AS if we needed another reason to love Johnny Depp, he’s now performing miracles!
When the sexy Sweeney Todd star heard seventeen-year-old fan Sophie Wilkinson was in a coma after a car accident, he had to help.
Lo and behold, Sophie started moving her right leg when she heard Depp’s voice.
She’d been in her coma for five months!
And the delectable Depp isn’t the only selfless star out there.
Pirates of the Caribbean star Johnny Depp has directed his French lover, Vanessa Paradis' new music video.
The actor - who has two children with Paradis - also seemingly makes a cameo appearance in the video for L'incendie, a French song which translates as The Fire in English.
The three-minute video shows Paradis dancing on the stage of an empty theatre wearing a flowing peach dress, while being observed by a male stranger wearing a hat - believed to be Depp, although his face is never shown.
Paradis' microphone stand then bursts into flames and the floor ignites with her every step.
At the end of the video, Paradis meets the stranger and, in a bright explosion of fire, the pair disappear.
L'incendie is taken from Paradis' album Divine Idylle, a record that has already topped the French and Belgian album charts.
The 35-year-old beauty was also crowned Best French Female Artist and won Best Pop Album at the recent Victories De La Musique awards.
We haven’t seen him this clean cut since his days as “Ed Wood” way back in the day. And Johnny Depp seems to be embracing the cleaned-up look.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor was spotted on the set of his new movie “Public Enemies” on Wednesday in full period costume. He graciously waved to fans in between takes, and looked to be enjoying himself.
Then, yesterday Depp took some time out of his busy shooting schedule in Columbus, Wisconsin to shake a few hands and pose for a few pictures. And we must say, he’s really committed to looking as close to American gangster John Dillinger as possible.
Johnny is starring alongside Christian Bale, Channing Tatum, and Marion Cotillard in a flick about the Feds trying to take down notorious American gangsters John Dillinger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd during a booming crime wave in the 1930s.
Enjoy the pictures of Johnny greeting fans (March 20), and on the set of “Public Enemies” (March 19).
Welcome to Wisconsin! We want you to feel at home. We're really not so different from Hollywood after all, and -- who knows? Maybe we can get you to stay.
Sure, Los Angeles and the West Coast offer a fair life. But, Johnny, you just need to get to know Wisconsin and our fabulous North Coast!
We're sure you'll be phoning a Realtor as soon as you learn how much we're just like you. We're already working on a big sign with 50-foot white letters spelling out "DEPPWOOD" overlooking the Madison Water Utility's poisoned well No. 3. Johnny, we have everything you're used to and so much more, all of it deep-fried and sprinkled with cheese:
"Lights! Camera! Action!" We speak your film lingo here, Johnny! For example, when we go to the movies we know that "butter" really means "butter-flavored topping." And we know how it is to have a big project "in the can." At least, Great Uncle Henry always did. That's why he would take so many magazines in there with him.
Did you know that Madison has its own Oscar? (Mayer)
Limos: You must be used to riding in those big, long cars, right? Well, how about a 6.5 ton, 31-foot, chauffeured Wisconsin Dells Duck? Ooh-la-la! Talk about exclusive!
Earthquakes: Sure, California's undulating scenery makes life interesting, but why settle for boring old earthquakes when you can have hip, exciting ice quakes? We had one Jan. 31. It was caused by a pressure ridge on frozen Lake Mendota, which brings us to ...
Smog: A true Los Angeleno would not feel at home without smog. It's true that we don't really have it here, but we know all about not being able to breathe. At least, our fish do. We keep our smog in the lakes. It's green. (Idea for sequel: "Pirate's Curse: Swimmer's Itch.")
Palm trees: It's a little-known fact that Wisconsin has many "palm" trees. We tap them for syrup. No? Well then, we already once renamed the holiday tree in our Capitol Rotunda. We 're just a single legislative act away from renaming all balsam firs as coconut palms -- with fresh pine scent!
Hand prints in concrete: We don't have a Grauman's Chinese Theater, but see all the Madison construction? Roll up your sleeves and feel free!
