'Locations & Sets' Featurette

I got this from the Disney people today. It’s a video feature about the sets and locations they used to film DMC. Pretty interesting. In fact, I was sitting here watching it, not realizing anyone else was paying attention. When it finished, my son said, “Wow. Are there are more cool-ass things like that to watch? When’s this movie come out?” LOL

Here’s the info –

WINDOWS MEDIA
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56K Windows Media (176 x 100)

REAL PLAYER
300K Real Media (320 x 180)
100K Real Media (240 x 136)
56K Real Media (176 x 100)

QUICKTIME
3000k QuickTime (640 x 360)
1500k QuickTime (480 x 272)
750K QuickTime (320 x 180)
300K QuickTime (240 x 136)

QT HIGH DEFINITION
1080p QT (1920 x 1080)
720p QT (1280 x 720)
480p (852 x 480)

IPOD
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PSP
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FLASH (progressive download)
750k FLV (320 x 180)
1500k FLV (480 x 272)

Want More?

Here you go.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/leogirl34/misc%20pics/redbg001.jpg

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New Photoshoot Pics

I believe these are from the USAToday photo shoot earlier this week. Thanks to Shanel for these!

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/leogirl34/misc%20pics/photoshoot001.jpg

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http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v92/leogirl34/misc%20pics/photoshoot006.jpg

New York Daily News

This was from today’s issue. Thanks to Lori for the find!

Newsweek Photo

Here’s a copy of the cover photo from Newsweek.

New USA Today Article

Here’s the article:

Depp Plays It His Way

And here’s the pic:

Don’t you love how he color coordinates to the site? *heh* Thanks to Barb for this find!

More Photos

I’ve added a couple more photos from the premiere to the site, plus a new album for press junket pics and a handful from the Gravleur art exhibition earlier this month. You can find them all here:

http://www.deppimpact.com/eventslist.html

Pics from the DMC Premiere

Here’s a link for all the premiere pics I have so far, but I’ll probably have more by morning.

http://www.deppimpact.com/events/dmcprem/dmcprem.html

They cover the DMC Premiere at Disneyland and the opening of the revamped ride. I’ll post more as I get them.

New Video Clip from Disney

Got an e-mail from the Disney folks with links to a video feature about POTC2, so I wanted to pass them along. I also posted these on the message board, but sometimes things get lost there pretty quickly. LOL! The links for the videos are at the bottom of this post.

I made screencaps of it, too, and uploaded them to the site. The new pics start on page 2:

http://www.deppimpact.com/potc2/dmc_pub/potc2.html

Here are a few of the new pics to whet your appetite.

QUICKTIME
3000k QuickTime (640 x 360)
1500k QuickTime (480 x 272)
750K QuickTime (320 x 180)
300K QuickTime (240 x 136)

QT HIGH DEFINITION
1080p QT (1920 x 1080)
720p QT (1280 x 720)
480p (852 x 480)

WINDOWS MEDIA
300K Windows Media (320 x 180)
100K Windows Media (240 x 136)
56K Windows Media (176 x 100)

REAL PLAYER
300K Real Media (320 x 180)
100K Real Media (240 x 136)
56K Real Media (176 x 100)

IPOD.M4V (320 x 240)

PSP.MP4 (368 x 208)

FLASH (progressive download)
750k FLV (320 x 180)
1500k FLV (480 x 272)

TV Appearances

Johnny was featured on Access Hollywood and Extra in stories about “Dead Man’s Chest”. A big thanks to Kimberly for these –

AccessHollywood Transcript
http://www.accesshollywood.com/news/ah669.shtml

The Extra video clip can be found on the link below, in the bottom left corner under “What’s Hot”:
http://extratv.warnerbros.com

And here are some screencaps from the Extra interview:

The Word From Disney

Okay, not directly from Disney… more like from Disney through their marketing company… but the word is that these photos are NOT — repeat NOT — from the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels.

You will NOT see this in the second OR third POTC movie. They’ve assured me it just won’t happen. We should trust them on this.

