Johnny Depp News Archive

MARILYN MANSON And JOHNNY DEPP Team Up For 'You're So Vain' Cover

Speaking about the collaboration, Manson told MTV News that the duo decided on doing "a cover of a song which we thought was ironic for each other." He added, "[Johnny] played drums and lead guitar, and I played guitar and sang. It's a bonus track on my new record and the video will probably be us looking at each other in a mirror."

Depp and Manson first collaborated in 2001 when Manson contributed the song "The Nobodies" to Depp's Jack the Ripper movie "From Hell".

New Dark Shadows Trailer: Five Things We Learned About Johnny Depp's Vampire Movie

The first trailer for Dark Shadows, their eighth project together but the first in which Depp plays a vampire(!), hit the world today and we couldn't wait to get a taste of just how the goth-kitsch series of the same name that ran from 1966 to 1971 has been officially Burtonized.

Aside from this quick assessment—it's the director's usual supernatural-meets-a-bygone-era meets-Helena-Bonham-Carter—here are five things we learned:

1. Boy Meets Girl: Depp's character, Barnabas Collins, was "normal" once—just your regular nobleman in love with a fair maiden in the 1700s. What could possibly go wrong?! We sure hope Barnabas' playboy ways don't get him in trouble with a witch or anything...

2. This '70s Show: Sure enough, Barnabas is cursed by Eva Green's heartbroken witch Angelique, who turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. In his coffin he lies until the distant descendants who live in his beloved Collinwood Manor dig him up in...1972! Judging by the disco-era ephemera on display like this lava lamp, Burton's going to milk the notorious tackiness of the decade for all it's worth. Also helping to set the mood: The trailer includes both Curtis Mayfield's "Superfly" and Barry White's "You're the First, My Last and Everything."

3. Old Feelings Die Hard: Angelique may have tried to condemn Barnabas "to the shadows of all time," but that doesn't preclude her from wanting to rekindle the flame now that he's undead-and-kicking. "I must admit, they have not aged a day," quips the vampire who never met a bodice he didn't want to rip.

4. Creepy Little Girl? Check! Ever since The Ring, it's been de rigueur for every horror movie (even though this is really more of a comedy) to have a freakout courtesy of a youngster with hair hanging in her face. Lucky for this film, Let Me In proved that it helps if the pale girl with the menacing stare is played by Chloë Grace Moretz.

5. Vampire vs. Predator: Sure, Barnabas succumbed to Angelique's wiles, but that was just for old times' sake! Once she threatens to destroy his whole family, even if they are the picture of dysfunction, Barnabas knows it's his job to destroy her, once and for all!

This delightfully campy-looking confection, also starring Michelle Pfeiffer and Jonny Lee Miller lands in theaters on May 11.

Top CFDA fashion prizes going to Depp, Hilfiger

CFDA president Diane von Furstenberg and CEO Steven Kolb announced details of the awards ceremony Wednesday night.

The nominees for womenswear designer of the year, the biggest prize, are Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen for The Row, Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez for Proenza Schouler, and Marc Jacobs.

"This year, as we celebrate the 50th anniversary of the CFDA, we can see what a critical role the CFDA Fashion Awards continue to play in our efforts to promote American Fashion," Kolb said in a news release. "This year's nominees truly represent the important influence of American design. We look forward to once again honoring the best and brightest talent working today."

Top contenders in menswear are Billy Reid, Patrik Ervell and Simon Spurr, and for the best in accessory design they are Alexander Wang, Reed Krakoff and McCollough and Hernandez. Tommy Hilfiger is to receive a lifetime achievement award.

The ceremony will be held on June 4 at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall. Comedian Seth Meyers will be the evening's host.

Other honorees:

—Swarovski Award for emerging talent in womenswear: Chris Peters and Shane Gabier for Creatures of the Wind, Joseph Altuzarra, and Max Osterweis and Erin Beatty for Suno.

—Emerging talent in menswear: Antonio Azzuolo, Phillip Lim and Todd Snyder.

—Emerging talent in accessories: Irene Neuwirth, Pamela Love and Tabitha Simmons.

—Media award: Scott Schuman and Garance Dore.

—Founders award: Andrew Rosen.

—International award: Rei Kawakubo for Comme des Garcons.

Depp, Streep join call to lower 'Bully' rating

The Weinstein Co, which is releasing the film March 30, said Tuesday that Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees have signed on to support the film.

Lee Hirsch's documentary on bullying in American schools has been rated R, which restricts children under 17 from seeing it without an adult. The Motion Picture Association of America, which oversees movie ratings, cited language as the reason for the R rating.

Distributors appealed the decision, but it was upheld by the MPAA.

That prompted a Michigan teenager who was bullied in middle school to start an online petition calling for a lower rating for the film so more young people can see it. She met with MPAA officials last week and delivered the 200,000 signatures she collected, but the group declined to change the rating.

Katy Butler, a 17-year-old high school junior from Ann Arbor, now has nearly 300,000 signatures on her petition on Change.org. Among them is that of New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who tweeted Monday that she supports the teen's effort to lower the film's R rating to PG-13. Gerry Lopez, chief of AMC Theaters, also added his name to the petition, the Weinstein Co. said.

MPAA spokesman Howard Gantman did not address the possibility of a PG-13 for "Bully" in his response Tuesday to the growing call for a revision of its rating.

"We respect the viewpoints of members of Congress and the public and Hollywood celebrities who care deeply about an issue that is troubling our nation," he said in an email. "The MPAA shares the goal of shining a light on the problems caused by bullying, and we hope that this new film and the national discussion about it among educators, parents and students will help lead to ways to better ensure that kids feel safe and protected when they come to school."

'The Lone Ranger' Multi-Million Dollar Set ... In the Middle of Nowhere

Producers have erected an authentic-looking old west town in the middle of the New Mexico desert ... complete with a saloon, a jail and a real functioning railway.

Price was no object ... the budget for the movie, featuring Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer, is reported to be north of $200 MILLION.

Johnny Depp in 21 Jump Street Movie: "Even the Crew on Set Didn't Recognize Him!"

By now you've probably heard that the superstar appears in the upcoming 21 Jump Street flick, Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum's reboot of the television series that launched Depp's career.

We're not spilling on who he plays (don't want to ruin the surprise!), but we can tell you...

He did not reprise his original role of Officer Tom Hanson for the movie (in theaters March 16).

In fact, Depp goes completely unrecognizable—until the big reveal, that is.

I'm told he spent about three hours in makeup for the transformation for the one-day shoot.

"Even the crew on set didn't recognize him," a source reports. "They were telling him what to do and giving him all sorts of direction like he was one of the extras."

The part was apparently written specifically for Mr. Depp.

New Girl star Jake Johnson, who plays the high school principal in 21 Jump Street, told us back in October that Depp's appearance was "more than just a moment."

It certainly is.

Now we want to hear from you. Excited for the 21 Jump Street movie?

Johnny Depp and Armie Hammer in 'The Lone Ranger': first look

Hammer looks just about perfect as the Lone Ranger, in this picture tweeted by producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Depp, however, looks a bit like Jack Sparrow. A little overdone, you know what we mean? We really have no idea where Verbinski is going as far as style, but we're willing to wait and see.

We're pretty excited about this film. Are you guys looking forward to it? What do you think of the first shot? Were you fans of the original show?

Johnny Depp's Slumming It in NYC, but Is He Still Hot?

Johnny Depp was caught on the streets of NYC this week looking more like a train wreck engineer than a movie star, but he still makes us want to go, "Woo! Wooooo!"

No matter how uncoordinated his outfit, no matter how long since he last bathed, no matter how outlandish the getup, Johnny is—quite simply—always hot stuff. (OK, his Edward Scissorhands outfit was a bit off-putting, but frankly that's only because of the puckered lipstick. All those belts and buckles looked great on him!)

There's just something about his easy, cool style that makes him look like he's one step ahead of the fashion curve, or perhaps he's just above it.

Seriously, look at this! He even makes that denim and leather-trimmed jacket look good!

Rihanna should have such luck.

Johnny Depp begins work on 'The Lone Ranger'

Armie Hammer has taken his spot in the title role along with Johnny Depp -- playing the role of "spirit warrior Tonto" -- in the production that is now underway, according to a release from Walt Disney Studios.

The movie brings together the original filmmaking team of the first three Pirates of the Caribbean blockbusters -- Depp, director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

The Lone Ranger also stars Helena Bonham Carter, Tom Wilkinson, Barry Pepper and William Fichtner.

Even though Depp is playing the sidekick of the famous hero of the West, be sure his part will be expanded. The Disney release even explains that the "tale is brought to life through new eyes -- Native American spirit warrior Tonto recounts the untold tales that transformed John Reid (Hammer), a man of the law, into a legend of justice."

"The two unlikely heroes must learn to work together and fight against greed and corruption," the release continues.

The movie will be shot in Western locations including New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado.

It is due to hit theaters May 31, 2013.

"Rango" wins Oscar for best animated feature film

Depp voices Rango, who ends up stuck in a desert town called Dirt, where he takes on the role of sheriff and leads a quest to replenish the town's water supply.

The film is directed by Gore Verbinski, the man behind three of the blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies that also star Depp. "Rango" is Verbinski's first animated movie.

The film features references to classic movie westerns and is filled with sophisticated humor appreciated by adults.

"Someone asked me if this film was for kids," Verbinski said as he accepted the award. "It was certainly created by a bunch of grown-ups acting like children."

Asked backstage if he had hoped to win an Oscar for live action rather than animation, Verbinski said: "I'm feeling I'm dreaming right now. I don't think it matters."

"Rango" has won a slew of other awards, including a BAFTA and a People's Choice Award for favorite animated movie voice.

The movie distributed by Viacom Inc unit Paramount Pictures has taken more than $245 million at the worldwide box-office and also features the voices of Ilsa Fisher, Abigail Breslin, and Ned Beatty.

With an estimated $135 million budget, "Rango" was one of the most expensive animated films produced by Paramount's sister studio Nickelodeon Movies. Viacom had been said to be gearing up production by its animation studio in the event Paramount lost distribution rights to films made by Dreamworks Animation.

Dreamworks can end its distribution agreement with Paramount later this year and has been considering moving to another studio or distributing its own movies.

"Rango" triumphed at the Academy Awards over two movies from Dreamworks Animation -- sequel "Kung Fu Panda 2" and "Shrek"-spinoff "Puss in Boots."

For the first time, the animated feature nominees included two foreign-language films, "A Cat in Paris" and "Chico & Rita." Both used traditional hand-drawn animation rather than the computer images that dominate the category today.

"A Cat in Paris" is a French crime drama by Jean-Loup Felicioli and Alain Gangol and Spanish romance "Chico & Rita" is from Javier Mariscal and past Oscar winner Fernando Trueba, who won the foreign language film award for 1993's "Belle Epoque."

Notably absent from this year's animation nominees was Walt Disney Co's celebrated Pixar studio. Pixar has won the animated feature Oscar six times since the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences instituted the award in 2002 with films such as "Up" and "Toy Story 3."

Pixar's "Cars 2" sequel was eligible this year, but the movie was panned by critics and did not land a nomination. It was a box office success, however, pulling in nearly $560 million around the world, according to website Box Office Mojo.

Nickelodeon's 2012 Kids' Choice Award Nominations

Favorite Voice from an Animated Movie
Antonio Banderas (Puss in Boots)
Jack Black (Kung Fu Panda 2)
Johnny Depp (Rango)
Katy Perry (The Smurfs)

Johnny Depp Parties at Grammys Bash-Was Vanessa Paradis With Him?

The actor hit a private star-studded soiree, but was Vanessa Paradis with him?

No, there were no Paradis sightings as Depp mingled with guests like Sir Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen at the Foo Fighters' dinner at Fig & Olive eatery in West Hollywood. The actor spent most of the night sipping wine in the lounge area and taking smoking breaks outside.

Towards the end of the evening, the Beatles legend went up to Depp and—get this—poked fun at the actor's iconic Pirates of the Caribbean character by doing a playful imitation of Jack Sparrow! It was all in fun though. McCartney then invited Depp to sit at his table.

Guards blow Depp privacy

'21 Jump Street' to premiere as SXSW centerpiece

The action-comedy stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum in a big screen version of the 1980s Johnny Depp TV series. It will screen March 12 at SXSW, which runs March 9-17.

The conference also announced its closing film will be "Big Easy Express," a documentary about a group of touring folk bands including Mumford & Sons.

SXSW earlier announced that "The Cabin in the Woods," an anticipated horror film co-written by Joss Whedon, will open the festival.

On Wednesday, the festival announced its full slate of 130 features at SXSW 2012. Those were selected from a record 1,957 feature-length submissions.

"Rango" gets brief re-release after Oscar nod

The film, which follows the comic adventures of a heroic chameleon in the Wild West, will return to one theater: the ArcLight Hollywood for a one-week run, beginning January 27.

The film, released in March 2011, has taken in more than $230 million worldwide. In addition to the Academy Awards nominated, "Rango" has won the National Board of Review and Critics' Choice Movie awards for Best Animated Feature.

Vanessa Paradis Addresses Johnny Depp 'Rumors'

She kept mum at her movie premiere, but on Tuesday, French TV panelist Arianne Massenet asked Paradis, 39, the million-dollar question on Le Grand Journal.

"The press is going on about this separation with Johnny Depp ... How do you handle these rumors?" asked Massenet [PEOPLE's French correspondent translated the interview].

"It depends which rumor," Paradis replied. "Here, this is one which could hurt my family. After that ... they say that we have 52 houses in France, we separate in winter, we get married every summer. Me, I'm in my 12th pregnancy."

"All this is, I don't know, because the Queen of England didn't lose her teeth this week and there's nothing happening," Paradis continues of the coverage of her relationship with Depp, 48.

"And to finish the rumors off, they are false?" asked the program's host, Michel Denisot.

"Yes, they are false," she replied.

Which rumors she was referring to remains unclear (or perhaps lost in translation?) But multiple sources tell PEOPLE in this week's cover story that Depp and Paradis's relationship is all but officially over.

"It's so sad," says one insider. The couple have two children together, Lily-Rose, 12, and Jack, 9.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis: Separate Continents

French actress-singer Paradis, 39, has spent the last few days in Paris, where on Friday she shopped in the Marais district and went for a fitting at Chanel's headquarters on Rue Cambon.

While Paradis is expected at Monday's Paris premiere of her film Café de Flore, Depp, 48, has been keeping a low profile in Los Angeles. He was spotted sporting a fedora and driving a luxury sports car Thursday, and he showed up later that night at the Hollywood Museum, according to sources.

He's due in New Mexico next month to start production on his new movie, The Lone Ranger.

Earlier in the week, a solo Paradis was spotted browsing in an art gallery and buying DVDs at the department store FNAC, where she picked out a box set of films by classic comedy director Billy Wilder – highlighted by The Seven-Year Itch, about a married man tempted to stray due to the charms of Marilyn Monroe.

Paradis's initial home base in Paris was the Hotel Costes, where Depp fell in love with her at first sight in 1998. "I saw that back and that neck, and then she turned around and I saw those eyes – and boom! My life as a single man was done," Depp told the Daily Mail last year. Later in the week, Paradis switched hotels.

Reps for Depp and Paradis have still not commented on the state of their relationship. As PEOPLE reports in this week's cover story, the never-wed couple – parents to Lily-Rose, 12, and Jack, 9 – have been leading separate lives, with some sources in their circle saying they have already split.

For more on the state of the Depp-Paradis relationship, pick up this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands now.

'Dark Shadows': Johnny Depp in vampire makeup - yikes!

"Dark Shadows" hits theaters on May 11th, and Depp stars as Barnabas the vampire. The film is based on long-running soap opera of the same name. One of us in the Zap2it office might have loved the nineties re-working of the show so much that she named her birds Barnabas and Victoria after the main characters, so we really want this film to be good. That makeup isn't exactly filling us with confidence.

Here's what's happening in the film. In 1752, Joshua and Naomi Collins set sail from Liverpool, England to America with their young son Barnabas. They brought with them the family curse. Two decades later and Barnabas pretty much runs the town of Collinsport, Maine. He runs Collinwood Manor, he's rich and powerful ... until he breaks the heart of the witch Angelique (Eva Green). She turns him into a vampire and buries him alive. Two centuries later, Barnabas is freed and finds the world of 1972 very different. His estate is in ruins and the remnants of the Collins family are harboring dark secrets.

What do you guys think of Depp's makeup? Are you horrified in a good way or a bad way?

Who's Loving Johnny Depp Now, With Vanessa Paradis (Allegedly) Out of the Picture?

Amid growing speculation that his relationship with Vanessa Paradis is all but officially kaput, the actor just got a big dose of happy—and some serious bragging rights at the next Hollywood A-list mixer...

See, America still loves its Depp more than any other thespian. The star finished atop this year's Harris Poll, earning the title of America's Favorite Actor after a year in which he starred in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and Rango and The Rum Diary (OK, so not everything he touched was gold).

This is the second straight year he's finished in the No. 1 slot in the survey, which rarely matches up with conventional wisdom. (The results are based on 2,237 adults surveyed online between Dec.5 and 12.)

For instance, Denzel Washington and Clint Eastwood, neither of whom actually acted in a movie in 2011, tied for runner-up. Tom Hanks came in at No. 4, while the late John Wayne was right behind at No. 5. Wayne, who died in 1979, is the only actor to have remained on the Harris List since it began in 1994.

George Clooney, Sandra Bullock (the only lady on this list), Harrison Ford, Will Smith and Adam Sandler rounded out the top 10.

That means no Ryan Gosling. No Julia Roberts. And no Brangelina, although Angelina Jolie was America's fifth favorite in last year's results.

Anyone else ready to demand a do-over?

Johnny Depp & Vanessa Paradis: Anatomy of a (Possible) Split

Such rumors have been running rampant for a couple of weeks now, but they really came to a head today in the wake of People's claim that the Pirates of the Caribbean star and his longtime love are all but officially kaput.

So, as we wait to see if it is indeed true, let's take a moment to look back at their nearly 14-year romance...

1993: Depp and Paradis are introduced to each other at a mutual friend's house in France.

1998: Depp, back in France working on Roman Polanski's film The Ninth Gate, spots Paradis in a hotel lobby. The two recall meeting years earlier. Soon after, they begin dating.

May 27, 1999: Depp and Paradis welcome their first child together, daughter Lily-Rose.

Nov. 16, 1999: Paradis joins Depp as he receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

April 9, 2002: Paradis gives birth to the couple's second child, a son, John, but nicknamed Jack.

Feb. 24, 2004: Depp, a Best Actor nominee for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, escorts Paradis to the 76th Annual Academy Awards.

Sept. 16, 2005: The rock-solid relationship is on full display as Paradis watches Depp immortalize himself during the Hand and Footprint ceremony at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

March 2007: Depp and Paradis reveal daughter Lily-Rose is "doing much better" after being discharged from a London hospital for an undisclosed illness.

May 2010: Depp and Paradis head to the south of France for the Cannes International Film Festival.

December 2010: The low-profile family makes a rare public appearance by going to a Dolphins football game in Miami.

Jan. 6, 2012: Reports begin to surface that Depp and Paradis are on the outs, with Radar citing a source that "their relationship is heading toward the end."

Jan. 15, 2012: Depp attends the Golden Globes without Paradis.

Jan. 18, 2012: People reports Depp and Paradis are currently living "separate lives," pointing out that the couple have not appeared together on a red carpet in over a year.

E! News has reached out to Depp's rep for a comment. However, no word back yet.

Johnny Depp & Vanessa Paradis Living 'Sad' Separate Lives

But that time is no more, and now the couple largely reside in L.A. – when they are in the same city at all.

Depp, 48, and Paradis, 39, who are parents to Lily-Rose, 12, and Jack, 9, have not appeared side-by-side on a red carpet for more than a year. Multiple sources tell PEOPLE in this week's cover story that the relationship is all but officially finished.

In fact, some in their circle say the couple of nearly 14 years have already split. Says one insider: "It's so sad."

For much more on this story, including details on Depp's solo nights out, pick up this week's issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.

"Lone Ranger" finally set to start shooting

Principal photography for the big-budget film will start in February in New Mexico, Governor Susana Martinez and the New Mexico Film Office announced Friday.

Production for director Gore Verbinski's movie is planned in and around Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Shiprock and other locations in New Mexico. It is expected to continue in the state until the middle of August.

New Mexico officials said they've been working with Walt Disney Studios for more than a year to bring "The Lone Ranger" to New Mexico.

"'The Lone Ranger' is proof that New Mexico's film industry is alive and well," Martinez said. "As we continue to build upon our reputation as a premier film production center, we are pleased to welcome 'The Lone Ranger' to our state."

"We couldn't be happier to bring 'The Lone Ranger' production to New Mexico," producer Jerry Bruckheimer said in a statement. "The state's world-class crews, local talent and spectacular locations will be critical in helping us take this iconic story and legendary characters to new heights."

Production was originally supposed to start in October, but in August, Disney stopped the project due to budget concerns.

The budget was initially estimated to be between $250 million and $275 million, but Disney, Verbinski and Bruckheimer trimmed it to approximately $215 million.

In mid-October, Disney announced that the project was back on.

"#THELONERANGER....and Tonto...will ride again," Bruckheimer later tweeted. "Excited for another adventure with Johnny Depp and Gore Verbinski. Hi-Yo Silver, Away."

"The Lone Ranger" is due to hit theaters May 31, 2013. It had originally been scheduled for release on December 21, 2012.

"The Lone Ranger" features Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as John Reid, a.k.a. the Lone Ranger.

Golden Globe Quote

2012 People's Choice Awards winners list

Johnny Depp & Barack Obama: The Alice In Wonderland-Inspired Meeting We Never Knew About!

So it's fittingly odd and unusual that a visit the movie star made to the White House two years ago—in full Mad Hatter regalia, no less—wasn't reported until now.

Curiouser and curiouser...

It turns out that Depp, Tim Burton and Mia Wasikowska made appearances at the White House's Alice in Wonderland-themed Halloween party in 2009, where roughly 2,000 kids frolicked on the North Lawn and got to see Barack and Michelle Obama.

But only 200 very special guests made it inside the White House for an invitation-only party featuring the Alice VIPS, all of whom dressed for the occasion. (Burton appears to have gone as the Knave of Hearts.) And considering Alice in Wonderland didn't hit theaters until March 2010, the insiders got quite the up-close-and-personal sneak preview.

Dueling versions of this so-called hush-hush event are now swirling in the media, after Jody Kantor supposedly blew the lid off the party in her new book, The Obamas, writing, "White House officials were so nervous about how a splashy, Hollywood-esque party would look to jobless Americans—or their representatives in Congress, who would soon vote on health care—that the event was not discussed publicly and Burton's and Depp's contributions went unacknowledged."

White House press secretary Jay Carney denies that hosting Depp & Co. was some kind of covert op, telling the Washington Post, "This was an event for military children and their families inside the White House, where the press came, photographs were taken."

Meanwhile, another White House spokesman, Eric Schultz, says he doesn't know who took the photo of the Obamas with Depp, Burton and Wasikowska that's now making the rounds, because the first family didn't issue any high-profile pics from the event themselves.

So it turns out the Obamas are just like us—huge Johnny Depp fans. Though we would have tweeted the heck out of this party.

Pitt top celeb money maker in 2011

Bosses at Quigley Publishing Company have asked theatre owners and film buyers to vote for their top 10 box office generators and this year exhibitors credited Pitt with bringing in more traffic than any other celebrity due to his acting and/or vocal appearances in Moneyball, The Tree of Life, and Happy Feet Two.

Coming in at number two was Pitt's pal George Clooney for both The Ides of March and The Descendants, and last year's winner, Johnny Depp, fell to third with The Rum Diary, Rango and Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

Rounding out the group were Leonardo DiCaprio at four with J. Edgar and Matt Damon at five.

Also making the list, in ranking order, were Sandra Bullock, Bradley Cooper, Robert Downey, Jr., Meryl Streep and Ben Stiller.

Depp tops celeb Christmas guest poll

The Pirates of the Caribbean star has been named the dream Christmas dinner guest by more than 1,000 movie fans in a poll conducted by Britain's Sky Movies HD Christmas Channel.

The Hollywood hunk saw off competition from fellow actors including George Clooney and Tom Hanks, who finished second and third respectively.

Love Actually star Emma Thompson was the top British nominee and highest-ranked actress at number four, while Friends favourite Jennifer Aniston was a popular pick in fifth place.

Ian Lewis, director of Sky Movies, says, "The guys led at the top of the league and while Hanks and Clooney would both undoubtedly light up anyone's Christmas, Depp was the clear winner for U.K. film fans. He is this year's ultimate Christmas cracker."

The 10 most popular festive guests are as follows:

1. Johnny Depp
2. George Clooney
3. Tom Hanks
4. Emma Thompson
5. Jennifer Aniston
6. Julia Roberts
7. Simon Pegg
8. Hugh Grant
9. Cameron Diaz
10. Jim Carrey.

Natalie Portman tops IMDb's most-viewed list

The movie website released the list, which is based on the number of views received by actors' profile pages, on Tuesday.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" star, who is now No. 3, had held the No. 1 perch for six of the past seven years.

"The Help" actress Emma Stone is No. 4.

"Thor" actor Chris Hemsworth -- the only man to appear in the top 10 for the first time -- is No. 5.

Next up is "Cowboys & Aliens" actress Olivia Wilde at No. 6, followed by Jennifer Lawrence, the Oscar-nominated star of "Winter's Bone," at No. 7. Lawrence cracked the top 100 for the first time this year.

George Clooney, who has received Golden Globe and SAG Award nominations for his starring role in "The Descendants," is at No. 8.

Rounding out the list are "Drive" star Ryan Gosling and Christian Bale, whose upcoming film "The Dark Knight Rises" is due July 20.

The number of women on this year's list -- five -- is two more than the number on the 2010 list.

For the first time in four years, no "Twilight" actors are on the IMDb list -- despite "Breaking Dawn -- Part 1" being one of the highest-grossing movies of the year.

Kristen Stewart, who was No. 2 on last year's list, fell to No. 12. Robert Pattinson, who topped the list in 2009 and came in third in 2010, dropped to #26.

IMDb Managing Editor Keith Simanton chalked up Portman's topping of the list to her Best Actress Oscar for "Black Swan" and roles in three films in 2011: "No Strings Attached," "Your Highness" and "Thor."

Additionally, Portman was a regular fixture in the tabloids this year, as she had a baby boy in June.

As for Kunis, the "Friends With Benefits" actress's No. 2 spot was perhaps boosted by her attendance at a Marine Corps Ball in November, Simanton said. While stationed in Afghanistan, the soldier asked out Kunis through a video on YouTube.

Theron, Depp top 2012 hot list

Editors at leading movie news and ticket website Fandango.com asked film fans to select the stars that turn them on in the most-anticipated releases of 2012 and the foursome came top of the separate male and female hot lists.

Theron, who will terrify as the evil queen in Snow White & The Huntsman, has topped the women's list of sexiest female stars, beating Gravity's Sandra Bullock and Kate Beckinsale, the star of 2012 movies Total Recall, Underworld 4 and Contraband, while the British actress tops the men's list, ahead of The Avengers' Scarlett Johansson.

Female poll respondents picked Johnny Depp as the sexiest guy, ahead of George Clooney, while the men gave Robert Downey, Jr. the edge over Clooney.Thousands of film fans responded to the survey, which was first posted on Fandango.com on Dec. 1.

The Fandango Hot List is focused on next year's films, and performers whose upcoming movies do not have a 2012 release date were not included.

LAPD to Johnny Depp -- Mind If We Probe You?

TMZ broke the story ... 52-year-old Robyn Ecker filed a police report after the Iggy Pop show in L.A. Thursday night -- claiming she was minding her own business when she accidentally danced too close to Depp's table ... and his bodyguards tackled her.

Robyn claims she was seriously injured during the alleged attack -- and even went to the hospital to get herself checked out.

Law enforcement sources tell us, the LAPD would like to speak to Johnny and his bodyguards about the police report -- and are currently making attempts to interview all of them.

So far, no word from Johnny's rep.

Ho-Ho-Oh-No! Johnny Depp's Jesus-Joking Christmas Tune Blasted as "Blasphemous"

In a move Johnny Depp had to see coming, the conservative groups Christian Coalition and Focus on the Family have lashed out at the actor after he lent his voice to a tongue-in-cheek (and now ragingly controversial) new Christmas tune by the British act Babybird.

The track's name: "Jesus Stag Night Club."

Basically, the song tells the story of a group of teenagers who hire a Jesus look-alike to organize a stag night (better known in these parts as a bachelor party). Over the course of a raucous night, the son of God doppelgänger ends up passed out drunk (possibly dead, some have inferred), and it's revealed that he's not just a copycat, but the real Jesus.

So you can see where the controversy would crop up.

The lyrics include "Saw a man in a bar with his hair like a lady/ Bloody thorns round his ear like he was a crazy/ He had holes in his hands and a cross for a spine/ Crushed a berry in his Perrier and called it wine."

And let's not forget: "I can't remember where I was last night/ Think I was hanging naked off a church spire/ Tied by my ankles to a weather vane/ Felt like I was Jesus on fire/ Cuffed to the bumper of a big truck/ I begged my dad to take me to a strip bar/ Drank kerosene through my eyeballs/ Drove myself home in a stolen car."

Plus the big finish: "Saw a man lying on the floor beaten up/ He had a fish finger sandwich and a yellow M coffee cup/ I bent down drunk and tried to pick him up/ But when I turned around I could see it was Jesus."

Lee Douglas, spokesman for the Christian Coalition, has already called for the song, currently vying to be the traditionally all-important No. 1 single on the U.K. on Christmas Day, to be pulled from British radio and called recording the tune tantamount to "blasphemy."

"I'm sure he thinks he's being very funny, but he's simply a disgrace," Douglas told the U.K.'s Daily Star of Depp's participation in the song.

"One day, Johnny Depp and his cronies will face the judgment of our Lord and they will burn in hell for this filth."

A spokesperson for Focus on the Family released similarly damning statements.

"We are sickened by Mr. Depp's behavior. Why did he need to record this song? It's a slap in the face to Christians all over the world."

Depp has not commented on the brouhaha, but it's not his first time teaming up with Babybird, or frontman Stephen Jones. Depp played guitar on and directed the music video for the single "Unloveable" last year.

Jones took to Twitter to sound off on the controversy: "Christians go to heaven. Sinners go to hell. This is their message of peace. Oh yes and gays can f--k off too. It's a beautiful world, Jesus," he wrote.

He also spoke to E! News. "The Bible is the greatest fiction book of all time," Jones told us. "Incredible stories of magic and mayhem. Full of Hollywood storylines. I was in a Days Inn hotel room last year and in the bedside drawer was the Book of Mormon. But the second 'M' had been scraped off, so that immediately got my interest, and once I delved in, the lyrics for 'Jesus Stag Night' just flowed out of me as though the Lord himself has touched me in my secret place.

"Every song I've ever written is full to the brim with meaning, and this song takes the idea that if Jesus was around today, he would probably be laying low, like I was, in a Days Inn single room, staying incognito to prevent fueling any religious hatred."

As for the controversy surrounding the song, Jones said," If they were true Jesus lovers, they wouldn't own CD players and iPods, they would be wandering the world preaching love and understanding."

And there was at least one person the frontman had kind words for: Depp himself.

"I'm not sure many people know, but Johnny is an incredible guitarist and collects guitars...Johnny has played twice now on tracks. He has the same evil streak as me...We aid each other's artistic license to produce unwatered down genius. It's gospel!"

'Rango,' 'Puss,' 'Tintin' earn Annie nominations

The 10 nominees announced Monday also include James McAvoy's "Arthur Christmas," Owen Wilson's "Cars 2," Jack Black's "Kung Fu Panda 2" and three overseas contenders: "A Cat in Paris," ''Arrugas" and "Chico & Rita."

Cast members earning voice-acting nominations for the Annie Awards include "Arthur Christmas" co-stars Bill Nighy and Ashley Jensen, "Kung Fu Panda 2" co-stars Gary Oldman and James Hong and "Puss in Boots" co-star Zach Galifianakis.

Presented by the International Animated Film Society, the Annie Awards will be handed out Feb. 4 at a ceremony in Los Angeles.

Depp bodyguard hurt Pop fan?

Robyn Ecker, 52, has filed a police report alleging she was tackled to the ground by a security guard who was looking after the star during the gig at Los Angeles' Palladium on Thursday night, according to TMZ.com.

Ecker claims the unnamed bodyguard grabbed her wrists and forced her to the ground after she accidentally got too close to the star, who was seated beside her.

She was subsequently admitted to hospital to treat her alleged injuries and filed a police report about the incident.

Christians take aim at Depp

The Pirates of the Caribbean star teamed up with British rockers Babybird to record The Jesus Stag Night Club, which tells a story of a boozing Christ-like figure in a strip club.

But the track has caused uproar amongst religious groups including the Focus on Family campaign.

A spokesperson says, "We are sickened by Mr. Depp's behaviour. Why did he need to record this song? It is a slap in the face to Christians all over the world."

Lee Douglas of The Christian Coalition adds, "I'm sure he thinks he's being very funny but he's simply a disgrace. One day, Johnny Depp and his cronies will face the judgment of our Lord and they will burn in hell for this filth."

Babybird frontman Stephen Jones has brushed off the controversy, insisting, "Some people have no sense of humour."

Depp missed out on Hugo role

Hugo producer Graham King sent Depp the manuscript for the ambitious new movie before he even had a cast and the two old friends decided to work on the film together.

King tells CinemaBlend.com, "When I first got the manuscript of the book, I sent it to Johnny... He read it and loved it, and I said, 'Let's make this together.'

"There's a role that's not in the movie now that was in the script that he was going to play, a very small role. But we just didn't have the time to do it with the schedule. He was actually across the street shooting Pirates 4."

Sighting

2012 People's Choice Award Nominations

Favorite Movie:
Bridesmaids
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
The Help
Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Favorite Movie Actor:
Daniel Radcliffe
Hugh Jackman
Johnny Depp
Robert Pattinson
Ryan Reynolds

Favorite Animated Movie Voice:
Anne Hathaway as Jewel (Rio)
Jack Black as Po (Kung Fu Panda 2)
Johnny Depp as Rango (Rango)
Katy Perry as Smurfette (The Smurfs)
Owen Wilson as Lightning McQueen (Cars 2)

Depp left France over taxes

The Pirates of the Caribbean star and his long term partner, French singer/actress Vanessa Paradis, moved to her native country in the 1990s to live away from the Hollywood spotlight with their two children.

However, Depp has now moved his family out of France after government officials asked him to become a permanent resident, as he feared he would end up paying tax in both countries.

He tells Britain's The Guardian newspaper, "Well, I kind of do (live back in America). I'm between wherever I end up on location, and then the States. (I left because) France wanted a piece of me. They wanted me to become a permanent resident. Permanent residency status - which changes everything. They just want... Dough. Money... I'm certainly not ready to give up my American citizenship."

Depp goes on to explain that if he spends more than 183 days a year in France he will have to pay income tax in both Europe and America, adding, "So you essentially work for free."

'21 Jump Street' Trailer: Who will Johnny Depp play?

In three minutes and sixteen seconds, the trailer contained at least sixteen instances of cursing... or at least, words we are not allowed to print on this site. (Yeah, we counted. We were bored.)

Though the Ice Cube does acknowledge in the trailer that the undercover unit is a revival of one shut down in the '80s, there's very little in the movie that reminds us of the television show it's based on. It feels more like a "Superbad" sequel. We're curious to see what Depp's role in the film is -- yes, he shot scenes -- because we're hearing that despite the shout out to the previous generation, he won't be playing his original character, Tom Hanson.

Watch the trailer here.

Depp's plane has engine trouble

The Hollywood actor was flying to Los Angeles on a private jet with his The Rum Diary director Bruce Robinson when the engines cut out, leaving both men terrified.

Depp admits his initial reaction inexplicably gave way to laughter as he thought about meeting his end in a plane crash.

He tells Live magazine, "The plane just shut down. The sound of the engines stopped. There was silence. Bruce and I were looking at each other and I think I said, 'Is this it?' It was like this weird extended moment when you're just floating for a second and you could feel this unpleasant descent.

"Nobody said a word except for Bruce and I, sitting next to each other saying, 'Oh s**t! This is death; I guess this is how it goes down.' Then we burst into hysterical laughter at the idea that this was how we were going to die."

The pair eventually breathed a sigh of relief as the engines re-started, and Depp is convinced the experience helped him bond with Robinson.

He adds, "Suddenly the engines started back up again and we were climbing back up. I guess you could say that was a big bonding experience for Bruce and me. For a moment there, we were going down together."

"Rum Diary" one of Depp's bigger box office flops

Even with Johnny Depp, the Hunter S. Thompson-themed "Rum Diary" couldn't scrape up more than $5 million at 2,272 North American locations. Considering the movie had a budget of about $45 million, that's a tough opening for the FilmDistrict release.

The movie was also poorly received by filmgoers who did pay to see it, garnering a soft "C" score in post-screening surveys conducted by Cinemascore.

Certainly Depp, who has driven Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise and its "Alice in Wonderland" to multi-billion-dollar heights, has had other disappointments.

Last year's "The Tourist," which also starred Angelina Jolie, grossed $67.3 million domestically and $278.3 million worldwide -- an impressive number, except the movie cost an estimated $100 million to make.

His 2009 film "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" opened to a shabby $1.6 million. It went on to gross $7.6 million domestically and $61.8 worldwide on a $30 million budget.

And his 2006 "The Libertine" fared far worse. It opened to $2.2 million and grossed $4.8 million in North America and $10.8 million worldwide. The film was shot on a modest budget of around $20 million.

And of course, Depp has played Thompson -- who he counted as a close personal friend -- before, in 1998's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas." That movie was made for an estimated $18.4 million and grossed only $10.6 million domestically.

Going into the weekend, FilmDistrict had modest expectations for "Rum Diary." The distributor figured that Depp's appeal and Thompson's cult status would help the movie gross between $9 million - $11 million.

Depp, of course, is a huge international star, and the movie has fared well in the few territories it has premiered in abroad, grossing $2.8 million in the Ukraine and Russia.