Celebrities, celebrities, celebrities: Wisconsin has been home to many stars -- who then moved away. Jerks. Anyway, you name the city, and we have a celebrity to match! Porn star Brittany Andrews is from Milwaukee. One of those dumpy guys from "The West Wing" is from Madison. TV 's "Mr. Wizard," Don Herbert, learned his science at UW-La Crosse. And of course, I heard that Kenosha is the birthplace of "Citizen Kane" filmmaker Orson Bean! Heck, why not move all of Hollywood here right now?
Traffic jams: Just so you feel at home, Johnny, we do have traffic jams, notably on that stretch of Highway 14 on the other side of Cross Plains when the farmer is towing his manure spreader. Speaking of which ...
Road rage: Oh, we got road rage! The other day I was so mad I shot a pothole. Which leads us to ...
Handguns: We've heard all about L.A.'s maniac drivers reaching for their pistols. It's true that we seldom carry guns in our cars. But thanks to our far-seeing state Legislature, it is a fact that in Wisconsin the legally blind are allowed to shoot deer with rifles from parked vehicles.
We got ghouls: Johnny, we know of your penchant for playing spooky bizarros. Well, howdy, good neighbor! Wisconsin has cannibal necrophiliac mass-murderers Ed Gein and Jeffrey Dahmer. We also have red-scare witch hunter Sen. Joseph McCarthy, and we're the home of the John Birch Society. And to make the deal sweeter, Green Bay was the location where horror star Lon Chaney shot his last silent film, "Thunder."
Walk of Fame: Sure, Hollywood Boulevard has its own famed walk, but fun-loving Wisconsin does, too! (It involves touching your nose and walking a straight line.)
Gangs: We have a little gang activity here, though nothing like Los Angeles' Bloods and Crips. Still, we host The Sons of Norway and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Look out! They are bad ass.
Paparazzi: Johnny, our photojournalists are chaste and respectful. However, we do have bratarazzi, who ambush cheap bratwurst all summer long, notably at Madison 's annual World 's Biggest Brat Fest. And it's purely my own editorial view, but we also have the Naderazzi, who insist on voting for Ralph Nader no matter what. If you stay, we'll let you punch some. Maybe even if you don't stay.
Winona Ryder. You used to date her, right? She's from, and named for, the Minnesota city just across our Mississippi River border! I only bring it up because, um, like, could you introduce me?
Hollywood and Vine: We know you'll miss that illustrious intersection, home to the Brown Derby, NBC's fabulous art deco Radio City West and the famous Hollywood Plaza Hotel. Unfortunately, they 've all been demolished. Weep not, Johnny! Here in Madison we keep their spirit alive, by demolishing our own historic buildings.
Finally, where could you live in Wisconsin? We don't want you to miss your Beverly -- Hills, that is. Swimmin' pools, movie stars. Our big celebrities tend to be University of Wisconsin coaches and faculty, so you might like their community in Shorewood -- Hills, that is. Football pools, learning stars.
Oh, wait. You live in France and not Los Angeles, don't you?
Mon Dieu, Monsieur Depp! Did you know that Wisconsin is home to many historic French communities, with Frenchy names such as Prairie du Chien, La Crosse, Beloit, Fond du Lac ...
(P.S. Do let me know about Winona!)
He shook this town up when he came, the youthful-looking fortysomething who, on a platform of change, drew throngs of admirers and roused weary young Wisconsinites out of their winter doldrums.
Okay, I made up the part about a platform of change. But I'm talking about, of course, Johnny Depp, whose arrival in the Badger State -- for the filming of Public Enemies, an old-time gangster movie -- set off a frenzy rivaling the one that greeted Barack Obama's socko appearance at the Kohl Center.
My mind was blown when I read Rod Melotte's account of the shoot earlier this week in Columbus. Melotte reports that hundreds -- hundreds -- of people had turned up at dawn on a cold Monday morning to take in the action. If I'm even awake at dawn on a cold Monday morning, I'm probably thinking about getting back to sleep.