I got the e-mail as part of a mass mailing to various Johnny Depp and POTC web sites who apparently all have these pics posted for the third movie. In it, they say –

“I can now confirm for you that the images are not from the second or third film
and that there have been no scenes filmed with Jack in Asian Togs. If you could
help me by clarifying this on your sites and in your forums and removing them
from your static content, it would be very helpful. As you can imagine, we are
concerned about the images causing confusion but also being picked up wider by
other sites as actual stills from the film.”

Okaaaaayyyy… so if they’re not from the third film, what exactly are they? Well, of course I asked! LOL! This is the answer I received this morning:

“Thanks Trish - we’re all a bit stumped about what exactly they are. Many online
(and some here) believe that they are photoshopped images.”

I’m sorry, but those are not photoshopped images. The third one is especially telling, because his Jack wig hair is entwined in some of the Asian costume. Much too intricate for photoshop. So, IF they’re real but NOT from one of the films, what does that leave?

My personal belief is that they are screen test shots — pictures taken to test what something will look like on film. I’ve got some on the site from “Benny & Joon”, and the facial expressions and poses are similar.

But that’s just me. If I’m wrong, then I’m wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.

But for now, I can tell you definitively — *waves to the corporate lawyers* — they are NOT from the second or third POTC films. On that, you have their word.

Any questions?

Petitioning Johnny

In researching a rant for my personal blog today, I found some interesting links about Johnny Depp. They’re online petitions people have started for various things.

Make the Weinstein Company Release “The Libertine”
http://www.petitiononline.com/lwjdusr/petition.html

Stop Racist Pirate Movies
http://www.petitiononline.com/NOpirate/petition.html

For Johnny Depp & Tim Burton to Make a New “Dark Shadows” Movie
http://www.petitiononline.com/BurDepDS/petition.html

Depp for Sirius Black
http://www.gopetition.com/online/3296.html

Johnny Depp on Saturday Night Live
http://www.gopetition.com/online/5121.html

Get Johnny Depp to Australia
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/johnnydeppaus

And my personal favorite –

Johnny Depp for Mississippi Governor
http://www.petitiononline.com/jdeppgov/petition.html

I’m a firm believer that online petitions are worthless… but at least they can be entertaining.

YahooGroups Virus

I just wanted to let everyone know about a virus floating around yahoogroups this afternoon. If you get an e-mail from ANYONE with the subject line “New Graphic Site”, DON’T OPEN IT.

One was sent through the Depp_Impact list earlier today, and the woman it supposedly came from confirmed she didn’t send it. After that, it seems like people who opened it started sending blank messages with an attachment through with the same subject line. Also, the groups have slowed down in a major way the past couple of hours, so there’s obviously something weird going on.

Just to be on the safe side, I put both the Depp_Impact group and the Over30 group on moderated status for this evening, just until I can make sure no more come through. There have been 4 or 5 of these already, but I’ll delete any more before they get posted. And I promise to be here the rest of the evening so real posts don’t get held up. LOL

I’ll unmoderate the lists as soon as I can.

Site Updates

Sorry I didn’t have time for a blog entry, but I’ve been updating the photo galleries on the Depp Impact site. Most galleries have at least one or two new pictures, but the bulk of them are in the Events, Photography and On The Go sections. I also added quite a few to the Hunter S. Thompson gallery under “themes” and updated the POTC2 gallery with new photos I’ve been acquiring.

www.deppimpact.com

Enjoy!

Happy Birthday, Johnny Depp!

Johnny turns 43 today.

Johnny & Tim Together Again

Kimberly discovered this morning that Imdb.com has added “Sweeney Todd” to Johnny’s filmography, announced for a 2008 release. He’s listed in the role of Benjamin Barker/Sweeney Todd, with Tim Burton as the director. It’s also interesting to note that Sam Mendes (Kate Winslet’s husband) is listed as producer. Maybe we’ll be seeing Kate in this one, too? Never can tell.