"The Rum Diary" also stars Aaron Eckhart, Amber Heard and Giovanni Ribisi. Bruce Robinson wrote and directed and Depp co-produced.

Question: When Isn't Johnny Depp a Leading Man?

Johnny Depp took backseat at the box office to a kid, a cat and Justin Timberlake.

At least he fared better than his old Sleepy Hollow costar.

Depp's The Rum Diary bowed in fifth place in the weekend standings, and averaged just $2,205 at each of its theaters, Sunday estimates showed.

While the boozy R-rated travelogue predictably was outdone by the other two new wide releases, Puss in Boots and Timberlake's In Time, the Hunter S. Thompson tale surprisingly earned few fans from the art-house crowd, whose members overwhelmingly voted Anton Yelchin their leading man.

The 22-year-young Yelchin's visa love story Like Crazy grossed $30,000 at each of its four theaters, by far the weekend's most impressive per-screen average.

For Depp, The Rum Diary is his weakest-debuting film since 2005's The Libertine, and was less potent than his last Thompson-spawned film, 1998's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

The Shrek spinoff Puss in Boots, meanwhile, was no Shrek. While the CGI comedy opened No. 1, it performed more like Gnomeo & Juliet than the ogre's franchise-launching blockbuster.

In Time's debut was so-so, and definitely weaker than Timberlake's ultimately money-making summer comedy, Friends With Benefits.

Elsewhere, Depp's former cohort Christina Ricci could use some extra viewers for her struggling Pan-Am tonight, seeing as how her big-screen Renaissance festival comedy, All's Faire in Love, won't be paying the bills anytime soon. The romantic comedy grossed just $237 at each of its 75 theaters.

Roland Emmerich's heavily promoted Anonymous ($1 million at 265 theaters) was, theater for theater, bigger than most of the films in the Top 10, but didn't pack the punch of Shakespeare in Love, which unlike Anonymous, showed William Shakespeare, like, writing and stuff.

Here's a complete look at the weekend's top movies, as compiled from the studios' domestic estimates and Exhibitor Relations stats:

Puss in Boots, $34 million
Paranormal Activity 3, $18.5 million
In Time, $12 million
Footloose, $5.4 million
The Rum Diary, $5 million
Real Steel, $4.7 million
The Three Musketeers, $3.5 million
The Ides of March, $2.7 million
Moneyball, $2.4 million
Courageous, $1.8 million

Johnny Depp has a (scripted) bone to pick with Ricky Gervais in 'Life's Too Short'

Johnny Depp certainly hasn't forgotten. Or rather, he's willing to act like he hasn't forgotten by doing a cameo in Gervais and Stephen Merchant's new series "Life's Too Short." You can watch the scene up above.

The show is a fake documentary about actor Warwick Davis (the "Harry Potter" movies, "Willow"), and Gervais and Merchant play themselves. In the scene above, Depp joins Davis for a meeting, and he's rather frosty toward Gervais (note his choice of ashtray). Depp's last line is deadpan brilliant.

Like Gervais' previous show "Extras," "Life's Too Short" will feature a bevy of celebrity cameos. Liam Neeson, Helena Bonham Carter, Steve Carell and Sting are among those who will appear. "Life's Too Short" premieres in November on BBC Two and on HBO in 2012.

What do you think of the clip? Will you be watching "Life's Too Short"?

'Rum Diary' good - not great

It isn't great. But it gets close.

The Rum Diary was written by Thompson when he was about 22. It's an account of the chaos he encountered while working (briefly) for a newspaper in San Juan, Puerto Rico, circa 1959. In his novel, Thompson wrote of the experiences of one Paul Kemp, journalist; accordingly, it's all brought to life in the film by Depp, who plays Kemp as a heavy drinker who washes up in San Juan hoping for a new start. Or even a gently used start.

Kemp gets a job at the English-language newspaper writing bowling news and horoscopes for visiting Americans, and on his own time, begins to explore the social issues of the island.

Trailer.

Kemp is paired with a photographer at the paper named Sala (scene-stealer Michael Rispoli). Sala offers him a place to live and a chance to drink unbelievably potent moonshine, which Sala makes with a crazed journalist named Moburg (Giovanni Ribisi); Moburg is a drunk who listens to Hitler's speeches on his record player. He seems to represent the worst of what can happen to a man who loses himself in this semi-paradise.

Kemp also encounters a former journalist turned flak named Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart). Sanderson sees Puerto Rico as a gold mine and wants Kemp to join him in his plans to exploit the land and the locals though hotel development. Sanderson's beautiful girlfriend (Amber Heard) injects sexual tension into the story and gives Kemp something to focus on.

Our hero observes the poverty of the locals. He wants to write about the social problems in Puerto Rico, but his editor at the newspaper (Richard Jenkins) wants only cheerful news. Kemp has various alcohol-fuelled mishaps, brushes up against voodoo, winds up in jail and tries to find a way to expose those who would ruin Puerto Rico. Sadly, the second hour of the film meanders along in such a fashion that you might not really care what happens next.

The Rum Diary operates without highs or lows, moving along on an oddly even keel that feels as if it would be anathema to both Hunter Thompson and Johnny Depp. The movie is visually engaging (Amber Heard takes credit for a lot of that) but mild-mannered in its pace and content. While there's enough going on to keep things interesting and a brilliant cast to maintain your interest, the tale peters out in the second half, turning into a sort of shaggy dog story.

Could this all be a problem of expectation on the part of a viewer? Hunter S. Thompson wrote The Rum Diary before he'd fully become Hunter S. Thompson, if you follow. Maybe anticipating anything gonzo here is premature.

'Rum Diary' revels in Hunter S. Thompson

Depp adroitly captures the "gonzo" spirit of the journalist/author/ingester of many substances. Much of the dialogue's offbeat wit seems to come straight from Thompson's book. That distinctive dialogue is the movie's greatest asset.

The Rum Diary was inspired by Thompson's experiences in 1960 in Puerto Rico. Though the story is not strictly biographical, the characters in the book and film are based on those he met.

Depp discovered the unpublished manuscript when visiting Thompson's Colorado home in the 1990s. Together, they decided to publish the novel.

So, clearly, The Rum Diary is a boozy labor of love and tribute to Thompson, who died in 2005, and a celebration of his unique voice. But as a movie it is uneven and lacks cohesion.

The story, which exposes a corrupt scheme to build a massive hotel on unblemished land, lacks the sense of crazed fun in Terry Gilliam's 1998 adaptation of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. But then, The Rum Diary was Thompson's first novel, written in 1959 when he was only 22.

Depp plays Paul Kemp, a lackadaisical writer tired of conventional American life in the Eisenhower era. Kemp takes a job in San Juan at a small newspaper run by a cynical editor. He befriends Sala (Michael Rispoli), a zany photographer, and the two embark on a series of rum-soaked adventures. Kemp also falls for the sexy Chenault (Amber Heard) the girlfriend of Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a wily American developer who wants to turn the most pristine parts of Puerto Rico into a tropical haven for the wealthy.

Sanderson sizes up Kemp's smarts and tenuous situation and makes him an offer he finds hard to refuse. Kemp is paid handsomely in exchange for writing glowing reports about Sanderson's project. He is faced with an ethical decision: use his writing talents for the ruthless capitalist's gain or "take the bastards down." He doesn't really do either, however.

Shot on location in Puerto Rico, the story takes detours to local bars and a harrowing hallucinogenic moment in which the dissipated journalist Moburg (Giovanni Ribisi) gives Sala and Kemp an unnamed drug. They put drops of it in their eyes and Kemp watches as Sala's tongue grows into a devilish snake. This weirdly comic bit feels more like classic Thompson.

While Depp captures Thompson's spirit and has some undeniable funny moments, there are others in which Pirates of the Caribbean's Captain Jack seeps through, without the accent, in his reactions and even underlying his slurring vocal cadence.

The tale was no doubt meant to convey Kemp/Thompson's boozy aimlessness, but the film feels disjointed and meandering as a result.

The Rum Diary * * 1/2 out of four
Stars: Johnny Depp, Michael Rispoli, Aaron Eckhart, Richard Jenkins, Amber Heard, Giovanni Ribisi
Director: Bruce Robinson
Distributor: The Film District
Rating: R for language, brief drug use and sexuality
Running time: 1 hour, 59 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide

Johnny Depp phones it in for meandering "Rum Diary"

Both definitions of the word apply to "The Rum Diary," a meandering comic drama based on an early, semi-autobiographical novel by legendary gonzo journalist and hard drinker Hunter S. Thompson.

Johnny Depp, who produced and stars in the film, was a longtime friend of the Thompson. (The writer committed suicide in 2005 by shooting himself in the head.) Depp previously played Thompson's alter ego, Raoul Duke, in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," a 1998 Terry Gilliam movie based on another of Thompson's books.

This time around, the Thompsonesque character whom Depp plays is called Paul Kemp, a scruffy journalist and boozehound who moves to Puerto Rico in the waning days of the Eisenhower era to take a job as a reporter at a struggling, English-language newspaper in San Juan.

In between turning out fluffy stories ordered up by his toupee-wearing editor (Richard Jenkins) on pale, plump tourists enjoying themselves while holidaying on the island, Paul quaffs copious quantities of rum and befriends a scruffy set of colleagues that includes a photographer (Michael Rispoli) and a drug-addicted former reporter (Giovanni Ribisi).

A plot, such as it is, kicks in when Paul meets a Sanderson, a smooth-talking ex-reporter turned real estate developer who is plotting to build a huge resort on a pristine piece of beachfront land. Will Paul be co-opted by the corrupt Sanderson's sweet talk and money or will he do what's right and expose the developer and his corrupt cronies?

The movie never finds a rhythm, though it does improve once the plot starts to build. Director-screenwriter Bruce Robinson ("Withnail and I") effectively captures the contrasts between the sun-soaked, privileged side and the rum-soaked, seamier side of San Juan life but the movie's major characters remain hazy and mutable.

Depp, while always fun to watch, phoned this one in. He has played this character before -- think of Paul as an updated Captain Jack, minus the dreads -- and relies heavily on a sneer and a quirked eyebrow.

Eckhart is amusing, equal parts suave and sleaze as the developer, while Amber Heard, playing his sex kitten girlfriend, hasn't much of a role other than to look fetching, which she indeed does.

This being a movie based on a Thompson work, there is the requisite hallucinatory sequence involving drug taking. It's actually one of the funnier bits in the movie (Paul thinks a friend's tongue is lengthening astonishingly), going on just long enough to score comically but without stretching on too long.

Hardcore Thompson fans (and Depp fanatics) will want to see "Rum Diary." For anyone else, if the choice is between seeing the movie and lingering for two hours over a tasty rum cocktail with a friend while solving the world's problems (or discussing fashion or sports), consider the latter.

'Wasted' Depp attends film premiere

The Hollywood star portrays a boozing 'gonzo journalist' in the film and life seemed to imitate art in the Big Apple this week when Depp arrived at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) to promote the movie, which is based on the late Hunter S. Thompson book of the same name.

One of Depp's security members had to give the actor a helping hand as soon as he pulled up to the venue in his car, and the bodyguard was photographed lifting Depp up and taking him over to meet and greet the waiting fans, before positioning the star in front of the world's media.

An eyewitness tells WENN, "Depp looked absolutely wasted.

"The bodyguard essentially had to hold him upright the entire time he was on the carpet. He carried him out of the car and then literally picked him up off the ground and carried him over to the fans and handed him a pen.

"After a bit, (the bodyguard) just picked him up and carried him over to pose for the photographers and then held him upright as he walked into the theatre. Depp didn't look like he could stand up on his own for very long without help from his bodyguard."

But Depp remained in good spirits throughout the premiere and was snapped smiling as the bodyguard marched him into the MoMa for the screening.

A representative for the actor was unavailable for comment as WENN went to press.

Johnny Depp Smacks Down Ricky Gervais Over Golden Globes Diss

Maybe someone should have, because it turns out that the seemingly laid-back Depp has been harboring quite a bit of animosity toward the British snarkmeister, all thanks to Gervais' crack about...

The Tourist, right?

Um, no, actually...

In a scene from the British sitcom Life's Too Short, starring Warwick Davis as the head of a talent agency for little people, Davis brings Depp into a meeting with Gervais and Stephen Merchant. Right off the bat, Depp shows he's familiar with Gervais by knocking off his cigarette ash into the Brit's water glass.

"I actually remember him from the Golden Globes," Depp says, settling back into his chair with a smug grin.

"How's it going?" Gervais asks awkwardly.

"I'm fine, man," Depp replies, staring him down. "Just doing another film that's going to make loads of money, probably a lot more money than any film you've ever made. And you?"

(Hey, if Eddie Murphy can't host the Oscars for any reason, maybe Depp wants the job. Check out the comedic timing on this guy!)

Not one to be out-ego'd, Gervais replies, "Just writing—I write and direct all my own stuff."

"How great for you," Depp deadpans. He continues to try to one-up the Extras star, talking about his "brilliant" new film with Tim Burton and how his leading lady, Helena Bonham Carter, thinks Gervais is an idiot.

But though the seeming premise here is that Gervais dissed Depp's film, which was inexplicably nominated for multiple Golden Globes in January, and Depp is supposedly still licking his wounds...that's not quite the case.

"I actually got together with a few pals after the awards, and we wrote some jokes about you," Depp informs his nemesis. "I want you to know this and I want you to carry this with you for the rest of your days: No one makes fun of Tim Allen on my watch."

Who's the last man standing now?!

A Minute With: Johnny Depp and his "Rum Diary"

Due in U.S. theaters on Friday, it is based on his friend Hunter S. Thompson's book of the same name.

After portraying a version of Thompson in the 1998 film "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," Depp again becomes the gonzo journalist's alter ego in "Rum Diary," playing the fictional journalist Paul Kemp in Thompson's pre-gonzo years working in Puerto Rico.

The film, set in 1960s, tells the story of Kemp, an American journalist who travels to the Caribbean island to write for a local newspaper. While enjoying a rum-filled lifestyle, he falls for the attractive fiancee (Amber Heard) of a shady businessman (Aaron Eckhart).

Depp spoke to Reuters about Thompson, who committed suicide in 2005, his own connection to the Caribbean and his next role as Tonto in "The Lone Ranger."

Q: You and Hunter were such good friends. Whose idea was it to turn "The Rum Diary" into a movie?

A: "It was his idea to produce it as a film. I found the manuscript (in his home). We were reading it, sitting cross-legged on the floor and he said, 'We have to make this into a film and produce it together.' I said 'Sure,' never knowing that we would full-on go through with it."

Q: What was the next step?

A: "Hunter and I had all these horrendous meetings. We weren't accustomed to doing a song-and-dance to try and drum up money. We'd be sitting with bottles of Chivas (Scotch whisky) and these (potential financiers) would arrive completely shocked and confused."

Q: How did you keep Hunter's spirit alive on the set?

A: "I wanted Hunter's spirit to permeate (the set) and I wanted everybody to know that Hunter was there. We had his chair with his name on it. We had his script with his name on it. We had a bottle of Chivas with a high ball glass, tumbler filled with ice. We had his cigarettes, his cigarette filters, his ashtray ..."

Q: Did you do anything with them?

A: "(Director) Bruce (Robinson) and I would dip into the Chivas and put it behind our ears so we had Hunter with us. Two weeks in, everyone was dipping."

Q: Does playing Hunter come naturally to you?

A: "Yeah, almost too naturally!"

Q: How did you and Hunter first meet and bond?

A: "I first met him when he walked into the Woody Creek Tavern waving a giant cattle prod and a Taser gun ... He invited me back to his place, and I was admiring a nickel plated shotgun on his wall, 12 gauge. He says, 'Wanna shoot it?'

Q: Did you?

A: "Well, It was about 2:30 in the morning and then he said, 'Let's build a bomb!' So we built bombs out of propane tanks with nitroglycerin, took it out in the backyard and I shot it. It exploded into, like, an 80-foot fireball.

"I think that was kind of my initiation. Had I potentially flubbed the shooting of the bomb, it might have been a different story. But I hit it dead on, square on and he was so happy. (laughs) From that moment on, it was nonstop."

Q: You shot 'Rum Diary' and the 'Pirates' films in various Caribbean locations, and now you have your own island there too. Do you feel a special connection to the Caribbean?

A: "I do. It's one of the most welcoming places in the world I've been to. The ultimate irony is that I was given an opportunity to do a pirate movie back in 2003 that even Disney thought was gonna crap out. That was the thing that allowed me to buy my dream, to buy the island -- a pirate movie!"

Q: Which changed everything for you on many levels.

A: "It's nuts. It's really nuts. I took a left when everybody said, 'take a right' and things happened somehow. I really didn't instigate any of it. It's pretty wild."

Q: Now you're about to play Tonto in "The Lone Ranger."

A: "I know the character pretty well so far. The main thing with Tonto is the fact that 60 plus years in Hollywood, the Indians have been treated like second and third class citizens. And I can't abide. So Tonto has to take the bull by the horns, in a way. But in his own way, a special way, and not the very obvious way."

Johnny Depp Finished With Keith Richards!

"I didn't know until I started working with him what an amazing painter he was…what an amazing musician he is," Rum Diaries director Bruce Robinson told us last night at the New York premiere. "He is really like a Renaissance man. He can do everything. He can play any instrument. He is a great oil painter."

Depp has even painted portraits of his Pirates of the Caribbean costar Keith Richards (who was also on hand last night), and gave one them away while filming his latest movie.

"He gave me a beautiful painting 8 feet square of his friend Keith Richards. So, it is on my wall in England," the director explained. "It is this massive painting, oil painting, of Keith Richards."

Wonder if the Rolling Stone rocker knows that Johnny's depicted him on canvas?

But while he gave up a painting of Richards, their collaborations are far from over.

At the Playboy after party at Hiro Ballroom, Johnny and Keith even joined the band on stage. "Johnny was on guitar and Keith was on guitar and vocals for a 6 minute set," an eyewitness tells us. "The entire crowd rushed the stage with camera phones out to capture this iconic moment."

Clearly, these guys know how to party.

"He likes red wine and so do I," the director said earlier on the red carpet, adding that they never got super drunk during filming. "We did get drunk a couple of occasions, but never excessively. The work is too hard. You just can't do it. But both of us are very fond of red wine."

We bet everyone had a few glasses last night to celebrate!

Johnny Depp Plays a Surprise Concert in Texas

Depp channels pal Thompson again for 'Rum Diary'

Seventeen years later, Depp is making good on one of his close friend's last wishes, producing and starring in a film adaptation of Thompson's "The Rum Diary," written in the early 1960s but not published until Depp stumbled on the manuscript a quarter-century after.

Depp and Thompson, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in 2005, bonded instantly at that first meeting in 1994, when the actor was spending Christmas in Aspen, Colo., near the author's home. A fan of Thompson's since reading the gonzo journalist's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" in his late teens, Depp jumped at the chance when a mutual friend asked if he wanted to meet him.

Depp was told to turn up at the tavern at midnight. Soon after, Thompson entered brandishing his cattle prod and Taser.

"People were hurling their bodies, leaping out of the way to try and save themselves from this maniac," Depp said in an interview. "Then he made his way to me. The sparks had died down, he just walked right up to me and put his hand out and said, 'How do you do? My name is Hunter.'"

Thompson and Depp quickly discovered they both were born in Kentucky and shared many literary heroes, among them Ernest Hemingway and Nathaniel West. Around 2:30 that morning, they were at Thompson's house, where Depp admired a nickel-plated shotgun on the wall.

"'Would you like to fire it?'" Depp recalled Thompson saying. "I said, 'Yeah. Great, man.' He says, 'All right, great. We must build bombs.' So we built bombs in his sink out of propane tanks and nitroglycerin. Then we took them out back and he said, 'All right, you get first crack.' So I leveled that 12-gauge and I blew it up — 80-foot fireball.

"I think that was my kind of rite of passage with Hunter. I think that was my test that I was OK."

Depp went on to play Thompson's alter ego in the 1998 movie adaptation of "Fear and Loathing." While preparing for that role, Depp spent time in the basement of Thompson's home, sorting through boxes of "Fear and Loathing" artifacts — "cherry stems and cocktail napkins and all these weird notations, and photographs of monkeys. Who knew what was in there?" Depp recalled.

Then he opened another box and found a manuscript titled "The Rum Diary" in red letters. He figured Thompson had not looked at it since writing it decades earlier, the story based on the author's experiences as a young reporter in Puerto Rico.

Sitting cross-legged on the floor, Depp and Thompson passed pages back and forth. Within about half an hour, Depp had persuaded Thompson to publish the novel. In return, Thompson insisted they should do a film version.

They developed the project together for years, and Depp became even more committed to bringing the story to the screen after Thompson killed himself amid assorted maladies and declining health.

"There's nothing more delightful than to see an actor play a role that he puts everything into," said Graham King, a producer on "The Rum Diary."

"I'm not saying he doesn't put everything into every movie, but this was different. This was something that was so close to his heart. It wasn't a gig. It wasn't a job for him."

"Johnny is Hunter in many ways. Hunter set out to do something that no one else had done before, and I feel like Johnny does that in many things," said co-star Amber Heard. "He's doing exactly what he wants to do, and I think it's wonderful and important to fight to make projects that he feels have artistic integrity."

A box-office risk early in his career for oddball films that rarely made money, Depp has been able to call his own shots in the years since he became a Hollywood breadwinner with hits such as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Still, it was a challenge to find backers for "The Rum Diary," which stars Depp as Paul Kemp, a Thompson alter ego in his formative years, arriving in San Juan as an aimless tenderfoot who encounters corrupt developers despoiling an island paradise and discovers his purpose — to take on "the bastards" wherever he finds them.

Aaron Eckhart co-stars as a slimy public relations man whose girlfriend (Heard) becomes Kemp's object of lust. The cast also includes Giovanni Ribisi, Richard Jenkins and Michael Rispoli.

To write the screenplay and direct, Depp and Thompson enlisted Bruce Robinson ("Withnail & I"), a filmmaker who recognized himself and Thompson as kindred spirits.

"We were writing in the same vernacular, a voice of comedic rage," Robinson said. "What are you going to have, a hand grenade or a word? Hunter chose the word."

Though Thompson was gone, Depp made him a spectral producer from beyond, insisting there be a chair with Thompson's name on the set, beside it an ashtray, a packet of Dunhill cigarettes, a bottle of Chivas Regal and a highball glass.

Each morning, Depp and Robinson would pour a drink for Thompson.

"Everybody was there for Johnny, and Johnny was there for the love of the man," Eckhart said. "That was palpable on the set, between Hunter's chair and their sacrament to him each day."

If Thompson were around to review his performance, Depp figures he would "come up with some unbelievably witty, clever remark that would just sort of chop me off at the ankles. ... And then seconds later, he would have praised it, I believe.

"When I called him for 'Fear and Loathing,' I was scared that was the end of our friendship, because I had played him, I think, pretty close to the bone," Depp said. "I told him early on, 'If I do this right, you might hate me forever.' He said, 'Well it's a chance you've got to take, isn't it?' So I did it, but after 'Fear and Loathing,' I called him and I said, 'All right, you saw it? Do you hate me?'

"And I think by me saying, 'Do you hate me?' he knew I was in pain. He couldn't stand the idea of (messing) with me, and he said, 'No, no, man. It was like an eerie trumpet call over a lost battlefield.' I mean, that just came out of his mouth on the telephone. ... It doesn't get better."

Review: The birth of Gonzo in 'The Rum Diary'

He was certainly a superhero of a kind, just one whose powers mainly consisted of consuming copious amounts of alcohol while still, somehow, churning out wildly colorful, raging dispatches from the road.

"The Rum Diary" is based on Thompson's heavily autobiographical novel by the same name, which he wrote as a 22-year-old in the early 1960s after a stint as a newspaper reporter in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It wasn't published until 1998. Since then, Thompson's friend Johnny Depp (who also played Thompson in 1998's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas") has been trying to adapt "The Rum Diary" to the screen.

"The Rum Diary" — which is dedicated to Thompson, who died in 2005 — is essentially a portrait of the Duke as a young journalist. The stand-in for Thompson, the young novelist-reporter Paul Kemp (Depp), is trying to find his way and his writing voice: It's the birth of Gonzo.

Criminally exaggerated resume in hand, Kemp has gone to Puerto Rico to try his hand as a reporter. He lands a job at the San Juan Star, whose editor-in-chief, Lotterman (the excellent Richard Jenkins), is at his wit's end running a failing, diminishing daily. As he interviews a hung-over Kemp, he quizzes him on what kind of drinker he is, to which Kemp deadpans that he's at "the upper-end of social."

Kemp is befriended by staff photographer Sala (Michael Rispoli, in a deservedly big part for him), a burly, genial newsman who is nevertheless not once seen with a camera in hand. Kemp moves into Sala's dilapidated dump of an apartment, which he shares with crime reporter Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi), a horse-voiced, over-drugged oddity who listens to Hitler broadcasts and sets some kind of record for caustic reporter-editor relations.

Kemp catches the attention of American businessman Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a smooth manipulator who is trying to push through an enormous development of a nearby, pristine island that's pushing locals out in favor of American investors. Sanderson recruits Kemp to spin the development favorably in the Star.

This picture of American corruption of Puerto Rico is one of the more compelling aspects of "The Rum Diary." A combative atmosphere between poor locals and rich Americans hangs in the air, as do the Navy bombing tests on Vieques. Depp is again in the Caribbean among pirates.

Sanderson's slick, wealthy appeal is tempting to Kemp, who isn't finding the constricting Star to be an especially noble pursuit, either. Even more alluring is Sanderson's beautiful fiancée Chenault, played by Amber Heard. Kemp immediately falls for her ("Oh God, why did she have to happen?" he mutters after meeting her) and it's no wonder: Heard is a stunning presence.

This builds slowly for Kemp into a moral crisis and, finally, an artistic tipping-point. "I don't know how to write like me," he says, but by the end of the film, it's clear that Kemp/Thompson has found his legs. The guiding principle is a furious distrust of authority (we glimpse him cursing Nixon), and a key ingredient is hallucinogens (we also get an early encounter with LSD).

You might expect a tribute such as this to be sycophantic, but director Bruce Robinson (famous for the brilliant cult film "Withnail & I") keeps a realistic tone. Robinson, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation, doesn't present the cartoonish Thompson we've come to expect. It's a refreshing, grounded view of the writer.

Depp, at this point, would seem to not be aging. This more low-key performance as a Thompson alter-ego feels truer than the manic derangement of "Fear and Loathing," but the role is also lacking yearning and real energy.

Thompson went on to find his voice, but "The Rum Diary," entertaining and well-intended, comes just shy of discovering its own.

"The Rum Diary," a FilmDistrict release, is rated R for language, brief drug use and sexuality. Running time: 120 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

Johnny Depp receives film prize

The Hollywood star accepted the event's inaugural Extraordinary Contribution to Film - Acting prize at a glitzy ceremony, and he told the crowd of his surprise at his extraordinary success.

He said, "I've built a career on 20 years of failures."

At the event, Depp also handed out a prize to screenwriter Caroline Thompson, his longtime friend who wrote the script for his 1990 movie Edward Scissorhands, while Bones star David Boreanaz was on hand to give an award to the show's writer Hart Hanson.

Depp concluded the day by putting on a musical set for guests later that evening.

Robert Pattinson vs. Johnny Depp: Who's the Hotter Vampire?

You may be playing a vampire in Tim Burton's upcoming horror flick Dark Shadows, but costar Chloe Moretz still thinks Robert Pattinson is Hollywood's hottest bloodsucker...

"They're two very different vampires," Moretz told us at Spike TV's Scream Awards in Los Angeles. "I'd say that Edward [Cullen] is a lot more sexy and hot, and I think that Johnny's a lot more tortured and deep."

Based on the 1960s TV series, Dark Shadows follows the adventures of centuries-old vampire Barnabas Collins (Depp) and his various run-ins with monsters, witches, werewolves and ghosts.

Fourteen-year-old Moretz plays a "fun-loving 1972 hippie" in the film who actually has to help Barnabas out in the dating department.

"He comes into my room and asks me about how to get a girl in 1972, because he's Victorian," she laughed. "He's from the Elizabethan Age, and he's a vampire. He comes in and he's like, 'How do I get this woman?'"

As for working with Depp, Moretz gushed, "He's amazing. He goes out of his way to be nice and...He makes you very comfortable on set."

Johnny Depp -- Cops Race to L.A. Home After Security Scare

Law enforcement sources tell us ... Johnny wasn't home at the time ... but when officers arrived to the house, they checked out the property to make sure everything was okay.

Eventually, cops determined there was no actual threat -- and Johnny's house got the "all clear."

Johnny Depp on His Daughter Dating: "I'll Probably Be Standing There With a Tire Iron"

The wacky actor, currently doing the press rounds for his new movie The Rum Diary, talked family and his daughter growing up fast to E! News, spilling his plan about what he's going to do when a guy comes to the door.

What did he say?

"I'll probably be standing there with a tire iron," he said with a smile. "Yeah, probably there'll be a bottle of rum in my left hand and a tire iron in the right hand."

Depp, who has Bieber fever, also talked tattoos, saying his markings remind him of different times in his life ("Winona" turned "Wino Forever," anyone?) and said he also keeps journals.

"I do keep a diary and I do write constantly," he revealed.

The Rum Diary is based on a Hunter S. Thompson novel that was published long after it was written in the 1960s.

Asked what the gonzo journalist would have thought of the finished product starring Depp, the actor said he thinks the famous writer would have approved.

"I think first and foremost, he would say something really smartass and sarcastic to initially make me feel, kinda, take me off my feet, and then I believe ultimately he would praise it," he said.

Johnny Depp no stranger to spewing fire

The star has a highly memorable moment in his new movie The Rum Diary when he spews powerful Puerto Rican alcohol into a match, creating a human blow torch.

Yes, Depp actually did the trick for the film ("I was very excited that night about the possibility of actually spewing fire," he said).

But it's certainly not the first time.

In fact, during a press conference for the film on Wednesday, Depp admitted that he had a dangerous fire-breathing bout during his childhood.

"I did spew a little fire when I was a youth," he said. "I very dumbly chugged a little bit of gasoline and blew it into a torch and my head was on fire. That's true."

Depp went on to explain:

"It's a weird thing when your head is on fire," he said. "You tend to panic first. And then when panic sets in and you cannot get your face out, you run. Which is the worst thing you can do. A friend of mine, a guy named Bones, came over and put my face out. He saved my life."

Not that Depp has learned from the lesson. The actor stars in the movie version of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson's hard-living novel and seemed game to play the part even after the cameras have stopped.

"I'll do it again for you today if you'd like," he deadpanned.

The comment caused the press conference moderator to wrap up the press conference "before he sets the room on fire."

Saddle Up, Johnny Depp! The Lone Ranger Rides Again

While Disney initially scrapped the project, with Johnny Depp starring as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the title character, back in August due to budget concerns, the studio has now decided to resume production.

So, what made them say "giddy up"?

Again, money. But this time, a lot less.

Initially, the film had been budgeted at $250 million, a number which Disney was none too happy about. However, after several discussions between the studio and the filmmakers, the estimated cost was brought down closer to $215 million, per Variety.

That's because several key players reportedly agreed to smaller paychecks. What's more, rewrites were made to the script in order to eliminate some of the more expensive visual effects.

Production on the Gore Verbinski-helmed flick, which had originally been slated to start in November, is now expected to begin next February. Disney has also confirmed that the Western will be released on May 31, 2013.

Johnny Depps sits for CNN interview with Larry King

"Excited to announce my next special: an interview with Johnny Depp! Airs Sunday" at 8p.m. EDT (5 p.m. PDT), King wrote on Twitter.

King had previously mentioned Depp, who rarely sits for TV interviews, as being on his wish list. The 77-year-old talk show host has never interviewed the Oscar nominee before.

Among the topics up for discussion: How Depp, while living in Hunter S. Thompson's basement when he was researching "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," found an old stack of Thompson's writings, which became "The Rum Diary."

Looking for a good film? Head to the museum

Depp is putting in a personal appearance to build word-of-mouth buzz for his movie among an audience group that most likely favors dramas over the feel-good comedies and escapist fare that are dominating theaters these days.

Moreover, he will be appearing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) as part of a movie series backed by Los Angeles-based non-profit group Film Independent and LACMA that, like other museums around the country, are hosting more and more events for movies made outside Hollywood's major studios, as well as foreign-language films and obscure or older titles.

Depp and Bruce Robinson, who directed the movie based on the novel by Depp's friend Hunter S. Thompson, will sit down to discuss "The Rum Diary" with the Film Independent at LACMA curator and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell.

The overall series combines classic movies like Charlie Chaplin's "Modern Times" with new films like "Rum Diary" or the soon-to-be released, "Martha Marcy May Marlene," winner of the directing award at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

"I want it to be as expansive and as eclectic a program as possible," Mitchell said of the series. "I think it cuts quite a swath between Bruce Robinson and ('Accatone' director Pier Paolo) Pasolini to Charlie Chaplin and 'Jackie Brown,' the film that opened the series last month.

At the screening of "Jackie Brown," director Quentin Tarantino surprised audiences by showing up to field questions alongside cast members Pam Grier and Robert Forster. Down the road, the series will host a live table read of 1985 Brat Pack film "The Breakfast Club" featuring a surprise cast directed by Jason Reitman ("Up in the Air").

"Audiences don't really get a chance to see actors shaping a performance in front of their eyes," said Mitchell. "There's a whole group of filmgoers who have never seen live theater."

MUSEUMS AND MOVIES

Movies shown at alternative venues is nothing new, of course, but 'extras' like question-and-answer sessions and celebrity appearances are increasingly being used by museums and independent filmmakers as they compete harder than ever for a audiences distracted by information inundation.

Mimi Brody, curator at Northwestern University's Block Museum in Chicago recalls having to discourage students from opening their laptops during screenings.

"It's funny to see from the projection booth a sea of open laptops," she laughs. "They may be on Facebook while we're asking them to watch 'Guys and Dolls.'"

Tom Vick, curator of the Smithsonian Institute's film department, said it is increasingly difficult to generate crowds by simply showing a movie. Ideally, there is some extra ingredient to the mix to make an event special.

Vick currently is collaborating with the museum's contemporary art curator on a show in which video art will be displayed and the artist may be asked to select movies that have influenced their own work.

While fears persist that dramas, foreign-language and older movies by master directors may be crowded out of theaters, most curators remain confident that, over time, nothing will replace the collective experience of seeing a movie on a big screen. They say museums are the perfect place for that.

"You go (to a museum) because you want to get close to the artifact itself," declares National Gallery curator Margaret Parsons. "You don't want to see a digital version, whether it's a painting, a sculpture or some piece of archeological evidence, and likewise for a screening."

How Large Is Johnny Depp's Role in 21 Jump Street? "It's More Than Just a Moment," Says Costar

Could he actually be resurrecting Tom Hanson, the undercover high school cop he originated in the 1980s television series?

No surprise, but all those involved are under strict orders to keep details about Depp's gig a secret. However...

"It's more than just a moment," Jake Johnson, who plays the principal in the movie, tells us exclusively.

In fact, Johnson admits he wanted Depp's role. "It's a really fun part and I went to my agent afterwards and I was like, 'Hey man, I killed it!'" said Johnson, who currently costars in the new Fox comedy, New Girl. "I was like...I think I've got a really good shot. And he goes, 'For which character?' and I said the character and he goes, 'Yeah, you know, that's Johnny Depp's part if he wants it.'"

The big screen version stars Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum.

Depp told E! News shortly after wrapping Jump Street he worked with Hill and Tatum. "It was fun," he said.

He also told Entertainment Weekly, "It might be difficult to spot me in this one right off the bat. I'll be a little...different."

Since when isn't Johnny Depp different?

Disney close to reviving Johnny Depp's "The Lone Ranger"

In August, the company halted production on the big-budget project, which stars Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the masked man. Gore Verbinski is directing and Jerry Bruckheimer is producing.

An individual close to the project told TheWrap on Tuesday that while a deal to get the project back in production is not yet finalized, it appears imminent.

It took some doing. In order to cut costs -- there was talk the movie would cost more than $250 million -- the script, which apparently contained supernatural elements, had to be reworked. Some of the principals also had to cut their fees.

Even with the cuts, it's an expensive film. TheWrap has learned its budget is still above $200 million.

The studio is hoping to begin shooting in February. The film had been set to begin shooting this month in New Mexico.

"The Lone Ranger" had been set for a December 21, 2012 release.

Depp is extremely important to Disney. His four "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies have grossed the studio more than $3.7 billion, and the studio would like to make a fifth.

On top of that, Depp starred in "Alice in Wonderland," which grossed more than $1 billion.

Verbinski directed Depp in "Rango" and in three "Pirates" films, and Bruckheimer produced all of the "Pirates" movies.

Deadline first reported the news.

Depp eats pavement on L.A. street

The Pirates of the Caribbean star spent the evening at 25 Degrees in Hollywood and as he left the venue he stopped to sign autographs for waiting fans outside.

But as he tried to walk to his waiting car, Depp became tangled with the surging crowd and fell to the ground along with a doorman from the eatery, who was trying to help usher the actor to safety.

Depp, who was uninjured in the incident, immediately stood back on his feet and then covered his face with his hat as he sat in the vehicle to be driven away.

Johnny Depp Gets His Seuss On

While a certain cat may only wear one hat, Johnny Depp has donned quite a few over the years playing a wide range of roles, and his latest possible performance has us so excited that we'd be willing to eat green eggs and ham just to see it.

Depp is developing and producing a live-action biopic about the life of whimsical author Dr. Seuss (aka Theodor Geisel), per The Hollywood Reporter. What's more, the versatile actor is also contemplating taking on the part of the writer himself.

Of course, the star is no stranger to films relating to children's books, having played the Mad Hatter in Alice in Wonderland, Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory as well as Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in Finding Neverland.

While this latest project will most likely not rely too heavily on CGI, it still may feature a little animation.

Let's hope so. Such a thing would make our hearts grow three sizes for sure.