Many of the onlookers had surely come for the sheer spectacle that is the Hollywood machine in action. It probably felt like the circus had come to town. But others, clearly, were there for Depp and Depp alone. Here's how Melotte describes one fan's reaction to a sighting of the star:
The first time he passes, a young woman says over and over, “OH MY GOD IT WAS JOHNNY DEPP!” She borrows my cell phone to call her mom and is sobbing while telling the story of just how close she was to the actor.
Sobbing!
Which is weird, and possibly an overreaction.
Understand, I think Depp is a fine actor. Thanks in no small part to his long-running collaboration with the idiosyncratic director Tim Burton, Depp is a rarity among American film performers, an actor whose thoughtful integrity remains largely uncompromised.
Fifteen and more years ago I was moved by him in quirky, small films like Ed Wood and What's Eating Gilbert Grape? And he is still smartly challenging viewers with films like the recent all-singing, all-throat-slashing Sweeney Todd, as well as 2004's The Libertine, about a seventeenth-century English poet who paid tribute in verse to dildos and crab lice.
Of course, Depp would not be a household name if not for the Pirates of the Caribbean films, and that series is probably how the weeping young woman in Columbus knows Depp best. (Unless she was a big fan of The Libertine.)
So to summarize: His serious work notwithstanding, Depp is mostly loved by silly young people for a series of silly pirate films, and only a silly young person would burst into tears at the sight of a celebrity. Right?
Except I'm not so sure. Something similar happened to me a few years ago, and I wasn't all that young. Neither was the celebrity in question. In fact, he was 72.
It was an overcast summer night in 2003 when I went to Wausau to hear country music legend George Jones sing. He performed at the Wisconsin Valley Fair, where I sat in bleachers hundreds of feet from the outdoor stage. There was a cheesy warm-up act. Jones looked old. He sang songs that were hits in the 1950s. At 32, I seemed for the most part to be the youngest person there by 20 years.
And from the moment he started singing, I couldn't stop crying. Seriously. I was badly dehydrated by the show's end -- which, for what it's worth, was punctuated by the most violent summer thunderstorm I've ever been caught in. Since my teens I have thought George Jones was pretty wonderful, and I wept at the sight and sound of him.
So I identify with the young weeping woman in Columbus. Our popular entertainers can exert an awesome emotional pull on us, whether they're moaning incomparably sad country songs, as George Jones does on his records, or looking incomparably beautiful on a 30-foot-high movie screen, as Johnny Depp does, in whatever role.
And when we are in the actual presence of these entertainers, that emotion can't help but come out -- sometimes, in tears. They're not tears of sorrow, obviously, but they're not quite tears of joy, either. They're a reaction that simply says: that is the person who moves me. That person standing freaking right there!
I understand it. So, perhaps, do those men who cried on sports radio call-in shows when Brett Favre retired. We get very invested in our celebrities.
Actually, if I'd been standing with the young weeping woman in Columbus, maybe I would have been weeping right along with her.
Famed actor Johnny Depp was in town as interior courtroom scenes were filmed for the movie "Public Enemies," in which Depp portrays 1930s bank robber John Dillinger. The movie is set for release next year.
At about 10:15 a.m., Depp arrived, chauffeured in a black Cadillac SUV. A hat pulled low over his face, he turned and half-waved, igniting cheers from the more than 200 people assembled in front of the Darlington Municipal Building. He quickly jogged up the courthouse stairs. But fans, hoping for an acknowledgement, however fleeting, got what they came for.
*thonline.com*Hundreds of fans, some of whom waited hours outside the Old Lake County Courthouse and jail hoping to catch a glimpse of movie star Johnny Depp despite word around the set that filming would be taking place solely indoors. They were rewarded late Monday morning when Depp showed up.
The crowd erupted into loud cheers as Depp dashed into the old sheriff’s house. Depp is playing bank robber John Dillinger in the movie ‘‘Public Enemies.’’
