The bbc.co.uk. reports that for the first time Johnny is admitting to being somewhat nervous about taking on the legendary role of Willy Wonka in the children’s beloved classic, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. “Having grown up in the seventies and eighties, ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory’ film was an annual event that we would always watch as kids,” said Depp. “I loved Gene Wilder in that film. The memory of his Wonka was ingrained.”
So why did the star decide to take the role? “First and foremost it was that call from Tim,” said Depp, [and] “I’ve been a huge fan of Roald Dahl’s books, especially the character Wonka, that character was so beautiful, so special, so I guess that’s it.”
This is an article excerpt. To read the entire article please visit the bbc.co.uk. website.
© bbc.co.uk. Reprinted with permission.
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Comingsoon.net reports Johnny Depp worked on the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie set in London and the voice/animation role of Corpse Bride simultaneously in an article entitled: In the Future: Chocolate Factory Cast & Crew by Edward Douglas.
Director Tim Burton approached Depp on the first day of shooting Charlie with this little script and pretty soon Depp found himself literally leaving the stage playing Wonka and would be taking on the role of Victor. “The [Corpse] script was amazing” said Depp and “anything with Tim is always just a blast.”
Johnny has more to say on jumping back into the skin of Captain Jack, the making of movie on rock and roll guitar player Syd Barrett for Pink Floyd and of course, more on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory just follow the link above. June 29, 2005.
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On Monday June 27, 2005, Sci Fi Wire reported that Johnny Depp a.k.a Captain Jack Sparrow appeared at a news conference in Nassau,Bahamas near the set of Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man’s Chest along with director Gore Verbinski. The pair are not giving up on recruiting rocker Keith Richards as Sparrow’s father figure for the POTC movie sequels. “It looks like it’s going to happen,” said Depp. “But I don’t know when. It’s all going to depend on where we are and where he is, because he’s got a little thing called the Rolling Stones tour to do.” If it can be worked out it is good news for Pirates & Stones fans alike who were disappointed when just a month earlier contactmusic.com reported Richards would miss out on the movie opportunity.
With a main actor down with an illness in England and unable to fly to the Bahamas, and with some sets not ready for the shoot, the options were weighed and it was decided to go on hiatus, confirmed Depp when asked about the status of POTC sequel #1: Dead Man’s Chest.
He added, “when we start up again, we’ll shoot the first and second sequels back to back.”
Pics from the interview from the Press Conference in Nassau are to be found here on the board
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Hollywood’s hottest eccentric meets his match in Willy Wonka in Newsweeks July 4, 2005 issue by author Sean Smith.
For director Tim Burton, to be able to re-make Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a dream come true. If you want to call it a remake. Liccy Dahl, the widow of Roald Dahl, the author of the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory dug in her heels when Warner Bros. came calling some 8 or 9 years ago and began talking about a remake. “I’m always a little bit worried about remakes,” Dahl said. “I wasn’t convinced it was the right thing to do.” She also had to approve the script, the director and the star.
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Newsweek, July 4, 2005 – No Depp film ever grossed over $55 million until yes, you guessed it, Pirates of the Caribbean came along and all of a sudden the Hollywood treasure chest hit $652 million world wide. Depp is now the hottest ticket and swashbuckling Captain Jack Sparrow is recognizable to the very old and very young alike.
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Red Hot Inflight Magazine, June 2005 issue, recently ran an article about Johnny entitled Child at Heart by Lynley Dwight. In it the author talks to Johnny about why he chooses roles that tend to be outside the mainstream, what it is like to be a daddy and about why he chooses to work with director Tim Burton.
“Depp’s trademark,” writes Dwight, “is his love of oddball characters, most notably in Edward Scissorhands, Don Juan DeMarco, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? Ed Wood, and Even Chocolat.” ‘It’s a theme that I have often returned to,’says Depp, ‘It’s fascinating what society deems as normal and abnormal and who decides and why; how that kind judgement is placed on people. A lot of times people say: Oh, that guy is different, He’s the weirdo…Well, why is he? That’s the kind of thing I’m fascinated by.’
Johnny lives with his girlfriend, Vanessa Paradis and their two small children, Lily Rose and Jack, in a French village called Plan de la Tour. His life took on a decidedly different direction of it’s own when his children were born. Says Depp, “For years I stumbled around and didn’t really know what any of it was about until I had kids.” Johnny has since discovered new meaning and perpective. He says, according to the author, “building my family is true happiness.”
Johnny on Burton: “Tim is doing beautiful stuff, the sets are incredible and the work has been a ball, and going back into the ring with Tim is like being home. He’s great.”
