Johnny Depp's Band The Kids Return to Florida
“Music will always be my first
love,” Johnny Depp revealed in a recent issue of Rolling Stone.
“I pick up the guitar and space out and drool.” So it’s no
surprise that the actor jumped at the opportunity to reunite
with his old band the Kids this past weekend in Florida for a
benefit concert honoring Sheila Witkin, a manager of local South
Florida bands in the Seventies and Eighties and the mother of
Bruce Witkin, Depp’s childhood friend and bandmate.
Depp joined the Kids when he was a
17-year-old high school student in Miramar, Florida, and
achieved some success with the group — opening for Iggy Pop,
Talking Heads, the Pretenders and the Ramones — before putting
his musical career on hold to become an actor. He took the stage
at Club Cinema in Pompano Beach in torn jeans and blue plaid
shirt knotted around his waist while he played guitar for
adoring onlookers including family members Vanessa Paradis and
daughter Lily-Rose. This is the second annual memorial concert
for Wiktin, who died in 2006.
Though he took time to hug each
musician onstage and reach out into the audience to touch the
hands of his many fans, Depp never spoke to the crowd directly.
During the band’s cover of the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby,” Depp
contributed backup vocals on a mike he shared with Bruce Witkin,
while the two jokingly pointed at each other and exchanged
meaningful pats on the shoulder. Later, Depp, Witkin and the
band’s other guitarist, Joey Malone, pulled out some classic
rock moves by fanning out in a group formation while they played
through the Kids’ catalog.
The evening ended as the Kids
gathered the other bands on the benefit bill onstage for a
sing-along rendition of Them’s “Gloria,” substituting the
spelling of the iconic chorus with S-H-E-I-L-A. “That’s what I
like about him,” one concertgoer commented. “He’s a real guy. He
minimizes his presence so the focus can be on the band. And,” he
added, “no doubt the man can burn it.”
Depp,
Verbinski reteam for 'Rango'
By MICHAEL
FLEMING
Johnny Depp will reunite with
"Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski on "Rango,"
an animated pic that Paramount will finance and
distribute.
The studio has slotted the film for
a March 2011 release.
Depp will voice
the lead character, a household pet that goes on an adventure to
discover its true self. John Logan ("The
Aviator") has penned the script from an idea hatched by
Verbinski. Verbinski will work with Industrial Light & Magic
on the animation.
"Rango" will be produced by
Verbinski's Blind Wink Prods., Graham King and John Carls.
Par-based Nickelodeon Films is expected to be involved as
well.
The CG "Rango" will be Par's most
ambitious star-driven entry into animation. Project was
developed by King's GK Films, which made the original deal with
Verbinski (Daily Variety, Feb. 20).
Verbinski will direct "Rango" as he
continues to develop an adaptation of the bestselling Take-Two
vidgame "Bioshock" for Universal. That film is also being
scripted by Logan.
"Rango" aims to use cutting-edge
animation techniques that "will allow us to capture and
translate every aspect of Johnny's performance, using it to
drive the computer-generated character in a way that has yet to
be seen in an animated feature," Verbinski
said.
ILM previously worked with Verbinski
to create the octopus-faced Davy Jones character played by Bill
Nighy in the "Pirates" pics.
Depp is set to begin work on "Rango"
in January.
He's repped by
UTA.
A private look at 'Public
Enemies'
Slaymaker
Gallery owner got front-row seat for hush-hush filming
By JESSICA PUPOVAC
Contributing Reporter
In his book Public
Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI,
1933-1944, Vanity Fair correspondent Bryan Burroughs says that
for as large as figures like John Dillinger and Baby Face Nelson
loom in American legend, "there are surprisingly few credible
books about them." He calls the FBI's "penchant for secrecy" the
"principal obstacle to an objective narrative."
The same could be said
for Universal Pictures.
Over the past three
months-up until last Friday, June 27-Johnny Depp, Christian
Bale, Billy Crudup, Giovanni Ribisi and hundreds of crew
members, extras and others have milling around the Midwest,
creating stealth but elaborate vintage sets and shooting the
film adaptation of Public Enemies with a level of secrecy
paralleled only by the FBI itself.
Their base camp for
much of that time was a parking lot across the street from
Wrigley Field and a number of sets were created in Lake View and
its environs.
