Is It Johnny?

Hello Magazine posted this photo with the headline “Johnny Depp welcomes Keira to paradise” and the caption: “Captain Jack Sparrow apparently had a shave and a haircut in anticipation of Keira’s arrival. The hunky pirate’s tan wasn’t looking too bad either. Photo: © Rex”

Problem is, that’s not Johnny.

At first glance, it certainly looks like him. Same general build, similar wristband… but that’s definitely not Johnny. His hair isn’t blond anymore, for one thing. And Johnny wouldn’t be walking around in his off-time with his many tattoos covered up. But maybe the most telling clue is the belt buckle — Johnny always wears his to the side.

So no, this isn’t Johnny. But I hope Hello Magazine gets a refund for the fees they paid Rex to publish this photo. I’m sure Johnny Wannabes aren’t nearly as expensive as the real deal.

And for anyone who feels cheated by the imposter pic, allow me to present…

The Real Deal

The Johnny Depp - Dark Shadows Connection

Marif posted an article in the Depp_Impact group a couple of weeks ago that I finally got around to reading. It’s an interview SPLICEDwire did with Johnny in November of 1999 discussing Sleepy Hollow.

In it, he made an interesting confession:

Do you remember a show in the late ’60s called “Dark Shadows?” Barnabas Collins (the main character and a vampire) was a huge obsession of mine. I loved Barnabas Collins more than I loved the Harlem Globetrotters. I wanted to be Barnabas Collins so much that I found a ring, it was probably one of my mother’s rings, and I wore it on this finger, and I tried to comb my hair like Barnabas Collins, and I was trying to figure out how I could get fangs. It really had a heavy impact on me, a heavy influence on me.

It was interesting to me, anyway, because I loved “Dark Shadows” when I was a kid. (For those of you too young to remember, it was a gothic soap opera about vampires, witches, werewolves and ghosts broadcast live every afternoon — very cool! LOL) My sister and I, along with my uncle (just a few years older than me), used to play “Dark Shadows” all the time in my grandmother’s garage. My uncle had this really cool cape and a set of fangs, so he obviously always got to be Barnabas. I got ripped off because I was a girl, so I was always stuck being Julia, the doctor who was trying to help cure him.

I had forgotten all about that until I read this article. That was kind of neat. :p

And it’s funny, but when I was looking for a direct link to the article, I stumbled across an online petition to Johnny Depp and Tim Burton — wanting them to make a new “Dark Shadows”. LOL! Now that would be worth seeing!

Another interesting thing I noticed in this article was his use of the term “Snoopy dances” when talking about Ichabod Crane — “I was sort of doing Snoopy dances thinking I was going to get to wear a long nose and big ears.”

If that sounds familiar, it should. He used the same phrase as Mort Rainey in Secret Window - “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t on the verge of doing Snoopy dances.”

Yet another Johnny-ism sneaks its way into a movie. I love it when that happens.

Waiting for 'Charlie'

It’s getting pretty exciting now waiting for “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to come out. The closer it gets, the more new stuff we get to keep that anticipation building.

An updated version of the movie trailer was just released. The new poster’s out now, too. I just wish his eyes were purple in it like they were on that recent magazine cover. They used the same shot, but his eyes were definitely purple. They look more blue here. I guess I’ll have to buy the poster to see if it’s just a computer thing. (Oh, the agony!)

Not only that, but we’ll have loads of toys, action figures, trading cards, books, t-shirts…

You’ve gotta love Tim Burton. Not only do his movies ROCK, but he’s also the king of merchandising. I’m a huge sucker for merchandising. Slap something I like on a coaster or a bed sheet, and I’ve just gotta have it — hence my Bart Simpson antennae topper, my Daffy Duck hair dryer, my Jack Skellington coffee mug, and my Captain Kirk Christmas tree ornaments.

But I digress…

We just don’t get many merchandise opportunities with Johnny. Who wouldn’t want a Gilbert Grape action figure or a set of “Cry-Baby” jammies? These movie people need to take a clue from Tim Burton. If you build it, we will buy.

And no, that’s not as pathetic as it may seem for a 40-year-old woman. (Really… just bear with me a minute… LOL) I live in Ohio with 3 kids to raise and a mortgage I can’t really afford. I’ll never have the opportunity to attend movie premieres or go “behind the scenes” or rub elbows with the people who interest me. I don’t exist in that world.

But the “stuff” allows me to bring just a little piece of all that into my world. It makes me happy. And when it’s all said and done, you can’t really ask for more than that.

Catching Up

The kids started back to school today after Spring Break (YAY!), so I finally had a chance to update the news at the site. Sorry that took so long. And while we’re on that subject, I just want to thank everyone who sends me news items and magazine alerts and various other things. I’d never be able to keep up without you guys, and I appreciate your help very much!

In the Groups…

There was an interesting conversation in the DeppFansOver30 group today about what makes Johnny so attractive. An older article from Salon.com was mentioned that describes him very well, so I thought I’d share an excerpt of it here:

Johnny Depp, so often described as androgynously beautiful, is really more like a male cat, a creature so sure of himself that his more masculine traits aren’t the first things you notice about him. You can see it in the way he underplays every role. Sometimes you look at him and you think he’s not doing much at all; then you realize that what he’s doing is so economical and so understated that you can’t afford to take your eyes off him for an instant. He wastes no line, expression or arc of movement. Like those ancient inky creatures painted on Japanese scrolls with just two or three strokes, he’s both the suggestion and the essence of feline masculinity, all implied muscle and Zen intelligence.
–Stephanie Zacharek, Salon article “Not Just Another Pretty Face”, April 2001

The girls in the Depp_Impact group were debating whether or not we hear Johnny’s actual singing voice in a brief scene from “Cry-Baby”. We know James Intveld dubbed the major singing parts for Johnny in the film. But in the scene near the beginning when he sings a couple of lines with the car radio — is that another dubbing, or is that Johnny’s real voice? Anyone know? LOL

And there are some nice backstage photos from the Kids’ Choice Awards posted at the Ezboard, so make sure to check those out. Thanks to Depplicious for the pics!

Well, that’s it for now. Enjoy your day!

Starting Out

I’ve been running Depp Impact for about 5 years now. It’s amazing how much it’s grown. It started out as a simple page with some photos from “Sleepy Hollow”, and look at it now… a full-blown web site with 65 million hits in the past three months alone. Incredible!

I decided to start the blog because I thought it would be a good way to answer questions and pass along information that I’m not set up to handle otherwise. And the best way to start, I guess, is to answer some questions I get all the time.

1) I’m 40 years old, married with 3 kids (ages 17, 13 and 6), and I live in Ohio in the US. I write for magazines and manage web sites for a living.

2) No, I’ve never met Johnny Depp. LOL (I get that one a lot!)

3) I get my information from news searches and from good-hearted site visitors who send me links and information to help me keep the site updated.

4) I try not to publish anything I can’t verify, so you’ll never see a rumor here without something to back it up.

I think that’s it for now. Future blogs will be much more interesting, I promise.