Tales from the Concert

First-hand accounts from people who attended the Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion concert yesterday in Florida are coming in on the message board, along with some great photos and video clips. Click here for the message board (stories and photos start about halfway down this page and continue on…)

Thanks so much to everyone who has shared their stories and photos so far. If anyone out there wants to share their story, feel free to e-mail me or join in on the forum.

EDIT: Here’s a link to my Photobucket album with photos from last night’s concert. Personal photos are named after the person who sent them (if known).

Johnny WILL Play with The Kids This Weekend

Just got official word that Johnny will definitely be playing with The Kids this weekend at the Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion Concert in Pompano Beach, FL. Here are the details:

Date: Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007
Doors Open: 4 p.m.
Venue: Club Cinema, 3251 North Federal Highway, Pompano Beach (Miami), Florida
Tickets: $25 and $50 from Ticketmaster (561-966-3309, 954-523-3309, 305-358-5885)
Further info: 954-785-5224 or www.myspace.com/sheilawitkinmemorial

They are reuniting in honor of Sheila Witkin, mother of Johnny’s bandmate Bruce Witkin, who passed away last year. She was a major inspiration for many in the South Florida scene, so a number of other bands from that era will also be supporting. Below is the line-up in full:

• The Kids
• Z-Cars
• Slyder
• Critical Mass
• Tight Squeeze
• Charlie Pickett
• The Cichlids

All proceeds will benefit the Sheila Witkin Foundation and the Dan Marino Foundation.


EDIT: IchabodsGal from the message board found a radio station audio clip with Johnny and the other Kids members talking about the concert. Visit the WINZ web site and click on Johnny’s name in the story to hear the interview.

EDIT 2: Here are some photos from one of Johnny’s radio interviews this morning about the concert. Photos can be found here and here. Thanks to Kimberly for the links!

News Briefs

- DigitalSpy reports Johnny Depp has been making regular trips to London for vocal coaching in preparation for his upcoming role in Sweeney Todd.

- smh.com.au reports Juliette Binoche says working with Johnny Depp in Chocolat was one of her best experiences. When asked if she’d seen him since, she admitted she had (presumably around the time of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory): “Yeah,” said Binoche. “I said, ‘You’re such a liar because you hate chocolate and you’re continuing in this area.’”

- The Sun-Sentinel reports former South Florida rock bands will be reuniting this Sunday at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach for the Sheila Witkin Memorial Reunion Concert. The benefit is organized by her son Brian Witkin, a founding member of Johnny Depp’s band, The Kids. While The Kids will also be reuniting for the concert, Witkin said Johnny’s acting commitments will probably prevent him from attending. “He’d like to,” says Witkin, “but we’re not sure, and we’re preparing for him not to.”

- Indiana University - Purdue University Fort Wayne is hosting a guest lecture called DEEP DEPP: Travails of Celebrity in a Global Era on Jan. 30. The lecturer will be Murray Pomerance, author of the book “Johnny Depp Starts Here”.

- Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest has been nominated for an Oscar in four categories: Achievement in Art Direction; Achievement in Sound Editing; Achievement in Sound Mixing; and Achievement in Visual Effects.

- According to Superbowlnetwork.com, the movie trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End will air during the Superbowl on Feb. 4.

- TMZ reports Johnny keeps an electric chair in his living room.

News Briefs

- Sondheim.org offers a small article about Sweeney Todd with a few quotes from producer Richard Zanuck. In it, he confirms the majority of the movie’s dialogue will be sung; the stars will do their own singing; the script was written by John Logan (Gladiator and The Last Samurai); and the film will be produced entirely at Pinewood Studios in London.

- Hindustan Times reports Indian filmmaker Mira Nair has been signed to direct the upcoming film Shantaram. Graham King of the Initial Entertainment Group is quoted: “We are really enthusiastic about having Mira on board. With her lush visual style, she lends an authentic and vital eye to the story. We are also thrilled to pair Mira with the uniquely talented Depp.” Filming is expected to begin this November in Mumbai, India with additional shooting locations in Australia and North America.

- GuelphMercury.com reports “Blowing Up Russia”, a book written by poisoned spy Alexander Litvinenko, is being reissued by British publisher Gibson Square Books. Litvinenko’s tale has already been optioned by Johnny Depp and Warner Brothers, in competition with director Michael Mann and Columbia Pictures to bring the true story to the screen.