Depp sorry for rape comments

The Hollywood star spoke about his dislike of posing in front of the camera during a chat with Vanity Fair magazine, telling the publication, "Well, you just feel like you're being raped somehow. Raped. The whole thing. It feels like a kind of weird, just weird, man... Whenever you have a photo shoot or something like that, it's like - you just feel dumb. It's just so stupid."

His remarks caused a storm of controversy, with angry members of America's Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) calling for the star to meet victims of sex attacks in order to fully understand the gravity of the crime.

Depp has now apologized for the offence he caused, insisting his comment was down to a "lack of judgement".

He says, "I am truly sorry for offending anyone in any way. I never meant to. It was a poor choice of words on my part in an effort to explain a feeling.

"I understand there is no comparison and I am very regretful. In an effort to correct my lack of judgment, please accept my heartfelt apology."

Johnny Depp Compares Photo Shoots to Rape, Gets Invited to Have His Head Checked

And for someone who seems pretty smart, you'd think he'd say something a little less...well, you be the judge.

RAINN—the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network—fired back today in response to Depp's latest interview with Vanity Fair, in which he directly compares posing for a photo shoot to being raped.

"While photos may feel at times intrusive, being photographed in no way compares to rape—a violent crime which affects another American every two minutes," RAINN spokeswoman Katherine Hull tells E! News.

"RAINN welcomes the opportunity to speak with Mr. Depp and educate him about the real life experiences faced by survivors every day, and ways that he can work with RAINN to help."

Depp's camp hasn't yet responded to a request for comment.

In V.F.'s November cover story on Depp—seemingly the millionth cover that the movie star has graced this year alone—the Rum Diary star says that posing with a fan who asks for a picture is one thing, but he finds photo shoots absurd.

"Well, you just feel like you're being raped somehow," Depp said. "Raped. The whole thing. It feels like a kind of weird, just weird, man...Whenever you have a photo shoot or something like that, it's like—you just feel dumb. It's just so stupid."

That's not the only thing.

Further explaining why he makes so many movies—including popcorn extravaganzas like the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise—if he hates the fame game so much, Depp flatly said that he's fine with taking "the stupid money."

"I mean, it's not for me," the father of two said. "At this point, it's for my kids.

Photo phobia

Johnny Depp's true 'Dark Shadows' vampire revealed!

Last week, long-range paparazzi shots of the actor wearing ghostly white makeup, large sunglasses and a pulled down fedora made fans of the original 1966-71 supernatural soap opera bristle nervously, with complaints he looked simply too strange.

Nevermind that he’s playing a 200-year-old vampire, which is strange enough.

As you can see from this cast shot, Depp’s bloodsucking pater familias Barnabas Collins actually borrows heavily from the aged-little boy look of original Dark Shadows star Jonathan Frid — not that anyone would be happy to see this guy show up as your prom date either.

Still, this official First Look may reassure those die-hard fans of the original series, memorably offbeat ABC daytime drama about a vampire whose extended family are bedeviled by ghosts, witches, and other gothic woes.

Depp, who fought for years to make this movie, is one of those fans. “I do remember, very vividly, practically sprinting home from school in the afternoon to see Jonathan Frid play Barnabas Collins,” the actor says. “Even then, at that age, I knew — this has got to be weird.”

Weird certainly sums up this particular family portrait — a shot director Tim Burton, who also obsessed over Dark Shadows as a boy, staged in the early days of production.

“I remember seeing a group photograph of the cast of the original series,” he tells EW. “For me it captured the weird Dark Shadows vibe in a single image. I had a brief window of opportunity to have our cast present at the same time, the day before principle photography began. We decided to stage a similar picture instead of rehearsing, to see if we captured the Dark Shadows feeling.”

Here’s who those family members are, one by one.

Barnabas Collins (Depp) — He was an 18th century gentleman, a businessman just before the Revolutionary War, who was transformed against his will into a vampire and buried in a tomb for two centuries. After he finally emerges, uncovered by construction workers in the year 1972, he seeks out his descendants — as well as some long-ago foes and a possible lost love.

“He’s been alive this whole time and very hungry, with no idea what’s going on outside,” says screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (author of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which Burton is producing as a film.)

Barnabas is one vampire who is just as frightened of our times as we are of him, says producer Richard D. Zanuck: “Two-hundred years later, he’s suddenly walking into the town he saw being built and seeing girls in skirts, cars for the first time. It’s a man-out-of-time, supernatural horror story, but I put ‘horror’ in quotes.”

Despite his confusion, he’s still a ladies man. “In some sense he can be a terrifying killer; on the other hand, women have a weakness for him and he has a weakness for women,” Grahame-Smith says. “He can be a very well-mannered, well-meaning vampire most of the time, until his stomach is empty or someone challenges his beloved Collins family.”

Here’s that family, from left to right:

Dr. Julia Hoffman (Helena Bonham Carter) – From Alice in Wonderland’s Red Queen, to the cannibalistic cook Mrs. Lovett in Sweeney Todd, Burton can’t help but cast the mother of his children as a deranged person. This prim and proper psychiatrist, who has taken up residence with the Collins family to care for their troubled youngest boy, might seem to break that trend — but don’t bet on it. “Dr. Hoffman’s been there for years, working with David [the little boy in the photo] but not making any progress. He still claims he sees ghosts and talks with his dead mother,” Grahame-Smith says. “She’s crazy but brilliant. Obviously she’s an eccentric, and definitely likes a drink or two. She’s definitely a little bit off her rocker, and is a woman with a lot of secrets herself.” The writer teases: “She’ll also become interested in Barnabas in more than one way. “

Carolyn Stoddard (Chloë Moretz) — Though she played a voracious child vampire in the acclaimed (but little seen) Let Me In, Moretz is on the human side of the spectrum in Dark Shadows — though that doesn’t mean this cousin of young David Collins (and daughter of Michelle Pfeiffer’s character, seen on the far right) isn’t without her own peculiarities. “Carolyn is your typical early-1970s teenager,” Grahame-Smith says. “She likes her music and likes her magazines, and does not like anyone in her family. She likes to keep her door closed and keep to herself. She’s pretty normal, but appearances can be deceiving. I wouldn’t say there is a normal person in this photo.”

Angelique Bouchard (Eva Green) — The Bond girl from Casino Royale turns up here as the villain of the story. “Angelique is a witch who has known Barnabas since the 1700s, when they had an affair that went sour. She is the one who cursed him to be a vampire and locked him in that box,” Grahame-Smith says. “Since he has been away, Angelique has made it her life’s mission to destroy the Collins family. So when Barnabas turns up again after all these years, she’s not very happy to see him.”

David Collins (Gulliver McGrath) — Lonely, confused, and neglected by his pompous father (Jonny Lee Miller, over on the right next to Pfeiffer), David has no one to confide in except his bizarre psychiatrist — and the dead people he claims to see. Grahame-Smith describes him as “a sweet, curious, precocious little boy whose family has branded him as slightly crazy.” Then he finally gets a new caretaker to look after him …

Victoria Winters (Bella Heathcote) — This young woman arrives to become David’s new governess, only to find herself swept up in the vampire-witch melodrama. “When Barnabas meets Victoria, he’s instantly reminded of the woman he lost in the 1700s, before he was cursed to be a vampire,” Grahame-Smith says. “I wouldn’t say he falls in love with her, but there’s an instant attraction, an instant connection.” Is she the reincarnation of his doomed lover Josette du Pres? “We get the sense at the beginning she has a secret past, and that’s unraveled as it goes on,” the screenwriter says.

Mrs. Johnson (Ray Shirley) — “Poor old Mrs. Johnson …” Grahame-Smith sighs when talk turns to the old woman seated in the back behind Depp. “She is the mostly blind, mostly deaf maid, who has been with them for decades and decades. You might find her polishing a piece of silverware with a slab of baloney because she thinks it’s a polishing cloth. I don’t think she actually says anything in the entire film. She’s just sort of there.” He laughs: “Adding her was Tim’s idea.”

Willie Loomis (Jackie Earle Haley) — How awesome is it to play an actual Groundskeeper Willie? The Oscar-nominee for Little Children is a slightly more competent servant than Mrs. Johnson, but that’s not saying much. “He’s the guy who takes out the trash, mows the lawns, and fixes the cars, except he’s usually so drunk and so disinterested that he doesn’t take his job seriously anymore,” Grahame-Smith says. “The lawn is overgrown, the house has fallen into disrepair, and all the cars are on cinder blocks. His heart’s definitely not in the job anymore.”

Roger Collins (Jonny Lee Miller) — This scion of the once-great Collins family is one of the main reasons the aristocratic clan has fallen into such disgrace. “He’s a creepy, self-centered guy who likes to order Willie around, likes to pretend the family is still on top of his game,” Grahame-Smith says. Not only is he a bad father to David, but he is a poor manager of whatever meager wealth the family retains. “When Barnabas shows up and has some very specific ideas about how to make things right, he’s obviously going to bump heads with Roger Collins.”

Elizabeth Collins Stoddard (Michelle Pfeiffer) — The mother of Carolyn Stoddard, and mother-figure to David, she’s the one adult member of the Collins clan who is at least slightly competent. “Elizabeth is the rock of the family. She’s the matriarch,” Grahame-Smith says. “She’s the keeper of the Collins history, and a fierce protector of what remains of her family. She’s the one that insists on the best care for the children, even though money isn’t what it used to be. She’s a very strong woman who unfortunately has been dealt a very difficult deck.” With a witch perpetually trying to destroy her, and a long lost vampire relative turning up to reclaim control, “there’s just too much for her to handle,” Grahame-Smith says.

When the movie opens May 11, we’ll see how she holds up.

Johnny Depp Sports Bright White Makeup on Dark Shadows Set

Looking like the love child of Willy Wonka and Sweeney Todd's Mrs. Lovett, as styled by Edward Scissorhands, Johnny Depp slinks into his latest role, as 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins, shown here on the U.K. set of the film adaptation of the Gothic 1966-71 afternoon TV soap, Dark Shadows.

"There’s something about this vampire coming back after 200 years into this modern world, with a touch of the poetic, with maybe a tendency to maybe wax a little poetic now and again," Depp, 48, told MTV News earlier this year. "I have a good feeling about it. But Jonathan Frid’s Barnabas was so special."

Dark Shadows, set for release next May, will reunite Depp with his frequent collaborator, director Tim Burton, as well as his Sweeney Todd costar Helena Bonham Carter. It will also feature Michelle Pfeiffer, Eva Green, Chloe Moretz and Jackie Earle Haley – and cameo appearances by the TV version's David Selby, Kathryn Leigh Scott, Lara Parker ... and, drumroll, 86-year-old Jonathan Frid.

Bite away.

Does Johnny Depp Put Those Twilight and True Blood Vampires to Shame?

Then again, it's never really Tim Burton's intention to showcase Depp the heartthrob...

In their eighth go-round with Burton in the director's chair and Depp in heavy, pale makeup, the very biteable actor stars in Dark Shadows as Barnabas Collins, a dandy playboy who's turned into a vampire and buried alive by a heartbroken witch in the 1700s, only to resurface in the 1970s.

Culture shock!

But even though Barnabas finds all sorts of weirdos living in his family's decrepit mansion when he wakes up, at least that fedora and those glossy sideburns will translate well in the new millennium, right?

Dark Shadows is based on the gothic soap opera of the same name that aired between 1966 and 1971, featuring all manner of creatures of the ghoulish and beastly variety.

Eva Green, Jonny Lee Miller, Michelle Pfeiffer, Jackie Earle Haley and Burton muse-for-the-ages Helena Bonham Carter also star in the film, which is due in theaters May 11, 2012.

Decision on Depp's "Lone Ranger" expected this week

The project stars Johnny Depp -- perhaps Disney's most important actor -- as Tonto and Armie Hammer, one of Hollywood's brightest young stars, as the masked man. The behind-the-camera talent is as impressive: Gore Verbinski is to direct and Jerry Bruckheimer to produce.

But in August, the studio halted production on the film because of budget concerns. Since then, Disney has acknowledged that "all parties" have been in talks.

An individual with knowledge of the talks told TheWrap on Saturday that a resolution is expected soon after Labor Day.

A spokesman for Disney did not return requests for comment, while a spokeswoman for Bruckheimer referred questions to Disney.

Since August, speculation has been that Disney didn't really want to scrap the movie, rather it wanted to cut costs. The cost of the movie has been estimated at well more than $250 million.

Because Disney wants Depp to star in a fifth in its enormously successful "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, it doesn't want to alienate the star -- or "Pirates" producer Bruckheimer.

Verbinski directed three of the "Pirates" movies.

If the movie goes forward, it'll mean a trimmed-down version of the classic western.

Variety first reported the news.

Johnny Depp Keeps Track of Sex, Booze and Crime in The Rum Diary Trailer

In The Rum Diary, the Oscar nominee plays journalist Paul Kemp, a New Yorker who heads down to Puerto Rico to work for a San Juan newspaper and ends up on a series of trippy adventures thanks to a blond vixen (Amber Heard), her shady boyfriend (Aaron Eckhart) and, go figure, some abnormally high-proof rum.

And, he finds a story, much to the concern of his editor, played by Richard Jenkins.

Maybe if everyone he met weren't so bent on self-destruction, Kemp would have more of a chance at the peaceful existence he seeks, but... Where's the fun in that?

The Rum Diary was a passion project for Depp, who angled to get the film made for years and is credited as a producer. A good friend of Thompson's, who died in 2005, Depp played another harshly-ripped-from-reality character in the screen version of the late gonzo journalist's drug-fueled roman à clef, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Happily, while The Rum Diary promises to have a similar tone and pace as Fear and Loathing, at least this time we're frantically watching Depp go nuts on us with a full head of hair.

Betty White voted America's most trusted celebrity: poll

White, 89, is both the most popular and most trusted celebrity with Americans and the person most likely to drive up the business of a brand she might choose to endorse, according to a poll released on Wednesday.

But the Reuters/Ipsos poll suggested that companies should stay away from Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen if they want to promote their products.

The socialite and reality TV actress, and the fired "Two and A Half Men" star topped the list of the most unpopular and least trusted personalities and were deemed most likely to damage any brands they choose to support.

White, the only surviving member of the key cast members of TV's "Golden Girls" 1980s comedy, has enjoyed a career resurgence in the last few years as a saucy senior in films like "The Proposal" and the TV show "Hot in Cleveland".

She also won an Emmy Award last year for hosting satirical sketch show "Saturday Night Live".

White scored an 86 percent favorable opinion in the Reuters/Ipsos poll, beating Oscar winners Denzel Washington, Sandra Bullock and Clint Eastwood in the survey of the 100 most popular personalities. She easily edged out Britain's Duchess of Cambridge Kate Middleton (5th), Oprah Winfrey (6th), and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama (15th) in the most trusted personalities ranking.

Some 44 percent of those questioned said they would be more likely to do business with a company if White endorsed it.

At the other extreme, 54 percent of the 2,012 Americans questioned for the poll said they would trust a company less if it were endorsed by Sheen, with Hilton coming in second.

Pop star Britney Spears, actor Mel Gibson and golfer Tiger Woods -- who lost several major endorsements after his 2009 sex scandal -- also fared badly.

Below is a list of the top 10 most popular personalities with their "favorable" rating by percentage of voters.

1. Betty White ...........86 pct favorable
2. Denzel Washington .....85 pct
3. Sandra Bullock ........84 pct
4. Clint Eastwood ........83 pct
5. Tom Hanks .............81 pct
6. Harrison Ford .........80 pct
7. Morgan Freeman ........79 pct tie
7. Kate Middleton ........79 pct
9. Will Smith ............77 pct
10. Johnny Depp ...........76 pct

Below is a list of the top 10 most unpopular personalities with their "unfavorable" rating by percentage of voters.

1. Paris Hilton ..........60 pct unfavorable
2. Charlie Sheen .........52 pct
3. Britney Spears ........45 pct tie
3. Kanye West ............45 pct
5. Arnold Schwarzenegger..44 pct
6. Tiger Woods ...........42 pct
7. Kim Kardashian ........38 pct
8. Mel Gibson ............33 pct
9. Donald Trump ..........31 pct
10. LeBron James ..........29 pct

Johnny Depp Denied?! Lone Ranger Movie Scrapped

Disney will not be moving forward with a big-screen version of The Lone Ranger that was to have starred the Oscar nominee as a retooled-for-modern-times Tonto alongside up-and-comer Armie Hammer as the titular Western hero, according to the Hollywood Reporter.

Guess the foundering economy doesn't discriminate among superstars.

Disney had no comment for E! News, but word is, budget concerns were the primary reason production will not be going forth on what was originally hailed as a possible franchise starter.

A source told THR that attached director Gore Verbinski, who as the helmer of the first three Pirates of the Caribbean films certainly knows how to go big, was unwilling to compromise his vision for the film (i.e. work with a smaller budget). Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer was the deep-pocketed guy behind the scenes for this one, as well.

Disney also may have balked due to the recent lack of success of the much-hyped but lukewarmly received Cowboys and Aliens, even though the tried-and-true Lone Ranger burned up screens big and small back in the 1940s, '50s and '60s (not to mention radio in the '30s).

But while this is a blow to Western fans and probably to a few egos, as well, Depp fans won't be going without. He recently finished shooting The Rum Diaries, he's starring in the gothic vampire tale Dark Shadows, and he's got a cameo in the upcoming 21 Jump Street movie.

Teen Choice Awards winners

Who Tops the Charts as Hollywood's Richest Actor?

An A-list celebrity could become a nobody in a year, and that nobody from a year ago could be the coolest thing since sliced bread now (funny how that works). But the guys who stick around and make a name for themselves rack in some major millions.

Forbes has released their list of the five highest-paid actors in the past year. Can you guess who made the cut?

Let's count 'em down and see what they made:

5. Tom Hanks ($35 million): Hanks' latest film, Larry Crowne, didn't do his career justice, earning less than $100 million. But the actor still makes some serious bucks from voicing Woody in Toy Story. The franchise's third film was the highest-grossing animated movie of all time. Hanks next project is starring opposite Sandra Bullock in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

4. Will Smith ($36 million): Lately, Smith has put his own career on the back burner in order to focus on his children's budding careers. He produced The Karate Kid, which starred son Jaden, and is developing a remake of Annie for daughter Willow. Smith did however pick up a nice big paycheck this year for Men in Black III, slated for a May 2012 release.

3. Adam Sandler ($40 million): While he brings on the laughs, he's laughing all the way to the bank. Sandler's films may not be a critic's fave, but his most recent film, Just Go With It, earned $214 million at the global box office.

2. Johnny Depp ($50 million): Depp came in first on this list last year, but got knocked down this time around. He is known for putting his own quirky, and sometimes scary, spin on every role. Whether he's tackling an animated film or being a drunk, hot pirate, his movies bring in the cash. Depp's next role is in Dark Shadows, directed by, you guessed it, Tim Burton.

1. Leonardo DiCaprio ($77 million): The actor shot up to the top from last year's No. 5 ranking. Between Shutter Island and Inception, DiCaprio had an excellent 2010. Aside from creating buzz because of his romantic life with Blake Lively, this year he'll star in J. Edgar, a film about the famous FBI director, directed by Clint Eastwood.

Are you surprised?

Johnny Depp, Disney developing two films

It's early in the process, but Disney is hoping that Depp will star in both, and he and Christi Dembrowski will produce.

"The Night Stalker" is based on the 1972 ABC-TV movie that turned into the series "Kolchak: The Night Stalker." It was about a newspaper reporter in Chicago who investigated mysterious deaths, often finding a supernatural connection.

The Revere movie is based on the colonial figure and his famous midnight ride -- recently brought to light again after former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin misstated the basics of the Revere story.

Lee and Janet Batchler ("Batman Forever") will write that movie. No writer has been attached to "Night Stalker."

Depp and Disney are a profitable team. Their most recent collaboration, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" has grossed more than $1 billion, as did their 2010 "Alice in Wonderland."

Depp is also starring in Disney's 2012 "The Lone Ranger" and is near a deal for a fifth "Pirates" film.

Which of Johnny Depp's Costars Thinks He Looks Good in Drag?

Well how about some good, old fashioned Hollywood royalty! Like, say, Pirates of the Caribbean prince Johnny Depp. The People's Sexiest Man Alive stud tends to get tongues-a-waggin' when he dons a lux tux, but which of his costars thinks he looks particularly swell in a dress?

Penélope Cruz!

The muy caliente mama appears on the cover of the fall issue of V magazine and was more than happy to chat about the infamous pirate she recently swashbuckled alongside. And especially his fashion sense.

Penélope rocks a gender-bending tuxedo in the Victor/Victoria-themed spread, so it's only fitting that she comments on Depp's cross-dressing prowess:

"Johnny wears everything better than I do," Penélope dished to the mag. "He even wore a dress in the movie he did with Javier, Before Night Falls. He wore that dress really well."

In case you're out of the loop, the Javier she's referring to is hubby Javier Bardem and the flick features Johnny sporting a blonde wig and some killer red lipstick as a transvestite named Bon Bon.

And while Penélope stays tight-lipped on her husband and new baby boy, we gotta agree with the gal on Johnny:

This dude makes quite the lovely lady.

Depp earned $350M from 'Pirates'

The development is probably not too surprising since the actor has earned close to $350 million from the Disney franchise, according to the source, making him the highest-paid actor in recent Hollywood history.

Depp is paid a percentage of the movies’ gross profits after the studio breaks even on its production cost and marketing expenses. The four “Pirates” films have grossed about $3.7 billion at the worldwide box office alone. Additionally, the first three have earned hundreds of millions of dollars in DVD, cable TV and other backend revenues.

The fourth film, “On Stranger Tides,” has just passed the $1 billion mark at the box office.

On its most recent list of top-earning actors, Forbes magazine estimated that Depp made $75 million between June 2009 and June 2010.

Depp’s agent, Tracey Jacobs at United Talent Agency, declined to comment on her client’s earnings or the talks for the fifth film. A spokesman for Walt Disney Studios did not respond to requests for comment.

In May, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he was working on a fifth “Pirates” script — and that he wouldn’t make the movie without Depp. The actor is key to the success of the Disney franchise: Without his swashbuckling character, Capt. Jack Sparrow, there’s no “Pirates.”

Depp has been driving huge box office success for Disney for close to a decade. In addition to Sparrow, he played the Mad Hatter in the studio’s 2010 “Alice in Wonderland,” which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. And he’s set to star as Tonto for the studio in next year’s “The Lone Ranger.”

His other recent credits include the thriller “The Tourist,” which co-starred Angelina Jolie. The $100 million film bombed Stateside, grossing just $67.6 million. But Depp’s strong international appeal helped salvage the movie, which made $210.7 million abroad.

Depp also voice-starred in the computer-animated “Rango,” which took in $242.6 million worldwide after costing about $135 million to make.

Johnny Depp close to deal for fifth 'Pirates' film

In May, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he was working on a fifth "Pirates" script -- and that he wouldn't make the movie without Depp. The fourth film, "On Stranger Tides," just passed the $1 billion mark at the global box office.

The four films have grossed $3.7 billion in total, led by the first sequel, 2006's "Dead Man's Chest," with $1.066 billion.

Depp is key to the success of the Disney franchise: Without his swashbuckling character, Capt. Jack Sparrow, there's no "Pirates."

Depp's agent, Tracey Jacobs, declined to comment on the fifth movie. A Disney spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.

Depp has been driving huge box office success for Disney for close to a decade. In addition to Sparrow, he played the Mad Hatter in the studio's 2010 "Alice in Wonderland," which grossed more than $1 billion worldwide. And he's set to star as Tonto for the studio in next year's "The Lone Ranger."

"Pirates" treasure mounts to $1 billion worldwide

The film represents the second top-grossing "Pirates" film, and will now set its target on 2006's "Dead Man's Chest," which took in $1.066 billion worldwide.

At $756.1 million going into the weekend, "On Stranger Tides" is the third biggest international ticket seller of all time among all time, beaten only by James Cameron's "Avatar" ($2.02 billion) and "Titanic" ($1.24 billion).

While domestic box office performance for "Pirates 4" has trailed the three previous films in the franchise, the movie's international performance is nothing short of extraordinary.

Here, thanks to Disney's public relations department, are some fun "On Stranger Tides" fast facts (well, fun if you're a Walt Disney Co. shareholder):

* Eighth film in history to reach the $1 billion threshold.

* Third Disney film in less than 18 months to gross $1 billion globally ("Alice in Wonderland" was the other).

* The Walt Disney Studios' fourth title to earn $1 billion.

* No. 3 film of all time at the international box office.

* Crossed the $500 million international threshold in a record-setting 14 days.

* Crossed the $800 million global threshold in only 20 days, the second fastest ever to reach this milestone.

* Set a new industry speed record by crossing the $700 million global threshold in only 16 days.

* Disney's biggest international release ever.

* The biggest "Pirates of the Caribbean" installment in 58 territories.

* Highest-grossing Disney film ever released in China and Russia.

* Nearing $100 million in Japan, where it's been No. 1 for all six weeks of release.

Teen Choice Award Nominations

Choice Movie Actor: Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides
Taylor Lautner, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Robert Pattinson, The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
Ryan Reynolds, Green Lantern

Choice Animated Movie: Voice
Jack Black, Kung Fu Panda 2
Johnny Depp, Rango
Anne Hathaway, Rio
Zachary Levi, Tangled
Justin Timberlake, Yogi Bear

Box office shocker: "The Tourist" a hit overseas

The movie -- which bombed in North America -- has turned out to be quite the world traveler, grossing a mighty $210.7 million overseas.

By contrast, moviegoers in the United States and Canada bought just $67.6 million worth of tickets after the critically reviled saga opened in December. The worldwide total now stands at an impressive $278.3 million.

When "The Tourist" opened poorly in North America, there was plenty of chatter about whether its producers, Graham King and Tim Headington, would take a financial hit, considering the movie's budget was close to $100 million.

Sony Pictures released the action-thriller in North America through its deal with the duo's GK Films, and also picked up a number of foreign territories.

When all is said and done, those involved with "The Tourist" did fine by it.

In fact, it's Jolie's fourth most successful film after "Salt," "Wanted" and "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," and Depp's best showing after the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise, "Alice in Wonderland" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

The top territory for "The Tourist" was Japan, where the movie earned $22.5 million. Depp is a huge star there, and attended the Tokyo premiere in March.

China was second-best at $20 million. Jolie, in particular, is well-known to Chinese audiences because of the "Kung Fu Panda" franchise.

"The Tourist" also did well across Europe -- where it was set -- including in Italy, where it grossed $16 million. Elsewhere, the movie earned a hearty $11 million in Australia and $10.1 million in Brazil.

One box observer says foreign moviegoers can be more swayed by big stars than domestic audiences. Also, some countries, such as Japan, fall for romantic adventures.

Either way, the much-ridiculed best comedy Golden Globe nomination earned by "The Tourist" now makes a little more sense.

"Pirates 4:" $400 million in less than one week

From director Rob Marshall, "On Stranger Tides" has grossed a massive $310.8 million overseas, three times the $104.4 million it has earned in North America. The movie's total gross through Tuesday was $415.2 million.

The 3D film has done especially well in territories including China and Russia.

Universal's "Fast Five" remains the top grossing film of 2011 at the global box office, and is the only movie to have grossed north of $500 million (pic's total through Tuesday was north of $520 million).

Twentieth Century Fox's 3D cartoon "Rio" is next up, grossing north of $450 million through Tuesday.

Paramount and Marvel Studios' "Thor" also was expected to have jumped the $400 million mark on Tuesday.

Gallagher wants Depp for Beatles film

Former Oasis frontman Gallagher is bringing Richard DiLello's book, The Longest Cocktail Party, to life on the big screen and he's keen to cast the Pirates of the Caribbean star as the Fab Four's longtime publicist, Derek Taylor.

He tells Britain's Q magazine, "The film script is done. It's gonna blow people's minds, man. I'm just waiting to find out when we choose the actors.

"I want Johnny Depp to play Derek Taylor. It's got Johnny Depp written all over it, man."

And Gallagher might just land his leading man - the singer befriended Depp during the late 1990s and the actor even played guitar on Oasis track Fade In-Out.

DiLello witnessed the demise of the Beatles as an employee at Apple Corps.

Gallagher, a huge fan of the book, will produce the film.

How Did Johnny Depp Survive Doomsday?

Johnny Depp became the new king of the overseas box-office, but settled for less here in the land of the free, and the home of the apocalypse prophets.

Did doomsday talk keep American moviegoers from venturing to Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides?

"It was just the opposite," joked Disney exec Chuck Viane. "If there was anything that I'd want to be the last picture I ever saw, I'd want it to be Pirates."

No, it appears On Stranger Tides was bigger overseas than here for the same reason Thor was: The overseas market is hot; we're kinda not as much.

Worldwide, the Pirates sequel has grossed an eye-popping $346.4 million since opening in some foreign countries on Wednesday. Per Disney, only Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Spider-Man 3 and the second Pirates sequel, At World's End, had bigger, faster global starts.

The movie's haul broke down this way, per estimates: a record-setting $256.3 million overseas; a non-record-setting $90.1 million domestically.

On Strangers Tides is the "smallest"-opening Pirates sequel here, and the first to fail to clear $100 million.

"I understand where people wanted it to go," Viane said, "…[but] we were the biggest piece of the pie in a weekend that was ahead of last year."

On Strangers Tides nudged past Fast Five to become the No. 1-opening movie of the underwhelming box-office year.

Well, it's been underwhelming here anyway…

Elsewhere, the word was out on Bridesmaids, and the word clearly was good: The Kristen Wiig comedy was barely down at all from its opening. (Just a 20 percent dip. And, no, not even The Hangover held that well.) Overall, Bridesmaids is now at $57.5 million domestically.

Robert Pattinson's Water for Elephants broke $50 million domestically, and neared $100 million worldwide.

Soul Surfer ended its Top 10 run after six surprising weekends, and $40.6 million domestically.

Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris was an art-house blockbuster. It averaged just under $100,000 at each of its six screens. (By comparison, On Stranger Tides averaged a healthy $22,000 off each of its 4,155 screens.)

Here's a complete rundown of the top-grossing films, per Friday-Sunday numbers as compiled by Exhibitor Relations.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, $90.1 million
Bridesmaids, $21.1 million
Thor, $15.5 million
Fast Five, $10.6 million
Rio, $4.7 million
Priest, $4.6 million
Jumping the Broom, $3.7 million
Something Borrowed, $3.4 million
Water for Elephants, $2.2 million
Tyler Perry's Madea's Big Happy Family, $990,000

Rebooted `Pirates' sets overseas box office record

Walt Disney Co. said Sunday that the fourth "Pirates" installment earned $90.1 million domestically. That gives it a worldwide total of $346.4 million, the fourth largest global opening.

The new film jettisons co-stars Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, but brings back Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack Sparrow. Penelope Cruz and Ian McShane introduce new characters.

"On Stranger Tides" was the only new film in wide-release on the weekend. In its second week of release, the acclaimed comedy "Bridesmaids" was second at the box office with $21 million.

'Pirates: On Stranger Tides' in precarious position

Here's how it goes down: 4 is better than 3, about the same as 2 and worse than 1.

The maiden voyage of Pirates of the Caribbean was an undeniably fresh surprise back in 2003. But the sequels have felt, in varying degrees, as soggy as a ship's planks after a storm.

This time, Penelope Cruz joins the buccaneers as a crafty and sensual pirate. One thing is clear: Cruz, as the spirited Angelica, and Johnny Depp, as mincing Captain Jack Sparrow, have far better chemistry than Depp did with Angelina Jolie in last year's dreadful The Tourist.

Depp does his best to breathe life in a gasping-for-air role that once felt inspired. He seems to have more fun than in the last couple go-rounds, and his wit is sharper. But the script doesn't add colors to the characters. Geoffrey Rush, as Captain Barbossa, goes through the motions. The limitations of the role seem all the more obvious after watching his nuanced portrayal of the speech therapist in The King's Speech.

It should be noted that at 2 hours and 17 minutes, this is the shortest of the four movies. Score points for new director Rob Marshall (Chicago), replacing Gore Verbinski, who directed the first three. Marshall's choreographic skills are an asset, particularly in staging an early, exciting chase sequence where Sparrow nimbly eludes King George II (Richard Griffiths). The world's favorite pirate dangles from ropes, swings on chandeliers and leaps atop carriages. Later, he has a lively swordfight with Angelica, who we learn is an old flame.

Jack has lost his beloved ship, the Black Pearl, and is intent on getting it back. Others around him are bent on finding the Fountain of Youth. The two goals converge. Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and a crew of zombies figure into the proceedings. Despite these baddies, the voyage to reach the fountain grows listless.

Women play a bigger part than in episodes 1-3. Pirates are menaced by bloodsucking mermaids — for those whose taste for screen vampires simply can't be satiated.

Another departure from the first three movies: Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are nowhere to be found. But there is a love story involving young hotties, specifically missionary Philip (Sam Claflin) and Syrena (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey), a less-bloodthirsty mermaid. She is taken prisoner by the pirates because her tears activate the Fountain of Youth. Did we mention the story is nonsensical?

This is the first of the franchise shot in 3-D, but those glasses come into play only about five times, when swords get brandished directly into the camera.

Familiar and predictable, this Pirates reboot is often incoherent and crammed with pointless details. The more sequels spun off, the clearer it becomes that one movie about these swashbucklers would have sufficed.

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides * * out of four

Stars: Johnny Depp, Penelope Cruz, Geoffrey Rush, Ian McShane
Director: Rob Marshall
Distributor: Walt Disney Pictures
Rating: PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo
Running time: 2 hours, 17 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide

5 best Johnny Depp performances

But the 47-year-old actor and three-time Oscar nominee is one of the most versatile performers of his generation, immersing himself fully and believably in every role he takes. So here's a look at Depp's five best performances — although it would have been hard to choose the five best from the work he's done with Tim Burton alone:

• "Edward Scissorhands" (1990): The first of Depp's collaborations with Burton, who would go on to become his frequent director and good friend. The seeds were planted here for one of Depp's key on-screen personalities: the quirky-funny-awkward-sweet misfit. He's all that and so much more as the title character, the creation of an inventor who died before his work was complete, leaving Edward to fend for himself in the outside world with scissors for hands. He's initially feared, but then his gentle demeanor wins over the bored residents of a tacky suburban enclave, including the beautiful teenager Kim (Winona Ryder). It's a whimsical and dark fairy tale, and Depp's delicate performance is just heartbreaking. I cry every time I watch it.

• "Ed Wood" (1994): Depp's next film with Burton was the hilarious, sorta-true, black-and-white biopic about the director Ed Wood, who achieved cult status by infamously making some of the worst films known to mankind, including "Plan 9 From Outer Space" and "Glen or Glenda." Depp infused the performance with the clueless, cheery optimism of a would-be auteur. But in portraying Wood's secret, inner life — his proclivity for dressing in women's clothing — he also found a sweetness and a sensitivity. You get the feeling that Depp (and Burton) were never making fun of Wood, but rather saluting him with an affectionate homage.

• "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" (2003): The first time he played the role of Capt. Jack Sparrow, it was a startling thing to behold. He seemed kinda drunk and vaguely effeminate, out of control yet always on top of his game. Depp was clearly channeling Keith Richards (who would show up in later installments in a cameo as Jack's dad), and yet he had created an indelible figure that was entirely his own. It was unpredictable, and that was thrilling. The first "Pirates" movie earned Depp the first of his three best-actor nominations. Now the novelty has long since worn off, but Jack can still be a kick.

• "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street: (2007): Back with Burton, Depp earned his third best-actor Oscar nomination for playing the title character in this film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's revered musical. He and co-star Helena Bonham Carter aren't exactly singing — they're really acting the music most of the time — but that makes the whole experience feel even more frightening. Still, in playing a vengeful barber who slits his customers' throats, Depp took on the kind of challenging role that's become his trademark; he can do anything, and he makes it look easy. With his shock of black-and-white hair and an obsessed look in his darkened eyes, Depp's Todd could be a long-lost, evil relative of Edward Scissorhands.

• "Rango" (2011): With an honorary mention for "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride" (2005). These animated films reveal Depp's ability to provide a rich characterization, even when you can't see him. In "Rango," he lends his voice as a quick-talking lizard with a flair for the theatrical. Dumped in the tiny desert town of Dirt, this domesticated pet reinvents himself as Rango, and he's one tough hombre. Depp is wonderfully goofy here; he sounds playful and free. In the gorgeous and strange "Corpse Bride," a wonder of stop-motion animation and digital technology, Depp dials it down to play a young man who's shy, skittish and subdued, but just as fully fleshed out as any human being he's portrayed throughout his varied career.

New "Pirates" movie earns $18.5 million overseas

First day offshore box office for the fourth title in the lucrative "Pirates" series produced by Jerry Bruckheimer beats by nearly 50 percent the comparable opening day tally of the third title in the franchise, 2007's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which opened in 16 foreign territories.

Biggest single market for the "Tides" in 3D was Russia, where the opening day registered $5 million, which Disney described as a record first day in the market. The figure was 80 percent above the debut day recorded by "At World's End," which is the top foreign grosser so far of the "Pirates" titles with an overseas tally of $654 million -- more than double its domestic take.

In the U.K., "Tides" recorded $3.2 million in its opening day, $3.3 million in France (38 percent above the comparable "At World's End" figure in the market), $1.7 million in Italy and $1.3 million in Sweden, the biggest first day figure ever in the market.

The first three titles in the "Pirates" series - including 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and 2006's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" -- have grossed a total of $2.68 billion worldwide, of which $1.65 billion came from foreign playoff.

Latest "Pirates" may not match previous installment

"Pirates" has a new director, Rob Marshall, and is the first in the series to be released in 3D, upping its earning potential.

But tracking suggests that the Johnny Depp tentpole may not be able to match the dazzling debut of the third "Pirates" film, which opened to $114.7 million exactly four years ago. That's likely due to the soft marketplace, as well as the time lapse between the films.

On "Stranger Tides" is projected to gross between $90 million and $100 million in its domestic bow. That would still make it the top opening of 2011, although "The Hangover Part II" could set a new benchmark next weekend, thanks to the Memorial Day holiday.