If you’re interested in knowing more about “Sweeney Todd”, you can find it all here at PBS.org. I had this link because my son just did a song from it (”Not While I’m Around”) as his solo for Cabaret at school… (if anyone really cares… LOL)

Johnny in a musical. This should be really, really interesting.

Of all the musicals out there, this is absolutely the one most suited for a J/T collaboration, and he always says he’ll do anything Tim Burton asks him to do. Hopefully that means we actually get to hear him sing this time, unlike “Cry-Baby” where we were teased with someone else’s voice.

Dead Man

If anyone has a bigger version of this pic, I’d be extremely grateful if you’d pass it my way.

Wow! Gotta love William Blake. He looks so intense in this pic, but in the movie, he’s just so gentle. He reminded me a lot of Ichabod Crane in the beginning – nervous and a little girly — but I think he grew out of that during the course of the movie. His circumstances hardened him a bit and he even learned to kill out of necessity, but throughout it all, he was still such a gentle soul.

I like William Blake. I like him a lot.

'New' Old Pics

I love it when I occasionally run across photos I haven’t seen. It doesn’t happen a lot anymore, unfortunately, but it does happen.

I’ve seen one or two shots of Johnny accepting the French “Cesar” award in 1999. This one, for instance…

But while I was rummaging through some things, I stumbled across some more that I hadn’t seen from the same event. I always liked the “Ichabod” look on him.

Johnny Hosts Art Exhibit

Johnny Depp and fine art gallery owner Trigg Ison have collaborated to bring the works of French artist Gravleur to the U.S. The exhibition opened June 1 and runs through June 20 at the Trigg Ison Fine Art Gallery, 511 North Robertson Blvd., West Hollywood, CA 90048.

Information on the artist’s work can be found at TriggIson.com.

It’s not the first time Johnny has taken an interest in an artist’s work, although it may be the most active interest. A sampling of other paintings he owns includes:

“The Amputee” by Robert Guinan

“Journey into Celine” by Joe Coleman

“Female Acrobat” by Amedeo Modigliani

He also wrote this review for an exhibition for artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

And there are plenty more, I’m sure, that I know nothing about. He often forgets to tell me when he buys a new one. *heh*

'Blow' Touches Iraq

I kept seeing this story about the war in Iraq come through the news alerts for Johnny Depp, so I finally made time to read it and figure out why. Turns out it’s a very personal, very powerful story about Marines dying in the line of duty, and no matter your politics, it’s a story that deserves to be read. But what on Earth could that possibly have to do with Johnny? Here’s the connection –

From Fayetteville Online:

The fallen leave behind many things. Their gear. Belongings. Memories.

By the 3rd Platoon’s barracks at Hurricane Point, troops still sit on the bench Procopio made and hang out as the sun goes down. On the back of it is written Procopio’s name, rank, date of death and “RIP.”

Nearby, four wooden crosses wrapped with dog tags rise from a bank of sand-filled barriers. A wooden board below the crosses is inscribed with words from “Blow,” a movie starring Johnny Depp:

May the winds always be at your backs
The sun upon your face
And may the winds of destiny carry you aloft to dance with the stars.

They’re not Johnny’s words, obviously, but those of George Jung, the person on whom the movie “Blow” is based. Jung wrote them; Ted Demme envisioned them in a movie; Johnny Depp helped deliver them to the masses; and now they serve as comfort to men and women who fight and die every day in service to their country.

People often consider Hollywood a wasteland — but in this particular case, film is a powerful thing.

May these words and others like them never have to be used for such a purpose again.

Keith Richards Still Set for Pirates 3

From Hollywood.com:

HOLLYWOOD - Keith Richards’ tumble out of a coconut tree in Fiji will not stop him making a cameo appearance in the forthcoming blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

The Rolling Stones guitarist was diagnosed with a blood clot on his brain after the accident in April, but following skull surgery, doctors have now confirmed he will be well enough to star in the sequel. Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp based his character Captain Jack Sparrow on aging rocker Richards, who will play his father in the third film.

