sold several houses to musicians, pop stars, actors and other very well-known people. They come here because it is one of the most unspoilt parts of the country. This is one of the least densely populated areas and they can go for long walks in beautiful countryside without being bothered.

So it wouldn’t be inconceivable for Johnny to be househunting in the area. The really surprising part of this story is that Johnny was turned away from a pub in the area, for not having a reservation!

Seems that, while he was scouting for a home in the area, Johnny went into the popular Fox and Goose Inn. But he didn’t have a reservation, and all the tables in the 18th-century inn were already taken.

Of course, I’m no pub, club, or restaurant owner, but I can’t imagine turning away Johnny Depp! Other celebrities, sure-but Johnny! I wouldn’t throw anyone out, but I’d certainly pull in another table, and put it anywhere I could!

In some older Johnny news (which, again, I’ve neglected in favor of Sweeney Todd), seems actress Eva Mendes regrets not prolonging her kissing scene with Johnny in “Once Upon a Time in Mexico.” In the 2003 Robert Rodriguez film, Mendes, as Ajedrez, has a kissing scene with Johnny’s Agent Sands.

Mendes, 33, says she has regretted, ever since, not prolonging the kiss with Johnny, who was one of her childhood idols. She says, “All of my screen kisses were the best, though I regret not kissing Johnny for longer… It was the first time I had worked with an actor who I had a crush on as a little girl.”

So, how many of you out there could see yourself in her shoes? With a chance to kiss Johnny, and regretting not prolonging it? I’m not sure I could be in her place, because I think they might have had to pry me away, I’d have prolonged it so long!

For more news on great actors see Tom Cruise Watch and Brad Pitt Watch.

Some lucky fans have finally gotten to see a sneak peek of Sweeney Todd! Here’s an excerpt from a review by Steve Biodrowsky over at Cinefantastique.

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Got a sneak peak at SWEENEY TODD on Tuesday, and it is absolutely fantastic - one of the best things Tim Burton has ever directed! The movie is pretty much your dream of what it would be, when you first heard that Burton and Johnny Depp would be turning the Stephen Sondheim musical into a movie: it’s a dark, brooding horror-musical-comedy that hits all the right notes.

Depp casts aside the over-the-top antics of Jack Sparrow for a much more self-contained performance as the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, in which the emotions (primarily a lust for revenge) ooze up to the surface in controlled bursts; without ever blunting the character’s razor-sharp edge, the actor demands that we sympathize and root for Sweeney as he slashes his way through half the throats in London. Alan Rickman is wonderful as the hypocritical Judge Turpin, whose machinations drove Sweeney to madness. Sacha Baron Cohen shines in a small role - you don’t have to be a Borat fan to enjoy his work here. A special mention must go out for Timothy Spall as Beadle Bamford, Turpin’s right-hand man - a perfectly wrought performance of a slimy character who mistakenly believes himself to be slick and smart. Hopefully, the Oscar academy will not overlook him next year even though his role is not of the showy, melodramatic kind that usually draws attention.

If there is a flaw in the movie, it is that the cinematic storytelling occasionally short circuits the musical nature of the source material. The acting performances, through close-up camera angles and cutting, convey the point of some scenes long before the songs wrap up, as when Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower) first lays eyes on and falls in love with Sweeney’s daughter Johanna (Jayne Wisener), who is kept a virtual prisoner in Turpin’s mansion. Judging from the reaction and comments after the screening, fans of the musical will be pleased that the film is faithful to Sondheim, but SWEENEY TODD might have been even better if it had jettisoned more of the stage version, which on a few occasions feels like dead weight slowing the movie down.

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I don’t know about you, but it’s nice to finally have my impressions of the movie confirmed by someone who has actually seen it! I can hardly wait for December! I’ll share more reviews as I find them.

More movie news at Movie Review Report

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Here’s the second trailer for Sweeney Todd! The more I see about this movie, the more excited I am to see it!

There’s none of Johnny’s singing in this trailer. The blogosphere is really buzzing about Johnny’s singing (or lack thereof) in these trailers. Does it mean he can’t sing? Is his voice awful? Can’t he carry a tune? There’s been a lot of pointing out that his singing was dubbed in John Waters’ film, Crybaby. And also a lot of pointing out that Waters had his reasons for not letting Johnny sing that had nothing to do with his voice.

