Johnny Naked in D.C.

Now that I have your attention... *heh*

NBC4.com reports a new Madame Tussauds Wax Museum is opening in Washington D.C. October 5 with an opening gala scheduled the night before. The figures for the museum have arrived naked, and artists are working around the clock to finish and clothe them for the event.

Many figures, such as Thomas Jefferson and Johnny Depp, have full heads of human hair, inserted strand-by-strand into the wax sculpture.

It's unclear from the article whether the figure is of Johnny himself or Captain Jack Sparrow as in the other Madame Tussauds museums.

EDIT: I was able to get this screenshot from a video story about the opening. Looks like the figure in Washington D.C. will be Johnny and not Jack Sparrow. Thanks to Emily for the video link!

Best Dressed Goes to...

As reported in the New York Daily News, Johnny Depp made the top 5 in People Magazine's list of Best Dressed Males for their upcoming Best Dressed/Worst Dressed issue.

BEST DRESSED MEN

• David Beckham
  
• George Clooney
  
• Johnny Depp
  
• Terrence Howard
  
• Brad Pitt

It's a strange honor considering he usually ends up on the opposite end of stuff like this for his unique sense of style. That can only mean one of two things: Either Johnny paid off the People staff, or they've finally come to realize what the rest of us knew a long time ago -- that Johnny looks good in anything.

'Shantaram' to Film in January

ScreenDaily.com reports the upcoming Johnny Depp film Shantaram will begin filming January 19, 2008 and will take 75 to 80 days to complete.

New York-based director Mira Nair left Toronto Saturday night after a short 24-hour visit to the festival – she's now in Mumbai preparing for her largest film yet, Shantaram.

The $100m project, for Warner Bros with Graham King's GK Films producing and Plan B on board, starts shooting Jan 19 for what she estimates will be at least 75-80 days.

The book is set in Australia, India and Afghanistan, and Nair says that India is the only confirmed location so far. "In America I have to orchestrate the chaos, in India I just film it. It's so visceral and lively."

Johnny Depp and Amitabh Bachchan will star. Eric Roth adapted Gregory David Roberts's book about a former drug addict who works with children in Bombay.

Taking Chances with 'Sweeney'

The Chicago Sun-Times has a brief article about the upcoming Sweeney Todd film with a few possible minor spoilers of plot line (in case you're trying to avoid those). There are a couple of good quotes from Johnny, though:

"The beauty of it is Tim takes chances no matter when, no matter what," says Depp, who adds that the minute his favorite director approached him, he was in.

"I started telling people that the minute I put down my Pirates sword that I was doing a musical. People thought, 'No.' I said, 'Yeah, I'm doing it.'" Depp jokes.

Depp Makes Night Life List

He actually makes the list twice, according to a Times Online article hunting down the most popular dining and night spots in Paris:

The Buddha Bar may once have been renowned for its passing trade in international stars, but these days its giant effigy is more likely to look out over a wide-eyed sea of celebrity-hungry tourists and cash-ready businessmen. The entertainingly extravagant Mandala Ray or Man Ray (owned by Johnny Depp, Sean Penn, John Malkovich and Mick Hucknall) still hangs onto its A-list credibility, as does the opulent and fabulously fake Hôtel Costes, designed by Jacques Garcia and the setting for that real-life love story – when Johnny met Vanessa.

Johnny Depp, Luggage King?

I found this entertaining -- JustJared.com has declared Johnny Depp the "Lord of Luggage" with this shot of his arrival for the Venice Film Festival:

Actually, that's not too bad considering he travels with, like... oh, a dozen people. LOL

Depp Photos Share Exhibit

Newsday.com reports photos of Johnny Depp will be included in an exhibit at the New York Film Festival.

Autographed Polaroids of actors and filmmakers will make up "One Last Shot: Signed Polaroids, Photographs by Henry Garfunkel," which will run from Sept. 17th to Oct. 31st, in conjunction with the 45th New York Film Festival. The pictures, shot at the end of photos sessions, spotlight a more informal side of such luminaries as Johnny Depp, Helen Mirren, Jamie Foxx, Pedro Almodovar, Penelope Cruz, John Waters and Tim Robbins. The photos were taken over several years, beginning in 2000 at the Sundance and Toronto Film Festivals.

