Johnny Depp

[BobbyD 2]

Daughter's illness spurs Johnny Depp to finally marry Vanessa Paradis

By RICHARD SIMPSON and ALEXANDRA WILLIAMS

 

Actor Johnny Depp is set to wed long-term girlfriend Vanessa Paradis this summer.

 

The couple have toyed with the idea in the past but their daughter Lily-Rose's recent illness has 'spurred them into action', according to a source.

 

Actor Johnny Depp with long-term partner Vanessa Paradis: The couple are set to marry after being 'spurred into action' after the illness of daughter Lily Rose

 

The couple's seven-year-old was hospitalized in London for nine days in March suffering from E.coli food poisoning and her condition was touch and go.

 

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star and Vanessa, 34, kept a vigil at their daughter's bedside. Depp, 43, refused to return to the set of his latest film Sweeney Todd in London until she was out of danger, forcing filming to be stopped.

 

The source, who lives in the village, said: 'Johnny and Vanessa have one of the strongest relationships in Hollywood but after their daughter was taken ill the family became an even closer-knit unit.

 

'They have talked about marriage on and off for a long time but the recent emotional roller-coaster they have had to endure seems to have spurred them into action.

 

The couple, who have been together for eight years and have two children, are understood to be planning a discreet ceremony in the south of France where they live.

 

However locals will be disappointed if they expect to catch a glimpse of the newly weds.

 

Rather than marry in the local church, L’eglise St Martin, the couple are expected to hold the ceremony in the ancient chapel within the 50-acre grounds of their idyllic rural hideaway in the tiny village of Plan de la Tour, an hour from St Tropez.

 

The source said: 'We understand they will marry this summer. Villagers thought they would wed in the church here but we now hear that they have a little chapel in the grounds of their home.

 

'It would make sense they would celebrate there because they don't like drawing attention to themselves. The whole reason they live here is because they like the quiet life.'

 

The couple's two children, Lily-Rose and Jack, four, will attend along with just a clutch of friends.

 

The couple have been living mainly in Richmond, Surrey this year while Depp fulfils his filming commitments but they make frequent trips to their palatial French villa.

 

Local taxi driver Jean-Philippe Reno, 44, said: 'They are a very private couple. We often see them out and about in the village but no one would dream of hassling them. That's the reason Johnny likes it here so much.

 

'There's no paparazzi. He can just be a normal person. It's no surprise that they want to celebrate in the privacy of their home.'

 

According to French law, the couple must obtain legal consent from the mayor to marry.

 

Once the formalities are over couples are then free to have a religious ceremony.

 

A spokeswoman for Plan de la Tour's mayor, Florence Lanliard, refused to comment on the rumour.

 

She said: 'We never discuss personal issues. We will not make any comment about Johnny Depp or Vanessa Paradis.'

 

With a population of 2000, it is easy to see why camera-shy Depp loves Plan de la Tour.

 

If they are at home, without fail they will drive in their black Chrysler Voyager to the Thursday outdoor market where they select their fruit and vegetables and even buy clothes from the bargain racks.

 

At the market last week locals gossiped about the village playing host to the wedding of one of Hollywood's hottest stars.

 

Stephanie, who is in her 40s, said: 'The villagers couldn't be happier for them. But the truth of the matter is, they are such a private family we probably won't know they have married until after the event. There don't court attention. They love it here because they can blend in and just be a normal family.'

 

Depp bought his French villa seven years ago from a German family for £750,000. Dotted around the vast grounds are five other houses, occupied the housekeeper, gardener and security. The tiny chapel is behind the house on the edge of the vineyards.

 

There is no give-away that this is the residence of one of Hollywood’s greatest actors. Even the security cameras are out of sight, hidden in the trees. But step inside the house and there would be no mistaking.

 

It has every modern luxury. The master bedroom even has its own swimming pool. A second, much larger pool is located in the garden alongside the vegetable and herb patch.

 

They have four ponies for the children and a playground with swings, a slide and a sandpit. Depp fell in love with France while shooting The Ninth Gate there in 1998.

 

Although Depp is not fluent in French he happily converses with the locals, few of whom speak a single word of English. Lily Rose, who is bilingual, has been heard many times correcting her father.

 

The actor has cited his children as a primary reason for his flight to France, saying he wanted them to 'grow up in a very simple and calm environment, where everything is not about the next movie or the next success'.

 

The doting dad added: "I love the simple things: the sunrise, the trees, the countryside. I can take a ride into the village and have a coffee with my girl, and people say: "Hello Johnny. How are you?" I'm not looking around for the paparazzi.'

[leaivory 2]

Johnny Depp to Marry

Filed under: Johnny Depp

 

 

And that last shred of hope I was holding out for my undying affection for him to become mutual has just snapped. Seriously, though, this man can do no wrong in my eyes, and even though he's planning to marry a woman that isn't me, I ain't mad at him because it's his long-time love and baby-mama, Vanessa Paradis. And also because the reasoning behind their decision to wed in the French village where they live with their children is pretty damn touching.

 

The source, who lives in the village, said: 'Johnny and Vanessa have one of the strongest relationships in Hollywood but after their daughter was taken ill the family became an even closer-knit unit.

 

'They have talked about marriage on and off for a long time but the recent emotional roller-coaster they have had to endure seems to have spurred them into action.'

Sigh, even though there was a time in my life when I legally changed my name from "Lisa" to "Winona" to "Wino" just so I could pretend that it was me he loved, I still wish the couple well.