Tom O’Neil over at theL.A. Times is comparing Depp and Sweeney to Rex Harrison in the 1964 George Cukor film My Fair Lady. He quotes Julie Andrews, Harrison’s stage co-star with saying He couldn’t sing, but he had an innate musicality which enabled him to kind of do a sing-speak sound, which was great and exactly right because it blended straight out of dialogue into song.”

He then goes on to say that, even if Johnny can’t sing, he may be able to pull of the same “sing-speak” thing that Rex Harrison did. But then, O’Neil is not known to be a fan of Johnny Depp. Personally, I don’t think we have anything to worry about.

Not only because this is Johnny Depp we’re talking about, but because composer Stephen Sondheim had final say over the stars. Both Johnny and Helena Bonham Carter had to audition for him. Also, Sondheim has seen the film and he says it’s great. And Sondheim is not known for being diplomatic if he has issues!

In a recent interview, Sondheim said of the movie, “It’s not the Broadway show. It’s only an hour and 45 minutes. A lot of the score has been cut. They’ve made it its own thing. You have to go in knowing that. But what they’ve done is great.” If the composer thinks it’s great, what else can you say?

Personally, I’m going on the belief that Johnny Depp and Tim Burton together can do no wrong!

For more on upcoming movies, see Cinema Hype.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, Stephen Sondheim, Helena Bonham Carter, Rex Harrison, My Fair Lady, Julie Andrews, John Waters, Crybaby

With Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street set for limited release in December and wide release in January, I thought I’d take the opportunity to give you some more information on Johnny’s favorite director and friend, Tim Burton.

There’s a lot of great sites on Johnny Depp around the web. Today, I want to point you in the direction of some of those sites, and tell you about just a few of the things they have to offer.

Johnny Depp Web-They have a great page called fan central, where they list members from all around the world! You can make friends with other Johnny fans from 155 different countries. They choose a “Fan of the Month” each month and also offer fan art.

Depp Impact is one of the Johnny sites which has been around the longest. It has tons to offer-including photo galleries of every one of Johnny’s movies (as well as other photos), a great news section with all the up-to-the-minute Johnny news, and a great schedule of Johnny appearances on TV. It also does some charity work and, at the moment, is helping collect donations to save families’ homes from foreclosure. Check out this site!

Deep Into Depp has a great live chat room, a TV schedule, good article archives, and lots more on Johnny. But this site is worth looking at just for the artwork and writing by Johnny that it features.

Johnny Depp Links is just what it sounds like-a huge page of nothing but links to sites featuring Johnny! There’s links to movie sites, chat rooms, fan pages, forums, clubs-just about anything you could want to look at concerning Johnny. If you’re looking for something in particular about Johnny, try this first.

Depptation and Depprived are two of the many forums dedicated to Johnny. You can discuss his movie roles, various characters, share fan art and fanfiction with others and, essentially talk about anything Johnny-related.

These are just a few of the MANY great sites on Johnny Depp that are out there. Try some of them out, and share your obsession!

For other celeb news, go to
Watching New Celebs

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, Johnny Depp websites, Johnny Depp forums

Finally!!! Here’s our first look at Johnny as Sweeney Todd (other than still photos and movie posters)! It’s the 2:29 trailer of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and it was worth the wait!

The first seconds of the trailer show us Benjaming Barker (the man who became Sweeney Todd), happy with his wife and daughter, then immediately cut to a courtroom scene, where Judge Turpin (played by the always wonderful Alan Rickman) is solemnly and evilly pronouncing, “May the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

From there we are treated to scenes of Benjamin Barker’s transformation to Sweeney Todd, with scenes featuring Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen. Along with our first few seconds of Johnny singing! It’s not enough to gauge his entire performance, but he sounds as though, vocally, he’s handling it well. Of course, I would expect no less of him. Johnny’s the type of actor who would not take on a role if he didn’t think he was up to the challenge.

There’s some interesting background to Johnny and Helena’s roles. Seems composer Stephen Sondheim retained veto power over casting the lead roles. Both Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter had to personally audition for Sondheim, and he almost rejected Johnny, considering his vocals “too rock oriented.” Now, that would have been a shame!

As far as acting, well-do we really even need to bring that up? Johnny’s always stellar in that arena. He embodies a character to perfection, and makes it look so easy. I can always actually forget that I’m watching Johnny Depp! Once again, I can’t wait for this movie!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Sweeney Todd trailer

The trailer for Sweeney Todd will be available for viewing this weekend, at the movie, Heartbreak Kid. Josh Tyler over at Cinema Blend has gotten a sneak preview. Here’s his take on the trailer:

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The first trailer for Tim Burton and Johnny Depp’s next movie Sweeney Todd is due to hit theaters for the first time this weekend attached to prints of The Heartbreak Kid. No word on when it will be online, but I saw it tonight at a Heartbreak Kid press screening. It’s good. Weird, but good.