The exhibit will be held in the Frieda and Roy Furman Gallery, adjacent to the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center. The opening reception will be Sept. 25 at 6:00 p.m.

Recent Interview with Vanessa

The Belgian magazine Weekend Knack offers an interview with Vanessa Paradis in which she discusses her new album, her children and fame. An excerpt in English can be found on CelebrityBabyBlog. A few of the highlights include:

In that song, Jackadi, your son is singing along. Was that your idea?

Yes. On my previous disc my daughter sang along. He needed his own song, I thought. It's a beautiful souvenir for when he's older. We'll always have little Jack on tape.

You are getting married this summer?

God, we've been married for so long already! Can you be more married than having children together then?

Sneak Peek at 'Sweeney'

The Guardian offers a brief glimpse from Venice of Johnny Depp's presentation of Tim Burton's lifetime achievement award and the footage of Sweeney Todd:

Tim's perfect barbershop duet

I was given an exclusive peak at the first footage from Tim Burton's upcoming film version of Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd, which will be released next year. Johnny Depp was presenting a clearly delighted Burton with Venice's career Golden Lion, incredibly the director's first ever award from a major film festival. Depp said: 'Tim is my favourite director. I feel very lucky to have been included in his life and in his world of cinema. He's a true original and a true auteur, a rare breed in today's cinema.' The exclusive clip was then shown. It featured Depp's Todd duetting with Helena Bonham Carter's panda-eyed Mrs Lovett. Both were doing their own singing, and most impressively, as they powered through a dark ode to a cut-throat razor. In the brief dialogue, it seemed that Depp might just have finally got a decent cockney accent, and he held the gleaming object up like Edward reunited with his Scissorhands.

At the end, the camera flew out of the window to reveal Mrs Lovett's pie shop and an intricate, beautiful shot over the sky line of Dickensian London. This awesome set has been designed, at Pinewood, by the legendary Cinecitta team of Dante Ferretti and Francesca Lo Schiavo.

Depp Film at NC Teen Night

The Henderson County Public Library in North Carolina (U.S.) will screen the Johnny Depp film Secret Window at their Teen Movie Night this Friday, Sept. 14. The film will be shown at 6:15 p.m. in the Kaplan Auditorium. Admission is free.

'Sweeney Todd' Goodies

Playbill.com reports Nonesuch Records will release the soundtrack for the upcoming Sweeney Todd film, although no date has been set for its release. Nonesuch also released the recent cast recording from the Sweeney Todd revival on Broadway.

The article also mentions a film companion book written by Mark Salisbury which will be released December 4. The book will reportedly include "interviews with Burton and the cast and crew, extracts from the shooting script, over 200 photos, plus concept drawing and production designs."

Depp Interviewed for Petty Biopic

All Headline News reports Johnny Depp provides a featured interview in a biopic about legendary rocker Tom Petty which will premiere at the New York Film Festival next month.

The widely anticipated retrospective of one of America's all-time finest singer/songwriters will chart the progress of Petty and his band, the Heartbreakers, all the way from a Gainesville college-town bar-band to their current role as the foremost purveyors of anthemic Americana.

Runnin' Down a Dream, directed by Peter Bogdanovich, will be screened at the close of the New York Film Festival October 14th and then open in select cities the following day. It is said to include "archival material, 8mm footage, live and rehearsal clips, along with lengthy interviews from the likes of Stevie Nicks, Eddie Vedder, George Harrison, Jackson Browne, and Johnny Depp."

Johnny has long been associated with Tom Petty, having starred in the Heartbreakers' music video for "Into the Great Wide Open" in 1991.

Official 'Sweeney Todd' Site News

It looks like the official site for the Sweeney Todd movie is slowly coming to life. It has music now, and a few downloads (wallpaper and buddy icons). It will be interesting to see how it progresses in the coming weeks. Thanks to Guy for the tip!

http://www.sweeneytoddmovie.com/

Pics from Venice

There's a thread going on the message board with photos from the Venice International Film Festival today. Click here to view the thread and enjoy the photos.

Thanks to everyone who's finding and posting these!

Johnny's Arrival at Venice Airport

Here are a few photos of Johnny Depp's arrival at the airport for the Venice International Film Festival today. Thanks to CJ for the pics!