The last "Pirates" installment, "At World's End," earned $309.4 million domestically and a whopping $654 million internationally. "On Stranger Tides" is expected to follow suit and do better overseas, considering the ravenous appetite both for the franchise and 3D fare. The film opens in several foreign markets this weekend as well.

That's one reason why Disney took "On Stranger Tides" to the Cannes Film Festival, where it played out of competition and drew rousing crowds eager to see Depp and Penelope Cruz walk the world's most famous red carpet.

Depp, who remains a huge star around the globe and is the heart and soul of the franchise, returns as the iconic Captain Jack Sparrow. Geoffrey Rush also returns, while Cruz and Ian McShane appear for the first time.

Disney hopes to introduce a new generation of kids to one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood history, and is planning two more installments.

The other high-profile debut of the weekend comes on the specialty side as Sony Pictures Classics opens Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" on six screens in New York and Los Angeles.

"Midnight in Paris" was the opening night film at Cannes, and was well received. The film stars Luke Wilson and Rachel McAdams.

Sony Classics is anticipating a robust launch for a specialty film, fueled by Allen's loyal fans. A modest roll-out is expected over the next few weeks.

Depp sails fresh waters on 'Pirates' reboot

After a trilogy that hauled in $2.7 billion worldwide, "Pirates of the Caribbean" relaunches with "On Stranger Tides," a fresh start for the buccaneer-blockbuster franchise starring the franchise's one indispensable ingredient — Johnny Depp as Capt. Jack.

The new movie jettisons some characters — the trilogy's co-stars, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom, whose story wrapped up at the end of 2007's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End." It brings back some in new guises — Geoffrey Rush as Jack's foil Barbossa, trading in his pirate garb to sail on behalf of the king. And it introduces new ones — Penelope Cruz as Jack's old flame, daughter of the dread pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

With Jack's beloved ship, the Black Pearl, in a strange state of dry-dock, he and his mates sail in search of the fountain of youth aboard Blackbeard's terrifying vessel, the Queen Anne's Revenge.

Hollywood rarely messes with a good thing to this extent, but the filmmakers are banking that audiences will be anxious to follow in Jack's wake as he storms into uncharted seas.

"I'm thinking that people will like it, because from the first second, we went well out of our way, each and every one of us, to bring something new and very fresh to something that already has kind of a backpack filled with a trilogy in it," Depp said at the Cannes Film Festival, where "On Stranger Tides" had a premiere last weekend before heading into theaters worldwide beginning Wednesday.

"So we wanted to deliver something to the people that was expressly made for the people, sculpted for the people, with them in mind," Depp said, adding with a smirk: "So if they don't like it, it's their own fault."

Unlike the trilogy that grew out of 2003's blockbuster "The Curse of the Black Pearl," the new "Pirates" installment is a stand-alone story, said producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

But even before "On Stranger Tides" hits theaters, Bruckheimer has a script for a fifth "Pirates" movie in the works. That sounds like a commander confident he's on the right course, even before leaving port.

And Bruckheimer is confident — though he still heads into the debut of his latest with trepidation similar to that he felt before "Black Pearl" opened eight years ago. Back then, there had not been a successful pirate movie in decades, Depp was a consistent box-office dud and critics were snickering at the prospect of a movie based on a Disney theme-park ride.

"I'm still worried. Because you never know if the audience, where they're going to be or what they're doing or what they're going to want to see," Bruckheimer said. "The problem you have is the expectations of other people. `Well, it was disappointing. It wasn't as big as the third one,' or this or that. And you have to deal with all that. I know it's a good movie. I know it's going to do OK, but you don't want to deal with all the other stuff that they build around it."

The "Pirates" overhaul went beyond the cast. "Chicago" director Rob Marshall took the helm after Gore Verbinski made the first three movies.

Bruckheimer, Marshall and returning screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio streamlined the "Pirates" universe to put the focus squarely on Jack and his key mates. And they introduced a range of new supernatural elements, including predatory mermaids and a ship run as much by sorcery as maritime competence by Blackbeard.

"It felt like a beginning in a way, with so many new characters, especially a female pirate," Marshall said. "That was really a huge element for me, because I thought, OK, now we have other colors for Jack Sparrow to play against. A villain like Blackbeard. That felt very new."

The filmmakers did not have a hard time enlisting new recruits. McShane, who has had a late career surge playing nasty villains such as the ruthless opportunist on his Western TV series "Deadwood," was eager to embody a figure as big and bad as Blackbeard.

Marshall asked Cruz to come aboard as they were finishing work on their 2009 musical "Nine," and she did not hesitate, especially since she previously co-starred with Depp on the crime drama "Blow."

"Working with Rob and Johnny again and doing this type of film, I've never done a movie this big," Cruz said. "I really admire what Johnny has created with this character. I've seen the other three movies, and now working with them again, I would always say yes to that, even without reading the script."

Depp and Bruckheimer have hinted that they love Jack Sparrow so much, the "Pirates" franchise could go on indefinitely, like James Bond, if they keep coming up with stories that interest them.

Critics may wonder how long fans will stay interested, but the buzz for "On Stranger Tides" seems to assure the sequel will put up huge numbers on opening weekend.

"Sometimes the more skeptical, cynical side of the audience or the press sort of go, `Come on. Four films. Enough's enough.' And I go, `the Bond franchise is 23 films old, and they still sell,'" Rush said.

"With Capt. Jack, I feel like there's much more to be had," Depp said. "There's much more fun to be had. As long as the stories, the scripts are good, with filmmakers like Rob Marshall, I think we'll be in good shape."

There is only one sure thing that could sink the franchise. If Depp jumped ship and didn't come back, Bruckheimer said he would not try to retool it to continue the voyage without him.

"It's over. It's done," Bruckheimer said. "He created the franchise, that character. Made it come alive. He is `Pirates of the Caribbean.'"

Review: New `Pirates' sails old familiar, seas

And the fact that this one's in 3-D — because everything's in 3-D, silly thing — does nothing to liven up the action. Those three-dimensional digital effects mainly consist of various swords and snakes and such being flung at our faces.

Boo! Did you jump?

That's not to say this summer behemoth doesn't have its thrilling moments. Rob Marshall ("Chicago," "Nine") takes over for Gore Verbinski, who directed the first three "Pirates" movies, and his knack for choreography comes shining through in individual set pieces. An early chase sequence, in which Johnny Depp as the randy Capt. Jack Sparrow escapes the clutches of the puffy, bloviating King George II (Richard Griffiths), is expertly staged. Jack swings from chandeliers and hangs from ropes, straddles moving carriages and steers a cart full of flaming coal, and we're right there alongside him every breathless step of the way.

Similarly, a nighttime attack by mermaids — beautiful, seductive, deadly mermaids with razor-sharp teeth — provides a jolt. Because what's hotter than mermaids, except maybe naughty vampire mermaids? And the first time Jack crosses paths (and swords) with his old flame Angelica, played by a spirited Penelope Cruz, it's in a lengthy, fluid battle across beams and atop barrels. (Oddly, Cruz and Depp, who co-starred together in 2001's "Blow," don't have a whole lot of chemistry once they have to actually stop and talk to each other.)

It's everything that happens in between, all the chatter and the exposition, that make the latest "Pirates" such a repetitive bore.

Depp's performance, which seemed like such a free, goofy, inspired bit of work when the first film came out back in 2003, now feels so dialed-down and obvious, it's as if he could do it in his sleep. With the (unexplained) absence of Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley this time around, Depp's Sparrow is now front and center — he's almost the voice of reason — rather than the bejeweled and eyelinered clown riffing in the corner, commenting in the action.

As for the plot — not that it matters, really — this time the script from Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio centers on a search for the fabled Fountain of Youth. Jack has no ship anymore, so when Angelica kidnaps him and drags him aboard the Queen Anne's Revenge, the ship belonging to the fearsome Blackbeard (a constrained Ian McShane), he's stuck going along for the ride.

Blackbeard seeks the fountain after receiving a prophecy that he's going to die in two weeks. But the Spanish are after it, too. And so are the English, led by Jack's deceitful old nemesis Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush).

Did we mention that there are zombie pirates aboard Blackbeard's ship? The fact that they're zombies makes no sense at all — I mean, come on, wouldn't they be trying to eat the brains of the living pirates at every opportunity? — and feels like yet another attempt to inject arbitrary weirdness in the place of genuine inspiration.

Also on board is a hunky man of faith with just the right amount of facial scruff named Philip (Sam Claflin), who falls for one of the mermaids (Astrid Berges-Frisbey), who's been taken prisoner because her tears are required to activate the Fountain of Youth waters. (Don't ask.) Ostensibly, this relationship is intended to replace the young-people-in-love subplot that Bloom and Knightley provided, but it's so full of banal angst, it feels a little too much like something you'd see in the "Twilight" series.

But surely that's coming in the fifth Pirates movie: sexy werewolves.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure violence, some frightening images, sensuality and innuendo. Running time: 136 minutes. One and a half stars out of four.

Depp back on high seas for latest 'Pirates' film

Three years after "At World's End", Sparrow embarks on a quest to find the Fountain of Youth while also trying to square his feelings for a mysterious woman from his past, Penelope Cruz's Angelica, essentially his female double.

Speaking to journalists after the screening, Depp thanked the cartoons he watched with his children for helping develop Sparrow's character and echoed producer Jerry Bruckheimer in saying that the franchise had no end in sight.

"I have such great respect for the parameters of cartoons and the characters, they can get away with a lot more than we can in live action films," Depp said.

"So I thought, 'Wouldn't it be great to find that blend until you actually become Bugs Bunny in human form?', and so I have my kids to thank for that."

"With Captain Jack I feel like there's much more to be had, much more fun to be had," Depp said. "As long as the stories, the scripts are great and you have directors like Rob Marshall we'll be in good shape."

Depp described Sparrow as "a weird combination of an 18th-century rock and roll star, i.e. Keith Richards, and a very romantic skunk."

Spanish Oscar winner Cruz, who worked with Depp on "Blow", said her English had progressed greatly since the 2001 cocaine smuggler biopic and that the toughest thing playing opposite Sparrow had been "keeping a straight face."

The film is shot in 3-D, the perfect format for the obligatory cutlass swinging and sword stabbing from which pirates make a living, and sees rival English, Spanish and pirate ships racing to track down the magical elixir.

Sparrow's gold-toothed walking haberdashery is true to form, the corners of his mouth and eyes twitching as he plots a series of escapes from certain death and tries to learn Angelica's neat trick of "lying by telling the truth."

The story takes us from the muddy cobbled streets of 18th-century London -- where Angelica is trying to raise a crew for a ship and Sparrow is facing execution -- across the seas to lush Caribbean islands.

The film rollicks along, action scenes alternating with tete-a-tetes and plenty of laughs, including relatively subtle jokes aimed at adults, such as Sparrow's deadpan "I agree with the missionary's position."

Depp swings into an aristocratic Judi Dench's coach to nibble her ear and make off with her jewellery -- "Is that it?" cries the grande dame of British acting as the dashing buccaneer makes off.

And Rolling Stone Richards, whose idiosyncratic demeanour and speech is the inspiration for Depp's portrayal of Sparrow, makes a cameo appearance as the pirate's father.

"Does this face look like it's been touched by the water of life?" the wizened rock star growls at his son in a dimly lit tavern.

Young French actress Astrid Berges-Frisbey plays a mermaid who can't quite bring herself to drag sailors to the bottom of the sea, and Ian McShane plays the fearsome Blackbeard, whose facial hair took two and a half hours to apply.

McShane said it was "nice to play an evil character... that I could actually see with my grandchildren," while a visibly nervous Berges-Frisbey talked about the challenge of playing a being "between human and creature".

"I still can't really believe what happened," she said, her voice breaking up.

The series has already brought in 2.6 billion dollars (1.8 billion euros), a figure producer Bruckheimer describes as "wonderful", and the film leaves the door for another instalment open wide enough for further billions to be made.

Depp ready to keep sailing as 'Pirates' Captain Jack

Depp said as long as the screenplays keep coming and his kids keep laughing at his rock-and-roll swashbuckler, he has no plans to lay down his sword.

"With Captain Jack I feel like there's much more to be had, much more fun to be had," the 47-year-old US actor said.

"As long as the stories, the scripts are great and you have directors like Rob Marshall we'll be in good shape," referring to the man at the helm of "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides".

"If you're surrounded by such a creative force, I think the possibilities are endless," he said. "As long as the people want to see it, I'm there."

Depp said Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who has a cameo role as Sparrow's father in the film, and the amorous French skunk of Loony Tunes cartoons Pepe Le Pew continued to provide the inspiration for Jack.

"I started out secretly testing characters on (my kids) to see how their reactions would be," he said.

"With my daughter we'd be playing Barbies and I'd try out these voices on her and she just say 'stop'," he joked. "They came to see the movie and I can tell by their reaction if I did alright. I haven't been fired by my kids."

He said that although the four "Pirates" movies had been a global box office juggernaut with $2.6 billion (1.8 billion euros) in ticket sales, studio executives had found Depp's take on the swashbuckler strange at the start.

"In terms of what I was bringing to the table character-wise, let's say there wasn't a group of Disney upper echelon people who had any enthusiasm for it -- they almost subtitled me," he said.

Asked whether he was nervous about critical reaction, Depp gave a rakish smile.

"I've always feared the critics," he deadpanned. "They really scare me."

He said the cast, which includes for the first time Spanish Oscar winner Penelope Cruz, had worked hard not to lose the spark of the early films.

"We went out of our way to deliver something fresh. We sculpted it for the people with them in mind," he said. "So if they don't like it its their own fault," he joked.

Depp steers 'Pirates' into critical seas of Cannes

Depp said his family — French actress and romantic partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children — are the only critics he needs.

"My family have seen more of my movies than I have. In fact, a lot more, including this one," Depp said at a news conference Saturday before the "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequel screened. "They've been angels through this process, because I started out secretly testing characters on them to see how the reactions would be. When my daughter was little, we'd be playing Barbies, and I'd start doing these voices. Finally, she just said, `Stop.'

"So they go and see the movies, and basically, I can tell by their reaction if I did all right or not. So I'm very lucky in that way. They seem to enjoy them so far. I haven't been fired by my kids."

And the Cannes critics? Depp, 47, who spent the first two decades of his career in quirky little movies that rarely found much critical support, was not exactly quaking in his pirate boots.

"Yeah, I've always feared the critics," Depp said, laughing. "They really scare me."

The fourth movie in the "Pirates" franchise inspired by the Disney theme-park ride, "On Stranger Tides" casts Depp's boozy, woozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow alongside a female pirate (Penelope Cruz) and her notorious dad, Blackbeard (Ian McShane), in search of the fountain of youth.

Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as Sparrow's foil, Barbossa, with Jerry Bruckheimer back as producer on the blockbuster franchise and "Chicago" filmmaker Rob Marshall taking the wheel as director. The movie sails into theaters worldwide starting Wednesday.

It was a reunion for Depp and Cruz, who previously costarred in 2001's crime story "Blow."

While the characters of "On Stranger Tides" are obsessed with finding eternal youth, the 37-year-old Cruz said she does not fret about growing old.

"Birthdays are always something to celebrate. I'm looking forward to every step of the way," Cruz said. "Maybe because I'm from Spain, that's looked at in a different way there than, for example, a place like Los Angeles ... there are a lot of things that I keep from my roots. And that's one of them, the way we look at that. I never want to be afraid of that. Change is good."

At Disney, the studio that bankrolls the "Pirates" franchise, change was not always seen as good. As the first movie was in production — "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" — Disney executives had hoped for a more conventional swashbuckling hero than Depp's Sparrow, whom the actor patterned on a cross between rocker Keith Richards and the cartoon skunk Pepe LePew (Richards reprises his role as Sparrow's father in "On Stranger Tides").

Sparrow mumbles, minces, prattles and prances. He wears heavy eyeliner and a mess of baubles in his braided hair and beard. His clothes resemble a gypsy's castoffs as much as the attire of a dashing pirate.

"There wasn't a group of Disney upper echelon who had any enthusiasm whatsoever for what I was doing," Depp said. "They almost subtitled me."

But with $2.7 billion in worldwide box office for the first three "Pirates" movies, no one at the studio gripes about Sparrow's idiosyncrasies now.

Bruckheimer has a script for a fifth "Pirates" movie in the works, and Depp said he's on board to keep playing Sparrow as long as the right ingredients go in.

"If you are surrounded by such an amazing and creative force such as Jerry, such as Rob, such strong actors like these guys, I think the possibilities are endless," Depp said. "But really, ultimately and truly, these films are made for the people who go in and they pay their hard-earned money to see these things. And if the people get tired of it or something, that's when it stops."

Pirates of Caribbean 4 sails into Cannes

“Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” is the fourth film in a series which has made a fortune for Disney with a combined global box office tally so far of $2.7 billion.

Reviews of the new chapter, which hits theatres in the United States on May 20, have been mixed, though, and some analysts predict it may struggle to match the impressive tallies of previous outings even in the 3D format.

Depp said in Cannes that there would be more ahead if the films remained popular: “If the people get tired of it or something, that’s when it stops, I think,” he told a news conference. “If people want it, I’m there.”

In On Stranger Tides, the actor returns to his role as the indomitable Captain Jack Sparrow after a gap of four years, Australian Geoffrey Rush is back as Barbossa and Rolling Stone Keith Richards puts in another cameo as Sparrow’s father.

There are new faces, with Britain’s Ian McShane portraying the fearsome Blackbeard and Spaniard Cruz his daughter Angelica.

Once the hero escapes the clutches of the English king, he embarks on a race to reach the Fountain of Youth.

The English and Spanish navies take on Blackbeard’s magical ship, run by giant zombie pirates and spewing flames that burn mutineers to a cinder.

They take on vicious mermaids, who lure their victims before bearing fangs and dragging them to the bottom of the sea.

CAREER BUILT ON FLOPS

Cruz, 37, who was pregnant while shooting the movie, said staying young was not a personal aim, despite pressure within the movie industry to hold back the years.

“I think birthdays are always something to celebrate,” she said. “I’m looking forward to every step of the way. Maybe because I’m from Spain that’s looked at in a different way there than for example in a place like Los Angeles.”

For Depp, the Pirates franchise has turned him into one of Hollywood’s highest earners, but he has not forgotten his roots in commercially unsuccessful features.

“It just so happens that for 20 years or so I made these films that were considered for the most part failures, flops,” said the 47-year-old. “I built a career on flops so I was quite comfortable in that arena.”

Reviewers of On Stranger Tides were divided.

Trade publication Variety’s Andrew Barker said it served “as a welcome corrective, reviving the fun, feather-light frivolity that any film based on a Disneyland ride ought to exhibit.”

But Steve Rose of Britain’s Guardian did not agree.

“It’s a succession of ever-escalating action sequences and grand settings. At first they’re stunning, then they’re routine, then they’re wearying,” he said.

Depp talks Keith Richards, possible `Pirates' 5

So what would the 47-year-old actor need to transform himself into the rum-swigging, swashbuckling Capt. Jack Sparrow again?

"Essentially the same ingredients that have gone into each and every one, especially this one," he says. "I would be in if it was right, for sure."

Bruckheimer is already at work on a fifth "Pirates" script. But Depp also has other projects on his plate, including a cameo in the big-screen adaptation of the 1980s TV hit that made him a star, "21 Jump Street."

He'd heard rumors about the film before being approached for the role, "then it finally came up and the dates were right and it was a gas," he says. "It was a real great experience and I was happy to do it."

He also has "The Rum Diary" set for release in October, and he'll soon get to work on "The Lone Ranger" with three-time "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski.

"We are in the throes of heavy-duty development, script development," he says of "The Lone Ranger." "It's coming along very nicely. I think it's going to be something we are going to be proud of."

First, though, is the latest "Pirates" installment, which opens May 20 and reunites Depp with one of his heroes, Keith Richards.

"To be able to bring him back into the `Pirates' fold, where he most certainly belongs, was a gas," Depp says. "Just spending a couple days sharing a trailer, it was as close, I suppose, as being in a rock `n' roll band with him as you can get."

Depp writing songs with Steven Tyler

The Hollywood star began his career as a musician before turning to acting, although he has returned to his rock roots in recent years by recording with British band Babybird and directing one of their videos.

Depp is now writing tracks with rock icon Tyler, telling U.S. news show Extra, "We've been hanging out here and there. He's someone I've admired greatly for such a long time. The idea of writing songs with him is a dream come true."

Tyler recently pinpointed Depp as the ideal actor play him in a film adaptation of his life, and the movie star admits he would happily take on the role if asked, adding, "I would give it a shot, why not?"

Johnny Depp starring in 'Thin Man' remake

The pair announced today that they're re-teaming for a remake of The Thin Man, a 1934 murder mystery flick about husband-and-wife sleuthing team, Nick and Nora Charles.

I am "overjoyed at the idea of working with Johnny again, especially on such a classy and classic project," Marshall, who also directed Chicago and Nine, said in a statement.

Now, the question is, who will play Depp's wife in the film?

Depp suffered 'monstrous' back injury

The actor reprises his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the latest instalment of the hit franchise, but admits he spent three weeks of the shoot in agony as he struggled to hide his pain.

He tells the Hollywood Reporter, "I must have done something to my back during a stunt and ended up with this bad sciatic situation. It was this horrible, grinding electricity going through me.

"I kept shooting; there was no choice. I'd just limp on set. It was monstrous, man - so horrible that I actually started to like it! It was bad, and I had it a good three weeks to a month. But I got used to it and kind of missed it when it was gone."

Depp's gang launches 'Pirates' at premiere

More than 20,000 fans screamed for Depp, returning for the fourth time as legendary pirate Jack Sparrow, along the event's special black carpet which ran 3,000 feet through Disney's famed Main Street. But it was Pirates newcomer Cruz who stole the fashion show wearing a figure-hugging, full-length black gown.

Amidst knife-throwing jugglers on stilts and chanting crowds of fans, director Rob Marshall was floored seeing the anticipation for his first Pirates movie, which opens May 20. "My jaw is just dropping," he said, admiring the scene from the carpet. "I've been to the Oscars, to the Golden Globes and many other premieres. But there's nothing like this."

The sea-worthy theme allowed fans and celebrity guests alike to fly their freak-Pirate flag. American Idol judge Steven Tyler and rocker Keith Richards, who has a memorable cameo in the film, played along with pirate flare. But no one was as fully decked out as Hercules star Kevin Sorbo and his actress wife Sam Jenkins, who appeared ready to wreak havoc on the high seas.

The sea-faring duds didn't carry over to Ian McShane, who stars as Blackbeard in the film. While McShane sported a healthy beard of his own, he was all modern attire with old-world swagger. "You'd have to pay me for that," he said when asked why he wasn't dressed pirate.

More than 2,000 premiere guests were treated to what was being called the world's first outdoor premiere in 3D on a massive, specially-built screen the width of a 10-story building. Like any voyage, there were hardships — an unseasonal Southern California drizzle fell periodically during the screening. But most of the hearty souls stayed above deck. McShane did make a quick exit declaring he was going to hold off on his first film viewing for a new crew at Thursday's London premiere.

"I'm saving it," he said. "I want to see the whole thing for the first time with my grandkids. But I cannot wait for my pirate celebration."

Johnny Depp: 'Pirates 5' is going to be a real ride

"I have a clever idea for Pirates 5 and 6," he said at a press conference for the fourth in the Disney powerfranchise on Thursday. He and his pirate cohorts are just going to ride the famous Disneyland Pirates-themed ride and, well, roll camera.

"We're actually going to shoot it on the ride," Depp cracked. " Just us going around in a circle. Just close ups on everyone."

Strangely, with Johnny Depp the concept might actually have box office potential. But all kidding aside, Depp and company unveiled the latest Jerry Bruckheimer producer swagger fest, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides which opens on May 20. Depp will be cast with a new set of foes, including Blackbeard (Ian McShane) and a Spanish love interest in Penelope Cruz.

The two reunited for the first time since filming Blow and Depp said the chemistry was instant. "We just clicked," he says.

"But she taught me the raunchiest Spanish," Depp admits. "It was so foul."

Depp: 'My eyes don't see 3D'

The movie star rarely watches his own films - and with his new high seas caper he has a good excuse for leaving the premiere early.

He explains, "I'm unable to see in 3D. My eyes don't see in 3D. I have a weird eye... It just doesn't work."

And he tells Access Hollywood, "It may come as a surprise to you, but I've never seen normally."

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides hits cinemas later this month.

Johnny Depp promises 'Pirates 4' is less complicated

But did anyone really know what was going on in those films? Particularly the second and third installments, which turned off critics and fans with long running times and convoluted subplots.

Even Johnny Depp, who plays quirky Capt. Jack Sparrow, admits that while making 2006's Dead Man's Chest and 2007's At World's End, he sensed something was off. "They had to invent a trilogy out of nowhere," Depp, 47, tells Entertainment Weekly.

"It was plot-driven and complicated. I remember talking to [Gore Verbinski, director of the first three films] at certain points during production of 2 or 3 and saying, 'I don't really know what this means.' He said, 'Neither do I, but let's just shoot it.' This guy is this guy's dad, and this guy was in love with this broad. It was like, 'What?'"

With the fourth installment, On Stranger Tides (rated PG-13 and out May 20), Depp and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have taken steps to make the movie more accessible. "I felt it was very important to eliminate as many complications as possible," says Depp. "Let's give (fans) something character-driven. Something fun and irreverent. Hoops of fire and whatnot. New blood, as it were."

Johnny Depp: 21 Jump Street Movie Cameo Is Done!

Just a little over a week after learning that a Johnny Depp cameo was in the works for the big-screen version of 21 Jump Street—the popular '80s cop show that made him a household name—the actor tells E! News that he's already shot his appearance in the flick.

"It's done," says Depp. "I went in and did my bit and worked with Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. It was fun."

Of course, Depp certainly knows a thing or two about fun, seeing how he is reprising his role, yet again, as Captain Jack Sparrow in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

"I just love playing the character," he points out. "I get a real kick out of, you know, you meet kids of 5, 6, 7 years old...You meet people of 80, 85...They take away something from the films and from the character, and that's just such a boost."

But as he much as he enjoys it, is Depp up for another go-around as Captain Jack?

"It boils down to story, script and filmmaker," he tells The Hollywood Reporter, which reveals in its latest issue that screenwriter Terry Rossio just turned in his script for a fifth installment to Disney last weekend.

But if Depp ultimately does decide to take it on, he's definitely hoping for a break in the action.

"It's not something where I would say, 'Let's shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012,'" he says. "We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me."

'Pirates 5' written, Depp unsure

Rossio told the Hollywood Reporter that the still-untitled script — his first penned without Ted Elliot, who collaborated on the first four Pirates scripts — was delivered to Disney last weekend. It’s the initial step in putting together the key creative pieces for another “Pirates” film. Disney would like another installment, given the $3 billion in worldwide grosses for the first three films and the likely huge returns for the fourth movie, the first to be released in 3D.

Sources say “Disney” has made overtures to Rob Marshall, who took over directing duties on “Pirates 4” from Gore Verbinski, who helmed the first three pictures, to return for another go-round.

But the key question mark is star Johnny Depp. Will he sign on for a fifth installment in the franchise? Depp says he hasn’t seen the new Rossio screenplay, but he isn’t opposed to reprising his Jack Sparrow character yet again.

“It boils down to story, script and filmmaker,” Depp tells THR. But the actor isn’t clamoring to jump back into the puffy shirt until a little time has passed after Pirates 4. He didn’t relish the brutal schedule that saw him making “Pirates 2” and “Pirates 3” back-to-back in order to meet studio-mandated release dates in summer 2006 and 2007, respectively.

“It’s not something where I would say, ‘Let’s shoot it next month to get it out by Christmas 2012,”’ he says. “We should hold off for a bit. They should be special, just like they are special to me.”

Johnny Depp's Ready for 21 Jump Street Movie?!

The Oscar-nominated actor, who replied with a simple "no" recently when David Letterman asked him if he enjoyed making the cheesy '80s cop show, looks to be reverting to his usual good-sport ways and may end up showing his pretty face in the upcoming feature-film reboot being penned by Jonah Hill.

According to EW.com, an uncredited Depp cameo is looking very likely, though no one can say yet whether he'd be showing up as his character of yore, Officer Tom Hanson (who's almost as fresh-faced now as he was in 1987), or someone else.

Hill is cowriting the script with Michael Bacall and starring alongside Channing Tatum, Rob Riggle, Ice Cube and Dave Franco, brother of James. Shooting is expected to start in May.

And even though we imagine Tatum will be doing plenty of bench presses to prepare and Hill will be bringing the funny...a Johnny Depp cameo certainly can't hurt.

Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp Bound for Cannes

In addition, invitations to the 64th Cannes Fest are also out to Rolling Stone Keith Richards, Madonna, Jack Black and France's First Lady, Carla Bruni, who happens to be making her acting debut in a Woody Allen movie.

One thing is already for certain: Robert DeNiro will be sticking around the entire fest – he is the head of the jury that hands out the prizes.

Topping the list of premieres is the multi-generational saga Tree of Life, starring Pitt and Penn and directed by the highly regarded Terence Malick (Badlands, Days of Heaven). Pitt will no doubt remain in the South of France during the first half of the festival, which will also bring a sneak peek of Kung Fu Panda 2, featuring the voice of Jolie, as well as that of Dustin Hoffman and Jack Black.

Depp's appearance is keyed to a world premiere, that of Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which marks the return of Jack Sparrow. Cruz is among the costars.

The festival's previously announced Opening Selection, Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, will bring to Cannes cast members Rachel McAdams, Michael Sheen, Owen Wilson, Kathy Bates, Adrien Brody and, it is anticipated, Marion Cotillard, though she is due to give birth at the end of April.

Also on the agenda: a special tribute to the late Elizabeth Taylor, whose amFAR event to benefit her AIDS foundation has become an annual Cannes event.

24th annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice winners

Kids' Choice Awards 2011: Johnny Depp wins over the kids, upsets the parents with sliming

"Thank you so much. This is truly a pleasure. It comes from you guys," Depp says in his acceptance speech. "My apologies to Jack. It's an honor to be in the same categories as these other nominees. I'm very happy to be here and I appreciate it. You guys are the future. Take good care of us."

He then promptly thanked the future by turning the slime hose on the audience of kids, sliming them pretty thoroughly. Sorry, moms.

And to Black who not only had to keep a smile on his face after losing to Depp, but will also have to keep it for the entire show? We know. Awkward.

Kids' Choice Awards: Johnny Depp Slimes the Audience

While accepting high honors for best movie actor at the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards live from the USC Galen Center in Los Angeles, Depp pointed the pump toward his screaming young fans, shooting out streams of the network's signature green goo.

"You guys are the future," Depp, 47, told the crowd just before he unleashed the slime. "Take good care of us."

Johnny Depp Calls Penélope Cruz a 'Phenomenal Mommy'

"She's an inconceivably phenomenal mommy, which I've witnessed firsthand, and it's pretty incredible," Depp said on Friday of Cruz, who gave birth to a son in January. "She's as loyal and true a friend as anyone could ever dream of and I'm very privileged to be able to have her in my life."

Cruz, who was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in front of El Capitan Theater on Friday, feels just as lucky to have worked with Depp. In fact, she credits the actor with improving her language skills.

"I came to Los Angeles for the first time in 1994. I spoke no English. I only knew how to say two sentences: One was, 'How are you?' The other was, 'I want to work with Johnny Depp,' " Cruz, 37, said Friday. "In the last 10 years I've worked with him twice, and that has improved my English."

The Oscar winner worked with Depp on Blow and most recently on The Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, and she calls her costar a prankster on set.

But how would Depp describe their time together?

"It's been a long road of giggles," Depp added. "There's nothing bad to say. I've even tried to provoke her into some fit of anger, it doesn't work, I get nothing. Giggles, more giggles."

Cruz has certainly had a lot to be happy about recently. The actress married Javier Bardem in July 2010 and the pair welcomed a son named Leo earlier this year.

Cruz, the first Spanish-born actress to receive a star, was grateful for the honor and thanked her family "and of course my wonderful husband and my son for making me so happy every day."

Johnny Depp Cracks Drug Jokes as Penélope Cruz Gets Starred

The Oscar winner was feted this morning with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame—the 2,436th to be exact—in a ceremony attended by costar Johnny Depp, husband Javier Bardem and Pirates helmer Rob Marshall.

"A relatively long time ago, we did Blow together," Johnny joked, referring to their 2001 drug drama, before lavishing praise on the 36-year-old Spanish actress.

What good's a pirate's life if you can't enjoy a little ribaldry now and then?

Depp has more 'Pirates' adventures on the horizon

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer says he has a screenplay in the works for a fifth "Pirates" tale after May's "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" comes out.

Based on the Disney theme-park ride, the original three "Pirates" blockbusters ended up as a trilogy continuing the same key characters and story line. Bruckheimer says "On Stranger Tides" and future "Pirates" flicks will be stand-alone stories continuing the adventures of Depp's woozy buccaneer Capt. Jack Sparrow.

Directed by Rob Marshall ("Chicago"), "On Stranger Tides" sends Jack on a quest for the fountain of youth. Bruckheimer and Marshall showed off footage Tuesday at CinemaCon, a Las Vegas convention of theater owners.

At test screenings of "On Stranger Tides," "the audience told us what they loved about it is that it was fresh, it was new, it was a whole new story," Bruckheimer said in an interview alongside Marshall. "So that will carry over into the next one, too, to give it something fresh and different. As long as the audience embraces this one, we'll certainly try to make another one. It's really up to Johnny. He loves the character."

Geoffrey Rush reprises his role as Jack's rival, Barbossa, who has switched sides, no longer a pirate but a privateer sailing on the orders of the British monarchy. Penelope Cruz co-stars as the fiery daughter of the pirate Blackbeard (Ian McShane).

Marshall popped the question about co-starring in the "Pirates" sequel over dinner with Cruz while he was directing her in the musical "Nine."

"She jumped out of her chair and said, 'Oh, my God. I'd love to. I've always wanted to do an adventure like this.' So it was perfect," Marshall said. "I had mentioned her to Jerry and Johnny, and immediately they said yes, that seems exactly right. Because there are not that many people that really can match him. He's so unique, and he has so many different characteristics. Charisma and sex appeal. He's funny and he's athletic and he's a strong actor. So who can match that?"

"On Stranger Tides" is the first "Pirates" flick shot with digital 3-D cameras. The filmmakers make good use of the 3-D imagery in action sequences, which include a shot where Cruz's character tries to stab Depp's Capt. Jack through a closed door, her sword leaping off the screen right at the audience.

Bruckheimer and Marshall were interested from the start in doing the movie in 3-D, which can boost revenues since fans pay a few dollars more than they do to see 2-D versions.

"But the technology scared us a little, only because, you saw 'Avatar,' that was all done on sound stages. Nobody had ever taken these cameras out into the jungles and did a big adventure picture," Bruckheimer said.

"Rob did an enormous amount of research with the cinematographer, and we finally went to Disney and said, 'Look, we really think we can do this.' And they thought about it for a while, because it increases the costs, but in the end, they agreed with us and said, 'Let's go for it.'"

Why Is Johnny Depp Working in the Streets of Paris?

So what had Depp anxious to get some time on the big screen?

We're guessing that celebrated movie trifecta of a great story, a great cast and a great director was at work here.

French newspaper Le Parisien published this shot of Depp in character as M. Rouleau, who appears to be hawking his wares as a street artist.

Based on the award-winning book The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick, the story centers on the titular orphaned boy (Asa Butterfield) who lives in the walls of a busy Paris train station, where remaining anonymous is the key to one's survival. But when he gets involved with an eccentric girl (Chloe Moretz) and discovers an automaton that may provide clues in learning what happened to his father, that world of anonymity is shaken.

That story alone sounds right up Depp's alley, but throw in actors like Jude Law, Sacha Baron Cohen and the on-the-rise Ms. Moretz, and jumping in front of the camera becomes too hard to resist. Plus, considering actors and actresses have been falling over themselves for years hoping to get an opportunity to work with the legendary Scorsese, it makes sense that Johnny would put down his producer hat for a day to pick up a beret.

The Invention of Hugo Cabret is set to hit theaters Nov. 23. Excited yet?

Penélope Cruz: Johnny Depp Is a Potty-Humor Prankster

"He fooled me once when we were doing Blow," Cruz, 36, told Jimmy Kimmel Thursday night on Jimmy Kimmel Live of her first time on set with Depp. "I was doing a very dramatic close-up, and he kept making that sound with the machine … I was just thinking, 'I hope they're not thinking it's me.' "

That was 10 years ago. Now that the duo are reuniting on-screen for the latest installment of Pirates of the Caribbean, which arrives in theaters May 20, Cruz says not much has changed – except for that machine.

"When I met him 10 years ago, he had a plastic [fart machine], and now, 10 years later, he has one with a remote control."

Depp, 47, leaves her alone now, the new mom says, opting to get his jollies off pranking director Rob Marshall and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. Jokes aside, she says, "I only have great things to say about [Depp]."

"He's really one of the most kind and genuine people that I have ever met," she says. "And he's so funny – I guess people know how funny he is."

She adds: "I love working with him."

Johnny Depp Forgives, Doesn't Forget Ricky Gervais

Despite Ricky Gervais' cracks about The Tourist—for which Depp was nominated for Best Actor—during this year's Golden Globe Awards, the heartthrob is doing Gervais quite the solid.

"The Depp bit is true. The Seinfeld bit isn't," Gervais wrote on his blog, referring to a New Orleans Examiner story about Depp guest-starring on Gervais' upcoming BBC2 sitcom, Life's Too Short.

Happily for Gervais (and Depp!) fans, the series is also slated to run on HBO.

But alas, Jerry Seinfeld apparently won't be appearing anytime soon as "quite a whiny Upper East Side Jewish guy," as the Examiner article suggested.

Gervais surmised that the Seinfeld rumor must have come from a behind-the-scenes interview the duo did when Gervais taped an episode of The Marriage Ref last month.

"I loved your work on that," Seinfeld tells Gervais, referring to his controversial job hosting the Globes.

"You just wanted me to do this," the Brit cynically replied.

'The Tourist' journeys onto DVD

Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck dined on it in Roman Holiday. Grace Kelly and Cary Grant had it in To Catch a Thief. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt whipped it up in Mr. and Mrs. Smith, on-screen and off.

