New photo–Johnny Depp accepting his George Melies Awards (from Russia) as Best Foreign Actor

Johnny Depp has been voted “Best Foreign Actor” by the Russian public four years in a row, and now he has the George Melies Awards to prove it! The photo at left shows JD being presented his awards by Kids drummer Beano Hanti on August 26, 2008, at a rehearsal studio in Florida. (Beano, who also drums for a Russian band, was on hand to accept Johnny’s awards in person last year, at the ceremony in March 2007, at which time he promised to deliver them . . . and as the photo shows, he is a man of his word.) The awards are traditional, intricately painted Russian matryoshka–the famous “nesting” dolls that have ever-smaller dolls inside, 5 in all. For the 2008 award, the committee added the words “Simply the Best” next to Johnny’s name: having won four years in a row, they have conferred this title on him “for life.” Wow!

To see a larger version of the photo, CLICK HERE. This photo was taken on Beano’s cell phone and sent to the George Melies Awards committee, much to their delight. We thank Ldinka and Belik for the photo, and Angelina for giving us so much information about the history of the George Melies awards. You can read much more about them on the Zone’s Pit forum.

The Zone extends our warmest congratulations to the incomparable Johnny Depp–“simply the best!” –Part-Time Poet