Articles from October 2010



“There’s a great elegance and a great wit in this script”–Geoffrey Rush talks about PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN 4: ON STRANGER TIDES

Movie City News recently did a lengthy interview with Pirates of the Caribbean stalwart Geoffrey Rush, who plays Captain Hector Barbossa in the series. Rush speaks with great fondness of the POTC family: “I mean, we are now an 8-year-old team. It’s a very substantial family. We have had the same operators, the same DP, the same principal cast, the same makeup team. In all departments there is a great familiarity . . . we’ve had children born, we’ve had deaths, we had an extraordinary kind of thing going on.”

As for the current installment, On Stranger Tides, currently filming around London, Rush sees a kinship with the first Pirates film, The Curse of the Black Pearl. “For this one, I think they have gone back to the feel of the first one,” Rush says. “There’s a great elegance and a great wit in this script, and a simpler narrative. But it’s still got what I hope audiences will find intriguing. It’s got some big set pieces, like mermaids. I thought, ‘We haven’t done mermaids yet.’ Sailors were always being lured onto the rocks. The take on that is dramatically quite compelling,” Rush promises.

The Zone thanks RumLover for sharing the Geoffrey Rush interview. You can read much more about Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Watch the new trailer for THE TOURIST here!

Television advertising for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Tourist begins with the release of a new 30-second trailer which highlights the suspense of the plot and the seductive charms of The Tourist‘s stars, Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie. “It all started when I met a woman,” Johnny’s character tells us; he plays Frank, an American tourist visiting Italy to get over a broken heart. Angelina Jolie plays Elise, who seems to offer the perfect solution to heartbreak when she crosses Frank’s path; unfortunately, the lady has an agenda of her own which quickly puts Frank in danger. You can see the latest trailer for the sophisticated thrilled here:

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD for sharing the trailer. The Tourist opens in theaters in North America on December 10th.

Nominate Johnny Depp and ALICE IN WONDERLAND for 2011 People’s Choice Awards!

It’s that time of year again–ah yes, awards season is beginning! The preliminary balloting has begun for nominations for the 2011 People’s Choice Awards; you can vote daily for Johnny Depp for Favorite Movie Actor, Mia Wasikowska for Favorite Movie Star Under 25, and Alice in Wonderland for Favorite Movie. You can also write in Alice in Wonderland as a nominee in other categories, like Favorite Family Movie and Favorite Comedy Movie. Voters can choose as many as five nominees per category, and the top five vote-getters in each category will become official People’s Choice Award nominees. You can cast your ballot HERE.

Now in its 37th year, The People’s Choice Awards honors fan favorites in film, television, and music, and offers the public a unique opportunity to make their voices heard. The People’s Choice Awards will air on CBS on Wednesday evening, January 5, 2011.

The Zone thanks MyManDepp for sharing the news. You can read more about The People’s Choice Awards on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Perfect casting–Johnny Depp to play Nick Charles in remake of Dashiell Hammett’s THE THIN MAN

Johnny Depp has found a new project: several Hollywood sources are reporting that JD wants to play Dashiell Hammett’s sophisticated detective Nick Charles in a remake of the 1930s mystery classic The Thin Man for Warner Bros, and that he would like Rob Marshall, currently at the helm of Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides, to direct. The new Thin Man would be an Infinitum Nihil production, with JD and Christi Dembrowski producing, along with former Warners executive Kevin McCormick, who worked with JD on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd.

The original MGM version of The Thin Man starred William Powell and Myrna Loy as Nick and Nora Charles; its blend of mystery, clever detective work, witty repartee, and occasional slapstick proved so popular that it spawned five sequels and a television series. The key role of Nora, Nick’s vivacious and equally brilliant co-sleuth/wife, is yet to be cast but will surely attract the interest of every A-list actress in Hollywood.

The Thin Man has long been a favorite of mine,” Johnny told Mike Fleming of Deadline.com, “and with Rob at the helm, I know we’re in great hands.” And Warner Bros Pictures Group president Jeff Robinov put his endorsement on the project: “There is no one more perfectly suited to portray Nick Charles than Johnny Depp.” We agree!

The Zone thanks Emma and FANtasticJD for sharing the story; you can read more about the remake of The Thin Man on the Zone’s News & Views forum. To read Mike Fleming’s article on Deadline.com, CLICK HERE.

