Month: September 2005

Keith Richards back on the Pirate ship?

The Keith Richards-in-Pirates of the Caribbean II rumor has gone back and forth so many times, I suppose we won’t be able to believe anything until we see him onscreen, mascared and bantering with Johnny Depp. Still, Orlando Bloom is going around telling people that Richards is definitely going to be involved in the Pirates sequel. — by Karina Longworth for Cinematical.

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‘Charlie’ Charges Past $200M

A strong launch in Italy was enough to send Charlie and the Chocolate Factory past the $200 million mark and remain No. 1 at the foreign box office. After a $13.8 million weekend from 52 markets, the picture jumped to $201.1 million-the sixth movie of the year to reach that milestone – by Conor Bresnan for Box Office MoJo.

With strong media buzz and positive reviews, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ranked first in Italy with $2.7 million. It was also on top in Denmark with a $307,000 opening from 67 screens. The two markets were the last major debuts of Charlie’s overseas schedule, leaving it to rely on holdovers from here on out.

Tim Burton’s family feature has thrived thus far in holdover markets, led by the United Kingdom’s $65.3 million. In Japan, Charlie eased seven percent in its third weekend. It made $3.9 million for a $22 million total, light years ahead of animated movies such as Madagascar and Shark Tale. More impressive was South Korea’s nine percent drop from last weekend’s holiday opening. Its $1.6 million weekend staved off new entries to remain the market’s highest-grossing non-Korean movie, and the total rose to $5 million.

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Johnny Depp on James Dean … on Radio 2

There’s a popular showbiz story about Tom Stoppard turning down an offer to write a movie for Steven Spielberg because of a prior commitment to the BBC. “Oh, you don’t want to miss this for a television script,” insists the director, to which the playwright replies: “Actually, it’s radio.” – Mark Lawson – The Guardian

For the British, it’s a self-congratulatory anecdote turning on Hollywood incredulity that anyone could be bothered with the wireless. The assumptions behind it are overturned tonight when Johnny Depp makes his Radio 2 debut, hosting a documentary about James Dean. With Martin Scorsese making his BBC TV directing debut last night – with the Bob Dylan films for Arena – the corporation may soon be putting palm trees in its gardens to make all the tinseltown visitors feel at home.

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Hooked on Dean, says Johnny Depp

Hollywood star Johnny Depp reveals that Fifties legend James Dean inspired him to enter the acting profession.

Speaking to BBC Radio 2 for a documentary that can be heard this week, Depp says that he has been a fan of James Dean since he was a young musician in Los Angeles.

Rebel Without A Cause – The James Dean Story can be heard this Tuesday 27 September at 8.30pm.

Johnny Depp presents the programme that marks the 50th anniversary of the death of Dean, who died aged 24 on 30 September 1955.

“I started out as a guitarist in the early Eighties,” explains Depp.

“I was very influenced by the rockabilly revival scene at the time, including bands like the Rockats and the Stray Cats. The Fifties stuff was very cool and we all wore ‘big hair’, jeans and biker jackets.

“I hooked up with a guy who idolized James Dean and he gave me a copy of the Dean biography, The Mutant King, which I thought was really interesting – BBC.co.uk.

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Depp doesn’t dawdle on forming a character

For role in ‘Corpse Bride,’ the actor had a 15-minute chat with the director – Hanh Nguyen for the Orlando Sentinel.

LOS ANGELES — Kids know Johnny Depp for his colorful characters such as swaggering pirate Jack Sparrow and eccentric confectioner Willy Wonka.

In his latest guise, Depp gives voice to the stop-motion animated puppet hero Victor in Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride. While filming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for Burton, Depp was called upon to create Victor on short notice. After shooting a scene as Wonka, the actor rushed to the Corpse Bride recording studio, where he assembled a persona based on a 15-minute session with Burton.

“[Victor] was born in that little bit of time, and I didn’t hear him for the first time until . . . they were recording,” Depp says. “So the preparation for this, I was remiss basically. I should be flogged.”

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Say “I do” to “Corpse Bride”; the honeymoon’s a killer

The most winning feature among many in “Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride” is to make the afterlife a juke joint where everybody knows your cadaver’s name. It’s no wonder that morose groom Victor seriously ponders staying underground, even though he’s not exactly dead, rather than return to the chilly, gray London mansion of his horrid parents – By Michael Booth for the Denver Post.

Hades under Burton’s puppeteering influence is a friendly small town where the skeleton on the next bar stool pours you a drink and hands you a mop to clean up afterward. Your long dead dog, missing fur but not his personality, wags his bony tail when you show up. Freed of all earthly restraints, the (dead) people are not only nice, they’re decent and vibrant.

Making hell a heckuva good time is the twist that turns Burton’s latest movie as sentimental as it is macabre, and a gore- fest dripping with true love. “Corpse Bride” will win your heart, if it doesn’t rip it out of your chest first.

Copyright 2005 The Denver Post

This is an article excerpt. Please follow the link above to view the entire article.

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Depp jumps at chance to work with Burton

It always starts with a phone call in the middle of the night. “I’ll hear a voice and he will say, ‘What are you doing?’” says the actor. “I’ll say, ‘I’m sleeping, Tim.’ Then I’ll hear a pause and he will say, ‘Can you meet me for dinner next week?’ I’ll say, ‘Sure. Where. New York. OK.’” – by Cindy Perlman for Chicago Sun-Times.

That’s how the collaboration usually begins with Johnny Depp and director Tim Burton, who have teamed up for some of the best work of both their careers, including “Edward Scissorhands” (1990), “Ed Wood” (1994), this summer’s megahit “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and the new “Corpse Bride,” which opened Friday.

“When Tim makes that first call, there is no subject. There is no project. There is nothing. It’s just that I’m going to be having a salad with Tim in a week — and it’s always been that way,” Depp says.

Copyright 2005, Digital Chicago Inc.

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Here comes Johnny Depp as groom to the ‘Corpse Bride’

TORONTO — Johnny Depp never forgot what Marlon Brando told him. Or exactly how Brando sounded, since Depp does a spot-on imitation of the late legend – By Barbara Vancheri, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Brando (“Bless him,” Depp interjects) once asked the younger actor how many movies he made a year. “I said I don’t know, sometimes two, sometimes three.”

Brando cautioned Depp to watch himself. “I said, ‘Why’s that?’ and he said, ‘It’s because we only have so many faces in our pockets.’ After all this time later, I realize how right he was,” Depp says. “He was very, very wise.”

Depp’s pocket has produced some unforgettable faces, from James M. Barrie and Captain Jack Sparrow to Ichabod Crane, Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands.

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