Articles from June 2011



Johnny Depp nominated for three Teen Choice Awards! Congratulations!

Johnny Depp has been nominated for three Teen Choice Awards for work done in three different films: The Tourist, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and Rango! Congratulations, Johnny! Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s The Tourist received a nomination for Choice Movie: Action, for JD as Choice Movie Actor: Action, and for Angelina Jolie as Choice Movie Actress: Action. Rob Marshall’s Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides received nominations for Choice Movie: SciFi/Fantasy, for JD as Choice Movie Actor: SciFi/Fantasy, for Penelope Cruz as Choice Movie Actress: SciFi/Fantasy, and for Ian McShane as Choice Movie Villain. Johnny Depp also received a nomination for Choice Animated Movie Voice for the character of Rango in Gore Verbinski’s Rango.

The Teen Choice Awards will air live on Fox at 8 pm Eastern time on August 7, 2011. Voting is currently open; you have to register to vote and can vote once a day HERE. There are many (many!) categories encompassing music, television, and sports as well as film; you can find a full list of nominees in all categories HERE.

The Zone thanks FANtasticJD and Theresa for sharing news about the Teen Choice Awards. You can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

See video of Johnny Depp playing guitar with Alice Cooper!

In a June 28 interview with the BBC, Alice Cooper explained how Johnny Depp wound up on stage with his band in London on Sunday night. “I knew he played guitar, and I said, ‘We’re playing the 100 Club tomorrow night. Come up on stage and play with us, if you want to.’ I didn’t know he was that good of a lead player. He’s a really good lead player.” Judge for yourself . . . watch the video here:

You can hear Alice Cooper’s interview with the BBC HERE.

The Zone thanks myfave for the video clip; you can read more about JD’s gig as a guitarist on the Zone’s Pit General Discussion forum.

Johnny Depp jams with Alice Cooper in London!

“We don’t do acoustic — this will be loud,” Alice Cooper told the lucky patrons at London’s legendary 100 Club on Sunday night. Then he and his band rocked through a 17-song set that featured a very famous guest guitarist — Johnny Depp took the stage for Alice Cooper’s signature hits “School’s Out” and “I’m Eighteen.” Yes, that’s a clean-shaven JD underneath the newsboy cap: he was introduced as “a special guest all the way from Kentucky, Johnny D.” To see photos of Johnny on stage at the 100 Club with Alice Cooper, CLICK HERE and HERE. For a portrait of JD applauding the band, CLICK HERE.

“The 200 tickets for this rare, intimate club show sold out immediately,” reports journalist Bruce Henne. Prior to the show, Alice Cooper said, “It’s been a while since we played such an intimate venue, but strip away the theatrics and we are a pedal-to-the-metal rock band, born in clubs like the 100 Club. We play every show like that anyway, and it will be fantastic to reconnect in that atmosphere.” Johnny Depp’s appearance was a surprise to the audience, although Alice’s Facebook page had hinted that a special guest artist would be in the house. You can see videos of JD playing guitar with Alice Cooper on E!Online’s website HERE.

The Zone thanks Evochka, Aida, HonestGirl, and Theresa for sharing photos of the event, and Emma for news articles. You can read more about the concert on the Zone’s Pit General Discussion forum.

Veteran actor Tom Wilkinson in talks to join Johnny Depp in LONE RANGER

Two-time Oscar nominee Tom Wilkinson is in talks to join Johnny Depp (as Tonto) and Armie Hammer (as the Ranger) in Gore Verbinski’s new version of the Western classic Lone Ranger for Disney and Jerry Bruckheimer. Wilkinson “would portray a railroad tycoon in the Old West,” reports Variety’s Marc Graser; although Graser does not describe the character as the story’s villain, he does say it will be “a prominent role.” Wilkinson is well-known for his roles as Hugh Fennyman in Shakespeare in Love; Matt Fowler in In the Bedroom; Carmine Falcone in Batman Begins; Arthur Edens in Michael Clayton; and Benjamin Franklin in the HBO mini-series John Adams.

Filming of Lone Ranger should begin in mid-October, with some shooting rumored to be taking place in Texas and New Mexico. Gary Bond of the Austin Film Office has confirmed that Disney has been scouting locations in “West Texas, Austin and the small town of Granger
where much of True Grit was shot in 2010.” (A Texas locale is only fitting, since the title character is a Texas Ranger.) Lone Ranger is scheduled for theatrical release on a prime holiday weekend — December 21, 2012.

The Zone thanks Theresa and Emma for sharing the news; you can read much more about Lone Ranger on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Wow! The Johnny Depp Zone 2011 Birthday Project raises $6,800 for Mercy Corps!

The Johnny Depp Zone’s 2011 Birthday Project has now concluded, and we are delighted to announce that this year’s project raised a grand total of $6,800 in support of Mercy Corps’ Fund to Help Survivors of Japan’s Earthquake. What an outpouring of love for Johnny Depp and concern for our neighbors in Japan, who are dealing with the aftereffects of a devastating earthquake and tsunami — donations flowed in to the Birthday Project from all over the world.