 

Posted by: Lisa Timmons

http://socialitelife.com/2007/05/10/johnny_depp_to_marry.php

[BobbyD 2]

Report: Johnny Depp Talks About Daughter's Illness

THURSDAY MAY 10, 2007 05:20 PM EDT

 

By Pete Norman

 

Johnny Depp has spoken for the first time about his daughter's hospitalization earlier this year.

 

"It gave us a great scare," the actor, 43, tells Britain's Daily Mirror. "It was a very bumpy patch, but she has come through it beautifully and unscathed, and she is now as healthy as she always was. She is wonderful."

 

Lily-Rose, Depp's 7-year-old daughter with French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis, 34, was hospitalized in London while Depp was in England filming Sweeney Todd, although a studio rep told PEOPLE at the time: "We have adjusted the schedule to accommodate [Depp's] needs at this moment."

 

In early March, Depp's rep said in a statement: "We are happy to report that their daughter is doing much better. The family greatly appreciates the continued support and respect of their privacy."

 

"What got us through this wasn't the strength of Vanessa or me but our daughter and her incredible ability to make us feel okay even though she was very unwell," Depp tells the Daily Mirror. "She was super-strong." He did not disclose the cause of Lily-Rose's illness.

 

Depp and Paradis also have a son, Jack, 5. The actor spoke to the paper while in London promoting Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

 

Depp admits that the blockbuster film series, in which he stars as Captain Jack Sparrow, has been a boon for his career and his family.

 

"I was the guy who had been bouncing around the film industry for years, and I'd been lucky if five or 10 people would see my movies, so Captain Jack did a big flip for my career," he says. "[it has] afforded me and my family a certain luxury in that we are able to live a little more comfortably and it will be something that will reverberate for my kids and their kids."

 

He says he and Paradis have learned from the scare with Lily-Rose. "It was a reminder to us of how lucky we are," he says, "to be able to breathe, walk, talk, think and surround ourselves with people we love."

[sanlee 49]

Pirates "did a big flip for my career," says Johnny Depp

By ANI

 

London, May 13 (ANI):

 

Now that the last Pirates of the Caribbean movie is ready to hit the theatres, lead actor Johnny Depp has revealed how much he owes to the production.

 

In an emotional interview with the Daily Mirror, Depp confessed that his portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow has rescued his wavering career.

 

"I was the guy who had been bouncing around the film industry for years and I'd been lucky if five or 10 people would see my movies, so Captain Jack did a big flip for my career," the Mirror quoted him, as saying.

 

Depp, whose daughter Lily-Rose recently suffered from a critical illness, also revealed that his character, and the film enabled him and his family to afford luxury and live a more comfortable life.

 

"He and Pirates have afforded me and my family a certain luxury in that we are able to live a little more comfortably and it will be something that will reverberate for my kids and their kids," he said.

 

The actor also said that he took on Captain Jack Sparrow with pure instinct and never imagined that it was going to be a huge hit.

 

"When I decided to take the role it was pure instinct. I didn't know it was going to be such a huge hit. Nothing like this has ever happened to me. It's very, very moving and emotional, the idea that people feel this very strong connection with Captain Jack," Depp said.

 

Source: (ANI)

[BobbyD 2]

Depp on 'Pirates' dad Richards: 'He's just cool'

 

NEW YORK (AP) -- Johnny Depp has a man crush on Keith Richards, who has a small role in the new "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.

 

Depp, who received an Oscar nomination for his work in the first "Pirates" film, said he drew inspiration for loopy pirate king Jack Sparrow from Richards.

 

"He was one of the people I admired for what he's done and how he's handled it," the 43-year-old actor tells Rolling Stone magazine in its new issue, on newsstands Friday. "Forty-whatever years of being this god. And he's just cool."

 

The Rolling Stones guitarist agreed to play Sparrow's father, Captain Teague, in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," the third installment of the blockbuster film franchise.

 

"It was the right place at the right time with the right guys," said Richards, 63, who was also interviewed.

 

"Me, I'm just a musician," Richards said. "And if the people like my stuff, thank God. It pushes me on to do more. And I want to do more. That's something that you don't factor in when you start this game."

 

Richards said Depp and Mick Jagger have been the best at impersonating him.

 

"There's been loads of wannabes," he said. "But it's all posing with a guitar. And not playing right, not looking right, so not being me. ... Really, it's just in the bones and in the moves. You don't know what attracts people to what you do."

 

"You think, 'Who's the greatest rock 'n' roll star? Who's that charismatic and interesting?' And you go, 'Oh ... it's Keith, isn't it?' " he said.

 

Had Richards seen the first two "Pirates" movies?

 

"Oh ... yeah," he said. "How can you not with your grandkids around? I saw 'Pirates' one when it came out. 'Pirates' two I did fall asleep in, but I'd been up for three days."

 

"I might have fallen asleep myself," Depp replied.

 

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is slated for release May 25.

 

Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

[leaivory 2]

The Pirate Men

 

 

Yesterday Disneyland in Anaheim, CA hosted the premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean 3 without Keira Knightley. Keira's doing that dyke movie with Sienna Miller in Wales. The film's 3 leading men did come out to play.

 

Johnny Depp looked hot as usual and he truly gets better with age. When I first saw these pictures I thought he looked like a mess but after a while the hotness settled in. He's no Keith Richards however. That's a real hunk of man! Snorting your daddy really does wonders on the skin. Wait, is he even alive? I don't like to speak ill of the dead!

 

Orlando is fine, a bit boring. He's no Johnny that's for sure!

 

 

http://www.dlisted.com/

Edited May 20, 2007 by leaivory

[BobbyD 2]

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Depp: Captain Jack Sparrow May Be Back

 

Three journeys as Captain Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" may not be enough to quench the thirst of actor Johnny Depp.