But Jolie and Johnny Depp in The Tourist? Nada. Nothing. Zero. Sexless. No connection!

As a result, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck's first Hollywood movie is an empty shell which just debuted on DVD and Blu-ray this week. Each is a one-disc offering with the movie looking pretty wonderful with its European scenes, in particular the streets and canals of Venice.

But pretty does not sell a movie, other than as a time-waster. The Tourist, based on a French film, needed a lot more. The plot is some convoluted thing about a mobster's money, Jolie as the key to the mystery, Depp as a Wisconsin tourist swept up in the scheme and Paul Bettany as the British secret service guy on the case.

The fulcrum is the relationship of sophisticated Jolie with bumpkin Depp. They must get past his awkwardness and flirt, kiss, play and treat the thriller plot as irrelevant (which it is) while conjuring a giddy sensuality. Didn't happen.

Maybe von Donnersmarck, who is co-writer as well as director, was too obsessed instead with glamour, the subject of one of the featurettes included on both DVD and Blu-ray. That would certainly set The Tourist apart from his earlier German masterwork, The Lives of Others, which won an Oscar.

Says von Donnersmarck: "I was looking to do something completely different after The Lives of Others and The Tourist really seemed to fit that bill, because it was really all about beauty and humour and glamour."

Jolie is beautiful. She is dry and funny. She aces the glamour. But she seems to be working alone. Depp is making a different, more serious movie that apparently has no room for screwball comedy or romantic frisson.

Eccentric 'Rango' team can't be caged in

So it's saying something that Stanton turned to Depp during the filming of their most recent film and ... well, let Johnny tell it.

"Harry says to me" — here Depp adopts the accented whisper of his fellow Kentuckian — " 'Hey man, this is a really weird gig, isn't it?' "

Weirder still is the fact that the gig wasn't even a live-action movie but rather the animated feature Rango, out Friday.

On the surface, the film presents a quirky but lovable chameleon (voiced by Depp) who finds himself the unexpected hero of the townscritters of Dirt. Rango offers up familiar Western tropes — showdowns, corrupt mayors and epic landscapes — mixed in with the real-world arid-states concern over water shortages. Call it High Noonmeets Chinatown, starring a mangy bunch of dust-covered animals.

But dig deeper and it becomes clear that director Gore Verbinski was out to rewrite the rulebook on making animated movies.

"Normally, animation removes all the bumps and warts of reality, but with Rango, I wanted the audience to feel like it was shot with a camera on my shoulder," says Verbinski, who first started pondering this story a decade ago, long before getting sidetracked by three Pirates of the Caribbean movies. "Photo-realism was not the objective here. Emotional realism was."

Verbinski had two key allies in this war on convention.

First were the wizards at George Lucas' digital toyshop Industrial Light & Magic in San Francisco, who for the first time in their nearly four-decade history were freed up to work on an entire film as opposed to isolated effects shots. Verbinski's orders: Make each creature so odd that they're all indelible.

And second were the actors themselves, a seasoned and game bunch who also included Stanton (mole king Balthazar), Isla Fisher (Rango's scaly love interest, Beans), Ned Beatty (Dirt's bad-seed turtle mayor) and Pirates veteran Bill Nighy (hissing villain Rattlesnake Jake). Verbinski's request: Go crazy.

That they did, which prompted Stanton's aside to Depp.

Bucking the animated movie norm — which puts actors in recording booths doing voice-overs to roughly sketched-out characters — the cast spent three weeks on a Spartan stage at Universal Studios acting out key ensemble scenes from Rango like kids in a school play.

"Actually," Depp corrects, "it felt like a really bad school play. It was a wonderfully ludicrous approach, and it worked. Gore was going for emotion capture over motion capture. He had us parading around the room with all these odd props."

He pauses. "I just wish I'd had a lizard suit. I would have felt more comfortable about the whole thing." Depp laughs. Clearly there was a lot of that going on during shooting of this odd performance.

"One day these guys came by with a wheelbarrow and they told me to get in it," Beatty says. "So here I am, hands and feet waving in the air, saying my lines as I'm being pulled around. It was wacky."

Just 'quirky fun'

For Fisher, having to perform without makeup and costumes was, at first, terrifying.

"I felt very raw and exposed, because normally I can hide behind hair and makeup, which gives me confidence," she says. "But by lunch the first day, I loved it. It was like doing repertory theater, only you've got Johnny Depp doing this odd lizard walk. It was quirky fun."

Fisher, an Australian, so nailed her drawl-laden part that when she watched the movie with her husband, comedian Sacha Baron Cohen, "he leaned over and said, 'Uh, is that really you?' "

The actors' joint performances proved invaluable to the team of artists at ILM, who were tasked with breathing life into about 100 animated creatures, far more than the dozen who typically populate an animated feature.

"It was like Disneyland for us," says lead animator Kevin Martel, who focused on Rango. "Instead of sitting at a desk just hearing a voice track, if I wondered, 'What did Depp do in this scene?' I could go to the tape and see exactly what he did, with his eyes, with his face, with his body."

What's more, Verbinski pushed his animators to abandon their "shot mentality" and think of this project holistically. "I wanted them to think about character and story," he says. "After a while they got it, and it was a great transition to see."

Martel says he and his colleagues often acted out scenes from Rango themselves, which further helped them get underneath the digital skins they were crafting. "We went from people clicking on computer mouses to being performers, and sometimes that made all the difference," he says.

The creators of Rango hope that difference manifests itself at the box office. Animated films can deliver staggering returns, as evidenced by the hauls of more than $400 million by movies such as Toy Story 3 and Shrek 2.

"It's a profitable arena to work in, and every studio seems to want to get into it," says Ramin Zahed, editor of Animation Magazine. "From what I've seen, Rango seems to have a very unique look. ILM clearly made an effort to create something that doesn't look like what Pixar or DreamWorks would do."

Only Depp could do it

"We wanted to make a movie that was gnarly, dangerous and messy, something with the feel of (Sam Peckinpah's blood-soaked Western masterwork) The Wild Bunch," says screenwriter John Logan, who also wrote the grisly Gladiator. "At the same time, obviously, we all knew this would also be a comedy. I grew up with Bob Hope, so I had Son of Paleface in mind."

To make sure that lovable, laughable tone came through in the movie's lead character, only one name was pursued: Depp. Says Logan: "His synapses fire more quickly than anyone else. His mind is incredible, it's so fast." Adds Verbinski: "Johnny's all about surprises. It's not about the dialogue, it's about the cadence, the pitch, the look."

It didn't take long for Depp — whose animation work had been limited to Tim Burton's Corpse Bride and an episode of SpongeBob SquarePants— to opt to change into a crooked-necked chameleon for his Pirates mate.

"Gore came to me and said, 'It involves a lizard who is on an existential philosophical quest, and it's set in the Old West,' and with those three morsels together, I was sent into hyperspace."

'Rango' inspiration: Barney and Gonzo

Isla Fisher decided her reptilian belle "was the love-child of Holly Hunter and Clint Eastwood, so I watched Raising Arizona and lots of (Sergio Leone's) spaghetti Westerns." As for Dirt's dirty mayor, Ned Beatty conjured up John Huston's white-hatted performance in Roman Polanski's Chinatown.

And Johnny Depp's bubble-eyed, Hawaiian shirt-wearing chameleon? Suffice to say, animators at Industrial Light & Magic had but two photos of two late, great personalities to reference when bringing Rango's star to life. Comic actor Don Knotts and gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson.

Director Gore Verbinski's "mandate to us was 'embrace the weirdness,' " says lead animator Kevin Martel, who spent most of his time animating Rango. "It was important to have the characters be asymmetric and weird. And that sniffling characteristic that Knotts had was perfect for the part."

Johnny Depp pays tribute to the late Hunter S. Thompson.

As for the Thompson influence, credit Depp, for whom the writer served as friend and fellow adventurer. Specifically, Rango pays homage to Thompson's iconic Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Depp's star turn in the 1998 movie adaptation started the friendship between the two avant-garde Kentucky natives.

Beyond Rango's red and white Hawaiian shirt (the signature leisure wear of Thompson's alter ego in Fear, Raoul Duke), there's a scene in which Rango is nearly run over by an animated version of Duke and his sidekick, Dr. Gonzo. "There's that famous, spacey lizard lounge scene in Fear and Loathing, so it was natural for Gore and me to start riffing a bit from there," says Depp.

Later this year, Depp will star in Rum Diary, based on an autobiographical novel that Thompson wrote in 1959 but only published in 1998 at the behest of Depp and historian Douglas Brinkley, who became the literary executor of Thompson's estate.

Clearly, keeping Thompson alive is important to Depp, whether in animated or fleshy form.

"Hunter carved out a deep niche and will forever be read as one of the giants of literature," he says. "Every time I was with him, it was just a crazed adventure."

'Rango': Colors can't camouflage uneven humor

It aims at an adult audience with wide-ranging cultural and cinematic references, from journalist Hunter S. Thompson, artist Salvador Dali, author Carlos Castaneda, "spaghetti Western" filmmaker Sergio Leone and the 1974 movie Chinatown. It also uses a kind of True Grit-like verbose, polysyllabic dialogue, which Johnny Depp pulls off adroitly.

But the level of humor — much of it distinctly of the bathroom variety — is aimed squarely at the under-13 set. The result is an odd, occasionally engaging but often cacophonous mishmash. As the amiable voice of Rango, Depp re-teams with Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski in this postmodern Western.

The generic chase scenes and explosions that come in the film's final third are an effort to appeal to action fans, but they add a further confounding layer.

Still, it has one strong asset: a stylish look that doesn't fall for the overused 3-D trap. It's a pleasure to see a vividly animated movie without those glasses. It's not that an animated film can't be a hybrid. Toy Story 3 played to audiences of all ages and nimbly blended pop culture and kid-friendly humor. But that easy agility is lacking here. Mostly, this feels like an ambitious undertaking with some awkward tangents, executed unevenly.

Our hero, Rango, favors Hawaiian shirts and imagines inanimate toys to be his actor buddies in his lonely terrarium existence. But unexpected events dump him in the vast Mojave desert.

In those wide open spaces, he meets a sage armadillo (Alfred Molina), who directs him on a path to enlightenment. Depp fans will particularly appreciate a scene in which Rango lands briefly on the windshield of the convertible from Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, with Depp's Thompson character from the 1998 film inside the car.

After stumbling through the desert, chased by a persistent hawk, Rango comes upon a whole town of potential friends. The town, called Dirt, is suffering a stultifying drought and is run by a power-mad tortoise mayor (Ned Beatty). "You control the water, you control the desert" is his repeated mantra, recalling Chinatown.

Rango bursts into the town eager to make a good impression. He convinces the furry denizens that he's a tough guy who can help them with their "aquatic conundrum," during one of the film's most entertaining scenes in a local hangout. (Think Star Wars bar meets old Western saloons.) He just wanted some pals, but somehow he's become the town's savior.

Rango strikes sparks with a different species of lizard, a spunky gal named Beans (Isla Fisher), who has spells of freezing up, which she explains are a defense mechanism. This is a running joke — as well as a nice piece of science education for the kiddies — that works into the movie's gentle dollop of romance.

The animals are a strange-looking, sometimes surrealistic lot. Some are so stylized that their species is hard to identify. A few wear elaborate garb; others sport just a cowboy hat. The Greek chorus, a mariachi band of singing owls, is a clever touch.

Rango, like the character, has no lack of enthusiasm and inventive style. Its strong suit is visual panache. It's too bad that consistent comedy and emotional resonance get lost amid the dust and cacti.

Rango * * 1/2 (out of four)
Voices: Johnny Depp, Isla Fisher, Bill Nighy, Ray Winstone, Abigail Breslin, Alfred Molina
Director: Gore Verbinski
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking
Running time: 1 hour, 47 minutes
Opens Friday nationwide

Review: Lizards and light dance in `Rango'

In the manic, animated "Rango," which stars Depp as a chameleon, our coordinates are similar, and the hallucinogens are well under way. It's as though the drug-conjured lizards of "Fear and Loathing" have been contracted by Hollywood and tasked to make a Western.

Go West, young reptile.

But "Rango" proceeds from a presumably more sober place: the mind of director Gore Verbinski, who helmed the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy. It's his first animated film, but if you recall Depp's Jack Sparrow, you'll note that Verbinski is well acquainted with cartoon. "Rango" is also a first animated feature for the effects house Industrial Light & Magic.

Together, they've created perhaps the most cinematic animated film since Pixar's "Ratatouille." As a slapstick comedy, it doesn't have the emotion resonance of a Pixar film, but it's a visually stunning, endlessly inventive, completely madcap Western, made with obvious love for the genre.

"Rango" begins as movies should: with a Mariachi band of musical owls. Our narrators, they introduce the film and our hero, an early hint at the self-consciousness pervading the wink-filled "Rango."

We find our chameleon protagonist in full theatrical flight, turning his pet lizard tank into a film set, with supporting roles played by an inanimate fish toy and a palm tree: "Acting is reacting," he knowingly professes to no one.

With a wide, flat Don Rickles mouth and two giant bowl-shaped eyes, Rango, clad in a red Hawaiian shirt, doesn't look like your normal animated hero. We quickly learn that he's a precocious young actor whose life cooped up as a pet has habituated his imagination to flights of fancy. He is badly in need of an audience.

Rango is bounced out of his cage by a bump in the road and — in a beautifully done scene — tossed from the back seat of his unseen owners onto a Mojave Desert road, where he comes careening to a stop atop a broken piece of glass.

Spurred by an "enlightenment"-seeking armadillo (Alfred Molina), he sets out on a journey of self-discovery that includes momentarily landing on the windshield of the "Fear and Loathing" convertible, with Depp's former character inside.

Rango winds up in the old, rickety desert town of Dirt. Despite a resume that includes, as he claims, two one-acts and a working musical, Rango — less a chameleon of color than of character — dons the role of gunslinger so that he might impress the townspeople.

Inside a saloon, he claims with great bravado that he comes from the West, "beyond the sunset," and vanquished seven with a single bullet. Rango's dialogue, from John Logan's witty screenplay, is thoroughly Deppian in its verbosity. Rango boasts of eating men like the menacing Gila monster Bad Bill (Ray Winstone) for breakfast, adding: "Then we braise him in clarified butter."

Rango is convincing enough that he's made sheriff of Dirt. It's a town teaming with ragged curiosities: a drunk rabbit (Stephen Root), a slinky fox (Claudia Black), a wide-eyed and cynical mouse (Abigail Breslin), the prairie dog Balthazar (Harry Dean Stanton). There's also the potential love interest lizard named Beans (Isla Fisher).

Dirt's problem is water. Its dwindling supply is kept in a large jug in a bank's vault. The town's tortoise mayor (Ned Beatty) tells Rango: "You control the water, you control the desert."

With folksy villainy and a creaky wheelchair, the mayor is a perfect stand-in for John Huston's Noah Cross of "Chinatown." That film supplies the frame for much of "Rango," though only to a point. Incest is tabled and no nosey fellows get their nostrils sliced, but solving the mystery of the missing water is Rango's mission.

He seems no better equipped than Jake Gittes to solve what he deems Dirt's "aquatic conundrum." (His advice to one little creature: "Burn everything but Shakespeare.") But Rango is a method actor, and he eventually becomes the part.

As smart as "Rango" is, what most stands out is its simulation of light. With the great cinematographer Roger Deakins serving as a visual consultant and visual effects headed by Mark McCreery, the refraction of light in "Rango" may be the pinnacle yet in animation.

Shadows fall through the saloon — with glowing amber glasses of whiskey (or "cactus juice") — so authentically designed that one swears the room full of gun-totting varmints is real. Wisps of dust swirl across the road's cracked pavement.

Like Wes Anderson's entry to animation, "Fantastic Mr. Fox," Verbinski has brought live-action tools to an animated medium. The results in "Rango" are so lively that the post-movie conversation will go some time before any moviegoer remembers that 3-D was (thankfully) omitted.

The movie's postmodernism could be considered too cloying, but it comes off charming, especially because it pulls from such great sources. The Spaghetti Westerns of Sergio Leone are joyfully referenced, complete with a cameo from the Man With No Name (voiced by Timothy Olyphant, not Clint Eastwood). Hans Zimmer's score is a playful ode to those of Ennio Morricone.

Perhaps a new classification has been born: the "SpaghettiOs Western."

"Rango," a Paramount Pictures release, is rated PG for rude humor, language, action and smoking. Running time: 107 minutes. Three stars out of four.

"Rango" a madly clever animated sagebrush saga

Reconfiguring the spaghetti Western into a fusilli con camaleonte, Gore Verbinski's surprising escape picture after years in the Caribbean is eye-poppingly visualized in a hyper-realistic style that at times borders on the surrealist. The verbal flights of fancy will often sail right over the heads of rugrats, as will the innumerable references to and twists on classic movies, making this one animated feature some adults might enjoy more than their kids. But the presence of Johnny Depp in the title role virtually assures muscular returns for this Paramount/Nickelodeon production, which opens Friday.

"Rango" has the feel of a lark, of a film-lover's spree in a playpen equipped with some of the world's most expensive and expressive toys. Verbinski also enjoys the advantage of some highly gifted playmates, including technical wizards at Industrial Light + Magic (working on the firm's first animated feature), some of his "Pirates" effects cohorts and visual consultant Roger Deakins, who helps make the picture look as much shot as animated.

Unquestionably the first kids' toon to feature a homage to "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" within the first 10 minutes, Rango pivots on the pilgrim's progress of a mild-mannered pet chameleon who finds greatness thrust upon him when he pretends to a past of accomplished gunslinging in the name of justice. In the process, he becomes sheriff of the dried-up desert town of Dirt, which is presided over by a fat, old tortoise who controls the ragged community's water supply, a situation that neatly allows the film to accommodate a child-friendly ecological theme while, for buffs, also summoning strong memories of Chinatown.

That "Rango" has something different in mind from the general run of animated features is clear in the preliminary philosophical banter between Rango (Depp), a bulging-eyed chameleon who's normally blue, and a Don Quixote-like armadillo (Alfred Molina) whose midsection has been flattened by a truck's wheel. The compositions, especially in this stretch, are imaginatively bizarre, as are Rango's free-associative musings, some of which go by so fast that it's hard to take them all in.

Ushered on his way through the arid landscapes by a mordant mariachi owl band, Rango encounters female lizard Beans (Isla Fisher), with whom he stumbles upon the aptly named town of Dirt, which is occupied by a wide range of vividly realized critters who share one thing in common: They're all thirsty and can't hold out much longer without water. The wheelchair-bound, seemingly genial old tortoise mayor, who is voiced by Ned Beatty and looks like him too, promises everyone that good times lie ahead and attempts to co-opt Rango, who furthers his invented legend by killing a giant, metal-beaked hawk, by appointing him sheriff.

While some distracting sideline villainy triggers some busy chases and battles, the real bad guy is the mayor, who has been hoarding water in preparation for the day when he will have bought up all the surrounding land for cheap. His henchman is the giant Rattlesnake Jake (Bill Nighy), memorably equipped with a rapid-fire Gatling gun where his rattle normally would be. But before Rango faces his high noon with the serpent, he has an inspiring encounter with an iconic character called the Spirit of the West who bears an uncanny resemblance to an aged Man With No Name.

When filmmakers who have never before worked in animation jump into the deep end, the result could range from the freshly innovative to the downright clueless. In this case, it's happily the former that prevails. Screenwriter John Logan, working from a story cooked up with Verbinski and the latter's longtime illustrator and conceptual consultant James Ward Byrkit, stirs the pot of genre archetypes, conventions and cliches with a sharp eye for their amusing reusability while also writing flavorsome character dialogue.

For his part, the director has broken with convention by recording the vocal performances, not separately in the isolation of studio booths but with the actors working together on a prop-laden and partly dressed stage for 23 days, during which time their work was shot by HD cameras so that animators could later reference their facial expressions and bodily gestures for inspiration. There is evidence of this working more with some actors -- particularly Depp and Beatty -- than others, but the verbal exchanges do spark and flow in the manner of accomplished ensemble work; in the promotional materials, the filmmakers call the technique "emotion capture," as opposed to motion capture.

But most exceptional is the visual style, which makes even the best animated 3D look like a poor cousin. More than in any other animated work that comes to mind, meticulous attention has been paid to light and shadow, to gradations of color, to details of faces, costumes and props and to the framing of shots. Some of this is deliberately meant to ape the density of the compositions in certain classic Westerns and, even more, to those of Italian master Sergio Leone. Beyond this, it's arresting to behold the twists the filmmakers add, such as creating a Monument Valley-like backdrop but deliberately changing its color from reddish to a sandy yellow or reducing the town in spots to what could be called its skeleton.

Such imaginative leaps are perpetuated by Hans Zimmer's score, which reworks the sound of Ennio Morricone's celebrated scores for Leone in ways that are exciting, sometimes comic but never silly.

A few off-color dialogue exchanges are mildly surprising for a family-friendly, PG-rated film, and dropping an additional five minutes or so from the 107-minute film would have tightened the screws to its benefit.

Depp transitions to lizard role

After all, of the major players, only Johnny Depp decided to stay on for a fourth instalment, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (coming in May).

For Depp, a love of the character of Capt. Jack Sparrow (and a reported $35 million) kept him onboard. Not so for Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley, and, most importantly, director Gore Verbinski, a man with whom Depp claims to communicate so smoothly it seems telepathic.

"I just like the way he smells," Verbinski jokes at a press conference for Rango, his trippy animated tribute to the Sergio Leone-type Westerns, in which Depp voices a lost chameleon who bluffs his way into the job of sheriff of a desiccated Western town called Dust.

"I've been told that I smell good. I don't look like I smell good," the sartorially grungy star quips back.

And no hard feelings over that Pirates movie. "I'm looking forward to seeing it," Verbinski says cheerfully.

"I think we have a shorthand of talking in sound effects and finishing unfinished sentences. I give very complex direction like 'more fuzz' and 'more stink on this line.' "

"It's exactly like that," Depp laughs. " 'We need more fuzz.' In Gore's three Pirates films and Rango, there are no limits to the possibility to try all kinds of things that sometimes fail miserably, and at other times arrive at some place you know no one's ever been to."

That's a fair description of Rango, a first-time animated feature for both Verbinski and George Lucas' Industrial Light & Magic. Imagine The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, populated by anthropomorphized lizards, snakes, toads and other desert fauna (voiced by the likes of Isla Fisher, Abigail Breslin, Bill Nighy and Harry Dean Stanton), all riding chickens.

It's lyrical, it references films like Chinatown, it has owl mariachis, following around, constantly predicting the hero's death in forboding tones (a gimmick plucked from the 1965 Lee Marvin/Jane Fonda western Cat Ballou, Depp's favourite Western).

For all that, Depp says it was a fairly smooth transition from pirate to lizard. When he created Capt. Jack, and was pondering the scoundrel's various flights from angry pursuers, he was inspired by a nature show about the basilisk, a creature colloquially known as the Jesus Lizard. "I saw footage of this lizard running across the water and it was the strangest thing I'd ever seen." He adopted the run, and "whenever we were in that situation, Gore would say 'Let's get in touch with the lizard.'

"So when he actually called me to play a lizard, I thought, 'Yeah, I'm halfway there.' "

A self-styled actor, who turns his terrarium toys into "castmates," Rango is a thespian set adrift when a moving-trip road mishap smashes his world on a desert highway. Improvising his identity as he goes, his voice becomes very non-Depp as he fabricates on the fly.

"I actually tell lies for a living. That's what acting is, actually," Depp says.

"But early on, Gore and I talked about the character -- we're talking about two grown men, middle-aged men discussing the possibility of one of them being a lizard. But we talked about when people have a tendency to exaggerate or lie or whatever, you always sort of notice that their voice goes to a completely different register.

"Whereas if I'm talking to you and speaking and babbling nonstop, and then suddenly I'm really nervous about telling you the truth (Depp switches to a high voice). That's where that came from. You imagine the character to be just really a nervous wreck."

So weird, and so many references from two generations ago. Do Verbinski and Depp really think this is going to fly with kids?

My kids like (Monty Python and the) Holy Grail," Verbinski says. "We've shown the movie for 500 kids and they were mesmerized and enjoying it and there's hilarity, and when they get into the existential moments they're not bored. They have a dream logic that we seem to not appreciate as adults. People constantly underestimate what kids can handle."

As for having a "lizard dad," Depp says his two children are unimpressed.

"It was an odd sort of thing: 'Where are you going Daddy?' 'I gotta go to work.' 'What are you doing?' 'Well, I'm playing a lizard.' 'Oh, OK.' "

Johnny Depp Gives Vanessa Paradis a Standing Ovation

Depp, 47, who has two children with Paradis, 38, sat in the front row of the balcony, his eyes fixated on her throughout the two-hour show. She sang mostly in French, dedicating one song to "love and fire," and producing a beautiful, feminine rendition of Jeff Buckley’s "Hallelujah."

Paradis – focused on the music – thanked her fans repeatedly and swayed sensually to her tunes. At the end of her performance, Depp joined the crowd in a standing ovation, which lasted several minutes. The couple left The Town Hall hand-in-hand, jumping into a private car and waving happily to fans.

Girls "Go Wild" for Johnny Depp at Hollywood Hot Spot

What went down? And what other celebrities were spotted around town? Read on to find out...

A source tells us the Pirates of the Caribbean actor was getting plenty of attention from the ladies!

"Every girl in the room was going wild for him," our source says. "They were trying to dance and strut by to get his attention, which didn't faze him."

Depp spent most of the night drinking Dom Pérignon champagne with an older gentleman friend and trying to ignore the growing scene.

Says the source, "Eventually they had to switch him to the VIP room because too many people were swarming the table."

Kids' Choice Awards Nominations

Favorite Movie
Alice in Wonderland
Diary of a Wimpy Kid
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
The Karate Kid

Favorite Movie Actor
Jack Black

Johnny Depp
Dwayne Johnson
Jaden Smith

Cameron tops Hollywood rich list

Cameron earned an estimated $257 million US last year for writing, producing and directing his 3-D hit Avatar, based on its worldwide 2010 box-office gross of $1.95 billion, as well as his share of DVD and pay-television sales, according to a Vanity Fair survey released Wednesday of the top 40 Hollywood earners in 2010.

The 56-year-old director easily beat actor Johnny Depp, who scored the No. 2 spot earning $100 million after collecting paychecks from several 2010 films including Alice in Wonderland and The Tourist, as well as up front payments for the next Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, which is due for release in May.

The Vanity Fair list only included creative professionals — producers, writers, actors, etc. — and the money they earn from film. It did not include earnings from non-movie related projects, such advertisements or television show earnings.

Steven Spielberg earned $80 million for Universal theme-park royalties, as well as consulting fees and for directing and producing the upcoming War Horse, edging out Inception director Christopher Nolan who brought in $71.5 million.

Inception star Leonardo DiCaprio, who earned $62 million, to take the No. 5 spot.

In sixth place was Alice in Wonderland director Tim Burton, who earned $53 million, $3 million more than actor Adam Sandler, who brought in most of his revenue in the past year for up-front fees for producing and starring in future movies Jack and Jill and Just Go With It.

The Hangover writer and director Todd Phillips landed at No. 8. Twilight’s 18-year-old actor Taylor Lautner who earned $33 million from the film franchise, and Iron Man 2 star Robert Downey Jr. who brought in $31.5 million, rounded out the top 10.

Lautner’s young Twilight co-stars Kristen Stewart, 20, and Robert Pattinson, 24, landed at No. 13 and No. 15 respectively, making them the youngest members of the list, Vanity Fair said.

And in an encouraging sign for would-be filmmakers, Paranomal Activity producer Jason Blum and writer and director Oren Peli together came in at No. 16, pulling in $26.5 million from the horror film’s DVD and pay-TV revenue as well as box office from the 2010 sequel.

Vanity Fair concluded that while nine-figure windfalls such as that of Cameron or Depp are rare, “Hollywood’s post-financial crash aversion to $20 million paydays and gross-percentage box office deals seems to be easing.”

As evidence, the article’s author, Peter Newcomb, pointed to “mid-range star” Vince Vaughn’s $17.5 million fee for The Dilemma, and to large bonuses handed out for box office hits.

See the full list here.

Johnny Depp's Jack Sparrow Comes Alive in LEGO

That's what LEGO master model builder Erik Varszegi did for Tuesday's preview event leading up to the American International Toy Fair in Manhattan. And it only took some 200 hours and more than 150,000 LEGO bricks.

But look what he got for it: a 6-ft.-tall version of PEOPLE's twice-named Sexiest Man Alive as Captain Jack Sparrow. In the flesh next to LEGO Depp is costar Ian McShane, who plays Blackbeard in Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, due in theaters this May.

Johnny Depp may replace Downey in "Oz"

The story revolves around a showy young illusionist who is forced to flee a traveling circus. His hot air balloon is swept up by a tornado to the land of Oz, which is run by two magical wicked witches. Sam Raimi ("Spider-Man") will direct.

While it doesn't have a start or release date, the project is a high priority for Disney, which hopes to start production in the second half of the year.

Depp has a close relationship with the studio after starring in its "Pirates of the Caribbean" films and last year's "Alice in Wonderland." The issue is timing.

He is scheduled to begin shooting "Dark Shadows," Tim Burton's adaptation of the 1960s gothic soap opera, for Warner Bros. this spring. Depp is also attached to star as Tonto in Disney's "The Lone Ranger." That project is further back in the development process than "Oz," although it has a director, Gore Verbinski ("Pirates of the Caribbean").

Disney clearly would love for Depp to do both, but if he commits to "Oz," that pushes Ranger back even further.

Downey, meanwhile, seems to freeing up his dance card for 2011, with "Oz" the second project he is backing away from. The actor was to star in "Gravity" opposite Sandra Bullock but dropped out in November.

Depp, Richards film 'intense' doc

The actor famously used the guitarist as the inspiration for his swashbuckling Pirates of the Caribbean character Jack Sparrow and the pair even starred as father and son in the franchise’s third movie in 2007.

Depp is working on a film project about the musician and fits in filming whenever the two aren’t busy - and the Hollywood star admits their on-screen chats can go on for some time.

He says, “Any time he’ got a minute, any time I’ve got a minute. We’ve done one, let’s say, installment that was fairly intense. We shot for a few days and got 35 hours of footage. That’s me and Keith talking. We’re sitting on couches, drinking and talking.”

Depp Is People's Choice

Keeping its momentum from last year, the Twilight saga was the big winner on Wednesday night.

The latest installment in the series, Eclipse, picked up four awards, including favorite movie, surpassing nominees including The Social Network and Inception.

It also won favorite drama movie and favorite on-screen team at the awards at the Nokia Theater in L.A., and star Kristen Stewart beat out Angelina Jolie and Jennifer Aniston for favorite movie actress as Bella Swan.

But the film's heartthrobs Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner didn't have as much luck when it came to favorite movie actor, which was awarded to Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland.

Pattinson was beat out again in a separate category for favorite movie star under 25, which went to Zac Efron.

Adam Sandler, another popular actor at the show, won for favorite comedic star, while his hit flick Grown Ups was favorite comedic movie.

Eminem continues his successful year, snagging the most awards in the music category. Winning favorite male artist and favorite hip hop artist, the rapper also scored favorite song along with Rihanna for "Love the Way You Lie." The sexy Barbadian songstress also won for favorite pop artist.

House M.D. beat out Glee in the TV category with three awards: favorite TV drama, favorite TV drama actor (Hugh Laurie) and favorite TV drama actress (Lisa Edelstein).

Favorite new TV comedy was Bleep My Dad Says and favorite new TV drama was Hawaii Five-O

Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie top 2010's money-making movie stars

According to Quigley Publishing Company's 79th Annual Poll of Motion Picture Exhibitors, the co-stars take the No. 1 and No. 2 positions. The poll asks movie exhibitors which stars they think generated the most box office moolah for the year. This is a pretty good indicator of a star's real box-office draw.

Depp is on top yet again, having finished first in 2007 and 2006 also. This year his resume boasts "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Tourist." With the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" due out in 2011, he's likely to appear on the Top 10 again next year.

Jolie's claim to box office fame this year is owed to her super-spy turn in "Salt" and setting Depp up in "The Tourist."

The poll also tapped two "Stars of Tomorrow": Zach Galifianakis and Michelle Williams. We'll see how they do in 2011.

The full Top 10 Money-Makers of 2010:

1. Johnny Depp
2. Angelina Jolie
3. Robert Downey, Jr.
4. Matt Damon
5. Steve Carell
6. Tom Hanks
7. Denzel Washington
8. Leonardo DiCaprio
9. George Clooney
10. Anne Hathaway

Cruz, Portman top sexiest woman polls

Portman beat Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry to the top of Fandango.com's men-only Sexiest Woman in 2011 Movies list, while Spaniard Cruz was the women's poll leader, ahead of Jolie, Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

The website's male respondents voted Johnny Depp and Ryan Reynolds the joint Sexiest Man in 2011 Movies, while the girls picked Depp ahead of Robert Downey, Jr.

The voters in the Christmas weekend online poll also chose Blake Lively as the Next Big American Movie Star. Men picked Seth Rogen & Cameron Diaz (The Green Hornet) as the Most Mismatched Movie Couple and women opted for Adam Sandler & Jennifer Aniston (Just Go With It).

Both sexes agreed Harry Potter & The Deathly Hallows - Part 2 is 2011's Most Anticipated Blockbuster.

Depp drops in

Hollywood's top-grossing stars: DiCaprio, Depp

You may know Wasikowska better as Alice, the title character in Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." Thanks to that movie's billion-dollar worldwide take, she's currently tied with Depp for second place on Forbes' list of the top box-office earners of 2010.

No. 1 on the list for the year is DiCaprio, who starred in "Shutter Island" and "Inception," which between them earned $1.1 billion this year. Depp and Wasikowska each have $1.03 billion to their names, with nearly all of that coming from "Alice in Wonderland." The part after the decimale point coming from "The Kids Are All Right" (Wasikowska) and "The Tourist" (Depp), both of which have made about $30 million. Depp will take sole possession of second place by the end of the year as "The Tourist" continues in wide release.

Also of note: 12-year-old Jaden Smith ranks ninth on the list thanks to "The Karate Kid," which made $359 million worldwide. He's tied with his co-star, Jackie Chan.

The top 10 box-office earners of 2010, according to Forbes (worldwide box office, lead roles in live-action films only):

1. Leonardo DiCaprio, $1.1 billion ("Shutter Island," "Inception")
2 (tie). Mia Wasikowska, $1.03 billion ("Alice in Wonderland," "The Kids Are All Right")
2 (tie). Johnny Depp, $1.03 billion ("Alice in Wonderland," "The Tourist")
4. Robert Downey Jr., $807 million ("Iron Man 2," "Due Date")
5. Daniel Radcliffe, $780 million ("Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I")
6. Robert Pattinson, $749 million ("Twilight: Eclipse," "Remember Me")
7. Kristen Stewart, $698 million ("Twilight: Eclipse," "The Runaways," "Welcome to the Rileys")
8. Sam Worthington, $484 million ("Clash of the Titans")
9 (tie). Jaden Smith, $359 million ("The Karate Kid")
9 (tie). Jackie Chan, $359 million ("The Karate Kid")

Sighting

"Inception," Johnny Depp hits with IMDB.com users

The movie database website on Monday released its annual list of top 25 films and top 25 stars of 2010, as determined by its users' search behavior, votes and rankings.

"Inception," the Leonardo DiCaprio sci-fi thriller that tells of a group of people who investigate corporate secrets by entering the minds of others, was picked as the top movie of 2010 by IMDB visitors.

Three cartoons filled out top five, including "Toy Story 3" at No. 2, "How to Train Your Dragon" at No. 4 and "Tangled" at No. 5. "The Social Network," a drama about the early days of Facebook, came in at No. 3.

Johnny Depp, in theaters this year with "Alice in Wonderland" and "The Tourist," was the top star.

"Our 100 million unique users every month give us a broad selection" on the list, said Colin Needham, the founder and CEO of Amazon.com-owned IMDB.

The kids action flick "Kick-Ass," which failed to deliver commercially on media hype and good reviews, ranked at No. 6.

"This is one way IMDB can help users discover films that they may not otherwise have known about," said Needham. "We are great at being able to highlight films for users independent of box office success."

Rounding out the top 10 were "Shutter Island" at No. 7; "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1" at No. 8; another critically admired box office dud, "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World," at No. 9; and "The Town" at No. 10

The latest "Twilight" vampire film failed to make the list, but two of its stars -- Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson -- wound up at No. 2 and No. 3, respectively, on the chart of top 25 stars. Co-star Taylor Lautner was a lowly No. 14. DiCaprio was No. 4, and Brad Pitt No. 5.

Only two actresses made the top 10: Megan Fox at No. 9 and Zoe Saldana at No. 10. A full list can be found at www.imdb.com.

Sighting

Johnny Depp remembers 'magical' night walks in Venice

Depp was speaking during a visit to Rome to promote the film, which was shot partly in Paris and partly in the famous island city in northern Italy, by "The Lives of Others" director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck and also stars Angelina Jolie.

"My experience of Venice really happened between 10pm and 2am when the streets closed and I was able to walk around and experience the poetry of Venice, the ghosts of Venice, all those wonderful dark alleys," Depp said.

"For an actor being able to film within the confines of that magical city certainly helps.... The city's magic shone through completely," said the actor, who wore a grey fedora hat, a cream waistcoat and a black neckerchief.

"The Tourist" was nominated on Tuesday for the 2011 Golden Globe awards for best comedy, best actor for Depp and best actress for Jolie.

The film, which was shot over five months in Venice earlier this year, premiered in the United States earlier this month.

It revolves around Frank, played by Depp, an American tourist visiting Italy to mend a broken heart who comes across Elise (Jolie).