The Appeal of 'Dark Shadows'

While browsing a bit this morning, I stumbled across an account of a recent Dark Shadows convention attended by Jonathan Frid, the original Barnabas Collins in the series. During his presentation, he managed to sum up the character with one very simple idea:

"I never played a vampire," he said. "I played a man with a secret."

Simple, but also profound. I believe that's the enduring appeal of this character, that's he's not a monster or a hollow stereotype. If he were, he would have been lost to TV history a long time ago. Barnabas Collins endures because the fascination of that "man with a secret" endures.

I like to believe that's the appeal that Johnny finds in him, too. It makes me look forward to his portrayal of Barnabas all the more.

Venice Press Conference Online

The Italian RAI SAT web site will carry the Tim Burton press conference live online tomorrow (Wednesday, Sept. 5) from the Venice International Film Festival. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter are also expected to attend. Thanks to Kimberly for the link!

The press conference is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Italian time, which is GMT +2 hours. (That would make it 7:30 a.m. Eastern time in the U.S.) You can use the World Clock calculator to figure out the time in your area.

'Inside the Actors Studio' Update

TVShowsOnDVD.com reports the DVD of "Inside the Actors Studio: Johnny Depp" has returned to the release schedule and is now due out November 20th. This release has been pushed back numerous times over the past year, though, so it's obviously subject to change.

'Sweeney Todd' Gore Rumors

There have been reports recently that producers have asked Tim Burton to tone down some of the more gory elements of the upcoming Sweeney Todd film in an effort to make it more "family friendly".

According to an article at Cinematical.com, though, these rumors may have been blown out of proportion:

...Variety's Anne Thompson got the real story from DreamWorks on Sunday night. The studio stated its intention has always been to release Sweeney Todd with an R rating. Then, on Monday, Thompson added that neither Paramount/DreamWorks nor Warner Bros. has seen the finished film, that they won't see it until at least the third week in September. It is possible that Warners has seen a lot of clips, some of which are rumored to be making a debut at the Venice Film Festival. By Monday evening, Variety had an article confirming that Paramount/DreamWorks is going wider with its domestic release of the film than originally planned. Instead of opening with a limited run on December 21 then going wide on January 11, Sweeney Todd will now bow on more than 1,500 screens on December 21. Apparently the studio is very happy with what it has seen of the film and thinks it has a very wide appeal, even with the fully intentioned R rating.

More details of the reports can be found on the Cinematical site.

Zane Likes Depp's Style

The Daily Mail offers an article about men's style and fashion by Alex Zane, host of the daily Breakfast Show on Xfm in London.

Johnny Depp has the kind of style that works for me. Tim Burton always looks fairly manic, too. I like people whose image is organic – in other words, anybody who doesn't look as if their stylist has just thrown up on them.

Spotlight on British Film

An article in The Independent offers an interview with Marco Mueller, director of the Venice Film Festival. In it, he mentions Johnny Depp in a discussion of the current "golden age" of British filmmaking:

"The diversity in British films has always been there. On the one hand, you have Exodus by [director] Penny Woolcock who comes from a non-cinema background, while on the other you have Peter Greenaway who is the opposite. And then you have Johnny Depp choosing Pinewood as his own private Hollywood," said Mueller.

Book Shares Gonzo Tales

The Baltimore Sun offers an early review of the book "GONZO: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson" which is scheduled for release in October. In it, Thompson's famous friends share anecdotes about him.

In his introduction, Johnny Depp recalls how "Hunter wanted to fire a shotgun off, but needed a target. He had these propane tanks and he handed me some duct tape and these things that were a bit bigger than a matchbook, and we started taping them on the tanks. ... I said, 'What are these things?' and he said, 'That's nitroglycerine.' I immediately put out my cigarette."

The Denver Post also offers a brief article about the book:

Johnny Depp, who portrayed Thompson in the 1998 movie "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and paid for Thompson's elaborate funeral, wrote the loving introduction.

He met Thompson late one night at the Woody Creek Tavern. Thompson entered with a cattle prod and a Taser as he threatened to shock the $%#@* out of anyone who got in his path. He found Depp in the corner, they shook hands. "The beginning," Depp writes, "of a long and deep-rooted friendship."