- This Is London reports The Future Is Unwritten, a documentary about The Clash lead singer Joe Strummer, will premiere tomorrow at the Sundance Film Festival. Johnny Depp, Bono, Martin Scorsese and John Cusack are all featured in the documentary.

- LA Daily News offers an article about Chow Yun-Fat, who will appear in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. The article contains some possible mild spoilers, so beware if you’re avoiding those.

- CNW Telbec reports Deep Sea 3D, the IMAX nature film narrated by Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, has reached a milestone with $30 million in box office receipts since its premiere last March.

Video Portrait

According to the New York Daily News, Johnny Depp participated in the VOOM video portraiture project with artist Robert Wilson. Wilson’s work, commissioned by the VOOM HD networks, will go on exhibition this week and run through mid-February at the Phillips de Pury Gallery (450 W. 15th St.) and the Paula Cooper Gallery (534 W. 21st St.) in New York.
Information on the exhibit and a preview of the Brad Pitt video portrait can be found on the VOOMtv web site.

When Johnny Depp agreed to be his subject, Wilson stared at a photo of Depp and decided to put him in the costume and makeup of an alter-ego imagined by avant-garde pioneer Marcel Duchamp, “Rose Selavy.” Depp is barely recognizable in Rose’s extravagant getup.

“He was very open to it,” Wilson says. “It didn’t take long to finish. He was amazed: ‘’You don’t want me to come back tomorrow?’”

Also commonly spelled Rrose Selavy, the character is the alter-ego of Marcel Duchamp and was famously photographed by Man Ray in 1921. More background information can be found on the Guardian web site.

Gallery Updates

I’ve added more than 500 photos to the Depp Impact photo galleries. You can find all the updated pictures here:

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

They’re not all new photos, obviously, just newly added to the collection. Enjoy!

News Correction

In yesterday’s News Updates, I posted an item about Johnny meeting his literary hero JP Donleavy “recently”, and that filming for “The Ginger Man” was supposed to begin in early 2007. I knew it didn’t quite fit together when I posted it, but I was preoccupied and didn’t dig around to find out.

But thanks to Silvia, who found a photo from the event, and a quick web search, I think we’ve got it sorted out.

The event did take place, it just didn’t happen “recently”. It was, in fact, October, 2005 according to this article in the New York Sun. To my knowledge, “The Ginger Man” is not on Johnny’s upcoming schedule.

Why it’s being reported as “news” now is beyond me. Some editor must’ve needed to fill their “Daily Dose of Johnny” quota and snuck an old one in to fill the hole. LOL

My apologies for the mistake.

News Briefs

- Variety.com reports Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, has secured the rights to the true story of Alexander Litvinenko, the Russian spy poisoned in November with polonium-210 and who accused Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime for the crime shortly before his death. (I’ve been following this in the news, and it’s a fascinating story. I’m glad Johnny’s company got the rights to tell the tale.)

- ZeeNews.com reports Johnny was thrilled to meet Irish author JP Donleavy at the 50th anniversary party of the novel “Ginger Man” in New York recently. “It was great to meet up with this wonderful, wonderful man and spend a couple of days with him in New York. It was, you know, magnificent, meeting one of your heroes like that. He’s a beautiful guy. And what he’s been through, especially with The Ginger Man, it’s miraculous he’s still upright.” According to the report, Johnny is expected to star in the film adaptation of the novel which is scheduled to start filming in early 2007.

- Ain’t It Cool News offers some great promotional artwork for POTC3. Thanks to Kimberly for the link! Click image to enlarge.

- Kimberly also found some great photos on MatthewBourne.org of Johnny with the cast of the stage production of Edward Scissorhands. These were reportedly taken in L.A. on Dec. 30. Thanks again, Kimberly!

People's Choice Awards

Johnny Depp won People’s Choice Awards tonight in the categories of Favorite Male Movie Star and Favorite Male Action Star. He delivered his combined acceptance speech live via satellite from London.

Congratulations, Johnny! (Great hair, by the way!)

Johnny also won for Favorite On-Screen Match-Up (with Keira Knightley).

Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest won for Favorite Movie and Favorite Movie Drama.