2011 Golden Globes nominations

Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical):
"Alice in Wonderland"
"Burlesque"
"The Kids Are All Right"
"Red"
"The Tourist"

Best Actor in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical):
Johnny Depp, "Alice in Wonderland"
Johnny Depp, "The Tourist"
Paul Giamatti, "Barney's Version"
Jake Gyllenhaal, "Love and Other Drugs"
Kevin Spacey, "Casino Jack"

Box Office: Dec 10 to 12, 2010

'Tourist' good for the scenery

In fact, that would be a better title even now for this pricey, logic-challenged popcorn flick. In the marquee esthetics of Hollywood, to realize these film icons haven't been paired is like discovering Batting Champ A has yet to face that Cy Young-winning Pitcher B.

Jolie! ... Depp! ... What happens when these two forces of nature meet? Mutual annihilation?

In a word, no. Anyone expecting natural chemistry, a la Mr. & Mrs. Smith, between two such different film personalities hasn't paid attention to their work.

A daunting female presence, Jolie tends to steamroll her leading men (koff -- James McAvoy -- koff). But the dry and eccentric Depp practically inhabits a different planet from his co-star. Offscreen, they apparently drank wine and talked about their kids. Onscreen, their interaction is every bit as hot.

As a consequence, both actors' best scenes are en seule, as they say in France (this is, after all, a remake of a 2005 French film called Anthony Zimmer -- aren't all Hollywood thrillers these days remakes of French films?). Jolie's best moments come when she's being surveilled by Interpol, as she vamps for the voyeurs, the camera following her curves like a caress.

And Depp? His flair for physical comedy emerges when he's on the run, specifically when he sprints across Venice rooftops in his pyjamas, one step ahead of a hail of bullets fired by international criminals with characteristic bad aim.

Those are the moments that almost make it worth turning your brain off and enjoying the scenery in this nonsensical thriller. The Tourist is an odd career turn for German director Florian Henckel von Dannersmarck (The Lives of Others). A closet Hollywood-phile, he is channeling Hitchcock's To Catch a Thief with a faulty Ouija board.

As we meet mystery woman Elise (Jolie), she is sitting in a Paris patio, drinking her café espresso and reading a note from her international thief boyfriend telling her to take a train to Venice and look for someone who's his height and build and settle in with him. As per the instructions in the note, she sets fire to it and leaves. Quickly, police swoop in under the command of Acheson (Paul Bettany), carefully collect the ashes, and use high-tech juju to recreate the note.

Enter Frank (Depp) a mumbly and bemused math teacher who's pleasantly surprised by Jolie's attention (who wouldn't be?). What follows is a travelogue full of red herrings, mistaken identity and revenge -- an international mob boss (Steven Berkoff) wants the boyfriend/Frank dead because he stole a billion euros from him. The cops want him for the taxes.

The ending, if you care about it, forces you to rewind everything that happened previously and go, "Huh?"

What can be said is that von Donnersmarck, who shot so claustrophobically in The Lives of Others, does know how to shoot wide to capture beauty and opulence as well as action.

Although seriously, could anyone shoot Venice badly?

The real 'Tourist' attractions: Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie

Whenever they appear in public, a crowd gathers — a big one — which is news to no one, except perhaps director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who found himself trying to film a scene with them at a Venice train station before an audience of hundreds, maybe thousands, of spectators.

"Why is it we go so crazy about actors?" he says. "What is it that makes 70,000 people stand around a train station while we're shooting a little scene there, shouting 'Angie!' and 'Johnny!' at the top of their lungs?"

Seventy thousand? The filmmaker laughs. "That's what it felt like. It felt like being at a rock concert."

The two stars of The Tourist, opening today, are among only a handful of actors who count these days as global figures. Depp is the titular tourist, with Jolie playing a mysterious woman who draws him into her dangerous world.

As the film's producer Graham King (The Departed) says, they connect with people "whether it's Venice, Calif., or Venice, Italy."

"To be successful in this business, you've got to have chemistry with the audience," King says.

Part of the reason may be their wandering personalities — a nomadic tendency that may lend each of them a cross-cultural familiarity. Each has a rebellious spirit, a defiance and individuality, all virtues that aren't restricted to any border.

"Here we have people who will not let themselves be defined by anyone except themselves," says von Donnersmarck, an Oscar winner for the German drama The Lives of Others. "(As actors) they have the ability to make that spirit visible."

USA TODAY talked with both Depp and Jolie about wanderlust, war zones and going incognito.

JOHNNY DEPP: The observer has now become the observed

One of Johnny Depp's favorite things to do is go people-watching, which is inconvenient because a favorite activity of many people is Johnny Depp-watching.

"There was a strange moment, and I don't quite know when it happened, but for an actor, like a journalist in a way, the initial ingredient to the gig is to observe the situation you're in, to observe people," Depp says.

"I'm still fascinated watching people. But at a certain point, the coin flipped and I became the one being observed. It sort of puts a damper on me being the observer."

When he visits a place, he says, "I still get the opportunity to at least soak up as much of the place and culture as possible and hang about and learn about it."

Mostly that involves trying to go unnoticed. Cover of darkness helps.

In The Tourist, Depp plays an American who travels to Europe to mend his broken heart. There he meets a beautiful woman (Jolie) who leads him into a web of intrigue.

"When I was in Venice (shooting The Tourist), I couldn't necessarily go around town in the daytime. But come 10 o'clock at night, when the majority of people are off the streets, I could walk freely, say, between the hours of 10 p.m. and 2 a.m. I'd get my Venice fill and then go back to the hotel and go to work."

The actor, 47, was born in Kentucky and lived there until about age 8, when his family moved to South Florida. But, like Jolie, he doesn't have one place he considers home.

"We're kind of all over the place. I live wherever the location for the film demands. We spend time in Los Angeles when we can, and as much time in France as much as possible, where we have a place down in the south," says Depp, who has two children with French actress Vanessa Paradis.

"In the last year, I've spent time in L.A., Venice, a couple months in Hawaii, some time in Puerto Rico, four months in London," he says with a laugh. "It's been a real nomadic ride this year."

The circus-like existence is "something I've always loved," he adds.

"I've been doing it, boy, very consistently now for 20-something years. It's still as fascinating as the first time I left the U.S. and went to the Philippines."

That was in 1986, when the then-22-year-old had a small role in Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning Platoon.

"When I went to the Philippines, I had a wide array of emotions. We landed on March 5, 1986, and (Ferdinand) Marcos, the president of the Philippines, had been ousted just prior to that. There was a huge revolution. Corazon Aquino had taken office, there were tanks in the streets, insurgents, bombs. It was really wild. And for a kid of 22 or something, it was like, 'What?'

"It was disconcerting, to say the least. And then of course, Oliver had us all driven into the jungle, where we dug our own holes and lived for like three weeks."

Part of Depp's personality is being able to find the exotic in places that might seem anything but. "The first time you walk into a London pub and order a pint, the atmosphere in those places, that culture, pub culture, hasn't changed in a thousand years."

One of his favorite locations was the American Southwest, which he fell for while making a small film called Arizona Dream in 1993.

"I spent nine months on location in Douglas, Ariz., which is this border town next to Nogales, Mexico. It's a tiny little town, but couldn't have been happier there. It was a fascinating, fascinating little place.

"Then you go up through these really cool little towns like Bisbee, Ariz., and then over to Tucson, Flagstaff and Phoenix. Anywhere I've been on location, I always find something fascinating or great about it."

This conversation is happening by phone; Depp is in Paris, where the December weather has been dusting the streets with snow. He plans to sneak out at night to enjoy some of his favorite parts of the city.

"I'm still like a little kid with that stuff," he says. "Just being here in Paris, wandering streets and going into cafés frequented by the biggest heroes of my life: Charles Baudelaire, James Joyce, Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald. The list goes on and on ...

"You just do what you can to blend in to not bring attention to yourself."

ANGELINA JOLIE: Family reflects world tourist's passion

BUDAPEST, HUNGARY — Ask Angelina Jolie where she is from and she answers simply: "Nowhere."

"I grew up in L.A. and New York, but I was always wanting to travel. I was always fascinated with Asia and Africa, and the deserts, the Sahara. ... I've always felt at home out in the world somewhere," she says, sitting in her trailer on the outskirts of Budapest on the set of a war drama she has written and is directing. The setting is light-years away from the streets of Paris and Venice in which her new movie, The Tourist, takes place.

"My kids asked me the other night, 'What's your favorite place?' " she says, smiling. "We were having the 'What's your favorite country?' talk. ... Mine is always wherever I haven't been."

As a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations, in addition to her location shooting around the world, and experiences adopting children from Africa and Asia, Jolie, 35, has been most places.

"China," she says. "I haven't explored China.

"Brad, when we first got together years ago, we talked about China, and he was convinced he was banned because of Seven Years in Tibet," the 1997 movie about an Austrian explorer who befriends the Dalai Lama during China's takeover of the country in the late 1940s and early '50s. Jolie and actor Brad Pitt, partners since they met on the set of 2005's Mr. & Mrs. Smith, have six children.

"So then (China) kind of went off our radar for a while," Jolie says. "But I've been checking into it and I don't think he is (banned). I've spent some time working with different refugee issues, so there was just a question of making sure our permits for China are OK."

Work may end up taking her there after all. "I'm hoping we get to go for Kung Fu Panda," she says of the upcoming DreamWorks Animation sequel, in which she voices Master Tigress. "We'll go in and stay a few days. But the thing for me is really getting to spend time there. We really need to pack up the kids and bring teachers and go for like two months."

Among the places she has been, Jolie says, "I do have a few favorites, for different reasons, mainly because of my children or some special memory. And I do love the desert. My dream is to cross the Sahara. It's something I've always wanted to do. But I have a very big family now and that takes 28 days. If I brought them, that would be a big caravan," she says with a laugh. "And if I can't bring them, then I'm away from them for too long. So right now, that dream is on hold."

Part of this passion for other lands and cultures is reflected in her family. "It's part of the wonderful things that come when you adopt a child from other countries, that country enters your home," she says. "They're quite proud of their countries, their languages. They know they're American and Cambodian, and they're encouraged to know where they're from."

Though the adopted children have their native homelands as part of their identity, she says, the family's biological children also take pride in exotic roots.

"And even Viv and Knox (the twins, her youngest) were born in France, so they have something. And Shiloh's a little confused because she knows she was born in Africa, though she's not African," Jolie says. "In some ways she is, but in other ways she's not."

In Budapest, Jolie and her family tried to explore the city, even as they became the focus of attention from paparazzi. "It's beautiful here, especially at night, when the lights come on and you drive through the bridges," she says. "And the people are so nice."

One of her favorite things is to see the world from the air. She and Pitt got their pilot licenses, and the confessed "adrenaline junkie" says it's a chance for her to explore without being watched back.

"I've always loved the air," she says. "I fortunately don't have any fear of heights. A part of (the appeal) is I don't have a lot of privacy on the Earth.

"So up in the air, I'm all by myself, and I'm quite free."

"The Tourist" faces box office struggle

Even with two of the world's biggest movie stars in Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp aboard, "The Tourist" might struggle to earn $20 million at the North American box office this weekend.

Prerelease tracking surveys indicate soft must-see interest in the costly Sony release. Some industry pundits -- as usual -- blamed the marketing materials, while others said the A-list casting can't mask a tired concept.

Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ("The Lives of Others), "The Tourist" has Depp's character traveling to Venice to get over a recent breakup and getting involved with Jolie's sultry Interpol agent.

"But the problem may be that he doesn't have green eyes and a cap on his head or scissors for hands," an industryite offered. "If you think about it, Depp's most successful roles have always had him playing oddballs."

In a caustic review, The Hollywood Reporter film critic Todd McCarthy opined: "Depp never has registered less effectively in his entire film career."

As for Jolie, her most recent outing came in July with the action thriller Salt, a $118 million domestic grosser.

Despite the proximity to that middling performance, "The Tourist" has received wide media coverage, helped by Jolie's pairing with Depp. Sony secured cover stories in USA Weekend, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue and Vanity Fair, helping to spread awareness of the film among prospective patrons.

But the movie's talent-bloated $100 million production budget surely requires a domestic run of $150 million-$200 million just to reach break even on the picture.

Helpfully, "The Tourist" is expected to over-perform internationally, much in the manner of "Salt," which picked up an outsize $175 million in foreign lucre.

Executives at Sony and producer Graham King's GK Films insisted the action thriller would enjoy a strong run even if it doesn't debut impressively. The holiday season generally produces a sleeper hit or two. Also, adult-targeting movies are often leggy as older moviegoers take longer to support films.

But if "The Tourist" fails to perform, King's company, and not Sony, will take it on the chin. GK covers all production outlays while Sony covers prints and advertising costs and handles most worldwide distribution in exchange for a distribution fee in the low double-digit percentages.

The only other wide opener set for this weekend is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" from Fox and Walden Media, a family fantasy expected to top the weekend with perhaps $35 million-$45 million. No other adult-oriented thriller has opened wide in recent weeks, and there is little peril of audience overlap for "The Tourist."

Avoid Jolie, Depp's "Tourist" trap

Staggeringly misjudged in virtually every department, from the wannabe effervescent script to Depp's dopey hairdo, the Sony release stands as an object lesson in the perils of succumbing to the siren call of big-time Hollywood filmmaking for a foreign director with one art house hit behind him. The studio's publicity machine will work overtime to drum up some initial business, but "Tourist" will fall into a trap of its own making.

After receiving near-universal acclaim and a foreign-language Oscar for his 2006 debut feature, "The Lives of Others," a quietly riveting suspense drama set in East Germany, Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who grew up partially in the U.S. and speaks perfect English, was inundated with offers from all quarters but wanted to choose carefully. After such a long delay, for him to have finally settled on this trifling romp over the rooftops and in the canals of Venice is stupefying to say the least and will give plenty of ammunition to the small band of detractors of his earlier outing.

Embalmed in makeup and elegant gowns that puts one in mind of Loretta Young and employing a reserved English accent that allows no possibility of genuine emotional expression, Jolie plays Elise, the object of much male attention in the opening scenes, which is no surprise even though the men in question are all surveillance experts intent upon following her every move in the hope she'll lead them to her criminal lover, one Alexander Pearce. After she receives a note instructing her to take a morning train from Paris to Venice, the chase is on, and she knows it.

With every guy on board keen for Elise to sit next to them, she instead gloms on to the scruffy, rather forlorn-looking Frank Tupelo, a mild-mannered math teacher from Wisconsin. Baffled and unnerved by her attentions, Frank is thoroughly unequipped to partake in the kind of witty, insinuating dialogue expected in stories of train-bound intrigue. Not that Donnersmarck, having revamped previous scripts by the estimable Julian Fellowes and Christopher McQuarrie, has written any. But it's woefully clear from their first scene together that, not only is there nothing clicking between the stars, but that the entire enterprise is madly artificial and silly, that whatever games are being played here are not going to be fun.

Donnersmarck, along with his multitude of producers, must have dreamed that, with two of the most glamorous and best-looking stars in the business, he had a shot of making a modern Hitchcock romantic thriller along the lines of "The 39 Steps," "To Catch a Thief" and "North by Northwest." Well, dream on. No one here evinces the slightest feel for that sort of sly sophistication. Instead, we get tiresome scenes of the hapless Frank, who's presumed to be the much sought-after Alexander, being pursued by goons of a Scotland Yard contingent led by Paul Bettany and by those of a gangster tycoon (Steven Berkoff) from whom Alexander stole a fortune and who you'd believe to be Russian but for his British accent.

Least accountable of all is the growing affection Elise seems to be feeling for the ineffectual Frank. Or is she pretending? One minute she invites him into her sumptuous suite at the Danieli, the next she makes him sleep on the couch. After telling him to go home and dropping him at the airport, she then dances with him at an elegant ball. But no matter as the film manages to build nary a trace of interest in either character.

Looking puffy and unassertive, Depp never has registered less effectively in his entire film career. For Jolie's part, the nature of her role doesn't allow her to show her hand to anyone, severely limiting the extent of characterization. This is where wit and lively banter would come in handy, but this is more difficult to appropriate from old movies than is format.

Surely Donnersmarck did not set out to remake Death in Venice, but artistically, that is what has been achieved.

'Pirates: On Stranger Tides' finds romance on high seas

A crew worker by the shore hands the swashbucklers their tools as they step out onto the docks. A pair of torch-bearers run up and do the same with flaming clubs.

The stars of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, opening May 20, take their positions: Johnny Depp, Ian McShane and Penelope Cruz steady themselves on the gently rocking platform, looking back to the team of hundreds clustered around the shore, adjusting lights, readying microphones and bracing charges.

The wide bay with its outcroppings of sharp rocks presides over waters that begin to churn and crash on cue. That's because this isn't Hawaii's Halona Cove on the island of Oahu, though the film did do some shooting there.

This night, the filming is taking place about 2,390 miles away on a brisk summer night in the hills of Hollywood at a complete fabrication. The cove, its cliffs and waters were re-created on an artificial lake on a studio backlot.

It's all about control of the natural environment, so the women playing mermaids aren't swept away as the people playing pirates hurl powder kegs and shoot guns at them.

When action is called, the master of the Pirates, Jerry Bruckheimer, stands watching the elaborate chaos unfold. "These mermaids are ferocious," Bruckheimer says. "On the surface they're beautiful, but once you get them underwater, they turn pretty scary."

"It has begun!" screams McShane, as Blackbeard.

"Nets into the water — quickly!" shouts Cruz, who plays his daughter and onetime Jack Sparrow paramour, Angelica.

As they round up the shellshocked mermaids, the only one who doesn't look very sure of himself is Depp's Sparrow. He has joined his ex and her surly father to try to locate the Fountain of Youth.

For perhaps the first time, the scoundrel is feeling ... guilt.

"There's a side to Captain Jack that's a wheeler-dealer, where he can talk his way out of anything, get out of any situation. But there is also a side to him that can't stand for grave injustice," Depp says.

It will be a while before fans get to see this 3-D addition to the franchise, which drops Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley's characters.

"It's a completely different beast," co-screenwriter Terry Rossio says a month later on the set in Greenwich, England. "The three previous films are a trilogy, with an intricate, interwoven tapestry of characters. I would call this a stand-alone type of story."

He says the seed of this film was a single image: "Jack Sparrow dancing with somebody on deck. More of a romantic period dance. A ship in the moonlight, and Jack Sparrow having to dance to maybe seduce somebody. So you write that on a card and say, 'Why is Jack Sparrow dancing?' "

This time, Sparrow will have a director who specializes in that sort of thing, with Rob Marshall (Chicago) taking over from Gore Verbinski.

Rossio says that in Cruz's character, "Jack has perhaps not only met his equal, but also found that she is a kindred spirit who is a con artist at heart as well. She's not only a romantic interest, but an equal and effective adversary."

Captain Jack's crew has jumped ship for 'Pirates 4'

On one hand, a whole new cast of characters in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides will get a lesson in this. On the other, that entirely new lineup of characters is evidence of the same.

Captain Jack works best alone.

On a blustery gray morning in the Painted Hall of the Old Royal Naval College, Johnny Depp's seafarer is being dragged forward by guards for an audience with King George II (Richard Griffiths), who wants him to seek the Fountain of Youth.

The king has already recruited Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) to join the mission, meaning Sparrow's old nemesis has gone corporate, 1750s-century style.

The proposal goes badly, as expected.

Along the road to the Fountain of Youth, Sparrow will meet a friendly mermaid (Astrid Berges-Frisbey) and be tempted by a wicked former flame (Penelope Cruz) and her sadistic father, Blackbeard (Ian McShane) — but there will be no Will and Elizabeth (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley).

The movie, out May 20, was shot entirely in 3-D, but don't expect Sparrow to have much more ... depth. Depp says the buccaneer is not a soul who evolves and grows.

"Captain Jack is about as fully realized a human as he can be," Depp says with a laugh. "He's there. He's going to stay there. Which is fine."

Depp shoulders more of the story this time, but he says that will streamline the story. "What's most interesting about Pirates 4 is you don't have to connect the dots for these subplots and sub-characters," Depp says. "It felt like a fresh, clean slate."

Reckless complication will come in matters of the heart with Cruz's Angelica, who has a history with Sparrow. "We have our bouts in the film, but there's also this residue of what might have been. It's a kind of love-hate thing," Depp says. "There's a little flavor of both."

Depp says no to cell phones

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star refuses to carry a portable telephone and instead relies on the internet for all of his communications.

Depp is adamant online messaging is safer and more interesting than using a mobile phone, and he feels liberated by remaining out of touch.

He tells Access Hollywood, "We have internet and stuff like that because I think that's the safest form, well, most interesting form of communication. I just don't like phones, I just don't like them. Being reachable all the time... (If you want to contact me,) you'd have to know how to just buzz me on the internet or something."

Depp leaves the captain behind

"Six days of decompression," he says of leaving behind the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

And the subject today is what constitutes a normal life.

Normal is relative, of course. His own state of normality consists of his partner Vanessa Paradis and their children Lily Rose, 11, and Jack, 8. (Paradis is, these days, filming the movie, Café de Flore in Paris for Quebecois director Jean-Marc Vallee). The weather's getting nasty in Europe, so some downtime beckons on Depp's private island in the Bahamas before he starts shooting the remake of Dark Shadows in April.

But the normal we're talking about is his character in the thriller The Tourist, a math teacher from Wisconsin named Frank who's traveling by train from Paris to Venice. There, in what director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck (The Lives of Others) intended as a tribute to the Hitchcock classic To Catch a Thief, he meets a beguiling mystery woman named Elise (Angelina Jolie) who turns his normalcy upside down amid a hail of bullets from law enforcement officers and criminals alike.

From Edward Scissorhands to the Mad Hatter, Depp plays weird well. But normal? "Well, that's it, isn't it, the opposite of Capt. Jack," he says.

"The ordinary everyday man, with no particular highs or lows in his life. He just kind of moves on like any pedestrian, and to put him in a series of situations that are so radically outside his hemisphere was great fun.

"I like the idea of exploring normalcy, those people who are considered the most 'normal' I find the most fascinating because they're always really weird," Depp says with a laugh. "They have these routines teetering on obsessive compulsive tics I find fascinating."

In real life, he found more in common with Angelina Jolie than did poor, manipulated Frank. They hung out as couples, Depp and Vanessa, Jolie and Brad Pitt, drinking wine while their kids played video games. "It was sort of surprising after all these years of being in the racket that we'd never met," Depp says. "We had a lot of mutual friends."

And mutual antagonists. "You can't help but know that she and Brad are globally sort of hounded and tracked and stalked (by the paparazzi). And what I was most impressed by was her normalcy. She's very down to earth and smart and funny and kind and caring. She's a great mommy."

He jokes that the paparazzi "are busy with Brad and Angelina. They've kind of lightened up on us over the years, even at times teetering on respectful. Angelina and I talked about it. None of us really go out all that much. Vanessa and I certainly don't. We just stay home and try to lead a simple life. You go to your job and do your bit and come home and sit in front of the TV and giggle at Family Guy."

In Venice, the photogs were a fact of life, but not one uppermost in Depp's mind. He had quasi-comic action shots to film, running across rooftops in his pyjamas, being dragged down canals by one boat while handcuffed to another.

"The biggest fear we had of the stunts, when you're being pulled down a canal in Venice, is not that you're going to hit something, it's that you're going to go into the drink. You've got to take all these medicines and antibiotics if you're going to go into that drink, because it's really become quite, um, interesting over the years."

Otherwise, the most daunting stunt was a ballroom scene, where he and Jolie were required to dance. "The dancing is the thing that scares me most. I don't dance and I've never danced in my life outside of films. Weirdly, it seems like in almost every film I do now, I end up now having to dance. And go to jail. I end up in the clink in almost everything I do. It's funny and horribly ironic."

Angelina Jolie talks "Tourist" and Johnny Depp

"Venice and Paris," the actress joked to The Hollywood Reporter at the NYC premiere of her new film Monday night. "And I've never played a lady really before -- I've played a version of a girl. I found it a real big challenge to play somebody that is extremely European, elegant and very pink with little bows and things that were very foreign to me."

Jolie, who attended the premiere with longtime boyfriend Brad Pitt (who avoided the press line on the red carpet, quipping to THR, "I'm off tonight!"), said her first introduction to co-star Johnny Depp was in this movie.

"We just got put together in the film and we both like each other's movies, but had never met," said Jolie, who donned a white angora Versace dress. "And we met and we talked about kids for the first hour and France for the second and had a good laugh. We really enjoyed working with each other in the film and I hope that comes across."

Depp, who lives in the French countryside with Vanessa Paradis and their children, had a tip for Jolie about the country: " lots of good wine!" Jolie joked.

Jolie says she hopes her film - due out in theaters Friday - "is a pleasure."

"I hope it's one of those movies that has a little bit of everything, that doesn't take itself so seriously, has a good time, and has a bit of romance and a bit of mystery, and a lot of fun, and a lot of different characters," she told THR.

Johnny Depp and Jonah Hill's crossed wires on '21 Jump Street' cameo

"I've said I'm into it, but no one's actually approached me," Depp tells MTV while promoting his new film, "The Tourist." And when he was told that Hill has already written in a part for him, he added, "Call him. I'm in. I'm in."

So, how is it that Hill hasn't gotten the message? According to the article, as recently as last month, Hill apparently joked about Depp not signing on yet, saying, "Just do it, dude. Don't be an a--hole."

Johnny Depp on Brad and Angelina: "They're Very, Very Good Parents"

The star of The Tourist spoke with E! News at the New York premiere for the film and revleaed that something about Angie did, in fact, leave him surpised...

"I was surprised by how down-to-earth she is," Depp dished. "After all the, sort of, madness that surrounds their lives, Brad [Pitt] and Angelina, just how beautifully they deal with all the attention [and] chaos."

Depp went even further as he stood up for the couple who can't seem to avoid media criticism. "They're very, very good parents. Great parents. Wonderful people. Down-to-earth. Sweet."

Check out the video above to hear more Johnny talk about how he hopes to someday work with his pal Brad and on whether or not we've seen the last of Captain Jack Sparrow!

Depp, Jolie bring old Hollywood glamour to "The Tourist"

"The Tourist," an action romance thriller, is the first foray into Hollywood for Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who came to prominence four years ago scooping an Oscar for best foreign film with "The Lives of Others."

Based loosely on French movie "Anthony Zimmer," the German director and screenwriter's Hollywood entry recalls Tinseltown's older traditions with beautiful sets, an elegant wardrobe and quirky dialogue, while keeping a European style.

"Some people say the glory days of the Hollywood era are over and that we don't have people like Humphrey Bogart or Lauren Bacall," von Donnersmarck told Reuters ahead of the film's premiere on Friday.

"Of course we do. We have people like Depp, who are even cooler than Bogart, and Angelina Jolie, who is Betty Davis and Marilyn Monroe all in one."

Depp's character is a nerdy mathematics teacher who gets embroiled while on holiday in a web of deceit spun by Jolie's vulnerable femme fatale and chased by a dogged English detective played by "Da Vinci Code" bad guy Paul Bettany.

"I've done a number of things where these characters are considered a little bit out (of the ordinary), so I wanted to see what I could do with a normal guy put into radically intense situations with various ticks," said Depp, 47, whose character puffs constantly on an electronic cigarette.

DRESSED TO KILL

Hollywood studio Columbia Pictures brings together Depp and Jolie for the first time, but according to von Donnersmarck their fame didn't get in the way of filming. The pair had never met before making the film together.

"It doesn't matter if the actors are incredibly famous or not known outside, the work is the same," said the Russian literature and philosophy fan, who speaks five languages.

While a highlight may be Depp jumping over Venice's rooftops in just his pajamas, von Donnersmarck draws viewers in with an eye-catching Jolie dressed to kill in almost every other scene.

Jolie, known for performing daring stunts herself in films like "Salt" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," said she was a little "jealous" that Depp got all the action in The Tourist, but said getting to wallow in Grace Kelly-style elegance made up for it.

"We wanted something that was a pleasure and an escape that you wish Paris and Venice were and everyone feels this elegance for a moment," said Jolie, who uses an English accent for the role. "It felt like I was back in some of these old-time movies."

Adding to the classy flavor, Timothy Dalton, best known for playing suave secret agent James Bond in the late 1980s, makes a cameo appearance as a sort of secret service chief guiding an increasingly forlorn Bettany.

"I had a simple job in this ... you try to lend it a bit of weight, but somebody's got to do it," said the 39-year Bettany.

Jolie, Pitt, Depp and Paradis bond in Venice

Jolie and Depp teamed up for the fast-paced thriller and became firm friends, inviting their partners to join them for starry nights out.

Jolie tells WENN, “At the end of the day we all got together, Brad and myself and Johnny and Vanessa and our boys ended up playing video games all night long and we’d drink wine and talk. It was just lovely.”

And it seems Venice was the perfect place to begin a new celebrity friendship: “When you go out there, you don’t know whether you’re stepping up into a boat or down into a boat depending on the tides. Then you drive your boat to some other place on the water logistically it was very odd to be on boats all the time but loads of fun.

“We’d have dinners and then halfway through, you’d have to get Wellington boots on, because, by the time you got finished eating, the water had risen. Everybody walks home in their Wellies. It was fun.”

Disney will set sail for 'Pirates of the Caribbean' 5 & 6 back-to-back

Towards the very end of post-production on "At World's End," we spoke at the ADR stages, and I've never seen someone who looked more tired. He was so exhausted that Disney wouldn't allow him to drive himself anywhere. And when he got those films across the finish line, it didn't surprise me at all that he just kind of dropped off the radar for a little while. It's an unreal amount of work to pull off something like that.

Without Verbinski directing the fourth film in the series, and without Dick Cook at Disney to help shepherd the film, the prospect of "Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" seemed daunting at first, but eventually, Disney hired Rob Marshall, and they've wrapped photography on the film now. My guess is that things went very, very well, better than Disney even expected.

How do I know?

Because HitFix can now exclusively report that Disney has begun quietly telling cast and crew to set aside a major block of time in the very near future so they can shoot "Pirates 5" and "Pirates 6." And, yes, once again, they will be shooting them back-to-back as one giant film, and then they'll release them as two films.

It's a bold plan. Doing it once is risky, and that risk absolutely paid off for Disney in the long run. But "Pirates 4" is already the single highest greenlight budget of all time, and it must look like the only sound way to get another trilogy out of the franchise, shooting two films together. At this point, I don't think there's any doubt that Captain Jack Sparrow will be the defining role of Johnny Depp's career.

We know he's committed to "Dark Shadows" and "The Lone Ranger" for 2011, so that raises the question of when they'll shoot these sequels. A shoot like that could take the better part of a year, but the great part about shooting in Hawaii is that you can easily shoot right through the winter. It's December 2, and I'm sitting here in my hotel room in Waikiki with the balcony door open, and it's a lovely 70-something degrees. I have a feeling Disney will want to get Depp back in his "Pirates" duds as soon as he's done playing Tonto for them, but I can't swear to the schedule.

What is certain at this point is that there's a whole lot more Jack Sparrow in our future, and that Disney considers this one of their most important properties. I'm curious to see if they reach out to buy more material like the Tim Powers book that is the source material for "On Stranger Tides," or if they're going to try to get Rossio and Elliott to build the next two chapters of the franchise from scratch.

Either way, I'm sure we'll start hearing more about these sequels during the promotional push for "Pirates 4," and I am curious to see what sort of waters Disney will steer this ship into in the future.

"Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" will open in theaters everywhere May 20, 2011.

Interview: One flash of her neck and Johnny Depp was done for

Speaking before next week's premiere in Paris of his new movie "The Tourist," where his character falls for a femme fatale played by Angelina Jolie, Depp said personal experience means he too believes in love at first sight.

"I certainly believe in an instant and profound connection with someone, which is what happened to me," Depp said, wearing his trademark fedora hat."

"I had an instant connection with Vanessa's back and neck ... I was fascinated with this neck and she turned, looked straight at me and wandered across the room and I thought: 'you're done, you're up shit creek.'"

Depp and Paradis, also a model and actress, have become one of Hollywood's favorite couples since they met in 1998. They have two children together and split their time between Paris, the south of France, New York and the Hollywood Hills.

In The Tourist, Depp plays a bumbling maths teacher swept off his feet by Jolie's glamorous Grace Kelly-esque character, who then drives him to madness by exposing him to crazy situations as he tries to prove his love.

In one scene, Depp finds himself bounding across the rooftops of Venice wearing a pair of pale blue pajamas -- unlikely garb for the 47-year-old heartthrob who admits he's not a fan of nightwear in real life.

"I have never been a pajamas guy," Depp chuckled.

"I rarely wear them, but when you do there's something that kind of takes you back to some weird psychological place, safety and comfort and being a kid maybe."

The hapless maths teacher role marks a break from Depp's trademark of strong and slightly peculiar characters.

The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star worked with the eccentric Tim Burton in the upcoming film "Dark Shadows" and for the future he has an eye on trying Shakespeare's Hamlet, something he said legendary actor Marlon Brando said he should do before he got too old.

But Depp would give it his own twist, he said, putting on a hint of an Irish accent.

"It would be fun and interesting to do Hamlet on a small scale and take a different approach. I've asked dialect experts and they say at the time of Shakespeare it would have been closer to a Dublin accent," he said.

"It's something I wouldn't mind tackling."

Will Johnny Depp Ever Put a Ring on It?

And it's that looming negative that he claims has kept him from popping the question to his baby mama and partner of 12 years, Vanessa Paradis. So what is this fatal flaw?

His surname.

"I'd be so scared of ruining her last name," Depp explained (tongue firmly in cheek, we're guessing) to Extra of his reasons for not yet putting a ring on it. "She's got such a good last name."

Funny, Vanessa Depp sounds just fine to us.

And if we were her, we would offer up Katy Perry, Carrie Underwood, Julia Roberts, Hilary Duff, Miranda Kerr, Anna Paquin and half of Hollywood as exhibits A-Z as to why a vow swap doesn't necessarily require a moniker lobotomy, but to each her own.

Besides, the heartthrob doesn't seem too married (ahem) to the idea of maintaining his single status.

"I never found myself needing that piece of paper," he told the show. "Marriage is really from soul to soul, heart to heart. You don't need somebody to say, 'Okay, you're married.'"

But never say never, right?

After all that, Depp admitted that he wouldn't hesitate to stroll down the aisle "if Vanessa wanted to get hitched."

Awww. And if she isn't up for it, we can think of a few (thousand) people who wouldn't mind taking her place.

French language drives Depp 'nuts'

The 47 year-old star may consider France his spiritual home and have Parisian actress and singer Vanessa Paradis as his companion to help, but like so many before him, the subtleties of the Gallic tongue are proving a little frustrating.

Speaking to Reuters ahead of next week's premiere of action-filled, romantic comedy "The Tourist," in which he stars with Oscar winner Angelina Jolie, Depp smiles when asked how his French is coming along.

"Good? I don't know. It's difficult still, the conjugation ... the masculine and feminine thing," he said in French with a hint of an American accent. Then, he added in slang. "It drives me nuts."

Depp met Paradis in 1998 and the couple now divide their time between the Hollywood Hills and a farm in southern France as well as homes near Paris, Manhattan and the Bahamas.

Taking a break from his usual line of eccentric characters, the star of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" film franchise plays an everyday math teacher in "The Tourist," who gets embroiled in a web of deceit spun by Jolie's glamorous character.

For Depp, France gives his life a measure of simplicity which may have easily been taken away in Hollywood by his superstar status.

"France is everything," he said, puffing on a roll-up cigarette. "It's afforded me the idea of a semi-normal life ... There's something magnetic (here), I don't know what it is."

Set in the backdrop of Paris and Venice, "The Tourist" brings Depp and Jolie together on the big screen for the first time. The pair had not previously met.

Jolie, 35, admits that working with Depp has encouraged her to try a little harder to stretch herself as an actress. To illustrate her point, she said that while making "The Tourist" the actors discussed Maleficent, the wicked fairy godmother character in the film version of "Sleeping Beauty."

"I think before working with Johnny, I would have approached it a little more self-consciously, but having met him and watched his work, you get the sense you should try to have as much fun as possible," Jolie said.

Depp doesn't hold back when asked about what sort of roles suit Jolie. Shakespeare's ultimate femme fatale, Lady Macbeth, is one of his suggestions.

And still inspired by the French, he went one further and offered that the decadence and eroticism of French poet Charles Baudelaire was not beyond Jolie's reach.

"She has a depth, great humor, a healthy amount of rage ... she could bring the 'Flowers of Evil' to life," Depp said.

Johnny Depp Surprised By How Normal Angelina Jolie Is

"Meeting her and getting to know her was a real pleasant surprise," the actor, 47, who stars with Jolie in the upcoming film The Tourist, tells rocker Patty Smith in an interview for Vanity Fair.

"You don't know what she might be like – if she has any sense of humor at all. I was so pleased to find that she is incredibly normal," he added, "and has a wonderfully kind of dark, perverse sense of humor."

In fact, Depp, a three-time Oscar nominee, compares Oscar winner Jolie, 35, to another Hollywood leading lady – one from an earlier generation.

"I've had the honor and the pleasure and gift of having known Elizabeth Taylor for a number of years," Depp says. "You know, you sit down with her, she slings hash, she sits there and cusses like a sailor, and she's hilarious. Angie's got the same kind of thing, you know, the same approach."

Depp says he also feels a measure of sympathy for Jolie and her family, who deal with the harshest glare of fame.

"Poor thing, dogged by paparazzi, her and her husband, Brad [Pitt] ... all their kids," he says. "There are times when you see how ridiculous is this life, how ludicrous it is, you know, leaving your house every morning and being followed by paparazzi."

The actor also touches on a number of other subjects, including Disney executives' shocked reaction to his Jack Sparrow performance. "I think it was Michael Eisner … who was quoted as saying, 'He's ruining the movie,' " says Depp, who also talks about his early dreams of being a rock star. "I was a guitarist, and that's what I wanted to do."

And he reveals what could be an interesting future project. "[Marlon Brando said,] Why don't you just take a year and go and study Shakespeare, or go and study Hamlet. Go and work on Hamlet and play that part. Play that part before you're too old ... And I would like to. I'd really, really like to."

Depp says Disney hated his Captain Sparrow

Depp talked about it in an interview with rocker Patti Smith for the January edition of Vanity Fair magazine. Depp said Disney "couldn't stand" his Sparrow and one person there even asked if Sparrow was gay. Depp told the Disney executive "all my characters are gay," and he said that "really made her nervous."