When you’re talking Sweeney Todd you expect weird, after all this is a movie about a barber who murders his customers and has them baked into pies while singing about it. Musicals are by definition weird, and Sweeney Todd is weirder than most. And the trailer is good, really good. Or it is until Johnny Depp gets singing. Then it gets even weirder than you’d expect. It’s not that his voice is bad, it’s just that watching Johnny Depp belting out a tune in Tim Burtin’s typically dark, dank, world simply feels incredibly wrong.

The trailer, which runs a bit more than two minutes, seems to be trying to de-emphasize the musical aspect of the film. That may be why Depp’s singing scene seems odd, since so little of the trailer is devoted to advertising the film as a musical. Or it could be that getting used to Depp doing the singing thing is simply going to take some getting used to. Either way, you’re in for a treat this weekend when the first trailer for Sweeney Todd debuts.
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I’ll be seeing it myself later this weekend. Can’t wait!

For more good movie news visit:
Cinema Hype

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Here’s a list of the Johnny Depp movies on TV in the coming week, according to IMDb. Times and channels are included. Times listed are Eastern time.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Monday, Oct. 1 8:00AM HBO

The Man Who Cried Monday, Oct. 1 9:30AM AMC

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Monday, Oct. 1 4:30PM HBO

Once Upon A Time In Mexico Wed., Oct. 3 1:00AM TBS

It’s always amazing watching Johnny as Willy Wonka. I find this particular performance to be one of the most unusual of his career (so far!). Young Freddie Hightower’s performance as Charlie is also one not to miss. And don’t forget Helena Bonham Carter!

“The Man Who Cried” was Johnny’s second film with Christina Ricci. Those two make an interesting pair. Other notable names here include Cate Blanchett, Harry Dean Stanton, and John Turturro (who also appeared with Johnny in “Secret Window”).

Johnny’s turn as corrupt CIA Agent Sands in “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” is lots of fun! I love the totally deadpan delivery of such lines as “Are you a Mexi-CAN or a Mexi-CAN’T?” I’m sure other actors could have pulled this off, but none of them with Johnny’s style!

Grab some popcorn and your remote and have fun this week!

For info on some of your other favorite actors, see:
Tom Cruise Watch, and
Brad Pitt Watch

Johnny Depp, Depp, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Helena Bonham Carter, The Man Who Cried, Christina Ricci, One Upon A Time In Mexico, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt

To celebrate National Talk Like A Pirate Day (which was yesterday, and I missed posting on it!), website AfterElton.com has chosen a list of “swishbucklers”-gay pirates in film. Noting that pirate characterizations tend toward the flamboyant, the site does say that we don’t actually know if they’re gay, since their orientations are not much discussed. It’s a fun list! Click on the link above to see all pictures.

1. Errol Flynn as “Captain Blood”
2. Johnny Depp as Jack Sparrow
3. Robert DeNiro as Captain Shakespeare(Stardust)
4. Kevin Kline in “Pirates of Penzance”
5. Any portrayal of Captain Hook

Although the site has Johnny at number two, they acknowledge that he has pretty much “set the gold standard.” Something tells me he’s probably happy about that!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Captain Jac Sparrow, Pirates of the Caribbean, Errol Flynn, Robert DeNiro, Stardust, Kevin Kline, pirates

Here’s a script review of Sweeney Todd from Michael Vaal at IESB.net.

The Shortest Script “Review” I’ve Ever Done

The script, for all intents and purposes, is just an edited down version of the original playbook by Hugh Wheeler based on a play by Christopher Bond, which in turn was inspired by the legend of Sweeney Todd and the pulp horror fictions of the late 19th century. Screenwriter John Logan kept the best songs and the critical action and it seems that they haven’t had to cut much to make it work – no doubt thanks to the fact that the material was from a play and was nearly perfectly staged.

It’s still set in London and all the characters are here and represented faithfully, so there isn’t much to dwell on regarding the script except to say, “thank god it wasn’t turned into a roaring 20’s gay Chicago gangster musical.” You never know with Hollywood these days…

So, What Might Go Wrong?

While I’m a huge fan of Tim Burton, the director, and of Johnny Depp (Sweeney Todd) and Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Lovett), there are a few lingering questions.