Depp smiled and waved at the crowd, put his hands together in a prayer-like gesture, offering a slight forward bow, then touched his right hand to his heart in appreciation.
‘‘He waved! Oh my God!’’ said 16-year-old Caressa Rospierski, a Portage High School student on spring break.
Her classmate Stacia Upton held up a poster saying, ‘‘We love you, Johnny.’’
‘‘It’s the most fascinating thing in Crown Point since Dillinger broke out of jail and (Rudolph) Valentino got married at the courthouse,’’ said 15-year-old Nicole Vega of Crown Point. ‘‘I just hope I get to see Johnny Depp. Even if I don’t, this is still the most exciting thing to happen on my spring break.’’
City police Cpl. Larry Gonzalez said the crowds were good for the city.
‘‘We had people starting to line up around 12:30, but they’ve all been fine,’’ he said.
Gonzalez said he got to take a tour of Dillinger’s old jail cell in the sheriff’s house.
‘‘They’ve got it all remodeled and really looking nice,’’ he said. ‘‘The time and effort they took in cleaning it up is going to benefit the city for years to come.’’
Johnny Depp and Kelly Brook are the celebrities British people would most like to eat breakfast in bed with.
'The Pirates of the Caribbean' actor was the women's choice, while 'Smallville' star Kelly was the men's in a poll of 2,500 British people conducted by hotel chain Travelodge to find out why the tradition of eating breakfast in bed is dying out.
Leigh McCarron, the Sleep Director of Travelodge, said: "There are few things in life more luxurious than having a decadent breakfast in bed and this is one tradition as a nation we should preserve.
"I would urge people to have regular lie-ins and what better way to spend even more time in bed than to indulge in a hearty breakfast with a loved one."
Actress-and-TV presenter Denise Van Outen was men's second most popular choice, closely followed by 'Wow' singer Kylie Minogue.
The top five was rounded off by former 'Friends' actress Jennifer Aniston and 'Underworld' star Kate Beckinsale.
Soccer star David Beckham was the second choice for women, while 'Michael Clayton' actor George Clooney was in third position.
George's close friend and 'Ocean's Thirteen' co-star Brad Pitt and British TV presenter Dermot O'Leary came in fourth and fifth position respectively.
Travelodge's Top Ten Celebrities Who British People Would Most Like To Eat Breakfast In Bed With, Full List:
Men voted for:
1. Kelly Brook
2. Denise Van Outen
3. Kylie Minogue
4. Jennifer Aniston
5. Kate Beckinsale
6. Kate Winslet
7. Catherine Zeta Jones
8. Cameron Diaz
9. Holly Willoughby
10. Dawn French
Women voted for:
1. Johnny Depp
2. David Beckham
3. George Clooney
4. Brad Pitt
5. Dermot O'Leary
6. Colin Firth
7. Orlando Bloom
8. Antonio Banderas
9. Gordon Ramsay
10. Hugh Grant
Heath Ledger's last film will go ahead with Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law as the late actor's replacements, director Terry Gilliam has confirmed.
The Brokeback Mountain star was working on fantasy adventure The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus when he died of an accidental overdose in January.
Gilliam said in a statement: "I am grateful to Johnny, Colin and Jude for coming on board and to everyone else who has made it possible for us to finish the film. I am delighted that Heath's brilliant performance can be shared with the world. We are looking forward to finishing the movie and, through the film, with a modicum of humility, being able to touch people's hearts and souls as Heath was able to do."
It had been suggested that Ledger's role would be completed using CGI (computer generated imagery) special effects, as happened when Oliver Reed died during the making of Gladiator.
But the film's producers said: "Since the format of the story allows for the preservation of his entire performance, at no point will Heath's work be modified or altered through the use of digital technology. Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing."
The project is going ahead with the blessing and support of Ledger's family, the producers added.
Ledger was found dead in his New York apartment on January 22 after taking an accidental overdose of prescription drugs. Three days earlier he had filmed scenes for The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus in London. He left a two-year-old daughter, Matilda, by former partner Michelle Williams.