You can click here to view the .wmv file of his acceptance speech, or right-click and “save target as” to download.

News Briefs

I just checked the web statistics for Depp Impact. This site received 259,668,528 hits for the year 2006.

Rub your eyes, clear your head and look again — that’s 259 million hits. That’s amazing! And that’s not even counting the message board or the two Yahoogroups… just the site all by itself. LOL

Here’s to an even better 2007.

In other news…

- EmpireMovies offers a brief synopsis of the plot for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End.

- Japan Times reports Johnny Depp appears on the cover of the December issue of FQ Japan magazine. The feature story is about parenting for men and includes interviews with Johnny and pop singer Fumiya Fujii discussing their experiences as fathers.

- Variety.com reports “Do It For Johnny”, the documentary of a writer’s quest to deliver a screenplay to Johnny Depp inside a custom-made guitar, will premiere at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival. The festival runs Jan. 25 through Feb. 4, 2007.

- MarketWire reports Quigley Publishing has named Johnny Depp the Top Money-Making Star of 2006. The poll is an annual survey of motion picture exhibitors, which asks them to vote for the ten stars that they believe generated the most box-office revenue in the preceding year for their theatres, and it is regarded as one of the most reliable indicators of a Star’s box-office draw.

- PRNewswire reports Johnny Depp and Reese Witherspoon nabbed the top spots in The Fandango Fifty for 2007, a survey in which several thousand moviegoers voted for the actors most likely to draw them to the theater.

- PR Inside reports an unknown Irish actress, Jayne Wisener, has landed the role of Johanna opposite Johnny Depp in the upcoming Tim Burton film Sweeney Todd.

The Many Moods of Johnny Depp

Want some pics? Click on the images to enlarge.

Mischievous Johnny:

Windblown Johnny:

Tattered Johnny:

Jump Street Johnny:

Caped Johnny:

And last but not least, Frisky Johnny:

News Briefs

- Monsters & Critics reports Johnny Depp was the year’s Number 1 Most Searched Star on the Internet Movie Database for 2006 (imdb.com).

- Moviehole.net dispells the rumors that Johnny Depp is signed to play the late Queen front man Freddie Mercury in an upcoming biopic. Band member Brian May also denied the rumors on his own web site, where he said discussions for stars are in the early stages. He said he believes Johnny would be a “worthy counterpart for Freddie on screen”, but nothing has been decided or confirmed.

- CNN.com declares Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest the top movie of 2006, earning a reported $423.3 million at the box office and helping to bring Hollywood out of its recent slump.

- In an interesting irony, the Daily Record reports Dead Man’s Chest also sets the 2006 record for the most movie mistakes. Eagle-eyed critics, it says, have spotted 152 blunders in the film according to moviemistakes.com web site.

- Fametastic reports Johnny is proud of being considered “weird”: “I was given the weird badge, but I think everybody’s weird and that’s the key to it. We should celebrate our individuality, not be embarrassed or ashamed of it. We all have idiosyncrasies. People do themselves a great disservice by not allowing themselves to see who they really are because they are afraid of what others might think.”

- Tonight.co.za reports Johnny Depp is scheduled to present the band Oasis with the award for their Outstanding Contribution to Music at the BRIT Awards scheduled for February 14, 2007, at London’s Earls Court. “Having Johnny Depp there is a massive coup for the organisers,” the article states. “Getting Oasis is amazing enough but they needed to have someone iconic to present the award to them, now they’ve got that someone.”

- Elitestv.com reports Johnny Depp and Jessica Alba were chosen in a Blockbuster survey as America’s Fantasy New Year’s Dates.

- Monsters & Critics offers an interesting article about Ve Neill, make-up artist for the Pirates of the Caribbean films.

- The “Movie Surfers” segment on the Disney Channel has recently been airing brief flashes of the third Pirates movie, At World’s End, along with quick interview segments with Johnny Depp.

- Virgin.net reports Johnny Depp’s production company, Infinitum Nihil, has optioned three more books for film projects. Two were already known (Inamorata and The People’s Act of Love). The latest, though, is The Affected Provincial’s Companion, “a gathering of diagrams, poetry and essays by Lord Breaulove Swells Whimsy on how to be a refined gentleman in the modern world.”