But few people knew
that-or any other details of their movement. Rumors spread
through the blogosphere. A handful of brief and slightly
incoherent videos were posted on YouTube. Johnny Depp fans
frantically posted clues on discussion boards and spent long
hours outside of nondescript trailers, hoping their hero would
emerge. Extras were scheduled and rescheduled, notified only a
day or two in advance of where, when and how to report for
duty.
But Woody Slaymaker,
local artist and owner of Slaymaker Gallery at 936 W. Roscoe,
was in the know.
Director Michael Mann,
a Chicago native selected the Lake View landmark back in the
early spring as the location for what Slaymaker believes will
amount to most of the interior scenes in the film. The film crew
converted his sprawling, three-story gallery into a series of
sets, including a cigar store, a gambling club and a handful of
offices.
But all of the glitz
and glam was lost on Slaymaker. "I'm not really a movie person,"
he says. "It's not really me. I'm in the arts and if I feel
creative energy, I usually try to create it myself. I probably
know less about Johnny Depp than anybody who came."
Slaymaker had the
opportunity to spend time with Depp, however, and said he was "a
very down-to-earth guy"
"He was less full of
himself than even the extras who were here," Slaymaker told
Booster. "I met the other stars, too, but they made less of an
impression on me."
"Mr. Depp is very
knowledgeable about art and paintings. He was very nice to show
things to because he responds well to being shown things. He
seems to enjoy learning ... He talked a lot about cartography as
an art form. He was very interested in that, and in history.
"He might buy some
artwork."
Slaymaker was also
impressed by Michael Mann's larger-than-life vision for the
film.
"It was amazing to
watch him create," he says. "They follow their vision and they
don't give a damn what it costs. They have confidence that if
they make it and do it right, the results will be
there."
The crew spent about
640 hours designing, building and removing sets in Slaymaker's
gallery alone, and was still working on restoring the place to
how they found it on Monday.
According to Rich
Moskal, director of the Chicago Film Office, Public Enemies was
the largest production that will be filming in Chicago this
year, and comes amidst a wave of large-scale productions filmed
in Chicago that he hopes will continue.
Last year was the
biggest year the city's had yet in terms of feature film and
television productions, generating at least $155 million in
local spending, according to Moskal.
"That isn't spending
that goes to Christian Bale or the stars, but to local hotels,
food, extras and people spending money locally," Moskal says.
"It certainly adds to the bottom line, and then the sales tax
and hotel taxes contribute to everybody's coffers."
Beyond the Slaymaker
Gallery, Public Enemies cast and crew spent four days filming
near the intersection of Clark and Newport, where the streets
were transformed into cobblestone, antique cars and street lamps
were brought in from throughout the city and suburbs, and an old
el train was made to ride the Red Line tracks. A building on
that block, Moskal says, was used as the residence of one of the
characters in the film, though he can't say who.
Cast and crew also
spent time in a host of other Chicago sites, including the
Aragon Ballroom, the Auditorium Theater on Michigan Avenue and,
of course, the Biograph in Lincoln Park, where Dillinger was
finally chased down by federal agents in 1934. He was shot in a
nearby alleyway.
"They tried to film in
as many authentic locations as possible," he said, "in places
where real events happened."
And Chicago, whose
sordid history is the stuff of legend throughout the world,
provided just that, and in ample supply.
"I think it's gonna be
awesome," says Cynthia Cummens, a local artist who landed a role
as an extra in the Aragon Ballroom scene. "It was so surreal. In
fact, I keep dreaming about it."
http://chicagojournal.com/Main.asp?SectionID=48&ArticleID=5262
Johnny Depp: Master of his Craft
By Steve Gorlick (Media and
Mayhem)
Did you see Johnny Depp in “Sweeney
Todd”?
The reason I ask is that, while I found the
whole gory spectacle to be lusciously dark and haunting, the
real shocker was Johnny Depp’s astounding vocal performance.
Really a revelation.
So often the high quality of singing in a
filmed musical is distracting. The songs are more star-turns
than integrated elements of a story. At worst, they are so
operatically overwrought that they detract from whatever story
might be developing. My favorite example of conspicuously
inappropriate singing in a film was Rossano Brazzi’s slightly
ridiculous rendition of Some Enchanted Evening in Josh Logan’s
film “South Pacific” (1958).