It later emerged a family row has broken out over the contents of Ledger's will. The actor is reported to have left his estate to his parents and sister, as the will was drawn up before his relationship with Williams and the birth of their daughter Matilda. Ledger's father, Kim, released a statement reassuring Williams that the little girl would be provided for.
"Matilda is our absolute priority, and Michelle is an integral part of our family," he said. "They will be taken care of and that's how Heath would want it to be."
But Kim's estranged brothers, Mike and Haydn, have publicly questioned whether Matilda will get any of Ledger's estate. "I'm concerned for Matilda. I have concerns about the distribution of funds," Haydn told an Australian newspaper. Kim responded by saying: "It is sad at this extremely difficult time in our lives, while we are grieving the loss of our beloved son, that estranged family members publicly discuss matters they have not been privy to in the past or now. We hope for Matilda's sake they will remain dignified."
A locations official for the movie recently contacted Ben Clement, who handles film office matters for the city.
"They're just doing an initial site search to see if there are any locations within the city that might be suitable for filming," said Clement, economic development and marketing administrator for the Gary, East Chicago, Hammond Empowerment Zone.
Clement confirmed that representatives of the Universal Pictures release have been in Gary to scout potential shooting sites.
"Nothing's been firmed up at all yet," Clement said Wednesday. He declined to divulge any Gary locations that are being considered.
Clement did say, though, that Gary was open to the idea of accommodating film crews for the drama about a Depression-era crime wave.
"The city of Gary is interested in any film project that might help us to attract more film projects and to help advance the city," Clement said. "So naturally, something of this magnitude would be beneficial for us."
Shooting on "Public Enemies" is scheduled to take place over the next several months in Chicago and surrounding areas, including Crown Point. Set for a 2009 release, "Public Enemies" is based on the acclaimed Bryan Burrough book of the same name.
"Someone told me that they saw Johnny Depp near Westgate theater in Madison this week," said West James Gallery owner Kim Bates. "Last week someone thought they saw him in town here."
"Public Enemies" is a Michael Mann-directed film about the life of notorious bank robber John Dillinger. It will star Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard.
Robin Salzwedel, owner of Secret Garden Floral at 115 N. Ludington St., heard similar rumors of the stars popping up around the city.
"There has been a lot of curious people," Salzwedel said. "It's brought a lot of people in the shop. A lot of people want to know what we heard. Someone already told me that there was a sighting of Johnny Depp in town. We just laughed."
Appleton residents Tanya Vegetabile and Rebecca Schinke visited Columbus on Wednesday to scout the location.
"We're checking it out so we will know our way around when the movie is being filmed," Schinke said.
The two spent their time filming the crews working on the buildings.
Bates said she is glad about the attention that Columbus is getting from the filming of the movie, set to begin March 17.
"Hopefully, people will see how wonderful Columbus is and come back," Bates said. "I think it is great that they are using Columbus for the movie."
Many downtown buildings are receiving new awnings and window panels that will take them back in time to the 1930s, along with temporary interior set pieces that will cover the insides of the buildings during filming.
Sharrow's Pharmacy, which has been in business since 1889, will remain a pharmacy on the James Street side of the building and a clothing store on the Ludington Street side of the building. "It was going to be a bakery, but they decided to make it a drugstore," co-owner Nick Sharrow said.
Sharrow's will start to undergo its transformation today. Sharrow said that they will move some merchandise into the basement and move some of the over-the-counter merchandise so crews will have room to put up the false wall.
Salzwedel's sign has already been removed and a former inhabitant, "Nitche Market," is now seen in the front of the building. Salzwedel said the building was a tavern when it was built in the 1800s and was a meat market in the late 1920s.
"We've joked that we should start asking people if they want meat or flowers," she said.
Bates's gallery used to be First National Bank, built in 1916. The building will be called Green Castle Bank in the movie.
"My father told me that Dillinger used to hang out in Green Castle, Ind.," Bates said.
In the movie, Depp will be running out of Bates's store in a bank-robbing scene.
