Yesterday Johnny appeared at the French Pirates of the Caribbean 2 – Dead Man’s Chest Premiere in Paris –
before he received the Great Medal of the City of Paris
earlier he was seen leaving the Plazza Athene hotel
Pics of this are to be found HERE
A preview:
Having sailed so long outside the mainstream, Johnny Depp isn’t sure how to navigate superstardom – BY JEFF STRICKLER for the Star Tribune
LOS ANGELES — Sure, he has starred in plenty of movies, but usually as a performer who prides himself on disappearing inside his role. It wasn’t Depp who drew audiences to those films, it was characters such as Edward Scissorhands, Donnie Brasco and George Jung (“Blow”).
The patrons lining up at theaters today will be there to see Depp. The sequel to the 2003 blockbuster — which had $652 million in ticket sales worldwide — is a mega-budget star vehicle built around and totally dependent on Capt. Jack Sparrow, the flamboyant pirate he created. And that blows his mind. “I’ve definitely never been a crowd-pleaser,” he said. “I was very surprised that the first ‘Pirates’ did as well as it did. I still am.”
“If you define my career in terms of box office, I’ve spent 20 years making movies that the studios consider failures,” he said. “To me, they were great successes just because we got them made.”
Depp says he’s “not the leading-man kind of actor — there’s a whole bunch of guys out there, actor types, who do that well.” Instead, he prefers characters “who may seem bizarre.” He points out that while the first “Pirates” movie was being filmed, studio executives went bonkers over reports that he was playing the freewheeling character as a seagoing Keith Richards.
Topix.net – People Magazine editor-at-large and The Early Show entertainment contributor Jess Cagle spoke with Depp about the new movie and his unique role.
“You’ve said that ‘Pirates’ initially came from a desire to do a movie for the kids. And I wanted to know what kind of feedback have you gotten from your kids about the movies?”
Depp: “The kids have been incredibly sort of supportive,” he says. “They enjoy the character a lot. Every now and again, very rarely, but they’ll ask me to sort of, say something like Jack Sparrow. Or do something like Sparrow. My son for example, used to think that – it was the cutest thing in the world – he always thought that the character’s name was ‘Captain Jack Sparrow Savvy.’”
Depp was practically a kid himself when he starred in the TV drama “21 Jump Street.” Director John Waters saw that Depp was capable of much more and gave him his first big-screen starring role in “Cry-Baby.”
“John Waters said he thinks Captain Jack is actually, of all the characters you’ve played, the character closest to you,” Cagle asks, laughing. “Is there, first of all, why would he say something like that, is there any truth to it?”
“I’ll never reveal the truth … I cannot and will not say. No, I think with all the characters, you know, they’re still in there, you know. Ed Wood pops up every now and again,”
itv News – PARIS –
Johnny Depp has received the highest honour for achievement called the Grand Medaille de Vermeil.
Mayor Betrand Delanoe paid tribute to the actor as he presented Depp with the medal and certificate at the French premiere of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.
Speaking in French and English, Depp said he was “touched” to receive the award. He said: “Thank you very much. I’m very honoured, very touched, and a bit shy. “Thank you very very much, this is more than one could dream. This city’s been very good to me, this country’s been very good to me. “It introduced me to my beautiful girl Vanessa and it produced a couple of great kids, so thanks again.”
Congratulations Johnny!
Mike from AOL just told me about this behind the scenes feature for Pirates of the Caribbean II.
There are interviews with Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom.
You can find the features right here
Enjoy watching 🙂
The red carpet was not very big, it was oin a small part of the sidewalk so, everybody had time to sign autographs ! We have autographs of Orlando, jerry and Vanessa who was there !!! and of course most important autograph of Johnny !!! My daughter chose a pic of Rafael and I thought it was a good choice but when he signed it, looked at me and gave me a big smile….I was undone !!!! I don’t really know after…I think he said something like “merci” or “thank you”…not sure …I managed to say “merci”….I’m sure he was surprised and perhaps happy to see a pic from The Brave…
It was so easy in the end, I still can’t believe it !
Oh ! He was wearing a black shirt, black pants, no hat but sunglasses !
There was also Vanessa’s sister, but she arrived earlier, not with them. We saw Jean Rochefort also, but he was in a hurry obviously !…etc…other French celebreties…
When I think about it, it was really great that the red carpet was not so long…I’m sure that everyone who wanted an autograph got it !….Many fans of Orlando too and he was also very sweet.