 

Before the Tokyo premiere Wednesday of the series' third installment, Depp said he would consider taking the oddball character out for one more spin.

 

"It's been a great experience," Depp said. "Trying to discover who Captain Jack was, getting slapped around by the Disney people it was all fun."

 

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was to premiere Wednesday and open in theaters across the United States and elsewhere on May 24.

 

Depp stars as the eclectic and mascara-fancying pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, who is rescued at the beginning of the movie from Davy Jones' Locker, where he wound up last year at the end of "Dead Man's Chest," to begin a journey that takes the Black Pearl and its crew to, well, the end of the world.

 

It's not an easy story to follow.

 

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) must rescue Jack and round up the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court to stop the Machiavellian Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), head of the East India Co., from ridding the world of pirates.

 

Will also wants to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard, still covered in barnacles), from the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, which Beckett controls. At the same time, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, still covered in tentacles) wants to get his heart back, which is trapped inside a chest, which Beckett's goons control. And Will and Elizabeth must win each other's hearts back after various romantic stops and starts.

 

The film completes what had originally been intended as a trilogy of movies based on the ride by the same name at Disneyland.

 

Depp, who was nominated for an Oscar for his quirky portrayal of Captain Jack, said the pirates may rise again.

 

"There was always that potential that each of us would have to say goodbye to the character," Depp said. "But if it is over, which one never knows, Captain Jack will always be with me."

 

Even so, producer Jerry Bruckheimer cautioned that no one will be jumping right back into the waters.

 

"This is the end for now," he said. "I think everybody is exhausted and needs some time off. We're all going to take a little break."

[BobbyD 2]

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Depp's Capt. Jack Redefined Pic Pirates

 

AP

 

 

Pirate films are almost as old as movies themselves. There was Douglas Fairbanks as "The Black Pirate" in 1926. Errol Flynn was "Captain Blood" in 1935. In 1952, Burt Lancaster became "The Crimson Pirate." Thirty years later, Kevin Kline was the Pirate King in 1983's "Pirates of Penzance."

 

Johnny Depp defines the pirate of the new millennium with Captain Jack Sparrow, his drunken, dreadlocked scamp at the center of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy. With his flamboyant style and campy charm, Depp's Jack Sparrow is a departure from the macho swashbucklers of yore, yet with the same good looks and rebellious edge that have long made pirate films so popular.

 

"He's so handsome," said "Pirates of the Caribbean" producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "Let's face it, he's a heartthrob, and the fact that he gave it this real character twist adds to the intrigue and the fun of the movie."

 

Past movie pirates were typically tough guys take-no-prisoners types who managed to slay the villain and get the girl.

 

"These were vehicles for the most handsome and athletic of all Hollywood stars," said Jonathan Kuntz, a professor of film history at UCLA. "Jack Sparrow is a definite contrast to the hero of those days."

 

Sparrow is the rare pirate captain "who's such a goofball," said film historian Leonard Maltin.

 

He's not so serious and not so brave more a silly rapscallion who flirts with women and danger but prefers a nice bottle of rum.

 

"He's enormously appealing," Maltin said. "He's so off-the-wall and such a total surprise, everybody was disarmed and delighted. ... He's made such a tremendous impact, he's now immortalized at Disneyland" as part of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride, on which the original movie was based.

 

Depp's co-star Naomie Harris, who plays Tia Dalma in "Pirates" 2 and 3, credits the actor's unique pirate character for much of the movie's allure.

 

"When I ask people, `What do you want so badly to see in the second and the third,' often they say Johnny Depp," she said. "I think it's incredible how he just made that character his own, just did his own thing with it."

 

But Bruckheimer said Jack Sparrow isn't vastly different from other pirates who've sailed Hollywood's seas, such as Wallace Beery, who starred as Long John Silver in 1934's "Treasure Island."

 

"He was outrageous, too," Bruckheimer said. "He was bigger than life and fun. He didn't play a drunk, but it was really out there."

 

Maltin also compared Depp's character to Long John Silver, only he pointed to Robert Newton's version in Disney's 1950 telling of "Treasure Island."

 

"Newton's performance is probably the closest antecedent to Jack Sparrow because he's colorful, unpredictable, roguish and scurrilous but somehow likable," Maltin said.

 

Though Jack Sparrow is more goofy than gallant, he can still stand up for himself in a sword fight. He fought aspiring pirate Will Turner in the first two films, and with his tenacity could surely give past movie pirates a run for their booty.

 

"He's a fly you can't swat," said "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski. "The booger that's stuck to your finger, and you flick it and it's on your other finger. And you try to flick it again, and he keeps coming back. He's pesky in that way. In that final battle with Davy Jones, he just keeps showing up."

 

He also defines the macho pirate in a way that makes sense for the new millennium, Kuntz said.

 

"We're in the 21st century and the whole idea of masculinity has been questioned," he said. "Depp is idiosyncratic and unique and amazing. He's still got something going for him, but it's something quite different from Errol Flynn."

[BobbyD 2]

Review: Even Depp can't save clogged 'Pirates'

By Tom Charity

Special to CNN

 

(CNN) -- It takes an age before Johnny Depp shows his face in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," and when he does, it's the tip of his nose that looms into screen left, eventually succeeded by a flaring nostril.

 

I doubt there's been a larger, longer close-up of a proboscis this side of "Seabiscuit," and there's no rhyme or reason for it, really. But our indulgence is rewarded when not one, not two, but an entire crew of digital Depps bounce into view, flouncing and flailing for all they are worth. One even lays an egg.

