Johnny Depp

This is a fun interview from “Access Hollywood,” where Johnny talks about Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.” Johnny talks about Keith Richards-his first meeting with Keith, and how great Johnny thinks he is-and how Keith took the news when Johnny told him that the character of Captain Jack Sparrow was partially “borrowed” from Keith!

He talks about the possibility of playing Captain Jack again, and how he’d love to do it. He also covers the subject of doing more movies aimed at kids, giving the opinion that “sometimes kids’ stories, themselves, are scarier than more adult themes.” (Definitely true! Have you ever read the original versions of Grimms’ Fairy Tales?)

He talks about the rumors that Keira Knightley was ready to walk away from films to pursue a normal life. He says that if she did decide to walk away, he would applaud her for doing what made her happy. Asked if he has ever thought about quitting acting, he says “probably every 11 minutes for the last 20 years!”

One of the really great things about this interview is when Johnny talks about playing Barbies with his daughter, Lily-Rose. According to Johnny, he’s “had some very good situations as different Barbies!”
He also says it’s “essentially one of the only things I’m good at!” Now, that’s a devoted and loving dad!

In the last bit, he discusses his upcoming movie, Sweeney Todd, directed by Tim Burton. A great interview but, of course, any interview with Johnny is great! Enjoy!

For other Friday Film interviews, go to:

Sept. 21
Sept. 14

Johnny Depp, Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd, Keira Knightley, Lily-Rose Depp, Keith Richards

Reuter’s news service recently interviewed Tim Burton, following his receiving the lifetime Golden Lion Achievement Award at the Venice Film Festival. Here’s a portion of that interview:

Q: Your next movie is based on the story of Sweeney Todd. What is it about the story that makes it so popular, with a series of revivals and adaptations recently hitting stages around the world?

A: “I don’t know if it was that popular in terms of just mass culture as a musical … It’s probably my favourite musical just because of all the different elements — the horror, the humour, the drama and the beauty of the music all juxtaposed in there. I just felt like on stage the one thing that they don’t have the opportunities to see (is) the actors’ faces and eyes, so this is a case where we almost felt like we were making a silent movie with music.”

Q: Although many of your films feature music, this is your first proper musical. Why do it?

“This is the first pure (musical) and this musical is even different from most in the sense that there’s a lot of music in it. This one is almost musical throughout. That was an extra challenge that I got excited about, really.”

Q: Johnny Depp has been quoted as likening his singing voice to “the mating call of a rutting stag”. I don’t know if he said that, but having directed him in a musical, do you agree?

A: “That sounds like him! No I don’t. He’s great. When I asked him to do it I had no idea if he could sing or not. I know he’s in a band and all that, but then when he said yes, I knew that he wouldn’t say yes unless he himself knew he could do it. That’s the great thing about him, he’s always up for a challenge and I think he’ll surprise people. I think he sounds amazing.

Q: You regularly work with Depp. Would you have considered making this movie with anyone else in the lead?

A: “I was involved with Sweeney Todd about 10 years ago. It just never happened. He (Depp) would have been too young for it at that point. Things have a weird way of working themselves out. On stage they always portray them (Todd and partner in crime Mrs. Lovett) as old, like in their 50s or whatever. But it just felt more passionate somehow to have them younger than that in the movie, sort of in their 40s. In some ways it’s kind of a luck thing where yeah, I might have made it with somebody else but I’m glad I didn’t, because I think he’s amazing in it.”

Q: Helena Bonham Carter also stars in this film. Is it ever a problem directing your partner?

A: “Yes! The good thing is that she was really right for the role and (that) sort of supersedes anything, and we’re still together and that’s a positive side. A few rocky moments. But when somebody’s right for a role that kind of takes the edge off a bit.”

Q: Why is this Golden Lion award important to you?

A: “I’ve been to this festival a few times, and each time I’ve come here I’ve just had this very special feeling about it. You grow up in Hollywood and that whole scenario and what you feel here is that there is just passion about movies. So that’s what makes it special to me — it’s not about business, it’s not about finance, it’s about just the love of movies. And so to get this at this point in my life I just think is an inspiration and I can always remember it and hopefully use that as an inspiration to keep going.”