Just the image of Keith Richards climbing a coconut tree in Fiji is hilarious enough. The fact he fell out of it and came through reasonably unscathed makes it priceless. If there’s a better person on the planet to be Jack Sparrow’s father, I’d like to meet him. Go Keith! LOL

'Private Resort' and Other Nonsense

One of Johnny’s first movies, Private Resort, is coming out on DVD June 27th in the US. If you’ve never seen it, don’t expect a lot. It’s a typical ’80s teen sex romp, one of those “I did it to pay the rent” movies that has very little value otherwise. I bought what ended up being a bootleg copy from Ebay a year or so ago. Will I buy it again? Well, of course. LOL! But just to have a decent version of it for the collection.

It is basically the only time (I’m aware of, anyway) that he’s been naked on film. That, in itself, is probably worth the $14.95 to a lot of people.

At my age, looking at his 20-year-old butt doesn’t do much except make me feel like a perv. Now, if he was ever inclined to share his 43-year-old butt, that would be another story entirely. *heh*

I actually had a phone conversation with the director of this movie a while back. George Bowers… LOL! He’s a total riot. Practically every other word out of his mouth started with the letter “f” (and it was all the same word… I think you get the hint… *heh*) He was hilarious. I’ll have to dig out my notes and blog about that sometime.

Anyway… here’s my favorite Johnny reference of the day –

From PressConnects.com:

Rainbows fall into the same category of really-too-good-to-be-true phenomena as the northern lights, fireworks, spiral galaxies, Johnny Depp and (choose your favorite flavor; mine is praline) ice cream.

And last but not least, if you happen to live in the Huntsville, Alabama area, there are a couple of Johnny films being screened in the month of June:

From AL.com

1. “Finding Neverland,” June 6, Huntsville-Madison County Public Library, 6 p.m., free, 532-5940: For all you Johnny Depp fans - and you know who you are - the great story behind “Peter Pan.”

2. “Pirates of the Caribbean: The
Curse of the Black Pearl,” June 27, 6 p.m., main library: Capt. Jack Sparrow turns skeletons into dog bones and gets the gal.

The Literary Johnny Depp

Johnny Depp and Oprah Winfrey share a unique gift — they both have the power to sell books. Johnny, though, tends to wield his with a bit more subtlety than his Queen of Daytime counterpart. He has never once made a list or proclaimed a Selection-of-the-Month. All he has to do is read.

Maybe more precisely, he needs to be caught reading. When he stars in a movie based on a novel, fans flock to the nearest book store. If he options the film rights to a novelist’s work, it’s a mad dash to Amazon.com. Even paparazzi photos showing a book in his hand have caused a stir - people have literally studied and enhanced such images to try and make out the title. And when they succeed, the folks at Barnes & Noble know it.

I will confess I have never read a book simply because Johnny Depp was somehow connected to it. If it’s becoming a movie, I’d rather not ruin the moviegoing experience by knowing what’s going to happen ahead of time. (I’m not a big fan of spoilers.) As for that paparazzi photo I mentioned, it was a history of old-world pirates — an interesting subject, to be sure, but not one I’d make a big effort to include in my reading schedule.

But that’s just me. I’ve often wondered how many people discovered a love for the works of Hunter S. Thompson or Jack Kerouac simply because Johnny likes them? I wonder how many people have actually read the other three stories in Stephen King’s “Four Past Midnight” collection besides the one on which Secret Window was based?

So… it’s confession time. How many books have you read simply because Johnny Depp did? And you get bonus points if you can recall the actual title of that pirate book.

In the meantime, here’s some information on one of the latest –

The Guardian:
Don’t let a little bit of barbed wire put you off. So said James Meek as he urged the literati to cast their prejudices aside and flock to Siberia, the setting of his latest novel. After playing bridesmaid at both the Whitbreads and the Booker, Meek’s blizzard-bound epic, The People’s Act of Love, finally found its way to the winners rostrum this week in the Ondaatje prize - awarded to the book with the best sense of place. Next the movie: Johnny Depp has already optioned it, though no word if he plans to play the castrate or the psychopath.

I haven’t read it, but I’m pulling for the psychopath.