 

Depp's Captain Jack Sparrow, you may recall (spoiler!), bought a one-way ticket to Davy Jones's Locker when he went down with his ship at the end of the last film, "Dead Man's Chest." Not that death is a terminal condition in this series; before "At World's End" is through, most of the cast will have perished at least once and returned to the fray.

 

For Sparrow, perdition is to be marooned on the Black Pearl in the middle of a desert without a whisper of a breeze. The doldrums. It's enough to drive a buccaneer to distraction.

 

He's not the only one.

 

The entire franchise seems on the verge of collapse, propelled to construct ever more grandiose flights of fancy. Without those sequences, there would be nothing there -- but a movie cannot exist on rollick alone (not by the second sequel anyway). I kept flashing to the image of a doomed mariner furiously bailing out his boat as it sinks inexorably beneath the waves.

 

The problem is not so much that the energy -- or the invention -- flags. But the audience may. Screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have been working overtime. Having fabricated an entire supernatural pirate mythology from odds and ends (a theme park here, a Flying Dutchman there), they now feel duty-bound to lay it all out for us as they go.

 

And the more that is explained, the murkier everything gets.

 

"World's End" features so many detailed negotiations between charlatans with obscure cross-purposes you head for the exit more confused than when you went in.

 

Still, it's all as splashy as $250 million can buy, and on occasion the CGI guys conjure something akin to poetry: for example, a sampan gliding through a vast arctic cave, then emerging like a spaceship into an inky black sea reflecting the stars above ("You have to be lost to find a place that's never been found," rationalizes Capt. Barbossa, once again played by Geoffrey Rush).

 

Or the Black Pearl surfing through the sand on the back of a million crustaceans. Or the climactic sea battle on the cusp of an oceanic whirlpool. Or its wonderful character creations, notably Davy Jones himself (again by the terrific Bill Nighy).

 

We critics routinely shortchange such wonders, but blockbusters thrive on spectacle, and any movie that can produce a 50-foot woman almost as an afterthought has no worries on that score.

 

At the same time, it's easier to warm to the vaudevillian Hope-and-Crosby-style comedy director Gore Verbinski keeps trying to smuggle in under the radar, in dozens of throwaway sight gags, madcap verbal non-sequiturs, and slapstick set pieces. Depp is his principal ally, of course, the agent of chaos swanning his way through the heart of the whole shebang.

 

It's really too bad this wonderful anarchy is swamped by the movie's noisy inconsequence. Fully an hour too long -- 2 3/4 hours! -- and emotionally frigid, "Pirates" is scuppered by nothing so much as its own inflated self-importance.

 

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" runs 168 minutes and is rated PG-13.

[leaivory 2]

Have We Seen the Last of Captain Jack Sparrow?

Filed under: Johnny Depp

 

 

Here are the "Pirates of the Caribbean" boys at the Tokyo press conference to promote the film. I'm loving the crazy outfit contest that seems to be going on between Yun-Fat Chow and Johnny Depp. Before the press conference, Johnny said that he'd be interested in continuing to play the Jack Sparrow character in the future, but knows better than to hold his breath.

"There was always that potential that each of us would have to say goodbye to the character," Depp said. "But if it is over, which one never knows, Captain Jack will always be with me."

And with me, Johnny, for I've had him tattooed on my back. OMG, totally kidding! I'm not that obsessed with Johnny Depp! Am I being too adamant? Can you see right through me and my too much protesting? That's why I love you. You see right through me.

 

 

More photos from the "Pirates" press conference in Tokyo after the jump.

 

 

 

Posted by: Lisa Timmons

http://socialitelife.com/2007/05/24/have_w...ack_sparrow.php

[BobbyD 2]

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"Pirates" grosses $58 million in limited release

 

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," the third film in the Walt Disney Co's multi-billion franchise, took in $58 million at worldwide box offices in limited showings before its wider record-breaking release on Friday, Disney said.

 

The film, starring Johnny Depp as the woozy pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, nearly sold out late-night showings at U.S. cinemas on Thursday night for a total of $17 million.

 

Overseas, Wednesday and Thursday night showings scored $41.1 million, Disney said.

 

The film was released in 52 countries and territories in addition to the United States and that release widened to 102 countries on Friday.

 

"At World's End" will be opening in a record 4,362 North American theatres, about 110 more than "Spider-Man 3" and about 200 more than DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Shrek the Third," which set an opening-weekend record last week for an animated film at $122 million. The figures come from Media by Numbers, a box office tracking firm.

[leaivory 2]

"Pirates" Takes Home Impressive Booty

Filed under: Johnny Depp

 

 

Despite failing to eclipse "Spider-Man 3" over the weekend, the "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" opening beat the Memorial Day weekend box office record. The third installment of the "Pirates" film series earned a whopping $115.1 million from Friday to Sunday. And, if you're counting Monday to the three-day weekend, the film amassed $142.1 million in ticket sales. These box-office totals were responsible for making the movie the fourth largest three-day weekend opening ever.

 

I'm having trouble comprehending the magnitude of these numbers, because I'm at a point in my life where $.25 million looks like plenty to me. (Do you like how I said "point in my life," like I anticipate that it's only a matter of time before I'm rich and rolling in Scrooge McDuck piles of money?)

 

 

Posted by: Lisa Timmons

http://socialitelife.com/2007/05/29/pirate...ssive_booty.php

[BobbyD 2]

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Johnny Depp Says Daughter Is Now Healthy

 

Johnny Depp says his 8-year-old daughter is now healthy and well following her hospitalization earlier this year.