We send our sincere thanks to all the donors who contributed to our birthday gift for Johnny Depp; your generosity is truly inspiring. Thanks for bringing this year’s Birthday Project to such a heartwarming conclusion.

Happy Birthday to Johnny Depp!

Today is Johnny Depp’s birthday, and on behalf of Zoners all over the world, we would like to send our heartfelt best wishes to Johnny. We hope he enjoys a wonderful birthday celebration with family and friends, and that the year to come, with the filming of Dark Shadows — and maybe The Lone Ranger, too — the continued worldwide success of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and the long-awaited release of The Rum Diary, brings him great joy and creative fulfillment. Above all, we would like to thank Johnny for letting us take this journey with him, and for being a constant source of inspiration, entertainment, and delight, both onscreen and off.

May the happiness Johnny Depp has given to all of us be returned to him in abundance. Mytreasure’s birthday card speaks for Zoners all over the world: Happy Birthday, Johnny!

PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: ON STRANGER TIDES’ worldwide box office passes $800 million!

Despite strong challenges from X Men: First Class (in its debut) and The Hangover Part II, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides “reigned over the foreign box office for the third weekend in a row and extended its lead as the biggest movie of 2011 so far,” notes Brandon Gray of Box Office Mojo. Very impressive! On Stranger Tides added $69.4 million to its overseas ticket sales, for a total of $600.4 million earned abroad. Combined with a domestic box office take of $190.3 million, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides ended its third weekend of release ranked 31st on the all-time worldwide box office chart, with a total of $790.7 million.

By Monday, On Stranger Tides had sailed past the $800 million mark! “The Johnny Depp tentpole, with total grosses of $807 million, is the biggest movie of the year, by far, and is on track to become the franchise’s most successful film internationally,” notes the Hollywood Reporter, “raising the possibility that it could ultimately near $1 billion in total grosses.” Outstanding!

The Zone thanks Moviemom and Theresa for box office updates; you can read more about On Stranger Tides on the Zone’s News & Views forum.

Great news–the 2011 Johnny Depp Zone Birthday Project passes $4,000!

One of the Zone’s most cherished traditions is our annual birthday gift for Johnny, called the Birthday Project. Each year we choose a charity which is connected to Johnny’s philanthropic interests, pool our modest contributions, and make a Zone donation to a worthy cause in his honor, as a way of celebrating and thanking Johnny for all the joy he has given us over the year. This year we selected Mercy Corps Fund to Help Survivors of Japan’s Earthquake. Zoners have now donated more than $4,000 to help our friends in Japan recover and rebuild. Thank you so much!

In a public service announcement for Unite for Japan, Johnny Depp said, “A catastrophe of this magnitude almost seems like science fiction—but it’s not. It’s real. It’s very real.” Johnny then urged all of us to make a donation and “spread the word, to unite for Japan.” You can hear Johnny’s words here:

We can think of no birthday gift more fitting than to answer his plea and give what we can to help those in Japan who have lost so much.

Many thanks to the donors all around the world who have sent contributions to the Birthday Project. If you would like to join us, there is still time!

Your donation to Mercy Corps will be used to meet immediate and longer-term needs of Japan’s earthquake survivors. If you want to donate by credit card, please use the red “Donate Now” button on this page.

If you prefer to donate by Paypal, please use this yellow “Donate” button to link to our 2011 Birthday Project Paypal account:





If you prefer to donate by check or telephone, CLICK HERE to visit the Johnny Depp Zone’s Birthday Project forum for the telephone number and information on mailing your check.

We will be accepting donations through Johnny’s birthday, June 9, 2011. Please join us in saying “Thank you” and “Happy Birthday” to Johnny Depp. Your donation can bring comfort and support when it is needed most.

“THE TOURIST” has become an international hit, says Hollywood Reporter

It took a while, but the Hollywood press has finally realized what the rest of us knew by New Year’s Day — Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s romantic thriller The Tourist, starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie, was not a box-office disappointment, but a bona fide hit. Pamela McClintock of The Hollywood Reporter writes, “The movie — which underperformed in the United States — has turned out to be quite the world traveler, grossing a mighty $210.7 million at the international box office. The Tourist [. . .] captured the imagination of international moviegoers across the globe, where it earned more than three times its domestic gross of $67.6 million. With its run coming to an end, The Tourist‘s worldwide total now stands at an impressive $278.3 million.”

The Tourist performed particularly well in Japan (where the film earned $22.5 million despite opening just one week before the devastating earthquake), in China ($20 million), and in Italy ($16 million). With its vibrant overseas performance, “the controversial Golden Globe nomination earned by The Tourist now makes sense,” writes McClintock. Ah — but it made sense to the Hollywood Foreign Press Association all along.

The Zone thanks Theresa for sharing the article; you can read more on the Zone’s News & Views forum.