At the Oscars

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis attended the 80th Annual Academy Awards tonight. Daniel Day Lewis may have taken home the gold for Best Actor this year, but we all know who the best actor really is. ;-)

They looked lovely, as always, and Vanessa's dress is gorgeous!

I've created a new gallery for Oscar photos. More will be added as they come through. Enjoy!

Sunday Smiles

Sometimes a smile is all you need. :-)

Kids' Choice Nominations

According to an article from the Associated Press, Johnny Depp has been nominated for a Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Male Movie Star.

Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End has also been nominated for Favorite Movie.

I don't see a way to vote yet on the official Nick.com web site, but it should be available shortly. The Kids' Choice Awards will be presented at 8 p.m. March 29 on Nickelodeon.

Cage Talks Depp on Radio Show

According to an article on Digital Spy, Nicolas Cage briefly discussed steering Johnny Depp toward acting in an interview on Heart FM radio:

Nicolas Cage has revealed that he pushed Johnny Depp to take up acting.

The 44-year-old was introduced to Depp after he moved to LA with his garage band The Kids in his late teens.

He told Heart FM: "I met Johnny many years ago - he was a guitar player and had come to Los Angeles from Florida.

"We had a mutual friend and we were just playing Monopoly one day. I told him he ought to try acting so I introduced him to my agent and the next day he got his first audition and got the part.

"I can't really take credit for it... I was just one small step in his whole career... but that's just how it happened. It was quite simple."

He added: "Please don't ask me who won the game of Monopoly, though, I can't remember... it was a long time ago!"

'Sweeney' DVD Set for April Release

According to Hi Def Digest, the standard and HD DVD release of Sweeney Todd is slated for April 1 in the U.S.

'Sweeney' Costumes on Display

According to L.A. Downtown News, costumes worn by Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham-Carter in the Sweeney Todd film are part of a display of movie costumes hosted by the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandise.

Turning the first corner, all eyes go to the emerald green silk charmeuse (a satin-like fabric) dress from Atonement earning raves for Oscar nominee Jacqueline Durran. Across from that are mannequins dressed in black and gray period costumes that Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter wore in Sweeney Todd.

What's surprising are some of the other outfits with bold candy stripes, bright pink and royal blue. Where were those in Tim Burton's dark film?

"The costumes were used for a fantasy sequence: Mrs. Lovitt's escape world," said Colleen Atwood, a two-time Academy Award winner for Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha, by email from Chicago where she is on location for Public Enemies.Atwood obviously enjoys working with Burton; she's joined him on six other films. "Tim is an artist and has a great eye," she said. "He enjoys seeing what all of us come up with. His movies always have a great sense of play."

Depp, like many top actors, has a provision in his contract that permits him to keep his costumes. He agreed to loan FIDM his Sweeney Todd outfit, which Atwood brought to the museum just in time for the Jan. 28 opening.

The Art of Motion Picture Costume Design exhibit runs through April 12 at the FIDM Museum and Gallery on Grand Avenue in Los Angeles. Visit the museum's web site for more information.

Another Flower Child?

According to the Celebrity Cafe, Tim Burton and Helena Bonham-Carter have settled on a name for their baby daughter born Dec. 16 -- Indiana Rose. If true, it begs the question as to whether it was inspired by Johnny Depp's daughter, Lily-Rose. The report, however, has yet to be confirmed.

Regardless of her name, I'm sure she's a beauty. Belated best wishes to the Burton/Bonham-Carter family!

Towns Excited Over 'Enemies'

Residents of several midwest towns are excited over the prospect of the Johnny Depp film Public Enemies being filmed on location.

According to The Northwestern, downtown businesses in Oshkosh, WI, are already being briefed on potential changes to building facades and business routes to accommodate shooting schedules in March or April.

The Beacon News is reporting Michael Mann and associates scouted Aurora, IL, to check out authentic locations such as the historic Paramount Theatre. According to the article, Aurora mayor Tom Weisner sees only one drawback:

Mayor Tom Weisner echoed her excitement, saying that he is glad to see the painstakingly preserved theater appreciated by Hollywood. The Paramount would be historically accurate to the time of the film -- it opened in September 1931.

"This would be really cool," the mayor said. "My only concern would be keeping my wife 400 feet from Johnny Depp."

Depp Puts Kelly at Ease

In an interview with the Daily Mail, actress Laura Michelle Kelly talks about being cast with Johnny Depp in Sweeney Todd and his attempt to make her feel more at ease on the set:

As well as playing the dual role of a nun and Johnny (Coronation Street) Briggs's young trophy wife in a forthcoming ITV1 production of Agatha Christie's Nemesis, she can be seen as a prostitute who ends up as a syphilitic old beggar in Tim Burton's new screen version of the musical Sweeney Todd.

With a cast led by Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman, that's quite a movie baptism for our heroine, who's still only 26. But being kissed off-camera by Johnny Depp helped to put Laura Michelle at her ease, apparently.

"Johnny kissed me on the cheek on the set one day when I was in make-up as the ugly old hag. Everyone else was running away from my make-up, but I think he figured out that I felt really hideous and wanted to be nice to me."

Harwood Recalls Meeting Depp

Screenwriter Ronald Harwood recalls meeting Johnny Depp and briefly discussing his script for the film The Diving Bell and the Butterfly in an interview with The Telegraph. Johnny was originally slated for the lead role in the film but was unable to complete it due to previous commitments.

The film is based on the memoirs of Jean-Dominique Bauby, the editor of the French Elle who, as the result of a stroke, was left paralysed but for one eyelid. The studios gave the picture the go-ahead after having seen only the first draft of Harwood's script and Johnny Depp, originally slated to play the Frenchman, was effusive in his praise.

'I was at a showing of Finding Neverland, which Depp was in,' Harwood says, 'and they told me he wanted to meet me. I went over and he held my hand, looked me in the eye and said, "I love your screenplay and I can't wait to start filming."

'I knew then he wasn't going to do it. I've been around actors long enough to know that look. And I was right, he went off and made two pirate pictures.'

Despite Depp sailing off into a Caribbean sunset, the film went ahead - with Javier Bardem in the role - and since opening in America in November it's garnered a clutch of awards.

Depp Will Not Attend Luncheon

According to an article in the L.A. Times, Johnny Depp and several other acting nominees will not be attending the Oscar nominee luncheon Monday. The article doesn't mention the reason, but I would assume scheduling conflicts.

Psssst — here's who is skipping the Oscar nominees lunch

On Monday afternoon, the academy hosts its annual luncheon for Oscar nominees at the Beverly Hilton. Expected among the crowd of more than 100 hopefuls are all five directors who made the cut as well as all of the nominated writers. However, the acting branch will be represented by only 11 of the 19 nominees.

Double nominee Cate Blanchett will be a no-show (as she was last year), as will lead actor contenders Daniel Day-Lewis, Johnny Depp and Tommy Lee Jones, supporting actor hopefuls Philip Seymour Hoffman and Tom Wilkinson and supporting actress nominees Saoirse Ronan and Tilda Swinton.

'Starstruck' by Johnny

In an article in Sunday Mirror, Zoë Ball, British TV and radio personality, confesses to being tongue-tied when she met Johnny Depp:

Do you get starstruck?

ZB: Yes! When I met Johnny Depp I couldn’t string a sentence together. He’s sweet and lovely but shy. Bless him, he was very patient with me asking the same question over again, trying not to stutter.