 

"Now every single millisecond is a mini-celebration," the 44-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly in its Nov. 9 issue. "Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything."

 

Lily-Rose, the daughter of Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis, was admitted to a British hospital to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment about three weeks after Depp started work on "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tim Burton's adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical about a murderous barber.

 

"To say it was the darkest moment, that's nothing," Depp tells the magazine. "It doesn't come close to describing it. Words are so small. But knowing that those people, Tim and the crew, shut down and stood by and waited ... I didn't know if I was coming back. I remember talking with Tim, saying, `Maybe you need to recast.'"

 

"Once we were given the all-clear, I had to dive back into the work," he says. "I had to get back in there for Tim."

 

"Sweeney Todd" is set for limited release in the U.S. next month.

 

Depp and Paradis also have a 5-year-old son, Jack.

 

___

 

On the Net:

 

Entertainment Weekly:

 

http://www.ew.com

[NYCat 1]

Johnny Depp: Daughter's Illness Was 'Darkest Moment'

 

Johnny Depp is still keeping mum about the undisclosed illness which landed his 8-year-old daughter, Lilly Rose, in the hospital this spring – but he is opening up about his paternal panic during those harrowing days.

 

"To say it was the darkest moment, that's nothing," the 44-year-old actor, next up in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, tells Entertainment Weekly. "It doesn't come close to describing it. Words are so small."

 

"Now every single millisecond is a mini-celebration," says the two-time Oscar nominee. "Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything."

 

The Pirates of the Caribbean star also has a son, Jack, 5, with longtime partner Vanessa Paradis.

[QTPIE 0]

Leading Men Get Laid Early

 

It’s amazing how many leading men lost their virginity at young ages. In his new book on sexual facts, “Where Do Nudists Keep Their Hankies?” just out from HarperEntertainment, Mitchell Simons reveals that Clint Eastwood, David Duchovny, Bruce Willis and Jerry Hall gave up their innocence at 14. Topping them are: Johnny Depp, James Caan and Jon Bon Jovi, who were just 13. Don Johnson was a mere 12. And Sean Connery confessed, “I was 8, but I can’t recall with whom.”

[colorine 26]

Johnny seems to handle his fame really well these days.

[QTPIE 0]

Depp Gifts Paradis with Vineyard

 

Johnny Depp has given his long-time partner Vanessa Paradis a vineyard as congratulations for her months of hard work recording a new album.

 

The 44-year-old purchased the vineyard near the villa in Plan de la Tour, France, which he shares with the singer and their two children Lily-Rose, 8, and Jack, 5.

 

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star also owns a 45-acre island in the Bahamas, where he frequently vacations.

 

Depp has been with the French beauty for nearly 10 years, but insists he has no plans to marry again after his two-year marriage to musician Lori Anne Allison ended in divorce in 1985.

[Freckles 79]

French "beauty"? Ummm... not so much.

 

[Hoyaheel 1,875]

I think Paradis has a really unique look (ok, that's redundant) Sometimes she looks beautiful, sometimes "striking", and--in the photo Freckles just posted--she looks normal. I like her. And I think they make a great couple

[Lea 0]

Depp Can Do No Wrong?

 

 

Last night was the NYC premiere of "Sweeney Todd" and Johnny Depp came in muddy shoes. I'm pretty sure those shoes are brand new, but he ordered his stylist to go to the park and dirty that shit up, because the Depp does not wear clean shoes.

 

Depp-In-10-Years aka Keith Richards was also there looking as fresh as ever. I hope he kept his nose clean and didn't snort up any ash trays.

 

 

http://www.dlisted.com/

[QTPIE 0]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

 

It's 19th century London and everyone is singing, but when arterial blood sprays from the opened throat of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, you know this is no "My Fair Lady."

 

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a savage tale of cannibalism, madness and serial murder, is now Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." The show couldn't have fallen into better hands. With realistic gore replacing the stylistic bloodletting in the stage version, "Sweeney" loses some of its darkly comic tone -- not a lot of laughs here except the nervous kind.

 

More akin to Burton's "Sleepy Hollow," where heads rolled like so many bowling balls, his "Sweeney Todd" places its emphasis on Grand Guignol and the deeply human story of twice-lost love and the horrifying destructiveness of revenge.

 

It took two studios, DreamWorks and Warner Bros., to share the considerable risk of making and marketing this tragic tale that defies so many conventions of the American musical. It will be a significant challenge to find a substantial audience despite the advantage of the Burton and Sondheim brands along with a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

"Sweeney Todd" comes from an obscure British melodrama -- which might or might not have been based on true 18th century events -- about a deranged barber who slit the throats of customers and his landlady who served the victims up in meatpies.

 

Sondheim's 1979 show took place within the context of the Industrial Revolution and its rampant corruption and avarice. More satiric opera than musical, "Sweeney Todd" blended together a number of theatrical and literary modes, making the show at once Brechtian, Dickensian and Jacobean. Sondheim acknowledges the influence of the film music of Bernard Herrmann even as he throws in a Viennese waltz or music hall burlesque.

 

Burton and writer John Logan take all this as a gift, which is then filtered through Burton's own unrepentant sense of the macabre. Except for imaginary sequences or flashbacks to happier days, the film has a monochromatic look with color drained from cityscape. Depp and Carter dress mostly in stark dark clothes with black circles around the eyes, almost as if the figures in Burton's "Corpse Bride" served as models.

 

In choosing actors who can carry a tune as opposed to singing-actors, Burton has wisely gone for the tragic, emotional heart of the story, narrowing the focus to Sweeney; Mrs. Lovett, the meatpie lady, plagued by unrequited love for Sweeney; and Toby (Edward Sanders, who has a striking voice), the street urchin who assists but is innocent of the pie's ingredients.