Jerry Bruckheimer was perhaps a bit “nervous”…don’t know…but not smiling a lot. At the begining a lady told us that they were arriving and that it would be nice if we could ask autographs to Jerry also…lol…(which we did…of course…) I found it funny….
Cinema Confidential – by Ethan Aames. Depp reprises his role in “Pirates of the Carribean: Dead Man’s Chest,” the first of two sequels to the 2003 smash hit.
Q: Did you rewatch the first movie [Pirates of the Caribean: Curse of the Black Pearl] to get back in his frame of mind?
JOHNNY: No. God no. For a while there, not so much these days because they’ve seen it a bazillion times, my kiddies were watching “Pirates 1.” They’ve taken a break from that and have moved to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for a while and now my son’s going to “Spider-Man” and things like that.
Q: Does that change the relationship at all when your kids start watching your movies?
JOHNNY: Not as much as you might think because to them, it’s normal. It’s all they’ve ever known. It’s seeing Papa on television or on the DVD cover. It’s not weird to them at all. They can go from watching the movie to the dinner table and not mention the film at all.
Catch more of Ethan Aames exciting interview at Cinema Confidential.
Johnny Depp has always been a star. Tim Burton’s go-to guy has won universal acclaim for a string of wonderful and original performances in films like Edward Scissorhands, Blow and Sleepy Hollow. But, without question, it was taking on the mantle of Captain Jack Sparrow that made Depp the biggest movie star in the world. And so, here we are, a humble film website, days from the release of its sequel – having been deafened the previous evening by tens of thousands of fans who were screaming his name at the London premiere – sat down with the man, the legend, Mr. Johnny Depp – By Joe Utichi.
Film Force: This is your first sequel, was it interesting getting a chance to go back to Jack?
Johnny Depp: The opportunity to play Jack Sparrow again was a real gift. I can very clearly remember wanting to be a pirate when I was a kid. It feels like that still exists for a lot of people. Something with the idea of total freedom. Everybody wants to be that free, everyone would love to be totally irreverent and not have to answer to anyone. At the end of the first one, I felt it wasn’t done; there was more to be done, more possibilities, more areas to explore.
As long as there’s a good script there, you’re OK. And I’d be happy to keep going with Captain Jack; I just very selfishly enjoy playing the character.
Film Focus: Exclusive Interview with Johnny Depp – Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest By Joe Utichi.
(This interview occured at the London Premiere of POTC 2 – Dead Man’s Chest. What follows is a short excerpt. To read the entire interview please follow the link above to the FilmForce Website.)
FF: Are you surprised that Captain Jack is such a loved character?
Johnny Depp: That’s an enormous surprise as well, the fact that people took the character in and really supported me. At a certain point during the production, some of the better-dressed people at Disney were having a difficult time with my interpretation of the character. The fact that audiences came in and supported me was a win-win situation.
FF: How do you react when you see people dressed up as him?
Johnny Depp: It’s very touching when you see a kid dressed up as your character, because a couple of years ago, the character didn’t exist. To see some little kid affected by something you’ve done is moving. At the same time I guess I’m relieved it’s Jack, I could have seen the idea of kids dressing up as Ed Wood or Raoul Duke. I might not have had the same reaction.
FF: People are starting to imitate the Captain Jack swagger…
Johnny Depp: *laughs* I suppose Jack’s body language,
ABC News –
Johnny Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow in “Pirates of the Caribbean” isn’t really what anybody apart from Depp had in mind for the character.
“I think in their minds they had a sort of Errol Flynn, Burt Lancaster type,” Depp said.
Shock soon turned to glee. The director and studio bosses took a chance on Depp’s bizarre creation.
Now he’s back, playing Jack Sparrow again in the second “Pirates” movie, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
Depp said that he had to rein himself in when returning to the character.
“At times, yeah, at times you definitely had to control yourself,” he said.
Sometimes he goes into character off the set.
“There are moments when he [Jack Sparrow] shows up. My kids are sort of like, ‘Oh, Dad,’” Depp said. “You know one of those things when you’re like, ‘Don’t become Jack Sparrow.’”
This role might have overwhelmed a lesser actor and made him known forevermore as Jack Sparrow. When you’ve played Edward Scissorhands, Willy Wonka and Ed Wood, as Depp has, that’s not likely.
“Although there is the off chance that I’ll end up at fast-food chains doing personal galleries/appearances,” Depp said, “or golf tournaments as Jack Sparrow. Things like that.” [More…] –