JohnnyDepp-Zone.com

Buttressed by an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response to screenings at the Venice Film Festival and the Toronto Film Festival, TIM BURTON’S CORPSE BRIDE opened in limited release today; unfortunately the stop-motion animated feature will be showing in only five theaters this week–two in New York City, two in Los Angeles, and one in Toronto. Most Depp and Burton fans will need to wait until next week to catch this romantic fantasy; CORPSE BRIDE expands to 2,900 theaters in North America on September 23rd.

Johnny Depp voices the character of Victor Van Dort, the shy and timid bridegroom who nonetheless manages to find himself wed to the Corpse Bride (Helena Bonham Carter) while engaged to the living Victoria (Emily Watson). In a recent interview with Steven Chupnick of MovieWeb, Johnny said the character of Victor had qualities that resonated with him personally: “Yeah, the feeling of failure, I suppose, the feeling of being inept, unable to be understood. That’s a pretty consistent theme in a lot of people’s lives. It’s like Victor kind of represented [. . .] not feeling comfortable [. . .] in life, that universal feeling we all drag around with us for the rest of our days.”

Regarding his five collaborations with director Tim Burton, Johnny said: “I see myself as just a very, very lucky boy who has been drafted to come along for the ride. I would say the fact he chose me these five times to interpret these characters is either great luck or a huge mistake on his part. No, I think we are good friends, we understand each other, we have a similar sense of humor, similar backgrounds, fascinations so, I just feel real lucky [. . .].” Movie fans everywhere feel lucky, too! Thanks to emma for posting the Chupnick interview on the News & Views forum.

Johnny Depp joined Hollywood immortals today by placing his handprints and footprints in cement at Grauman’s Chinese Theatre. Johnny wore a cream-colored suit, short-sleeved white shirt, dark brown fedora, and purple sunglasses for the occasion. He was accompanied by Vanessa Paradis, who looked stunning in a black leather jacket, black skirt, and celery green top. The ceremony took only a few minutes; Johnny spoke with his customary brevity and then placed his handprints and footprints in a slab of cement, and signed his name. Afterwards he spent time signing autographs for the large crowd of well-wishers who had gathered for the occasion.

The Zone thanks bonnie for the photo of Johnny with his hands in cement; to see a larger version, click HERE, and to see a delighted Johnny holding out his cement-stained hands, click HERE. To see Johnny and Vanessa holding hands and kneeling beside his handprints, click HERE. Thanks very much to AnaMaria for the last two pictures; as usual, there are many, many more on the Recent Pics forum on the Zone. If you missed the ceremony, you can relive the experience by reading the “Link to Grauman’s Webcam” thread on the News & Views forum–there are many screencaptures from the webcam on the thread. Thanks very much to DeppintheHeartofTexas for posting the link and getting the party started!

The Zone congratulates Johnny Depp on this well-deserved honor; we all hope to visit Grauman’s Chinese Theatre someday to see his prints alongside the other legends of the silver screen.