 

Depp is the movie's heart and guts. His Sweeney, nee Benjamin Barker -- having escaped false imprisonment in Australia after 15 years -- is ruled by revenge upon his return to London. Presented with his razors, which Mrs. Lovett (Carter) has lovingly guarded all these years, he grasps a blade with his firm right hand. "At last, my arm is complete again," he thunders.

 

His homicidal rage centers on Judge Turpin (a dour Alan Rickman), a vile sexual predator who had Benjamin arrested by henchman Beadle Bamford (a smarmy Timothy Spall) so he can steal Benjamin's wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and baby daughter. Sweeney learns that his wife poisoned herself and Turpin, who took the baby as his ward, lusts after the now grown woman Johanna (a wan Jayne Wisener). Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), a young sailor who rescued Sweeney at sea, now longs to do likewise for Johanna on land.

 

Thus, a triangle of obsessed characters emerges. Depp plays Sweeney as a man so focused on death, so committed to blood, that he has lost all touch with life. Carter's amoral Nellie Lovett, her hair apparently combed with an egg beater, is herself obsessed with Sweeney. She imagines an impossible life with him without realizing he is unmoored from any reality in which this might take place.

 

The judge, hungering after young women, is the film's major disappointment. Onstage, the tormented man struggled with his obsession, longing to regain his goodness. Here he is a stock melodramatic villain who lacks any ideals other than those of self-interest, though Rickman uses all the tricks in his actor's bag to coax a human being out of the caricature.

 

Sanders' Toby is a street kid who turns out to possess a moral compass the adults so sorely lack. Baron Cohen as Pirelli, the barber's first victim, is surprisingly muted. Perhaps the requirement to sing has neutralized Cohen's usual outrageousness. Burton doesn't seem to know what to do with film's ingenues, Wisener's Johanna and Bower's Anthony, so they are largely ignored.

 

The musical numbers ooze with Sondheim's audacious wit and scathing lyrics. A lullaby conveys menace. A waltz celebrates conspiracy. Cynicism runs through all the songs' social critique.

 

The blood juxtaposed to the music is highly unsettling. It runs contrary to expectations. Burton pushes this gore into his audiences' faces so as to feel the madness and the destructive fury of Sweeney's obsession. Teaming with Depp, his long-time alter ego, Burton makes Sweeney a smoldering dark pit of fury and hate that consumes itself. With his sturdy acting and surprisingly good voice, Depp is a Sweeney Todd for the ages.

[BobbyD 2]

All Reuters News

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Depp is bloody good in "Sweeney Todd"

 

It's 19th century London and everyone is singing, but when arterial blood sprays from the opened throat of Signor Adolfo Pirelli, you know this is no "My Fair Lady."

 

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a savage tale of cannibalism, madness and serial murder, is now Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." The show couldn't have fallen into better hands. With realistic gore replacing the stylistic bloodletting in the stage version, "Sweeney" loses some of its darkly comic tone -- not a lot of laughs here except the nervous kind.

 

More akin to Burton's "Sleepy Hollow," where heads rolled like so many bowling balls, his "Sweeney Todd" places its emphasis on Grand Guignol and the deeply human story of twice-lost love and the horrifying destructiveness of revenge.

 

It took two studios, Paramount and Warner Bros., to share the considerable risk of making and marketing this tragic tale that defies so many conventions of the American musical. It will be a significant challenge to find a substantial audience despite the advantage of the Burton and Sondheim brands along with a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

 

"Sweeney Todd" comes from an obscure British melodrama -- which might or might not have been based on true 18th century events -- about a deranged barber who slit the throats of customers and his landlady who served the victims up in meatpies.

 

Sondheim's 1979 show took place within the context of the Industrial Revolution and its rampant corruption and avarice. More satiric opera than musical, "Sweeney Todd" blended together a number of theatrical and literary modes, making the show at once Brechtian, Dickensian and Jacobean. Sondheim acknowledges the influence of the film music of Bernard Herrmann even as he throws in a Viennese waltz or music hall burlesque.

 

Burton and writer John Logan take all this as a gift, which is then filtered through Burton's own unrepentant sense of the macabre. Except for imaginary sequences or flashbacks to happier days, the film has a monochromatic look with color drained from cityscape. Depp and Bonham Carter dress mostly in stark dark clothes with black circles around the eyes, almost as if the figures in Burton's "Corpse Bride" served as models.

 

In choosing actors who can carry a tune as opposed to singing-actors, Burton has wisely gone for the tragic, emotional heart of the story, narrowing the focus to Sweeney; Mrs. Lovett, the meatpie lady, plagued by unrequited love for Sweeney; and Toby (Edward Sanders, who has a striking voice), the street urchin who assists but is innocent of the pie's ingredients.

 

Depp is the movie's heart and guts. His Sweeney, nee Benjamin Barker -- having escaped false imprisonment in Australia after 15 years -- is ruled by revenge upon his return to London. Presented with his razors, which Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) has lovingly guarded all these years, he grasps a blade with his firm right hand. "At last, my arm is complete again," he thunders.

 

His homicidal rage centers on Judge Turpin (a dour Alan Rickman), a vile sexual predator who had Benjamin arrested by henchman Beadle Bamford (a smarmy Timothy Spall) so he can steal Benjamin's wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and baby daughter. Sweeney learns that his wife poisoned herself and Turpin, who took the baby as his ward, lusts after the now grown woman Johanna (a wan Jayne Wisener). Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), a young sailor who rescued Sweeney at sea, now longs to do likewise for Johanna on land.