Can Tim Burton direct real drama? We’ve seen him deftly handle comedic roles and all manner of oddness very well over the years. But this isn’t THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS (which he co-directed with an animation legend) or EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (the closest anyone has come to crying for a Burton directed character at the end). SWEENEY TODD is serious work. Can he make us FEEL the tragedy and pathos of Sweeney? If that doesn’t come through, the ending of the movie won’t move people the way the stage musical has for almost three decades.

Can Johnny Depp sing, let alone deep enough that the walls of theater resonate in a way you’ve never heard before? Because that’s what Sweeney calls for. To be blunt, there are very few professional singers who can pull off the role of Sweeney vocally, let alone act to a level that transforms the role from the big theater stage to the small theater screen. This is clearly his toughest and most challenging role to date. And I do not envy him here at all.

Helena Bonham Carter is less of a worry due to the nature and range of the songs Mrs. Lovett sings. Whether she can take the crown away from Angela Lansbury isn’t as important as whether she can get the audience laughing at the right moments. Mrs. Lovett is devious and clueless, naïvely romantic and heartless as it suits her. Fortunately, this is material that the director is well versed in.

I’m sure the sets, production values, etc. etc. will be top drawer. This is Dreamworks and Warner Brothers after all. I guess my only concern here is that Burton has a habit of making EVERYTHING he does look the same as those cartoony sketches he originally drew for THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS when he was an animator at Disney. I’d like to see SWEENEY TODD pick up from where Burton went with the live action bookends of CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY or a more realistic, grittier version of his already rather gritty work on SLEEPY HOLLOW. To be honest, if I see another BEETLEJUICE “Burton tree” in one of his movies, I think I’m gonna puke.

So everything rests on the director and the leads. They have amazing material in hand, which has remained remarkably and pleasantly true to the original masterpiece. Soon we will know if Tim Burton and Johnny Depp can bring to this role not only the wonderful music and dark comedy they are both known for, but also the tragic pathos of one of the greatest anti-heroes in modern fiction.

Of course, those of us who are Johnny Depp fans have no doubt that this material is in the best hands possible! If Johnny can’t pull off this role, then there’s no one out there who can!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter

According to Playbill, Nonesuch Records will release the soundtrack for the Sweeney Todd film. Nonesuch also produced the cast recording for the recent revival of Sweeney Todd. The film is slated to be released December 21. There is no release date yet for the soundtrack.

It has also been announced that all cast members will do their own singing from Stephen Sondheim’s music and lyrics. A great chance to hear Johnny singing! This’ll definitely go on my Christmas list!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Nonesuch Records, Playbill, Sweeney Todd cast

Here are a few of the Johnny Depp-related books slated to be released, and currently available for pre-order on Amazon. It’s a great line-up. Every one of them should be fantastic!

Johnny Depp enjoys a fan base quite unlike any other modern-day star — grown women sigh over his sexiness, children adore him as Willy Wonka, hipsters relate to his subversive streak. The Johnny Depp Photo Album documents its subject’s unstoppable rise via a wealth of film stills and candid shots away from the set. It chronicles every step of Depp’s career: cult films like Benny and Joon; current releases like the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Sweeney Todd; his drunken, bad-boy period; and his affairs with Winona Ryder and Kate Moss. It also reveals Depp’s life away from the madness of Hollywood — there are rare glimpses of his life partner, Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, whom he aggressively shields from the media spotlight. Through its irresistible array of color and black and white images, this strikingly designed tribute reveals the family man who just happens to be the greatest screen star on the planet.

This one doesn’t have a book description yet, but it’s a companion book to the movie. It’s a 160-page hardcover from Titan Books, scheduled for release on Dec. 4, 2007. The forward is by Tim Burton, and there are extensive photos and interviews with cast and crew.

Originally published in 1997, this book is scheduled for reissue on November 1, 2007. It’s a 151-page paperback from Anova books.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Real Story of the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Johnny Depp Photo Album, Tim Burton, Vanessa Paradis

SF Gate.com reports that Keira Knightley has named actor James McAvoy, with whom she stars in Atonement, as the best kisser she’s ever had. What?! This from a woman who’s been lucky enough to kiss Johnny Depp! What gives, Keira?

Of course, it was reported that Johnny said that he found kissing Keira uncomfortable, due to their age difference and the fact that he had met her when she was only 17. I guess that could contribute to it. And I guess kissing is a somewhat subjective experience and different for all of us, but still…

Johnny Depp, Depp, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Atonement