I still am not sure how to describe Johnny
Depp’s epic accomplishment. I know he was singing. But he was
also doing something very different, using music and an
idiosyncratic voice to express the anguish of a tortured soul.
This was the “singing” of an extraordinary actor, for whom
storytelling trumped vocal pyrotechnics.
It reminded me of a sad funeral I had to
attend many years ago for a young man accidentally killed in
gang-related crossfire. I knew his mother, and her wailing
during the service remains the most haunting sound I have ever
heard. Her convulsive tears seemed to be coming from a corner of
the soul where only the most painful grief resides.
Johnny Depp seemed to sing from this same
place.
When I left the theatre, I thought: This
was extraordinary. But the purists, the opera crowd, will never
appreciate it.
So imagine how I felt when read a review of
Depp’s performance by New York Times music critic Anthony
Tommasini. I was stunned. Tommasini, whose usual beat is opera,
saw nothing short of greatness in Depp’s performance. This is an
excerpt from the review:
“In Mr. Depp’s portrayal, words come first
in the shaping of a phrase. Expression, nuance, intention and
controlled intensity matter more than vocal richness and
sustaining power. These principles of vocal artistry matter just
as much onstage, as the best operatic artists understand. But
too many opera singers are overly focused on making beautiful
sounds and sending notes soaring at the expense of crisp diction
and textual clarity. They could learn something from Mr. Depp’s
verbally dynamic singing… I don’t mean to suggest that his vocal
performance is merely a savvy kind of sung speech. There is
musical distinction in his work.”
http://mediaandmayhem.com/2008/07/05/johnny-depp-master-of-his-craft/
Reporter's notebook: DEPPression might be
setting in
By Gary Mays, gmays@daily-journal.com
815-937-3359
Is "DEPPression" setting in?
Movie star Johnny Depp's appearance here
dominated the news toward the end of last week, and while there
are certainly bigger, more important stories to cover, Depp
bringing his formidable star power to St. Anne was a much bigger
deal than I could have imagined. Now that he's gone off to hang
out with fans in Indiana, though, all that's left are mere
stories and anecdotes -- not to mention a lot of happy women and
girls. For us, the Depp story drew record Web traffic, and our
readers just couldn't seem to get enough of it. For those
wondering if we've gone all TMZ.com, I will offer that this
"story" ultimately wasn't just about a mega-star who, at the age
of 45, still has mass appeal at the box office and game with
women of all ages -- hence the many mother-daughter duos seen at
the high school Thursday, some nudging each other, looking scary
territorial. And it wasn't just about a little town seeing the
big time, though St. Anne certainly got a good look at it. No,
this was a story about fame. And how being a star doesn't mean
you have to be a jerk. Really. By way of disclosure: My brushes
with "fame" have been mostly through my newspaper jobs and very
limited and confined largely to music types (phone interviews
mostly) and politicians. Still, I've interviewed rocker George
Thorogood, Wynona Judd, actress Jamie Gertz, signer Juliana
Hatfield, the band Cypress Hill, rapper Ice T, and Barack Obama.
There were a few other minor stars and a four-star general, too.
But nothing like Johnny Depp. Other encounters I've planned with
"celebrities" merely ended with publicists slamming the door
shut. Every celebrity, more than ever, wants to control the
stories about them. Depp had people controlling things, too. But
he also took the time -- and risk -- to reach out in a very
personal way to everyone patient enough to wait for him. Though
he was far from the Hollywood media glare, where publicity means
ticket sales, Depp indeed kept his promises Thursday night --
spending 40 minutes with fans and kids, a long time in the fame
game; and at the end of a long day of shooting. So add this
jaded newspaperman's name to the list of Depp fans -- class acts
like him don't make many headlines in Hollywood, and Depp's
actions in St. Anne will be remembered for a long time.
Especially by those, such as law enforcement, who never expected
such a personal thank you for their efforts. Finally, I can't
have the last word on Depp in these pages if I don't share my
own little Depp moment. It came as the actor was sitting in an
idling SUV, seconds before leaving town for good; and after he'd
shaken everyone's hand. My job was done, too. That's when the
actor looked right at me -- I flashed him a peace sign. Depp
gave it right back, leaning out the open window with both hands.
Hey, I think we had a "connection." I think It was the coolest
"interview" I ever did. I think I'd better get back to
work