 

Thus, a triangle of obsessed characters emerges. Depp plays Sweeney as a man so focused on death, so committed to blood, that he has lost all touch with life. Bonham Carter's amoral Nellie Lovett, her hair apparently combed with an egg beater, is herself obsessed with Sweeney. She imagines an impossible life with him without realizing he is unmoored from any reality in which this might take place.

 

The judge, hungering after young women, is the film's major disappointment. Onstage, the tormented man struggled with his obsession, longing to regain his goodness. Here he is a stock melodramatic villain who lacks any ideals other than those of self-interest, though Rickman uses all the tricks in his actor's bag to coax a human being out of the caricature.

 

Sanders' Toby is a street kid who turns out to possess a moral compass the adults so sorely lack. Baron Cohen as Pirelli, the barber's first victim, is surprisingly muted. Perhaps the requirement to sing has neutralized Cohen's usual outrageousness. Burton doesn't seem to know what to do with film's ingenues, Wisener's Johanna and Bower's Anthony, so they are largely ignored.

 

The musical numbers ooze with Sondheim's audacious wit and scathing lyrics. A lullaby conveys menace. A waltz celebrates conspiracy. Cynicism runs through all the songs' social critique.

 

The blood juxtaposed to the music is highly unsettling. It runs contrary to expectations. Burton pushes this gore into his audiences' faces so as to feel the madness and the destructive fury of Sweeney's obsession. Teaming with Depp, his long-time alter ego, Burton makes Sweeney a smoldering dark pit of fury and hate that consumes itself. With his sturdy acting and surprisingly good voice, Depp is a Sweeney Todd for the ages.

 

Cast:

 

Sweeney Todd: Johnny Depp

 

Mrs. Lovett: Helena Bonham Carter

 

Judge Turpin: Alan Rickman

 

Beadle Bamford: Timothy Spall

 

Signor Adolfo Pirelli: Sacha Baron Cohen

 

Toby: Edward Sanders

 

Johanna: Jayne Wisener

 

Anthony Hope: Jamie Campbell Bower

 

Director: Tim Burton; Screenwriter: John Logan; Based on the stage musical by: Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler; Music-lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Producers: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, John Logan; Executive producer: Patrick McCormick; Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski; Production designer: Dante Ferretti; Co-producer: Katterli Frauenfelder; Costume designer: Colleen Atwood; Editor: Chris Lebenzon.

 

Reuters/Hollywood Reporter

[GimmeSumSugar 0]

I think Paradis has a really unique look (ok, that's redundant) Sometimes she looks beautiful, sometimes "striking", and--in the photo Freckles just posted--she looks normal. I like her. And I think they make a great couple

Agreed. And they've lasted for forever, apparently without marrying. They are a great example (so far) and hopefully for a long time to come.

[BobbyD 2]

Johnny Depp on the plasma screen

Wednesday, December 5th 2007, 4:00 AM

 

Johnny Depp splatters the screen with fountains of blood in his new movie, "Sweeney Todd." But the man who plays the "Demon Barber of Fleet Street" is a little more squeamish when it comes to his own bleeding.

 

"I like to keep my blood inside me, thank you," he told us Monday at the musical's premiere.

 

Shots give him the willies.

 

"Nobody likes to be poked and prodded in any way," the inspired actor admitted. "Whether it's in a doctor's office or in jail."

 

Has he ever lost a lot of blood?

 

"Yes," he deadpanned. "But I found it!"

 

A few minutes earlier, on the blood-red carpet leading into the Ziegfeld Theater, his old friend Keith Richards snuck up on him.

 

"Keith!" said Depp, who seemed happy to see his pirate dad, though the Rolling Stone's waxen complexion may have given him a fright.

 

Later, after they'd exchanged hugs, we asked Richards if he'd seen the Broadway version of Stephen Sondheim's ghoulish musical.

 

"Nah," said Richards, who was in high spirits. "But I knew the original Sweeney Todd. He gave a hell of a shave!"

 

We figured Keith would have some thoughts on blood, what with him once having had all of his transfused in an effort to kick heroin, according to reports. Was the rocker, who had that nasty fall out of a palm tree last year, bothered by the sight of blood?

 

"I'm not scared by my own blood," he explained. "It's other people's blood that bothers me."

 

The special-effects pros on "Sweeney Todd" used hundreds of gallons of fake gore during the film's production.

 

"The blood on the set is kind of orange," said Edward Sanders, who plays Tobias Ragg. "You'd see people on the sides of the set pumping it into tubes going into everyone's necks. So I had quite a laugh when they filmed those scenes."

 

Alan Rickman, who plays the evil Judge Turpin, said the only thing funnier was maybe when "I've cut myself when I'm all alone. It's so hard when you're trying to get the Band-Aid on your bleeding finger with only one hand. It's quite the comedy scene, really."

 

Director Tim Burton, the mastermind of the crimson tide, confessed, "I always look away when they [draw blood at the doctor's]. The blood we used in the movie is very theatrical. That's one of the reasons it still feels like a play to me. The realistic edge is off."

 

Jayne Wisener, who plays Sweeney's daughter Johanna, found the stage blood "a bit redder than ketchup. Did I try it? No, I didn't try it! Do you think I should've licked it off Johnny's face?"

 

Judging by that dreamy smile on her face, it was a taste sensation she'd still like to have.