It’s definite–Keith Richards returns as Teague in ON STRANGER TIDES

In an interview with the London Times, rock-and-roll legend Keith Richards, currently promoting the release of his autobiography, confirms that he is indeed returning as Captain Teague in On Stranger Tides. “Depp and Richards are currently shooting Pirates of the Caribbean 4, in which Richards plays, for the second time, Captain Jack Sparrow’s father,” reports the Times. Confides Richards, “It takes two hours to put the wig and make-up on. Back into the hairy prison. ‘Ooooh, sorry about my sword, babe,’ ha ha ha.” He did give the Times a scoop, though, saying that he “has roped in ‘a couple of mates'” to film a bar-room scene with him. Sounds like fun!

The Zone thanks Gilbert’s Girl for sharing the Richards interview; you can read more about On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

“We have a lot of mutual respect”–Michael Mann speaks about Johnny Depp

In an interview with Geoff Boucher of the Los Angeles Times, Michael Mann reflected on his experience working with Johnny Depp. JD played gangster John Dillinger, the centerpiece of Mann’s Public Enemies (2009). “We have a lot of mutual respect. I like him and I think he likes me … he and I really got to a point of complete and total rapport – this is going to sound really weird – in France after we were done and we were releasing the movie.”

Regarding JD as an actor, Mann said, “Johnny is an extremely talented guy. He took himself to some places – in some of those intense scenes – to places I hadn’t seen him take himself before. He doesn’t have formal acting training but has such a strong, intuitive sense of things. He reacts in very positive ways to things like hair and wardrobe, like Laurence Olivier, who only became the character when he looked in the mirror. So Johnny has good company. He kind of comes alive with the feeling, the texture of things.”

The Zone thanks Emma for sharing the Mann interview; you can read more on the Zone’s Porch discussion forum.

Jerry Bruckheimer tweets a target date for the ON STRANGER TIDES trailer

Movie fans eager for the opportunity to see a trailer for Rob Marshall’s Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides, currently filming at Pinewood Studios, can mark December 17, 2010 in red letters on their calendars. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer responded to this query on his Twitter account: “Any info on On Stranger Tides teaser trailer?” with the following reply: “Working to get it done to go in front of TRON, in theaters 12/17.” Since Tron:Legacy will get a wide release in 3D, it will provide an excellent opportunity to expose a large audience to the thrill of seeing Captain Jack Sparrow in 3D for the first time. Sounds great!

The Zone thanks Polly_anna for sharing the news; you can read much more about Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Latest rumor–Johnny Depp to join Oscar-winner Kathryn Bigelow’s next film?

Hold on to your hats — director Kathryn Bigelow, who carried home Best Picture and Best Director Oscars for The Hurt Locker, is now “courting Johnny Depp to star with Tom Hanks in Triple Frontier, the drama that she will direct in February for Paramount Pictures,” reports Mike Fleming for Deadline.com. The film, scripted by The Hurt Locker’s Mark Boal, takes place in the organized crime haven that exists in the border zone between Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil; hence the title Triple Frontier, although the project may be switching titles to Sleeping Dogs. While the script has five main roles, there are two “major leads,” according to Fleming, and those would be played by JD and Hanks.

“Depp likes the role — and the idea of teaming with Hanks — but his participation is subject to working out some scheduling issues,” writes Fleming. The scheduling conflict is with the long-simmering film of Dark Shadows, which was due to begin filming “around the same time” — that is, February 2011 — for director Tim Burton at Warner Bros. “Aside from playing the vampire Barnabas Collins, Depp is producing with Graham King, so Dark Shadows is a priority,” says Fleming. “But Triple Frontier is shaping up to be a hot-button prestige project and his reps will be working hard over the next two weeks to make it possible for him to do both.” Stay tuned!

The Zone thanks Theresa for sharing the news; you can read more about this very intriguing project on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY names Johnny Depp #1 on their “Power List”

Who are the most influential performers on the planet? According to Entertainment Weekly‘s latest issue (cover date October 15, 2010), the #1 position on their “Power List” belongs to Johnny Depp! Congratulations, Johnny! As for criteria, “[W]e based our calculations on a formula that included both hard, crunchable numbers (box office grosses, TV viewers, albums sold) with less tangible factors, like a star’s influence within their industry or general command of the pop cultural stage,” says EW. Here’s what the EW scribes had to say about Johnny:

“Depp’s career has been a long, strange trip — and ending up the most powerful actor in Hollywood is the weirdest twist of all. He’s rarely followed the standard playbook, choosing roles as misfits (Edward Scissorhands, Gilbert Grape) and oddballs (Ed Wood, Ichabod Crane) over the usual romantic leads and action heroes. With his uncompromising gonzo turn as Capt. Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl in 2003, his stardom went supernova. In the wake of smashes like the Pirates films, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and Alice in Wonderland, Depp can do anything he wants. And the one — maybe the only — thing you can be sure of is that he’ll do exactly that.”