Depp's next role is in the movie "The Tourist" with Angelina Jolie. It opens Dec. 10.

Depp said he felt sorry for the way the paparazzi hunted Jolie, and had to be careful that photographers didn't catch them too close together so rumors wouldn't start.

Depp bans phones at home

The Hollywood actor shares a luxury home in the country with his partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children, and he makes sure they can relax during their stays there by cutting contact with the outside world.

He tells Britain's The Sun, "When I'm at our house in France I totally cut myself off from the rest of the world. I never have to listen to phones ringing and that's because - and Vanessa would confirm this - phones are banned from the house.

"We have a beautiful life and I feel that spending time in France has just calmed me down and made me stop worrying about things which aren't really important."

Photographer Albert Watson says it's impossible to take a bad shot of Johnny Depp

Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp: We Aren't That Social

After all, Johnny Depp is known for keeping a very low-profile while Angelina Jolie is pretty much a homebody who keeps busy telling Shiloh she can't have a dead bird as a pet.

But it's still kinda cool to hear it directly from two of the prettiest people on the planet…

"We're both not that social," Jolie reveals to Entertainment Weekly. "I don't think either one of us goes out of our house, especially in France. We're both locked away."

Which probably explains why, believe it or not, these two had never actually bumped into each other until they showed up to shoot their upcoming flick The Tourist.

In fact, to hear Depp talk about Jolie and her significant other, there's a sense that he gets his celebrity news and gossip just like the rest of us.

"So much has been written about Angie and Brad [Pitt]," he says. "They're sort of the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton of our era. I knew she was a big star, but I didn't know what to expect...."

The Tourist opens Dec. 10.

People's Choice Awards 2011 Nominees

FAVORITE MOVIE ACTOR
Johnny Depp
Leonardo DiCaprio
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Pattinson
Taylor Lautner

"Dark Shadows" will be Johnny Depp's next movie

The duo's collaboration has been more than three years in the making -- Depp was obsessed with the series as a child -- but Warner Bros. has now set an April start. Depp will portray Barnabas Collins, a vampire living in a Maine manor who is searching for his lost love.

Now that Depp has made his decision, the other projects he was flirting with will have to find new actors, unless of course they can be wrapped up by April. For example, Depp's name has been mentioned in connection with Kathryn Bigelow's "Triple Frontier" as well as with Universal's "Snow White and the Huntsman."

Depp and Burton last worked together on "Alice in Wonderland," one of the year's biggest hits. Depp returns to theaters on December 12 with "The Tourist."

Dark Shadows' Bright Future

According to Deadline, the picture -- which will be the seventh reunion of director Tim Burton and star Johnny Depp -- will start shooting in February.

Depp will play the vampire Barnabas Collins. He is also producing the film along with Graham King.

Author-screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies) penned the screenplay adaptation of the '60s supernatural soap opera.

Warner Bros. has slated Dark Shadows for a 2013 release in traditional theaters and in IMAX.

Depp, Gaga top power poll

The Pirates of the Caribbean star tops the Entertainment Weekly list with editors insisting the quirky actor is such a big star he can "do anything he wants".

Excluding cameo and animated roles, the magazine estimates Depp's films have chalked up $5.9 billion globally.

Lady Gaga is second on the new list, thanks in part to her 5.1 million album sales in the past two years.

Talk show queen Oprah Winfrey comes in third, while Simon Cowell and Will Smith round out the top five.

Robert Downey, Jr., Sandra Bullock, Leonardo DiCaprio and Eminem also make the top 10.

Meanwhile, in a linked poll, Sam Worthington and Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe have been named the Highest-Grossing Movie Stars Under-40.

Aussie Worthington tops the list because his three leading films - Avatar, Clash of the Titans and Terminator Salvation - have earned a total of $1 billion, making his box office average $349.6 million.

Radcliffe comes in second thanks mainly to his Harry Potter success - the 21 year old's box office average is $244.7 million. Twilight stars Taylor Lautner and Robert Pattinson also make it into the top five, as does Will Smith's teenage son Jaden.

Orlando Bloom, Shia LaBeouf, Tobey Maguire, Hayden Christensen and Worthington's Avatar co-star Zoe Saldana round out the top 10.

Johnny Depp Makes Girl's Dream Come True with School Visit

Writing to his pirate alter-ego, Captain Jack Sparrow, who just happened to be stationed near her school in Greenwich, southeast London, she pleaded: "We are a bunch of budding young pirates. Normally we're a right handful, but we're having trouble mutinying against the teachers. We'd love it if you could come and help."

And aid was soon at hand, when Depp, 47, and some cohorts from the set of Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides entered Meridian primary school Wednesday afternoon.

To gasps and a "wow" from little Beatrice, he surprised the children by strolling into a hastily-convened assembly (the school was only given ten minute's notice). Depp proffered the letter, which she'd written after visiting the film set.

"He asked where I was in the audience. I put my hand up and then I had to go up and he gave me a hug," Beatrice told London Tonight TV news. "He said, 'Maybe we shouldn’t mutiny today because there are police outside monitoring me.' "

She concurred: "I said, 'Yeah, that's probably a good idea.' "

But she might join him one day. When asked if she could be a pirate, Beatrice said, "Maybe, I sail."

Rep: Depp's 'injuries' are fake

The Hollywood star appeared to have sustained a bloody gash across his right eyebrow and a cross-shaped cut on his cheekbone when he stepped out with rocker pal Keith Richards in Mayfair on Wednesday night.

He was also seen sporting bruising on his jawline and grazed knuckles on his hands.

Pictures of his battered appearance sparked reports online that Depp had been working a little too hard at pulling off his own stunts as Captain Jack Sparrow for Disney's forthcoming action movie - but his spokesperson has dismissed the concern and insists the injuries were all fake.

His publicist Robin Baum tells WENN, "He was in make-up from filming Pirates 4."

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, starring Depp and Penelope Cruz, is due for release next year.

Sighting

Depp, Paradis to play lovers

The Joe Le Taxi singer has been slated to play the late writer/feminist in My American Lover for some time and now she admits the father of her two children is onboard to play Algren.

Paradis and Depp have never officially worked together before, although they were cast in Terry Gilliam's doomed Don Quixote movie before the production fell apart over a decade ago.

And now the actress admits the time may be right for her to partner with her real-life boyfriend on film.

She tells WENN, "They're still writing the script but the idea would be amazing because it's such a beautiful story. You only know when you're really actually shooting.

"We've had plenty of opportunities to work together but I don't know that I could do it; keep a straight face in front of him... It's something that we don't look for, otherwise it would've happened many times.

"My American Lover came along and it might happen just because the story is great and why not if we can, but we don't push things. Playing in front of one of the best actors in the world that we have and someone I know so well will be challenging. That's why we don't run after it. But I don't know... why not?"

Shia LaBeouf tops Forbes list of actors worth their pay

Based on the financial news site's own calculations, for every $1 the studios spent on LaBeouf, his films return about $81 of profit. Those movies included "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" ($836 million worldwide box office) and the fourth "Indiana Jones" film ($787 million).

Anne Hathaway took the No. 2 spot, earning the studios $64 off of her films for every dollar they spent for her to star in "Alice in Wonderland" ($1 billion global box office) and "Bride Wars," among others.

Hathaway's emergence bumped last year's runner-up, "Wanted" actor James McAvoy, completely off the top 10 list.

"Harry Potter" star Daniel Radcliffe was No. 3 this year, while "Iron Man's" Robert Downey Jr. nabbed fourth. Both moved up a spot from last year.

Behind them, Cate Blanchett came in fifth and Meryl Streep and Jennifer Aniston were tied in sixth place.

Johnny Depp, Nicolas Cage and Sarah Jessica Parker round out the top 10. The full list can be found at www.forbes.com.

Forbes.com looked at the top 36 earners in Hollywood, and each had to have starred in at least three movies in five years that opened in more than 500 theaters. Movies that opened after June 1 2010 were not counted, nor were animated films.

Jolie-Depp thriller "Tourist" sets December 10 release

Sony has given their next film, the international thriller "The Tourist," a December 10 release date, prime territory for a commercial run extending through the holidays and a possible awards-season bid.

Jolie's "Salt," the Sony actioner that has grossed $103.4 million domestically, remains in play in theaters. Depp was in theaters earlier this year with Disney's global blockbuster "Alice in Wonderland."

"Tourist," shot in Venice and Paris by German filmmaker Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck ("The Lives of Others"), centers on an American tourist (Depp) who becomes involved with an Interpol agent (Jolie).

It will face off against the bows of Fox's "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" and Paramount's boxing drama "The Fighter," starring Mark Wahlberg.

Fourth 'Pirates' taking shape

They were baffled by a performance that was part Keith Richards, part Pepé Le Pew.

"In their defence, in five or six takes, there's a variation in performance. Some of it was even broader than what ended up being on the screen, so they don't know what we were thinking," producer Jerry Bruckheimer remembers. "It wasn't until we cut it together they realized it was something that was very interesting. Although they still worried, 'Is he drunk? Is he gay? What's going on?' "

Of course, audiences embraced Depp's crazily-original performance in the summer of 2003 and, two sequels later, the franchise has grossed $2.7 billion worldwide.

Now in Hawaii, Depp is setting sail for a fourth time as Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. But while Geoffrey Rush is returning, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley are not. Nor is Gore Verbinski, director of the first three Pirates movies. Instead, behind the camera is the unlikely choice of Rob Marshall, who helmed Chicago and Nine but has never directed a mega-budget action spectacle.

Nevertheless, Bruckheimer reports the sequel is "going very well. Rob's doing an amazing job and Johnny couldn't be happier playing Captain Jack again. He fell right into the character."

Joining Depp are Oscar-nominee Penelope Cruz as a woman from Sparrow's past and Ian McShane as the notorious Blackbeard.

The sequel opens May 20, 2011.

SHADOWS PLAY: Following the fourth Pirates movie, Depp will star as Barnabas Collins in Tim Burton's adaptation of the 1960s vampire TV melodrama Dark Shadows. Variety reports Burton has hired author-screenwriter Seth Grahame-Smith to rework the screenplay with cameras expected to roll early next year.

Burton is also producing Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, based on Grahame-Smith's best-selling novel of the same name.

Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp bring star power to Comic Con

Angelina Jolie flew in to promote her new spy movie "Salt", Johnny Depp greeted fans by video from the set of the fourth "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, and Jeff Bridges and Olivia Wilde turned up to chat about their hotly-anticipated sci-fi thriller sequel "TRON: Legacy".

Around 126,000 fans of comics, movies, video games and TV series are expected to descend on the San Dieo Convention Center for the show, which started life as a gathering of comic book fans but has now become a key stop in Hollywood's bid to attract influential young male audiences.

Lines for the "TRON:Legacy" panel wrapped around the convention center long before the show officially kicked off.

But before some 6,500 lucky fans were treated to eight exclusive minutes of 3D footage from Walt Disney's December 17 release, Disney had a few other surprises.

"Hellboy" director Guillermo del Toro will write and produce a big screen adaptation of Disney's "Haunted Mansion" theme park ride, Disney announced. No release date was given.

In an event Disney dubbed "ComiTRON", Bridges, Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner, Michael Sheen and Garrett Hedlund joined the original 1982 film's creator, Steven Lisberger, and new director Joe Kasinski on stage for an hour-long panel.

"When we did TRON, there was no Internet and we carried around phones in suitcases," recalled Bridges. "Looking back, the same thing that attracted me to TRON attracted me to this one, getting a chance to play around with all of this cutting-edge technology. This TRON makes the old one look like black and white TV."

Disney used the convention to launch the "TRON:Legacy" iPhone App which sent fans on a real-life treasure hunt to unlock golden coins that will grant them access to a recreation of Flynn's Arcade -- complete with video games -- throughout the weekend.

Disney also offered a different type of interaction with the "TRON" audience. Kasinski recorded five minutes of crowd chants and foot stomping that will be used in the actual film as spectators who congregate to watch "the games." He said if it wasn't for the Comic Con audience, "TRON:Legacy" wouldn't have become a reality.

Pirates Bigwig Tweets: Johnny Depp Back as Jack

Dark Shadows Set to Shoot in January

The film has also received a new writer in the form of Seth Grahame-Smith (author of "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"), who will rewrite the John August screenplay.

Based on the cult soap opera from the 1960's, the film stars Johnny Depp as Barnabas Collins, a popular vampire character who took over the show's focus after he first appeared one year into the series' original five year run.

Johnny Depp's Girlfriend Says Space Keeps Their Romance Hot

"I could make an endless list of all the things I admire about him," PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive's longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, in a rare interview, gushes in the August U.K. edition of Marie Claire. "But above all, I admire his immense loyalty … I admire him as an actor, as a father and as the man he is for me. But more than anything, I admire him as a person."

And just how does one snag – and keep – a Hollywood heartthrob like Depp for 12 years?

Space, she says.

"The fact that we're not together every day plays a big part in keeping our relationship stable," says the stunning French model and actress, who has two children with Depp,: Lily-Rose, 10 and Jack, 7. "We also have a lot of respect and admiration for one another."

She adds: "We understand that, if we want our relationship to continue, we must give each other space, allow each other to go off on our own, and trust each other. Not everyone is lucky enough to be given space and trust. You're really lucky if you find someone you can trust when you spend time apart."

Calling her leading man "truly magnificent," she reveals that she finds him sexiest when he's "thoughtful or involved in something." Says Paradis, "I love observing him when he is talking to people. I love seeing how he deals with situations."

Depp lands rock star role

The Hollywood star initially embarked on a music career when he left school, playing with several rock groups before turning his attention to acting.

Depp has revived his musical interests in recent months, playing with British band Babybird on their recent album and reportedly entering negotiations to launch his own record label.

Now Depp is set to play out his rock 'n' roll dream on the big screen after reportedly landing the lead role in upcoming film Sonny Boy.

The movie tells the story of a rocker who scores a hit with an old song and embarks on a mission to find the track's original writer, according to Britain's The Sun.

Johnny Depp's the Coolest Lizard Ever in Crazy-Good Rango Trailer

Check out the awesome new trailer for Rango, from Pirates of the Caribbean director Gore Verbinski. It's the story of a chameleon who has problems "blending in," a Western and it looks like loads of fun.

It's painful knowing it won't hit theaters until March. Is it too early to camp out for tickets?

Paradis too scared to marry Depp

The pair has been dating since 1998 and they share two children together - Lily-Rose, 11, and Jack, eight.

But despite constant engagement rumours, Paradis isn't planning to wed the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star because she's happy with their current relationship status.

She explains, "There is something romantic about marriage and something scary about it. If you're happy without it, why bother?"

Oprah Regains the Power in Celeb Land

The multimedia mogul regained her throne at the top of Forbes' 2010 list of the world's 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, rebounding from last year's ignominious slip to No. 2.

So what has become of last year's No. 1?

Angelina Jolie slid to 18th place because, per the powerful list makers at Forbes, though she still maintained a solid media presence over the last 12 months, she didn't release any major films. (Look for a rebound in '11 after The Tourist and Salt come out.)

Anyway, though Oprah's sitting pretty, No. 2 Beyoncé is nipping at her heels, followed by James Cameron (absent from the list last year) and first-time powerbroker Lady Gaga.

Meanwhile, Tiger Woods, comfortable at No. 5, is still the highest-paid athlete in the business thanks to Nike, despite his inability to sell watches, Gatorade and cell-phone service at this time.

Rounding out the top 10 are an ascendant Britney Spears, 2009 absentee U2, Sandra Bullock (who made a whopping one-year leap from 92nd to 8th), a stationary Johnny Depp and a slightly slipping Madonna.

Out of the top 10 but still lurking close by are Kobe Bryant, Bruce Springsteen, Jennifer Aniston, Steven Spielberg and Brad Pitt (30th to Jen's 27th).

Making their Most Powerful list debut are Robert Pattinson (50th) and Kristen Stewart (66th), both landing ahead of Daniel Radcliffe, who slipped from 70th to 82nd while waiting for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 to come along.

Also hitting the list for the first time is E!'s own Chelsea Handler, debuting at No. 98, though she has some catching up to do to equal Ryan Seacrest's two-years' running spot at No. 44.

Check out Forbes.com for the complete list.

Johnny Depp off for more adventures in "Pirates"

The Walt Disney Co revealed those story elements for the new film as it announced that production has started.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" is the fourth movie in the franchise, which to date has earned more than $1 billion at U.S. and Canada box offices. It will hit theaters in 3-D on May 20, 2011.

In the movie, Depp's popular Sparrow character will run into a woman from his past, played by Oscar winner Penelope Cruz, Disney said. She will force Sparrow onto the Queen Anne's Revenge, the legendary pirate ship run by Blackbeard, who will be played by Ian McShane.

Once on-board, Sparrow will need to keep an eye out on both Blackbeard and Cruz's character.

Both McShane and Cruz are new cast members on the latest "Pirates" movie, taking the place of head-liners Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.

Bloom, among other things, has a wedding on his agenda. On Monday, his representatives told celebrity news outlets the 33 year-old actor is engaged to Victoria's Secret model Miranda Kerr.

Depp reportedly launching record label

The Hollywood star initially embarked on a music career when he left school, playing with several rock groups before turning his attention to acting.

Depp remains a massive music fan and recently helped British band Babybird produce a new record by funding their studio time and even playing on several of their tracks.

And now the Pirates of the Caribbean actor is said to be ready to launch his own label.

According to Britain's The Sun, Depp has founded Unison Music and has hired talent scouts to search for new acts in the British capital.

A source tells the publication, "Johnny has always been passionate about music. He's taking a really hands-on approach to signing acts.

"Obviously he can't get to as many gigs as he would like but he's got a good team around him and will personally vet any signings that they make."

2010 Teen Choice Awards nominees

Choice Movie Actor: Fantasy
Johnny Depp, "Alice in Wonderland"
Jake Gyllenhaal, "Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time"
Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
Robert Pattinson, "The Twilight Saga: New Moon"
Sam Worthington, "Clash of the Titans"

'Alice' a wonderful DVD

“You’re mad, bonkers, off your head,” Alice’s father tells the girl when she awakens from her repeating dream about visiting a fantastical wonderland. “All the best people are!” That perfectly explains Tim Burton.

Alice in Wonderland, which then chronicles how 19-year-old Alice goes back down the rabbit hole to escape her surprise engagement party — and ultimately to find, define and empower herself as a young woman — debuted this week on DVD and Blu-ray.

The DVD is a stand-alone for quick consumption. It contains three featurettes, including Johnny Depp’s analysis of The Mad Hatter. Demonstrating his deep think, Depp explains how he was influenced by reading that Victorian-era hat makers were sometimes driven mad by mercury poisoning. The toxic substance leached from glue used in the hand manufacturing. You see Depp’s interpretation of the Hatter’s madness in his watercolours, which were matched with Burton’s drawings, with both sets used in character design.

The collectible Blu-ray combo pack takes everything further. You get the DVD, digital copy, plus the high definition disc. It boasts 12 featurettes, a motherlode of behind-the-scenes material to show how Burton went digital without his penchant for turning fantasy into a metaphor for reality.

“The idea was to explore the nature of dreams,” he says of his Freudian spin. Burton blended live action performances, hybrid ones involving partial motion capture, and full CGI creatures. “With all of the cast,” Burton says, “it was important that they felt they were the real and the unreal world at the same time.”

What you don’t get is unreal 3D. Even though Alice in Wonderland breached the $1 billion world box office mark, with much of that generated in 3D screenings, it is still too early for quality 3D at home. You would need a new 3D TV and an upgraded Blu-ray player.

"Alice" to cross $1 billion at global box office

Tim Burton's adventure fantasy, which recently came out on home video but continues to play in theaters, has rung up more than $332 million domestically and $667 million internationally.

"Alice" marks Disney's second-biggest film to date behind "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which plundered $1.07 billion globally in 2006.

The other films in the billion-dollar club are "Avatar," "Titanic," "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," "Dead Man's Chest" and "The Dark Knight." All were holiday or summer releases, while "Alice" came out in the spring.

'Pirates' film faces budget cuts

Johnny Depp will return to the big screen as Captain Jack Sparrow in the latest high-seas adventure, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.

The last movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, was one of the most expensive productions in film history, costing a staggering $300 million to make.

And despite the series taking in a huge $2.68 billion at the global box office so far, Disney chairman Rich Ross has ordered producer Jerry Bruckheimer to cut costs by $100 million through a combination of cheaper locations and fewer takes.

The moviemaker tells the Los Angeles Times, "He (Ross) wants to be mean and lean and make these movies very entertaining but also very cost effective.

"The hard thing is you have to make painful decisions that cut into some very entertaining sequences. You have to figure out how to keep the movie very entertaining and give the audience more than what they expect and yet be cost-effective about it."

It was reported last year that the shooting of the film would be moved from the usual locations around the Caribbean and Los Angeles, to Hawaii and off the coast of England in a bid to save money.

Julia, Kristen, Reese, Anyone Named Jennifer and R.Pattz Among "Most Beautiful"

The first, well, if you don't already know, then congratulations on finally managing to get out from under that rock. The second, well, it's all about the pretty.

That's right, People has unwisely chosen today to unveil the aesthetically pleasing crop of superstars that make up this year's list of Most Beautiful People, with the much coveted cover shot going to Sandra Bullock Angelina Jolie Halle Berry Julia Roberts, her fourth such time as the Most Most Beautiful Person.

She's called a Pretty Woman for a reason, folks. And it's not just because it makes for a good pun. Of course, she's not alone in the genetic winners' circle, getting joined this year by everybody's favorite sparkle vamp Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart (they're kind of a set), Jennifers Aniston, Garner and Lopez, Jake Gyllenhaal, Zoe Saldana, Scarlett Johansson, Bradley Cooper and the dreamiest, wittiest deodorant hawker out there, Isaiah Mustafa, to name a few. Now here's the rest:

First, the ladies. Joining the lookers in the list proper is Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, small-screen babe Sofia Vergara, newly engaged songbird Katy Perry, suddenly prolific starlet Amanda Seyfried, Good Wife's Julianna Margulies and Gossip Girl star Jessica Szohr.

As for the fellas, Ryan Reynolds, Johnny Depp, front-sweeper extraordinaire Justin Bieber and Grey's Anatomy hunks Patrick Dempsey and Kevin McKidd also made the cut.

Among those forced to bear the title of Hot: our own Kim Kardashian and Kendra Wilkinson made the cut. They're joined by Glee's Dianna Agron, Adam Lambert, Christina Hendricks, Gabourey Sidibe, Kelly Osbourne and Miley Cyrus.

The magazine's round-up of Beautiful at Every Age is where K. Stew makes the scene, and she's joined by...well, just about every hot young star you can think of (hey, every year has a publicist-appeasing catch-all category, and this is 2010's).

Joining the ranks are Vanessa Hudgens, Blake Lively, Megan Fox (no hot list is complete without her!), Freida Pinto, America Ferrera, Anne Hathaway, Beyoncé, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Kate Hudson, January Jones, Reese Witherspoon, Amy Adams, Eva Mendes, Jenny McCarthy, Taraji P. Henson, Gwen Stefani, Lucy Liu, Kate Walsh, Cindy Crawford, Marisa Tomei, Mariska Hargitay (still with us? Hang in there!), Demi Moore, Sheryl Crow, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michelle Pfeiffer, Annette Bening, Christie Brinkley and Meryl Streep, among other decade-spanning beauties.

This year's crop of stars who we hate look good without makeup are Ashley Greene, Diane Kruger, Heidi Klum, Kerry Washington, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Robin Wright and Selena Gomez.

People also helpfully took the guesswork out of naming Hollywood's All-Time Screen Beauties (until next year, that is), dividing the stunning leading ladies into decade-size bites.

The Noughties are well represented by Natalie Portman, Charlize Theron, Angelina Jolie, Penélope Cruz, Drew Barrymore and Jennifer Lopez. The '90s were apparently blinded by the beauty of Gwyneth Paltrow, Cameron Diaz, Michelle Yeoh, Winona Ryder, Nicole Kidman and Meg Ryan. The '80s belonged to Brooke Shields and Kim Basinger.

Oddly absent from the list—or at least from the online preview of the list—is Sandra Bullock, but we're guessing (hoping) that the magazine's editors didn't want to oversaturate the market. We're sure she'll make the cut when the issue hits newsstands this week...right, People?!

Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp to Light Up Cannes

Also likely to roll out at the annual film rite of spring in the South of France, which will open with Russell Crowe and Cate Blanchett in Robin Hood: Johnny Depp in Rum Diary, Javiar Bardem in Biutiful, as well as Mickey Rourke, Bruce Willis, Jason Stratham, Jet Li and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in the testosterone-charged Expendables. The official announcement of entries comes Thursday.

Other names being mentioned as possible attendees include Nicole Kidman, Juliet Binoche, Naomi Watts, Amber Heard, Marion Cotillard, Charlie Sheen, Susan Sarandon, Helen Mirren and Shia LaBoeuf and costar Carey Mulligan, for Wall Street 2: Money Never Sleeps.

Sightings

Depp says he's always been a Mad Hatter

Sporting a greyish trilby hat and black-rimmed glasses, Depp told his adoring fans and eager reporters in Tokyo: "For me to play the Hatter wasn't a great stretch by any means."

"In a sense I think the character was kind of already blooming inside, ready to show its face," he added, laughing.

"I do like hats," Depp, 46, added, telling the joint press conference with director Tim Burton ahead of the US film's premiere in Japan that he owned five or six hats of his own.

"There was a certain elegance to the past times that I have appreciation for," Depp added of his hat collection.

Burton's free-ranging interpretation of Lewis Carroll's children's classic saw Depp making a whirlwind stop in Japan for the premiere.

He arrived in a private jet earlier Monday and was due to fly out later in the day for Italy, where he is shooting a thriller directed by Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck.

Depp, whose star-studded career has seen him play an array of eccentric and odd characters, said he studies people day-to-day to learn how he should adapt to each role.

"Your main job as an actor before you do anything is to observe people," Depp told reporters.

"There are so many possibilities out there," he said, noting he was "watching people, stealing bits of their behavioural patterns".

Depp, named the "The Sexiest Man Alive" last year by US magazine People, is hugely popular in Japan, where "Alice" will hit cinemas on April 17.

It is Depp's seventh Burton movie and the actor said he "never disagreed on anything" with Burton in the decades they had worked together.

But he gave a different answer from Burton when asked what they would do if they slipped into a wonderland like that depicted in the Disney film.

Depp said he would gladly stay there, while Burton quipped in a nod to how long it took to make the film: "I was there for two years, so I'm ready to leave."

'Alice' still reigns at box office with $34.5M

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" took in $34.5 million to remain the No. 1 movie for a third-straight weekend. The movie raised its domestic haul to $265.7 million after just 17 days in theaters.

"Alice in Wonderland" easily beat a rush of new movies led by the family film "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," which opened at No. 2 with $21.8 million.

Debuting at No. 3 was Jennifer Aniston and Gerard Butler's action comedy "The Bounty Hunter" with $21 million.

Jude Law and Forest Whitaker's action thriller "Repo Men" flopped with a No. 4 opening of $6.2 million.

Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp in Venice for film shoot

The two actors were seen in front of the Danieli Hotel, one of the ritziest in the northern Italian city located right next to Saint Mark's square, and cruising around Venice's channels in water taxis.

"The Tourist" is a thriller in which the life of an American tourist, played by 46-year-old Johnny Depp, is put in danger when an Interpol agent, played by 34-year-old Angelina Jolie, uses him to entrap a criminal she is having a relation with.

Based on a screenplay inspired by the 2004 French movie "Anthony Zimmer" with Sophie Marceau and Yvan Attal, "The Tourist" is set to come out in 2011 in the United States.

'Alice in Wonderland' number one

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” easily remained the No. 1 weekend draw with $62 million, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Disney fantasy has climbed to a $208.6 million total domestically, becoming the first $200 million hit released this year.

In its second weekend in theatres, “Alice in Wonderland” pulled ahead of the $206.5 million domestic haul of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” to become the top-grossing of Depp and Burton’s seven films together, which include “Edward Scissorhands,” “Sweeney Todd“ and “Corpse Bride.“

“I believe it’s literally the magical, if you would, pairing of Tim and Johnny,” said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. “When you take those two, they always seem to make something really out of the ordinary.”

“Alice in Wonderland” added $76 million overseas to bring its international total to $221 million and its worldwide gross to $430 million.

A rush of new movies had so-so openings, led by Matt Damon’s Iraq War thriller “Green Zone,” which debuted at No. 2 with $14.5 million domestically. Released by Universal, “Green Zone” stars Damon as the leader of a U.S. Army team who stumbles onto a conspiracy over the search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.

Paramount’s romantic comedy “She’s Out of My League” debuted at No. 3 with $9.6 million. The movie stars Jay Baruchel as a geek in an unlikely romance with a babe.

“Twilight” star Robert Pattinson’s romantic drama “Remember Me” opened at No. 4 with $8.3 million. The Summit Entertainment release stars Pattinson and “Lost” co-star Emilie de Ravin in a dark story of young lovers with tragedy in their past.

In its fourth weekend, Paramount’s “Shutter Island,” the latest collaboration between Leonardo DiCaprio and Martin Scorsese, was No. 5 with $8.1 million, raising its domestic total to $108 million.

Debuting at No. 6 with $7.6 million was Fox Searchlight’s comedy “Our Family Wedding,” starring America Ferrera as a Hispanic bride marrying a black man.

“Alice in Wonderland” took in nearly as much as the rest of the top-10 movies combined.

“It’s like this great divide between the No. 1 and 2 films, which says that without ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in the marketplace, we’d be hurting right now,” said Paul Dergarabedian, box-office analyst for Hollywood.com. “By itself, it’s really propelling huge box office.”

Hollywood’s business soared, with overall revenues at $144 million, up 43 per cent from the same weekend last year, when “Race to Witch Mountain” led with a $24.4 million debut.

For the year, revenues are at $2.24 billion, up 9 per cent compared to receipts last year, when Hollywood took in a record $10.6 billion.

Factoring in higher admission prices, movie attendance this year is running 6.7 per cent ahead of 2009’s, according to Hollywood.com. Before “Alice in Wonderland” opened, attendance was lagging slightly behind last year’s.

“In just a couple of weeks, ‘Alice’ has turned the entire marketplace around almost single-handedly,” Dergarabedian said.

James Cameron’s science-fiction sensation remained a strong draw after nearly three months in theatres, taking in $6.6 million to raise its domestic total to $730.3 million. The 20th Century Fox release has topped $2.6 billion worldwide.

Summit Entertainment’s “The Hurt Locker,” which beat “Avatar“ for best picture at the Academy Awards, got a slight box-office bump from its Oscar triumph. The Iraq War drama, which is out on DVD but came back to theatres for Oscar season, pulled in $828,000, raising its box-office total to $15.7 million.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Hollywood.com. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. “Alice in Wonderland,” $62 million.
2. “Green Zone,” $14.5 million.
3. “She’s Out of My League,” $9.6 million.
4. “Remember Me,” $8.3 million.
5. “Shutter Island,” $8.1 million.
6. “Our Family Wedding,” $7.6 million.
7. “Avatar,” $6.6 million.
8. “Brooklyn’s Finest,” $4.3 million.
9. “Cop Out,” $4.2 million.
10. “The Crazies,” $3.7 million.

'Alice in Wonderland' finds a home on ABC Family

ABC Family announced Monday (March 8) that they have acquired the 3D pic, striking a deal that gives them the rights to the network television premiere slated for 2012.

"We're thrilled to bring 'Alice in Wonderland' to ABC Family viewers," says Tom Zappala, an Exec VP at ABC Cable Networks Group. "This Disney film has been one of the most anticipated releases of the year, and with its captivating sense of fun and imaginative spirit, it is a perfect fit our Millennial viewers."

Evidently it's a perfect fit for a lot of viewers. Tim Burton's "Alice and Wonderland" dominated the box office this weekend, setting records for the highest-grossing first-quarter opener and the all-time highest three-day, according to Variety.

Other records include the first film ever to open with $100 million outside the months of May, June, July or November, and "Alice's" weekend take of $11.9 million is the biggest in Imax history. Tim Burton can also pat himself on the back -- it was the biggest career opening for the director.

'Alice in Wonderland' shatters 3-D, IMAX records

Burton's visual buffet opened to $116.3 million, according to studio estimates from box office firm Hollywood.com.

The debut was nearly $40 million more than analysts predicted and gave the film the largest debut ever for a non-sequel, beating out Spider-Man, if estimates hold.

The film also smashed records set just a few weeks ago by Avatar, including largest debut on IMAX.

Wonderland raked in $11.9 million on IMAX, surpassing Avatar's $9.5 million. IMAX president and CEO Greg Foster says that Wonderland is enjoying a "halo effect" from James Cameron's computer-generated smash, which has done $720 million.

"I think people went into the theaters because of Avatar and saw 3-D and IMAX for the first time," Foster says. "That got them excited about the experience, and Alice in Wonderland was the next big movie to come along."

Big is an understatement. The movie took in another $94 million worldwide, and still hasn't opened in 60% of Disney's foreign markets.

"Tim and Johnny have always been great together, but I don't think anyone saw this coming," says Chuck Viane, distribution chief for Disney. "But it was clear early on people were responding to the marketing."

While critics were mixed — 53% of them recommended the movie, according to RottenTomatoes.com — Disney's marketing focused on teens, who have found 3-D to be an irresistible bug light.

"We got some people who read the book," Viane says. "But you obviously had a lot of people who just had to see what it looked like."

The film gave the industry a boost in a month when movies typically stagger. Ticket sales surged 74% over last weekend.

The cop drama Brooklyn's Finest held its own with a $13.5 million opening, about $2 million more than expected, good for second place.

Martin Scorsese's Shutter Island was third with $13.3 million, bringing its total to $95.8 million after three weeks.

The Bruce Willis comedy Cop Out was fourth with $9.1 million, followed by Avatar with $7.7 million. After three months on screen, Avatar has racked up $720.2 million and has yet to drop out of the top five. Worldwide, it has done $2.6 billion, another record.

Final figures are due Monday.

Depp, Burton lift 'Alice' to $41M opening day

After its big start Friday, the Disney release could be on track for a $100 million weekend. Box-office tracker Hollywood.com says that would be a record for films opening in March.

The current best March debut is $70.9 million for “300” in 2007.

Director Burton reteamed with frequent collaborator Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter in their new take on Lewis Carroll’s classic. The film also features Burton’s romantic partner, Helena Bonham Carter, along with Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover and Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

Depp Alice in Burton's Wonderland?

Depp and Burton struck up a friendship after the Hollywood hunk appeared in 1990's Edward Scissorhands, and they have made a series of movies together over the last 20 years, including Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

And Depp insists he would have played Alice in Burton's take on the Lewis Carroll classic just to get the chance to work with his pal again.

He tells Parade.com, "To be honest, he could have asked me to play Alice and I would have said yes - I would have done whatever character he wanted. The fact that it was the Mad Hatter was a bonus because it was a great challenge.

"There is some kind of connection, some sort of understanding that Tim and I have that is at most times unspoken. I do feel a certain amount of pressure like, 'Will this be the film where I disappoint him?' I try really hard just to come up with something that's very different and we haven't experienced together before."

Burton's 'Alice' witty, whimsical

True, the grinning, incorporeal felines are still here. So too the anxious mice and time-challenged hares. But there is also a now-adult Alice (Australian Mia Wasikowska), decked out in Joan of Arc armour as a potion-quaffing battle babe. And alongside her, the tattered, mercurial Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp) as a mood-morphing mentor in arms. Who has time for tea when there are monsters to behead, kingdoms to free and wars to wage between 3D hordes of digital playing card soldiers?

If you hadn’t guessed, this Alice in Wonderland owes as much to hack screenwriting as it does to Lewis Carroll — the pseudonym for Charles Lutwidge Dodgson, who wrote Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. Carroll’s illogical classics were about wordplay, satire and the nonsense of dreams, of which no two are alike. But Hollywood, like hat-making, is about making one size fit all.

This isn’t the first time goth prankster Burton has married himself to formula filmmaking — Planet of the Apes being especially disastrous — but it is, happily, his most rewarding. Even within the gamer-fantasy framework, and despite the spectres of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien and J.K. Rowling, it’s witty, whimsical, enchanting, idiosyncratic and personal.

That’s evident from the opening scene, in which a young Alice, worried her dreams of rabbits and caterpillars means she’s bonkers, is assured by her father that all the best people are mad.

A decade later, she has grown into a 19-year-old dreamer and rebel, chaffing at the English aristocracy that wants to marry her off to a pompous twit.

These garden-party scenes last only long enough to lay the foundation for her return to Underland, where she’s no longer a stranger in a curiouser and curiouser land, but a long-awaited warrior, prophesized to end the rule of the sadistic Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

Problem is, as the Hatter informs her, she’s “lost her muchness.” And without it, she’ll never be able to slay the dreaded Jabberwocky and restore the White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to power. If Alice’s adventures as a child were about discovering who she was, then her return is about proving who she is — to herself and everyone else.

Asking what 21st-century girl power has to do with Carroll’s 19th century tomes is as pointless as asking why a raven is like a writing desk. Is there an atom of meaning to any sequel?

Burton, one suspects, is satisfied to simply revel in Carroll’s delirious dreamscape. Certainly he delights in distorting characters whose scale frequently mismatches their warped environments and, in the case of the Red Queen’s bulbous cranium, even her own truncated body. (At least bald, round Tweedledee and Tweedledum are proportional.) Bonham Carter is sensational in the role of the petulant villain, all tyrannical bombast and infantile pugnacity.

As for Depp, he merrily surfs the Hatter’s live-wire freneticism while suggesting the sadness lingering behind the yellow saucer eyes. In lesser hands, Hatter could have just turned out like a Scottish Lady Gaga.

Likewise, the beguiling Wasikowska tethers the arcane anarchy with weight and emotional clarity, anchoring us as moviegoers to Alice’s plight in both universes, up and under.

3-D 'Alice in Wonderland' sparkles with magic, splendor

For those who were wowed with the look of Avatar but put off by the wooden characters and clunky dialogue, now there's Alice in all her "muchness." Alice in Wonderland's menagerie of characters range from mildly loopy to certifiably insane. But they're immensely fun, and what they have to say has charm and verve.