 

rushmolloy@nydailynews.com

[BobbyD 2]

NBR picks 'No Country'

Tim Burton picks up directing award

By MICHAEL SPEIER

 

The Coen brothers’ “No Country for Old Men” from Miramax-Paramount Vantage was named best picture of the year by the National Board of Review, while Tim Burton was tapped best director for DreamWorks-Warner Bros. musical “Sweeney Todd.”

 

There’s always a certain amount of mystery surrounding NBR, a group made up of film educators and other professionals with no official Hollywood ties, but the org’s yearly announcement is considered an early bellwether of potential awards winners, as well as being the first among top 10 lists that begin rolling out in December.

 

George Clooney picked up NBR’s best actor nod for his performance in Warner Bros.’ “Michael Clayton,” while Julie Christie was named best actress for her role in “Away from Her,” from Lionsgate.

 

NBR named Disney-Pixar’s “Ratatouille” best animated feature, while French film “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” took the award for best foreign film. Phil Donahue and Ellen Spiro’s Iraqi war docu “Body of War” was tapped best documentary. Ben Affleck won for best directorial debut with “Gone Baby Gone.” Both “Gone” and “Diving Bell” are distributed by Miramax.

 

In previous years, the NBR included the winning film in its list of top films of the year. This go round, the org changed its rules to keep the year’s best film separate, creating one more slot on the top 10 list.

 

Warners took three of the spots on top 10 roster; Andrew Dominik’s “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford,” Rob Reiner’s “The Bucket List” and Tony Gilroy’s “Clayton.” Vantage took two with Sean Penn’s “Into the Wild” and Marc Forster’s “The Kite Runner.”

 

“Sweeney,” which DreamWorks-Paramount is distributing domestically, also made the list, as did Focus Features’ “Atonement,” Universal’s “The Bourne Ultimatum,” Fox Searchlight’s “Juno” and MGM-Sidney Kimmel’s “Lars and the Real Girl.”

 

“We screened 328 films and the diversity of these narratives is reflected in our 2007 Ten Best Films,” NBR prexy Annie Schulhof said. “’No Country for Old Men’ is a brilliant convergence of extraordinary directing, a masterful screenplay, and incredible ensemble performances.”

 

A number of the films landing on the top 10 roster haven’t opened yet domestically, meaning distribs will try to use to the NBR mention to up the profile of their pics. They are Joe Wright’s “Atonement,” which opens Friday, “Kite Runner,” which opens Dec. 14, “Sweeney,” which unspools Dec. 21 and “Bucket List,” which opens Christmas Day.

 

“Juno,” which opened Wednesday, will look for an immediate boost. Ellen Page won NBR’s prize for breakthrough performance by an actress for her role in “Juno,” while Emile Hirsch earned the breakthrough performance by an actor for “Into the Wild.”

 

Best ensemble cast went to “No Country.”

 

“Juno” scribe Diablo Cody and “Lars and the Real Girl” scribe Nancy Oliver tied for the best original screenplay prize, while best adapted screenplay went to Joel and Ethan Coen for “No Country,” based on the tome by Cormac McCarthy.

 

Making NBR’s list of top 10 independent movies were Sarah Polley’s “Away from Her,” Craig Zobel’s “Great World of Sound” (Magnolia Pictures), John Sayles’ “Honeydripper” (Emerging Pictures) Paul Haggis’ “In the Valley of Elah” (Warner Independent), Michael Winterbottom’s “A Mighty Heart” (Vantage) and Andrew Wagner’s “Starting Out in the Evening” (Roadside Attractions).

 

Searchlight scored four of the spots on the indie list with Mira Nair’s “The Namesake,” Tamara Jenkins’ “The Savages,” John Carney’s “Once” and Adrienne Shelly’s “Waitress.”

 

Making the shortlist of best foreign films were “4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days,” “The Band’s Visit,” “The Counterfeiters,” “La Vie En Rose” and “Lust, Caution.”

 

“Darfur Now,” “In the Shadow of the Moon,” “Nanking,” “Taxi to the Darkside” and “Toots” were named top five docus.

 

Kudos will be handed out at during a Jan. 15 gala dinner at Ciprani’s in Gotham.

 

Michael Douglas will receive NBR’s career achievement award, while the William K. Everson Film History Award will go to Robert Osborne. Roger Deakins will receive the award for career achievement. The BVLGARI Award for NBR Freedom of Expression will go to films “The Great Debaters” and “Persepolis.”

 

The other winners:

 

Director:

Tim Burton, "Sweeney Todd"

 

Actor:

George Clooney, "Michael Clayton"

 

Actress:

Julie Christie, "Away From Her"

 

Supporting Actor:

Casey Affleck, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"

 

Supporting Actress:Amy Ryan, "Gone Baby Gone"

 

Foreign Film:

The Diving Bell And The Butterfly"

 

Documentary:"Body Of War"

 

Animated Feature:

"Ratatouille"

 

Ensemble Cast:

"No Country For Old Men"

 

Breakthrough Performance by an Actor:

Emile Hirsch, "Into The Wild"

 

Breakthrough Performance by an Actress:

Ellen Page, "Juno"

 

Best Directorial Debut:

Ben Affleck, "Gone Baby Gone"

 

Best Original Screenplay (tie):

Diablo Cody, "Juno" and Nancy Oliver, "Lars and the Real Girl"

 

Best Adapted Screenplay:

 

Joel and Ethan Coen, "No Country For Old Men"

 

Besides "No Country," here's NBR's top ten, in alphabetical order:

 

"The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford"

"Atonement"

"The Bourne Ultimatum"

"The Bucket List"

"Into The Wild"

"Juno"

"The Kite Runner"

"Lars And The Real Girl"

"Michael Clayton"

"Sweeney Todd"