"I guess they picked us because we're centrally located," Bates said. "And the facade of the building was from a bank in the era that they needed one from."
Bates said she realizes there will be a lot more people in the city when the movie is to be filmed, but she thinks the city will be able to handle the extra guests. After all, Columbus does fill up with visitors every July 4 for the city's Independence Day celebration.
"Of course, we're not bringing porta-potties in for the people coming in for this," Bates said. "But I think we can handle everyone for one day."
Columbus resident Marsha Sparks agreed that the publicity is a good thing for the city.
"Who knew they would find Columbus from all the towns in Wisconsin?" she said. "The only think I hope is he puts a little Johnny Depp in Dillinger."
Johnny Depp is holding open auditions to find screenwriters for his latest movie.
The Pirates of the Caribbean star will play surrealist painter Salvador Dali in new film Dali and is keen to get the right script, regardless of who it comes from.
A source said: "He's open to working with anyone - from housewives to pensioners - if the script is right."
Depp is not the only Hollywood star set to portray the eccentric artist on the big screen.
Al Pacino and Peter O'Toole are being lined up to star in rival movies, Dali and I and Goodbye Dali respectively.
Asked why so many films were being made 18 years after the artist's death, Peter Rawley, producer of Dali, said: "Film-makers somehow pick up on the vibe. But three films is nothing, at one stage, we counted up to nine."
Dali - who died in 1989, aged 84 - was famed for his technical genius as well as his showmanship and once gave a lecture dressed in a diver's suit.
His most famous works include The Persistence of Memory, The Face of Mae West, The Metamorphosis of Narcissus and The Temptation of St. Anthony.
Dillinger, an Indiana native, escaped the heavily guarded northwestern Indiana jail March 3, 1934, while he awaited trial on charges that he killed Officer William Patrick O'Malley during an East Chicago bank robbery.
He then drove away in Sheriff Lillian Holley's new Ford. A few months later, federal agents fatally shot him outside a Chicago theater.
Work crews started preparing the red-brick jail for its movie close-up last Monday.
‘‘I wish we could say (the restoration) will be complete, but it'll be mostly the entry and upstairs,'' location scout George Constas said.
The jail's neighbor, the Hall of Justice Bar and Ballroom, will host up to 200 actors, crew members and technicians.
‘‘Hollywood's coming to Crown Point,'' co-owner Philip Struebig said. ‘‘It's going to be a heck of a thing for Crown Point. It will put us back on the map.''
Depp is probably best known for starring roles in the ‘‘Pirates of the Caribbean'' series, ‘‘Finding Neverland'' and ‘‘Edward Scissorhands.''
His co-star in ‘‘Public Enemies'' will be this year's Oscar-winner for best actress, Marion Cotillard, who is playing Dillinger's moll.
Actor Johnny Depp will be making a getaway to Wisconsin in a famous historic car from right here in the stateline. Depp will get behind the wheel of this vehicle, a 1932 Studebaker commander, later this year in the filming of a movie about gangster John Dillinger. The movie is called "Public Enemies." it is to be shot on location in the badger state and the car is part of the collection at the historic auto attractions....
"It will be used in the same context in the film as it was in real life which makes it really unique," said museum curator Eric Hoffman.
At that time it was the biggest bank heist ever....about $75 thousand was taken. Not long after that robbery dillinger was gunned down by police outside of the Biograph Theater in Chiacgo after being fingered by the infamous "lady in red."
NOW here's an unlikely friendship.
JOHNNY DEPP has given DAVID HASSELHOFF the barber's chair used in his movie Sweeney Todd.
The former Baywatch star was stunned by Johnny's kind gesture after the Pirates Of The Caribbean star learned of David's battle to get his antique barber's chair back from his ex PAMELA BACH's LA home.
The pair have been locked in a bitter dispute over their divorce settlement - with David trying to regain access to the former family home to take back his beloved chair.
But The Hoff is no longer bothered about the original - and is more than happy with Depp's movie prop.
His lawyer MELVIN S. GOLDSMAN said: "David is just so pleased to have the matter behind him."