Johnny Depp, Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd, Venice Film Festival

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

Here’s two great videos of Johnny at the Venice Film Festival. Clips of his arrival, and his presentation of Tim Burton’s award, as well as clips from Tim’s and Johnny’s movies. Johnny always looks fabulous! Enjoy!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tim Burton, Venice Film Festival, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands

Gorgeous as usual is the best way I can describe Johnny’s appearance at the Venice Film Festival yesterday! Johnny was there to present collaborator and friend, Tim Burton, with the career Golden Lion award, and they both looked fabulous, as did Tim’s girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter.

Johnny wore a white tuxedo, with cream shoes, and Tim was in a black suit, while pregnant Helena wore a beautiful off-the-shoulder gown. Johnny was his usual outgoing self, signing autographs, chatting with fans, and posing for photographers outside for more than ten minutes, before going in to present Tim with the award.

Tim was very appreciative of his award, saying, “I am charmed by this award, which will serve as an inspiration for me forever.” He also joked that it was better than an Oscar, saying the award looked better than “a bald, naked man.”

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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

Both Johnny Depp and his Pirates co-star Keira Knightley will be attending the Venice Film Festival, which began yesterday, along with other A-list celebs like George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Jude Law. Keira’s film, Atonement, was chosen to open this year’s festival.

Warner Brothers has asked Tim Burton to cut parts of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Studio execs have become squeamish over some of the extremely bloody early footage from the Burton/Johnny Depp collaboration. The film currently merits an R-rating, and the studio wants it re-cut, so that it can be released with a PG-13 rating.

In the film/play, Todd’s victims are sat in a mechanical chair, where they are subject to a slice across their throats, before a trap door in the floor opens and they slide down a chute into the lair of Todd’s mistress, Mrs Lovett (played by Helena Bonham Carter), who uses the dead bodies to make her meat pies. One scene that is said to have particularly bothered the studio bosses involved a “ten-year-old boy cutting up body parts, which were then thrown into a meat grinder and turned into mince.”

This is nothing short of absurd! I realize that the idea is to make the film accessible to as many people as possible, but come on! You’ve made a movie about a man who takes absolute delight in murdering people by slitting their throats and having his girlfriend make them into meat pies-and you want it to be less bloody?!

Leave Tim Burton alone. The man has proven time and again that he knows what he’s doing.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

The latest Tim Burton-Helena Bonham Carter collaboration is personal-their second child! Helena’s publicist confirmed to E Online that the couple are expecting their second child together. The two have been a couple since they met on the set of Planet of the Apes in 2001. Their son, Billy Raymond, will be four in October.

We all know of Tim’s many collaborations with Johnny Depp-including Edward Scissorhands, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, etc. Helena has been included in some of those collaborations-the aforementioned Corpse Bride and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as the upcoming Sweeney Todd. Helena’s latest appearance sans Tim Burton is as Deatheater Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

The child of the talented twosome arrives later this year, and they are very happy. We wish them and their baby the good health and the best of luck!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tim Burton, Helena Bonham Carter, Sweeney Todd, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, Edward Scissorhands, Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Planet of the Apes

Firefox, along with other news outlets is sharing the image of the Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street movie poster. From this picture, Johnny seems to simply embody the role, as he does every other role he takes on. Also starring in Sweeney Todd are Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, and Anthony Stewart Head, and is directed by the ever-gifted Tim Burton. The poster was unveiled at Comic-Con.

Johnny Depp, Depp, Sweeney Todd, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Sacha Baron Cohen, Timothy Spall, Anthony Stewart Head, Comic-Con, Tim Burton

Will Comic-Con attendees be getting a preview of the Tim Burton-Johnny Depp musical “Sweeney Todd?” According to Playbill it was one of the film invited to present at the San Diego event, July 26-29.

However, according to a Dreamworks Studios spokesperson, that is unlikely.

“It’s too early. If a poster had been ready, that would have been the time to reveal it.” Noting the expected release, he added, “It’s still a long way to December.”

The film is scheduled for limited release Dec. 21, 2007, with a wide opening on Jan. 11, 2008. All you lucky Comic-Con attendees, let us know if you see anything!

Johnny Depp, Depp, Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd, Comic-Con, Dreamworks, Playbill