The Zone thanks Emma for breaking the news, Joni for additional reporting, and FANtasticJD for sharing her scans. To see a larger view of the EW cover, CLICK HERE, and to see a caricature of JD that appeared in the magazine, CLICK HERE. You can read more about the EW Power List on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Dreams come true–Captain Jack Sparrow pays a surprise visit to a Greenwich school

Nothing livens up a boring school day more than having Captain Jack Sparrow and some of his motley crew pop in for a visit — just ask the students at Meridian Primary School in Greenwich. Johnny Depp took a break from filming Pirates of the Caribbean 4: On Stranger Tides at the Old Naval College on Wednesday to honor the request of nine-year-old Meridian student and self-described “budding pirate” Beatrice Delap, who had written Johnny a letter asking for his help staging a “mutiny” against the teachers. That’s an offer no self-respecting pirate can refuse!

Johnny arrived at the school “in full high-seas regalia with four other cast members,” reports the London Evening Standard. “It was the most exciting school day ever,” says Miss Delap. “Yesterday the school called us in for a special assembly at the end of the day. They told us there had been a couple of incidents in the playground. Then Johnny Depp walked in dressed as Captain Jack. There were gasps and screams. He pulled the letter out of his pocket and said he was going to frame it. Then he called me down and gave me a hug.” To see a photo of Johnny holding the letter and speaking with Beatrice Delap, CLICK HERE, and to see Captain Jack hugging the aspiring pirate, CLICK HERE.

Captain Jack and his colleagues “spent 15 minutes performing for pupils and dancing,” according to the London Evening Standard. Although the reference to dancing sounds like an exaggeration, there is photographic evidence HERE; you can see another photo of the pirates HERE. “He said the pirates were going to take over the school and only eat candy and our teeth would turn black and fall out,” Miss Delap told reporters. “But he said we shouldn’t mutiny against the teachers because there were police outside and we might get into trouble.”

The Zone thanks Emma and Theresa for sharing this heart-warming story; you can read much more about the school visit and the filming of On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

“The movie gets its sense of humor from Depp”–USA TODAY looks at THE TOURIST

Anthony Breznican offered a photo feature on Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s upcoming film The Tourist in today’s USA Today. “You’d expect Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp to be evenly matched, but in their new romantic thriller, [. . .] it’s more of a case of the femme fatale vs. the fool,” writes Breznican. “The film, opening Dec. 10, stars Depp as Frank, a widowed math teacher who wanders through Venice, trying to shake his melancholy. Jolie is Elise, a seductive stranger who sets him up as a patsy for an international crime ring.”

Producer Graham King sympathizes with tourist Frank’s vulnerability: “Like most human beings, when someone with Angelina’s beauty goes to seduce someone, she usually gets what she wants,” says King. “Especially a math teacher from Wisconsin. He has no idea what’s coming.”

While Jolie’s character is the temptress, “The movie gets its sense of humor from Depp,” writes Breznican. King agrees: “With Johnny, it was never going to be too serious.” Or take itself too seriously. To see a photo of Frank and Elise meeting on a train, CLICK HERE, and to see a larger version of the photo showing the couple on a motorboat on the Grand Canal, CLICK HERE.

The Zone thanks Emma for sharing the Breznican article and photos; you can read much more about The Tourist on the Zone’s News & Views forum. To read the USA Today article, CLICK HERE, but beware of significant plot spoilers!

The poster for THE TOURIST debuts

The first official poster for The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, has been released, and it emphasizes the star power of its two leads by focusing on their unforgettable faces. To see the poster, CLICK HERE. Johnny Depp plays Frank, a broken-hearted American whose vacation in Venice takes an unexpected turn when he meets Elise (Angelina Jolie), a mysterious European who draws him into a romance. “On the surface, Angelina’s character is sexy and beautiful, but she has a lot of layers,” producer Graham King told Us Magazine. “Expect twists and turns.”

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD for sharing the poster; you can read more about The Tourist on the Zone’s News & Views forum. The Tourist, directed by Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, is scheduled to open in North America and the UK on December 10th.