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Disney and the Make-A-Wish Foundation together are holding a special fund raising event called An Evening of Magic with honorary celebrity cruise directors helping to make dreams come true. The event will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2005, from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. aboard the Disney Magic cruise ship at the Port of Los Angeles, San Pedro, California.
Other celebrities joining Johnny for the magical evening are: Jim Belushi, Jacki Chan, Tim Curry, Jennifer Garner, Hugh Jackman and John Stamos. Please see the official website for a complete listing.
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When Tim Burton proposed the role of Willy Wonka to his friend and frequent collaborator, two-time Oscar nominee Johnny Depp, he was barely able to get the words out. As Depp relates the conversation, “We were having dinner and he said, ‘I want to talk to you about something. You know that story, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory? Well, I’m going to do it and I’m wondering if you’d want to play….’ and I couldn’t even wait for him to finish the sentence. I said, ‘I’m in. Absolutely. I’m there.’ No question about it.”
“To be chosen to play Willy Wonka in itself a great honor,” says Depp, a long-time fan of Dahl’s work, “but to be chosen by Tim Burton is double, triple the honor. His vision is always amazing, beyond anything you expect. Just the fact that he was involved meant I didn’t need to see a script before committing. If Tim wanted to shoot 18 million feet of film of me staring into a light bulb and I couldn’t blink for three months, I’d do it.”
Before long the two were poring over Burton’s preliminary sketches, discussing Wonka’s look and the themes of the story, falling into a familiar creative rhythm that began when the director cast Depp as the lead in the 1990 poignant fantasy Edward Scissorhands. They subsequently re-teamed for the critically acclaimed Ed Wood and Sleepy Hollow and are currently working together on the stop-motion animated feature Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride.
“Johnny is a great character actor in many ways,” says Burton – “a character actor in the form of a leading man. That’s what struck me about him from the very beginning and it’s what makes him such an intriguing actor – the fact that he’s not necessarily interested in his image but more in becoming a character and trying different things. He’s willing to take risks. Each time I work with him he’s something different.”
“He’s a tremendously insightful actor,” adds Grey. “He came to the project with respect for the book and also a sense of how he could do something very special with this character. I can’t think of anyone we’d rather have in the role. Sometimes the right magical combination comes together and I believe that’s what we have here: Roald, Tim, and Johnny.”
Above all, Depp approached the role with “a great sense of affection for Wonka.”
Forced to open his beloved factory for the first time in 15 years to find an heir, Wonka is uncomfortable with the unfamiliar human contact. As Depp suggests, “he puts on his game face in front of people but underneath he has a great anxiety about actual contact or closeness. I believe he’s a germophobe, which is why he wears gloves, and in addition to the gloves it’s as if he’s wearing a mask. There are moments during the tour when we catch Wonka acting, and acting badly, literally reading off cue cards.
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Johnny got No. 7 on the yearly Forbes List – last year he was on No.10
Good to know, I did my part for the web rank 😀
He even got there although he has pay rank only 21.
And George Lucas is under it, too :), he has pay rank 1 with Episode 3…hehe…
Power Rank Name Pay Rank Web Rank Press Rank TV Rank
1 Oprah Winfrey 2 2 8 4
2 Tiger Woods 4 12 2 11
3 Mel Gibson 3 13 33 15
4 George Lucas 1 3 41 34
5 Shaquille O’Neal 26 26 5 12
6 Steven Spielberg 5 11 34 22
7 Johnny Depp 21 16 36 31
8 Madonna 11 5 30 19
9 Elton John 15 10 19 24
10 Tom Cruise 30 7 24 16
11 Brad Pitt 51 8 22 17
12 Dan Brown 6 27 39 61
13 Will Smith 24 15 27 20
14 David Letterman 16 61 26 7
15 Lance Armstrong 41 39 9 8
16 Michael Jordan 27 34 16 25
17 Michael Schumacher 8 37 29 81
18 Will Ferrell 16 71 55 36
19 Kobe Bryant 39 47 4 2
20 P Diddy 23 51 38 14
21 Jay Leno 34 33 28 5
22 J.K. Rowling 9 24 69 6
23 Metallica 20 9 50 69
24 Jennifer Lopez 63 6 25 18
25 Desperate Housewives 92 20 10 6
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Since today “the International Johnny Depp Forums” are open.
I thought, the only thing this site needs would be an international
board with many languages and members and a lot of fun.
So – come on in – registern and post whatever you like:
go here to the board
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