Director Tim Burton has reimagined Lewis Carroll's classic tale in a way that might put some purists off. But the story he presents, with a more empowered 19-year-old Alice, is engaging and amusing. The visual landscape in which she travels is awash in color, magic and splendor.

What is often forgotten in the more sanitized and sweet versions of Alice in Wonderland is that Carroll's story is essentially about growing up, which entails some dark experiences. Burton's distinctive cinematic style makes this eclectic fantasy — infused with both dark and light — a dynamic marriage of original material and modern filmmaker.

Though there a few moments when the plot meanders, the inventive turns mostly keep the momentum going. The only misstep comes as the credits roll, with a pop song by Avril Lavigne that sounds like a generic version of one of her previous hits and seems to pander to a teen audience. Its inclusion is unnecessary and jarring.

As Alice, Mia Wasikowska is pitch-perfect, looking the part and capturing her sense of innocence. She's a girl unlike most of her stuffy Victorian set, out of step with her peers, preferring to take off in vivid flights of imagination. A proposal from a stupefyingly dorky but aristocratic young man (Leo Bill) awaits her. But as Alice prepares her rejection, she's distracted by a white rabbit sporting a pocket watch (voiced by Michael Sheen). Soon, she has fallen down the famous rabbit hole, and her topsy-turvy adventure is underway.

Burton artfully creates animated characters such as the White Rabbit, the Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry) and the Jabberwocky (Christopher Lee). British comic Matt Lucas is the heart and soul of computer-generated Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

But Burton also wisely calls upon his dual muses, Johnny Depp as the addled Mad Hatter, and Helena Bonham Carter as the imperious Red Queen. Depp is terrific as the carrot-topped, wonky-eyed Mad Hatter, a character given more depth than in previous clownish incarnations.

Bonham Carter, though, steals the show with her hilarious verbosity. There's a lot more to her than fiery exhortations of "Off with your head!" However, heads loom large for her. She sports a particularly outsized and bulbous cranium, the object of much jesting. The Mad Hatter admires her protruding skull unabashedly: "I'd love to hat it," he burbles.

It turns out that Wonderland is actually called Underland — which makes directional sense — and Alice had visited more than a dozen years before. In her absence, Underland has deteriorated under the Red Queen's reign of terror. It's up to Alice to side with the peaceful, if somewhat odd, White Queen (Anne Hathaway) and make things right.

The movie should come with a note marked "Watch me" for its extravagance of whimsy and wonder.

* * * 1/2 out of four - Running time: 1 hour, 48 minutes - Opens Friday nationwide

Review: 'Alice' through a drearier looking glass

Working from Linda Woolverton's very Hollywood screenplay adaptation of Lewis Carroll's classic tale, Burton shifts the story from a child Alice to a near-adult Alice, viewing her journey through a drearier, more dangerous looking-glass.

We glimpse the prim, Victorian child of Carroll's tale in the film's opening as she's awakens from what sounds like her trip to Wonderland. Her father tells her that her deranged dreams do indeed mean she's bonkers, but he assures, "All the best people are."

It's a neat line and it's at the heart of Burton's 3-D version of Carroll's beloved book, which also draws heavily from its sequel, "Through the Looking-Glass." It was shot in 2-D, but transferred to 3-D afterward, and its effects are more distracting than spectacular.

One does, though, get a bit queasy hearing of such classics "updated" as if they're local TV newscasts.

The film quickly fast forwards 13 years and Alice (played by the startlingly promising Mia Wasikowska, who previously impressed watchers of HBO's "In Treatment"), is lured back to Wonderland by the familiar, punctually paranoid rabbit (voiced by Michael Sheen).

She flees a white and pastel-colored reality (where she is being arranged with great orchestration to marry a man she disdains) and falls down the hole, which sits at the base of a tree that could very well be the same one from Burton's "Sleepy Hollow."

Alice doesn't remember her last trip to Wonderland. This time, the plot is similar, but slightly different. It's Underland, not Wonderland. The tea party is more faded and ramshackle. Alice is beset by questions that she's "the wrong Alice."

This Alice is far from Carroll's. Where the Alice of the 1865 book is confused and essentially on a journey of self-discovery, Burton's Alice is more sure of herself. The exchange with the smoking blue caterpillar (voiced by Alan Rickman) is less "Who-o-o are you-o-o?" and more about Alice proving herself — to the caterpillar and everyone else.

"This is my dream. I make the path," she says.

Burton's "Alice" reflects today's times more than Carroll's era. There's triumph over the "dominion over living things" practiced by the cruel, bigheaded Red Queen (a brilliantly thin-skinned Helena Bonham Carter), and there's Alice's girl power. By the end, she confidently returns to begin, of all things, a business endeavor in China.

The take-home lesson of Carroll's tale is something quite different. It's not fuel for upright adulthood, but "the simple and loving heart of her childhood."

Burton's film is not lacking whimsy. Much of its design is wonderfully imaginative — surely the biggest draw of the movie. Credit also goes to the visual effects of Ken Ralston and the costumes of Colleen Atwood. There are elegant moments — the overhead shot of Alice shrinking into the billows of her dress, or the great, big slobbering tongue of the beastly Bandersnatch. The incredibly tweaky March Hare (voiced by Paul Whitehouse) is also a joy.

But Burton has beefed up the original story so that it feels less personal and more like the many action films about young, maturing heroes who must slay a giant villain. Danny Elfman's score keeps the mood dark.

The Cheshire Cat (voiced by Stephen Fry) — whose handling is normally tantamount — passes curiously without energy, like a bow made out of courtesy.

And then there's the Mad Hatter, a role so befitting Johnny Depp (working with Burton for the seventh time) that it might seem too obvious for him. There is a trace of the been-there-done-that to Depp's somewhat rootless performance, but wishing for him to cut back on playing mad clowns would be like telling Fred Astaire to quit all that dancing.

The many moving parts — Anne Hathaway slides nicely into Burton-world as the White Queen, Crispin Glover plays the Knave of Hearts — nevertheless add up to less than a good "Alice." The 1933 version with Cary Grant and W.C. Fields may still take the cake.

Though Burton's film boasts some excellent performances, as the caterpillar says to our heroine, it's merely "almost Alice."

"Alice in Wonderland," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG for fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations, and for a smoking caterpillar. Running time: 109 minutes. Two stars out of four.

How Johnny Depp Enjoys the Simple Life in France

In a cover interview with French magazine VSD, on newsstands Thursday, Johnny Depp opens up in a rare discussion of his personal life, including a secret desire "to make wine. But I'll keep it for myself before daring to sell it commercially."

A longtime resident of Plan-de-la-Tour in southern France, Depp says, "in the Var where I live, it's very interesting. [The region is] notable for rosé and it's very good, though I prefer red myself."

Currently filming The Tourist in Venice with Angelina Jolie, Depp says living in France with longtime partner Vanessa Paradis and their two children, Lily-Rose, 10, and Jack, 7, "has given me everything. A marvelous family and also an equilibrium which I missed enormously.

"With Vanessa and the kids, we live in a sort of little village in the south and I have the impression of being in paradise," he continues. "It's a property of about 30 acres and you know what I do there? Absolutely nothing."

PEOPLE's current Sexiest Man Alive also admits, "there are times when I don't leave the property for three months at a time."

Depp says his lifestyle is a "truly simple existence" that's like "being on another planet. When I wake up I go look at my garden. I go see if my vegetables are growing, if certain flowers have started to bloom."

He also confesses that "everything revolves around" his children. "Where will we go for a walk? Should we eat at the house with them or maybe go for a picnic? These are the problems we face there," he says.

Partners in Life – and On-Screen?

Another secret Depp shares is his "great yearning" to share the screen with Paradis. The couple's first attempt to appear together on screen failed when Terry Gilliam's The Man Who Killed Don Quixote project faltered in l999.

Depp's dream, however, may soon become reality.

Asked about reports the couple will appear next year in American Dream, the story of French feminist Simone de Beauvoir and her love affair with Nelson Algren, Depp replies: "Nothing has been officially signed but it's progressing well. I've great desire to work with her on a film. Vanessa is not only a terrific singer but a wonderful actress."

Burton, Depp a perfect match

After all, it has been 20 years since their first film, Edward Scissorhands, and this Friday their seventh collaboration, the 3D fantasy Alice in Wonderland, opens. It goes without saying the majority of marriages in Hollywood don’t last this long. More tellingly, neither do most professional partnerships.

Yet Depp voices no trace of fatigue, sounding eager to work with Burton whenever on whatever as whomever.

“I would have done whatever character Tim wanted,” he tells journalists at a news conference in a downtown Hollywood hotel. “To be honest, he could have said he wanted me for Alice and I would have.”

Fortunately (or unfortunately) for Depp, Burton envisioned an unknown for the titular golden-tressed role, ultimately casting newcomer Mia Wasikowska. Instead, the 46-year-old Depp landed the tailor-made part of the chalk-white, carrot-topped Mad Hatter.

“I always loved working with Johnny from Scissorhands on, for many reasons,” Burton says. “He likes to be different things. He doesn’t like watching himself, which I love because that makes it a lot easier for me. Each time we do something, he’s trying to come up with something different. It’s great when you know someone and they keep surprising you.”

In fact, Depp suggests he actually feels more — not less — pressure because of their friendship.

“Each time out of the gate with Tim, the initial thing for me is to obviously come up with a character. But then, there’s a certain amount of pressure where I go, ‘Will this be the one where I disappoint him?’ I try, especially early on, to come up with something that’s very different, that he hasn’t experienced before and that we haven’t experienced together before, that can inspire him to make choices based on that character. I try not to embarrass him, basically.”

Freaking him out, however, is apparently another matter. “I couldn’t really look at him because he looked like a scary clown,” Burton says. “We didn’t make much eye contact during the shoot.”

This latest Alice picks up several years after the original tome as it follows 19-year-old Alice Kingsleigh back down the rabbit hole where she is enlisted to help restore the exiled White Queen (Anne Hathaway) to the throne and end the rule of the tyrannical Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter).

In addition to Depp’s Hatter, the cast includes Michael Sheen (voice of the White Rabbit), Matt Lucas (the Tweedles), Alan Rickman (the Caterpillar) and Stephen Fry (the Cheshire Cat).

Depp, of course, is no stranger to fanciful fantasy characters, many of them culled from children’s books. So much so, in fact, he acknowledges he’s now self-conscious about repeating himself.

“I’ve used an English accent a number of times, so it becomes a little bit of an obstacle course. ‘Oh, that’s teetering into Captain Jack-ville’ or ‘This one is teetering into Wonka.’

“You’ve got to really pay attention to the places you’ve been. But that’s the great challenge. You may get it wrong. There’s a very good possibility that you can fall flat on your face, but again that’s a healthy thing for an actor.”

Moreover, he strove to locate the humanity lurking under the hat. “It was a great challenge to not just be a rubber ball you heave into an empty room and watch it bounce all over the place,” he says. “I wanted to find that part of the character, but also a little bit more of the history and gravity to the guy… The term ‘mad as a hatter’ came from the amount of mercury that they used in the glue to make the hats was damaging. So in terms of looking at Hatter from that perspective, this guy is damaged goods, physically and emotionally. As opposed to just this hyper, nutty guy, he should explore all sides of the personality at an extreme level.”

“Being a Disney movie,” Burton interjects, “we tried not to focus too much on the mercury poisoning aspect.”

As for his attraction to 19th century literary classics — evident from Sleepy Hollow, Finding Neverland and now Alice in Wonderland — Depp says he simply “adores” all of it.

“From J.M. Barrie and the wonderful characters he created to Lewis Carroll to even French literature and Poe. You open those books, or you open The Flowers of Evil and you begin to read, if it were written today, you’d be absolutely stupefied by the work. It’s this incredible period where the work is ageless. I just love all those guys.”

In the case of Alice in Wonderland, however, both he and Burton say they’re more familiar with the influence Lewis Carroll has had on the culture — from music videos to other films — than the text itself.

“I do vaguely remember reading versions of Alice in Wonderland when I was maybe five years old, but you always knew the characters,” Depp says.

“Most people who haven’t read the book definitely know the characters and reference them. Ironically, it was only maybe a year prior to Tim calling, I had gone back and re-read Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and what I took away from it was these very strange, little cryptic nuggets he’d thrown in there … If I read the book again today, I’d find a hundred other things that I missed the last time. It’s constantly changing.”

He admits his own life at times feels as though he sauntered through the looking glass decades ago.

“I’m still completely shocked that I still get jobs and am still around. My whole experience … defies logic.”

With that, few would argue. From his start as the star of the cops-in-high-school TV series 21 Jump Street, Depp has flouted convention. Back then, rather than exploit his fame as a teen idol, he happily shredded it. He spent the next decade as a well-liked iconoclast, eschewing big-budget Hollywood moviemaking while also avoiding slipping into obscurity.

“I felt after I had done Cry-Baby with John Waters and Edward Scissorhands with Tim that they were going to cut me off right then. Because I felt like I was on solid ground and knew where I wanted to go, but I was sure they were going to nix me.

“Luckily, I’m still here.”

TEAM BURTON-DEPP

Johnny Depp and Tim Burton are one of the most prodigious, prolific actor-director pairings working today. With seven movies to their credit (and an eighth, Dark Shadows, to shoot this year), they’re just shy of Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro (who have collaborated nine times) but ahead of Ridley Scott and Russell Crowe (five times, including this summer’s Robin Hood), as well as Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis (three). Depp and Burton’s mutual sensibility — contrasting grotesquery with absurdity — has been evident since the beginning.

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

This surreal suburban fable casts Depp as a teenage boy with shears for hands. As obvious as the metaphor for isolation is — he can never touch anyone — the film is delicate, thanks to Burton’s exquisite direction and Depp’s silently expressive performance. “Edward Scissorhands is, by far, my kids’ favourite (film of mine),” Depp says. “They connect with the character, and they see their dad feeling that isolation and feeling that loneliness. He’s a tragic character, so I think it’s hard for them. They bawl when they see that.”

Ed Wood (1994)

Burton’s best film to date, it’s also his least fantastical. Yet in Ed Wood — a wannabe 1950s director whose Plan 9 From Outer Space would be assailed as the worst film in history — Burton and Depp clearly connected with a kindred soul. The result is screwball and hopeful, sad and cheerful — a celebration of creativity despite the absence of talent.

Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Although this was nowhere near the blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean was, Depp’s similarly subverts the action-hero archetype. Here, he takes a character written as heroic on the page and plays him, as Depp revealed in interviews, as a 13-year-old girl. The movie falls apart with its Scooby Doo-style denouement, but until then it nicely balances menace and mirth.

The Corpse Bride (2005)

This stop-motion animated fantasy casts Depp as a timid groom who finds himself torn between two women: One alive, the other not. It’s a lesser film than Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas, but still pours on the spooky charm.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

Burton’s filmography consists of movies that are either personal and rewarding (Edward Scissorhands, Big Fish, Ed Wood) or overblown and hollow (Batman, Planet of the Apes). In recent years, though, it seems he has been trying to reconcile the two. So while this adaptation of the Roald Dahl novel is a big-budget production, it also attempts to humanize its characters. Problematically, though, it never quite coalesces. The same can be said of Depp’s chilly, kooky Wonka, which owes more to Michael Jackson than Gene Wilder.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

This masterful musical casts Depp as a psychotic barber who returns to Victorian London to savagely exact grisly revenge on the elite by making mincemeat of them. Burton somehow manages to make even cannibalism palatable. And Stephen Sondheim’s songs are sensationally realized. But at the same time, films — even those by Burton and Depp — rarely come any grimmer, gloomier or gorier than this.

'Wonderland' looks curiouser, but Burton fills gaps in story

Instead, the real stumper is this: Given the enduring appeal of Lewis Carroll's Victorian-era literary masterwork, why hasn't there ever been a wholly satisfying film or TV adaptation based on Alice's fateful tumble down the rabbit hole?

There has been no lack of trying to transfer Wonderland's jumbled universe of bizarre inhabitants, such as a hookah-smoking caterpillar and grinning Cheshire cat, into other mediums. Silent-film versions. An all-star ensemble in 1933 with Cary Grant as a weepy Mock Turtle. A stripped-down 1966 British TV movie with Peter Sellers as the King of Hearts. Animated attempts, most famously the 1951 Disney classic. Even a 1976 porn musical took on the challenge.

But few come close to overcoming the fact that the tale has no plot to speak of, relies heavily on clever wordplay and features a mind-blowing menagerie that perhaps is best captured by a reader's imagination.

The latest stab at solving the puzzle, however, benefits from modern-day digital magic. And it's the fruit of a creative partnership between one of animation's ace storytellers, who once conjured the Maurice Chevalier of candelabras, and a visually astute Hollywood wizard known for his way with the odd and unusual — especially his frequent star, Johnny Depp.

As perfect pairings go, writer Linda Woolverton (Beauty and the Beast) and director Tim Burton aren't exactly Tweedledum and Tweedledee. But as collaborators, they hope to have cracked the conundrum that has plagued others when Disney's new 3-DAlice in Wonderland lands in theaters March 5.

"I knew more about these iconic characters from music and illustrators than from the stories," says the filmmaker, who has given the Burton treatment to such book-based works as Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "The problem is, they're interesting, but there's not a lot of narrative drive. Every version I've seen falls into the same category: A precocious girl meets a bunch of weirdos. The Disney cartoon is probably the best known and least successful."

Burton agreed to direct the sumptuous fantasy — with a budget estimated at $250 million because of its blend of live action and computer animation — after hearing it was in 3-D and then reading Woolverton's script.

"Her whole point was to focus and frame it, to explore what Alice is about," he says. "It didn't need more bells and whistles. It needed grounding."

An active Alice

It was Woolverton who flashed on the idea of exploring a 19-year-old Alice, who, when she's feeling pressured into an unwanted engagement and grieving over the death of her father, again escapes to the whimsical land she once dreamed about when she was 6.

Says the writer, "At first, the question I was answering was, 'What if she went back?' Not how I would re-adapt the material." That came only after she pondered the problems inherent in the source material's structure: "It's an incredible book. The characters are remarkable and unforgettable. I fall to my knees before Lewis Carroll, but Alice is a girl who doesn't change. There is no real jeopardy. There is no emotion, really."

She relied on such time-tested tactics as mixing details found in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its 1872 sequel, Through the Looking Glass.

The less-bellicose Queen of Hearts and the belligerent Red Queen are merged into one royal pain: Helena Bonham Carter's big-headed brat of a ruler.

But Woolverton also added a splash of swordplay action and a sense of menace by borrowing from Carroll's nonsense poem, Jabberwocky. It gave the usually passive Alice a chance to not only save the day but also to determine her own destiny. The girl-powered underpinnings were not unlike those the writer gave to Belle, the bookworm heroine of Beauty and the Beast andliberator of future Disney fairy-tale females.

Similarly, Alice is no longer the curious flaxen-haired lass in the blue pinafore. Instead, she is on the brink of womanhood and sadly has lost her sense of self — or "muchness," as Woolverton calls it: "The death of her father took something from her." No coincidence that the writer lost her own father at age 19.

Dark amid the light

Wonderland — or, rather, Underland as it is now known — has also fallen on hard times. While lush fields of overgrown exotic foliage, giant topiary beasts and plump mushrooms greet her arrival, there also are patches of scorched ruins and signs of decay — the result of the Red Queen's aggressive campaign to snatch the throne from her younger sister, Anne Hathaway's slightly daft White Queen.

When Woolverton learned Burton was to direct, she says she did "that happy dance" — which in Underland means a "futterwacken," a sort of herky-jerky jig with a few hip-hop moves that she invented for the film.

"I have a limited visual imagination," she says. "(Burton) sees the world in a very unique way and then he sort of invites you in. I found that a great invitation."

Some of the more macabre touches in the PG-rated fantasy that feel authentically Burton-esque, however — such as those bobbing noggins afloat in a moat (the result of the Red Queen's oft-repeated command: "Off with their heads!") or when an attack by the ferocious Bandersnatch is halted when his eyeball is plucked — actually sprang from Woolverton's fertile brain.

Instead, the director concentrated both on helping the screenwriter further develop the characters so they were as dimensional as the surreal images that popped off the screen (who knew the Red Queen could almost be sympathetic if given a sibling-rivalry back story?) as well as overseeing the complex technical aspects behind the camera.

Seeing green

"This was really the opposite of the way I usually make a movie," Burton says; the post-production involved inserts of characters, props, sets and backdrops. "I shoot for six months or longer and cut it. This all materialized at the very end."

Though the live-action portions were filmed on location in England, the 2,500 or so shots that required computer-generated and manipulated images were done in a green-screen-filled environment at Culver City Studios in Los Angeles.

"I prefer being on sets," says Burton, who built Willy Wonka's entire candy empire on soundstages for 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. "And all that green screen makes you ill after a while. We all got green fever. The crew went nuts."

Of course, such disorientation is perfect for a trippy walkabout through Wonderland.

The filmmaker, who got his start in Disney's animation department, also made sure the characters, both real and computerized, were able to seamlessly share the same space. "We tried to avoid that big DreamWorks style and not over-animate the animal traits."

These days, no Burton film is complete without an indelible performance by Depp — this is their seventh film together — and there is more going on under his Hatter's chapeau than simply madness. Namely, a wild mop of red frizz. Whereas Depp's interpretation of Wonka was partly based on kid-show TV hosts like Captain Kangaroo and Mister Rogers, the flame-tressed Hatter was inspired by an orange-haired hall of fame that director and star slapped together.

"Their photos were all on a video monitor and I had to take them down, they were so disturbing," Burton says. "Bozo, Carrot Top, Mason Reese (a child actor who did TV ads in the '70s) and that guy from Room 222 who had the Afro." And don't forget Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, aka The Flying Tomato. The desired overall effect on Depp's Hatter? Says Burton, "I was going for a combination of Bozo and The Exorcist."

Mission apparently accomplished.

Stars of Burton's 'Alice' at London premiere

The stars were joined by director Burton, Anne Hathaway and hundreds of screaming fans who turned up for the event in central London's Leicester Square despite a steady downpour.

The premiere came after British movie theater chain Odeon said it had resolved a dispute with Walt Disney Pictures about the release date for the DVD version. Odeon had said it wouldn't show the film in its cinemas in Britain, Ireland and Italy because it objected to Disney's decision to release the DVD earlier than usual, but the chain said Thursday the dispute was over.

Odeon didn't disclose details, and there was no immediate comment from Disney. Burton told a press conference earlier Thursday he was relieved the issue was resolved.

"I'm just glad it's resolved. We made it 3D to be shown in the 3D screens and so I'm just very happy and grateful," he said.

The movie — inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic children's tale — tells the story of the heroine's return to the world down the rabbit-hole at the age of 19.

Depp plays the Mad Hatter, Hathaway is the White Queen, Bonham Carter is a bulbous-headed Red Queen and Australian newcomer Mia Wasikowska plays Alice.

Burton said the movie's 3D effects enhance the fantastic, surreal world it describes.

"3D and Alice seem to fit," Burton told Sky News. "There's something about the trippiness of the Alice world that helps bring you into that 3D space."

Hollywood stars, royalty at 'Alice in Wonderland' premiere

Braving a torrential downpour, they strode along a sodden green carpet -- replacing the usual red -- as hundreds of screaming fans packed out the British capital's Leicester Square.

Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, and his wife Camilla also turned out for the premiere in the square which was transformed into a magical wonderland decked out with topiary animals.

Hathaway, wearing a sequinned brown dress with a gold jacket and metallic shoes, described her character in the film as "the White Queen with a dark side."

Asked whether the new film was a feminist take on the classic story, she said: "I definitely would agree with that.

"This is Alice 10 years later... when she goes to wonderland she's experiencing a return to self and I think it's a wonderful take on it."

The film is a fresh approach to the classic children's book by Lewis Carroll, and sends the main character back to the world of her childhood adventures to be reunited with old friends after a decade away.

Teenage girls turned out in force to see Depp, who arrived wearing a dark suit and open neck shirt and dashed up the carpet to greet some of them.

As well as Hathaway as the White Queen, the movie features Depp as the Mad Hatter, Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen, and Australian rising star Mia Wasikowska as Alice.

Director Burton is famed for his unconventional approach to classic tales, such as his 2007 movie "Sweeney Todd" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" from 2005.

Explaining the thinking behind his new version of "Alice in Wonderland", he said: "I didn't think there was a definitive version of it, there's been 20 something versions of it and none of them ever connected to me.

"So the idea was to take that material, set it in a different story making her a little bit older and exploring the idea of someone's internal life."

Charles and Camilla chatted to the cast and senior crew at the premiere, that was being held in aid of the prince's Foundation For Children and the Arts, an organisation offering youngsters the chance to access the arts world.

Hours before Thursday's premiere, cinema chain Odeon agreed to show the film after earlier saying they would not screen it in Britain, Ireland and Italy in a row over Disney's planned DVD release date for the movie.

The Walt Disney Company is releasing the DVD of the film 12 weeks after its big-screen debut instead of the usual 17 weeks.

Johnny Depp's Kids Give Alice a Thumbs-Up

"My kids actually saw the film because I send them out there in the frontlines," the actor told reporters Thursday at a press conference at London's Dorchester Hotel. "They saw it – and they loved it."

In the fantasy film, which arrives in theaters March 5, Depp sports a bright orange wig, top hat and a kilt in character as the Mad Hatter. "I like wearing skirts, too," he said of the garb. But outlandish costumes and antics aside, the actor's kids, Lily-Rose, 10, and Jack, 7, weren't fazed by the freaky spectacle. "They absolutely adored it, " Depp, 46, said. "They loved every character. They weren't freaked out by it whatsoever."

But what about even younger children?

"Our 2-year-old is up for anything," Helena Bonham Carter, who's married to Alice's director Tim Burton and plays the Red Queen in the film, told reporters. She and daughter Nell were watching Burton give interviews on morning television that day, but Carter said, "[Nell] wasn't really interested in seeing daddy. She wanted to see the monsters again."

The jury's still out about how the couple's 6-year-old son, Billy, will react, though.

"Billy's going to see it tonight," she said. "It could be a disaster because he's 6 and he's sensitive. [But] he saw it being made so he knows it's pretend."

Kids of a slightly older age were on Depp's mind when asked about his enduring role as a teen idol around the world. "Clearly someone's Photoshop is working really well if people are buying posters of me," PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive said.

"I just keep doing a bunch of movies," he continued. "I never really thought about whether they were teen movies or not. You always feel that you cross some sort of boundary that allows a film to be enjoyed by [kids] from the age of 5 to the age of 85. You want to be Bugs Bunny."

UK movie chain boycotts 'Alice' in DVD dispute

Odeon objects to Walt Disney Pictures' decision to leave only 12 weeks between the film's theatrical and DVD releases in those countries, rather than the usual 17 weeks.

Odeon said it had invested "considerable sums of money" in digital projection equipment to show 3D films, and a shorter window to screen films would undermine its investment.

The company said it feared Disney's proposals would "inevitably set a new benchmark" and a 12-week gap would become common.

Disney said it wants the shorter window in part to fight piracy, but does not plan to introduce it for every film.

Odeon is one of Europe's largest cinema chains, with 110 Odeon and UCI-branded theaters in Britain. Its screens in Germany, Austria, Spain and Portugal will show "Alice in Wonderland" because there is a longer gap between theatrical and DVD release.

Other cinema chains in Britain have expressed disquiet about Disney's move, but so far none has said it will not show the movie.

The Cineworld chain said last week it had reached a "satisfactory compromise" with Disney and would show "Alice in Wonderland" on more than 150 screens in Britain.

Burton's 3D movie stars Johnny Depp, Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter. It has its world premiere in London on Thursday and opens in Britain and the United States on March 5.

Johnny Depp Turns Defender of Convicted Murderers

Johnny Depp has become the new face of a campaign seeking to overturn what many believe is the wrongful conviction of the so-called West Memphis Three—a trio of young men found guilty of the brutal 1994 murder of three boys in Arksansas.

The Alice in Wonderland star will appear on CBS' 48 Hours Mystery. In a preview clip, he claims the outcome of the trial was not based on the facts and evidence (or lack thereof), instead focusing on the teens' obsession with heavy metal music, Stephen King and satanic rituals.

"I firmly believe Damien Echols, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley are totally innocent. It was a need for swift justice to placate the community," Depp says. "Damien Echols is on death row to be killed by lethal injection."

Depp joins such celebrity activists as Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins, the Dixie Chicks, Tom Waits, Margaret Cho, Winona Ryder, South Park's Trey Parker, Marilyn Manson and even Demi Lovato calling for the West Memphis Three's release.

Echols is the only one awaiting execution. Both Baldwin and Misskelley were handed life sentences, but all three continue to maintain their innocence, claiming they were victims of a full-blown panic reminiscent of the Salem Witch trials. They have file motions seeking to reverse their convictions and obtain a new trial.

Before their story attracted the attention of Tinseltown, it was successfully chronicled to devastating effect in the 1996 documentary Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills.

Johnny Depp Gets a New Pirates Nemesis...Straight From Deadwood?

Former Deadwood star Ian McShane is in talks to join Pirates of the Caribbean: On Strange Tides, the fourth film in the billion-dollar Disney franchise, as the nefarious Blackbeard, an actual British pirate who plundered aplenty back in the 1700s.

McShane most recently played a mighty family patriarch in the short-lived NBC drama Kings, and it would be nice to see him twirling his 'stache once again.

Johnny Depp has already signed on to wear eyeliner and play Sparrow again, and Penélope Cruz is aboard as his lady foil. Rob Marshall is direction.

The storyline involves a hunt for the legendary Fountain of Youth—something Depp could probably tell those pirates a thing or two about.

Johnny Depp: My Career Defies Logic

"The whole ride – my whole ride and experience on the ride – since day one has been pretty surreal in this business," Depp, told reporters while promoting the highly anticipated film Alice In Wonderland. The actor plays the Mad Hatter in his seventh collaboration with director and friend Tim Burton.

"It defies logic, why I'm still here," said Depp – PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive. "I'm still completely shocked that I still get jobs and still am around. But I guess more than anything it has been a kind of Wonderland. I've been very lucky."

"I had no idea where anything was going, but you can't," he continued. "It's almost impossible to predict anything like that. I had no idea. I had hoped ... I felt like after I'd done Cry-Baby with John Waters and Edward Scissorhands with Tim that they were going to cut me off right then."

"I felt at that point that I was on solid ground and I knew where I was going – or where I wanted to go – and I was sure that they would nix me out of the gate. But I'm luckily still here."

Although he's currently playing an icon of children’s literature, Depp says his children Lily-Rose, 10 ½, and Jack, 7 ½, have gravitated to one of those earlier characters.

"It's Edward Scissorhands. That's by far my kids’ favorite," he revealed. "And it's funny because they've seen it but they have a difficult time watching it because it's their dad and they make that connection. They just connect with the character and also they see their dad feeling that isolation, feeling that loneliness. He's a tragic character and so I think it's hard for them. They bawl when they see that movie."

Johnny Depp's Girlfriend Wouldn't Change a Thing About Him

"I love his style, yeah, yeah, yeah!" Paradis told PEOPLE Tuesday in New York at a Chanel dinner honoring her as the new face for Rouge Coco lipstick. "I love him, and I don't have to say I like this and I don't like that. When you love somebody, you take them as they are. I would not change him."

Besides Depp's eclectic style, the French singer and actress, 37, is attracted to all the qualities of her beau (since 1998). "I like him very much in all terms and every sense of the way," she said. "He makes me happy. We are many things – we are together and, in a way, one person."

One thing they are: parents to son Jack, 7, and daughter Lily-Rose, 10, who is already having fun dressing up and wearing makeup like her parents.

"She likes it very much," Paradis said of her daughter's lipstick. "All little girls love to play with lipstick, so we let her play with it. I was a very little girl when I tried it, and it's always been a fun thing to do. It's nothing serious and nothing daily about it.

"At her age it's just to play and also it's very theatrical. So we let her wear some and have fun."

Adds Paradis, "Her father may try some on with her to have fun with it."

Disney aims to shorten big-screen run for "Alice"

A day after the revelation that UK exhibitors are being asked to accept a tightened theatrical window for Disney's spring feature "Alice in Wonderland," The Hollywood Reporter has learned that U.S. theater owners have been similarly approached.

Normally, movies play in first-run theaters for up to 16 weeks. Disney is talking about a theatrical run of just under 13 weeks for "Alice," a 3D motion-capture/live-action fantasy directed by Tim Burton and starring Johnny Depp.

The studio would benefit from truncating the theatrical run because the movie, with its family-friendly subject matter and well-known cast, is well positioned to do big success as a home entertainment title. The quicker Disney can get it into DVD and Blu-ray Disc release, the better for its bottom line.

It's likely that Disney also will accelerate the availability of "Alice" on video-on-demand, which home-entertainment executives have come to view as less of a threat to DVD/Blu-ray income and more as a complementary revenue stream.

Exhibitors have made it clear that they need a compensating upside from the moves. Less clear is how the studio will provide such a benefit, but film-rental terms are always subject to some negotiating.

These days, most releases come with "aggregate" terms. In such cases, distributors and exhibitors agree to split box office by a set percentage of a film's entire run, with up to 55 percent going into studio coffers on pricey high-profile releases. But on some pictures, studios still pencil in a growing share for exhibitors during the course of a run. It's possible that Disney will use such an approach to offer a sweeter-than-usual early taste of the receipts for theater owners in exchange for their agreeing to book the film for a truncated theatrical run.

In any event, exhibitors are getting assurances that Disney will proceed cautiously in broadening its experiment to future movie releases.

Disney's sales job in the U.K., where it sought to lop as much as five weeks from its regional run, was a bit easier. European theater owners know the theatrical market will be squeezed greatly when the soccer World Cup kicks off in June.

Meanwhile, another benefit of the shorter theatrical run for "Alice" -- set to unspool worldwide March 5 in a combination of 2D and 3D venues -- would be its freeing up 3D screens for other extra-dimensional features, including Warner Bros.' April 2 release "Clash of the Titans."

For Iger, who's been trying to reinvigorate the Disney film studio through a major executive shuffle, changes to traditional release windows simply are a matter of maximizing studio profits. As recently as Tuesday, the Disney topper mused during an earnings conference that window experiments might be a way of improving the studio's bottom line.

Royal premiere for Burton's Alice in Wonderland

They will be joined by cast members including Johnny Depp, a regular collaborator with Burton, and Anne Hathaway in the 3-D movie inspired by Lewis Carroll's classic tale of a girl's adventures in an absurd wonderland.

Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter also appears in the film alongside Little Britain star Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee. Australia's Mia Wasikowska plays Alice.

The premiere, ahead of the film's U.S. and British theatrical release on March 5, will take place in London's Leicester Square and the funds it raises go to The Prince's Foundation for Children and the Arts.

Johnny Depp defends Polanski

The Oscar-winning filmmaker pleaded guilty to a charge of unlawful sex with a 13-year-old girl in 1977, but fled the States before his sentence could be passed.

He was arrested in Zurich last year and placed under house arrest in Switzerland. Last month, a Los Angeles judge ruled he must return to the U.S. to face sentencing.

But Depp, who collaborated with the 76 year old on 1999 thriller The Ninth Gate, insists U.S. prosecutors should take Polanski's current home life into consideration and let the 32-year-old charges go.

Defending his former boss' character, Depp explains: "Roman is not a predator. He's 75 or 76 years old. He has got two beautiful kids, he has got a wife that he has been with for a long, long time. He is not out on the street."

Ozzy wants Johnny Depp to play him

Clint Eastwood is Favorite Movie Star

After a dip to No. 2 last year (and an exclusion the year before), Clint Eastwood is the Favorite Movie Star of 2009. Men dominate the poll, as the Nos. 2, 3 and 5 spots go to Johnny Depp, Denzel Washington and Tom Hanks. Sandra Bullock is the only female to crack the Top 5 at No. 4. Bullock has only been in the Top 10 four times in last 16 years and never higher than ninth so obviously "The Proposal" and "The Blind Side" are good for more than just awards.

Coming at No. 6 and No. 7 are cowboys George Clooney and John Wayne. Wayne is actually the only deceased person to make either this list or the Favorite TV Personality list and he's been dead for 30 years, so kudos to Marion Morrison.

Rounding out the Top 10 are Meryl Streep, Morgan Freeman and Julia Roberts at the 8, 9 and 10 spots. Dropping out of the Top 10 are Will Smith (tied for No. 3 last year), Harrison Ford (No. 5) and Angelina Jolie (No. 8).

Here's an interesting demographic break-down:

Men: Clint Eastwood
Women: Johnny Depp
Republican: Clint Eastwood
Democrat: Denzel Washington
Independent: Clint Eastwood
Echo Boomers (18-32): Johnny Depp
Gen X (33-44): Sandra Bullock
Baby Boomers (45-63): Clint Eastwood
Matures (64+): Clint Eastwood
East: Clint Eastwood
Midwest: Johnny Depp
South: Sandra Bullock
West: Clint Eastwood

We find it interesting that East and West are both for Eastwood but Depp wins the Midwest. We would've figured our fellow midwesterners to love Eastwood. Huh.

Johnny Depp Is Sexiest Man Still Alive

In yet another example of the Interweb gone terribly wrong, Johnny Depp was faux-killed in France after a car crash late Saturday, sending bloggers into a fact-finding tizzy, and fans tweeting "RIP Johnny Depp" right into a Twitter trending topic.

Thankfully, E! News has confirmed that Depp is alive and well, and was not involved in an accident of any kind.

"He isn't dead," Depp's rep, Robin Baum, told E! News. "He's fine."

The Golden Globe winner has been linked to several death rumors in the past, the most recent elaborate hoax using images of a hodgepodge of wrecked vehicles, and even a fake CNN website confirming the news.

At least he's in good company. Over the past year, fellow stars including Taylor Lautner, Jeff Goldblum, Tom Hanks, Miley Cyrus, and countless others have found themselves the recipient of an untimely passing announcement.

We're just happy to see People's Sexiest Man Alive is still exactly that.

Johnny Depp Heads Up GQ's Picks For Most Stylish Guys On The Planet

Aloha, matey! 4th 'Pirates' to be filmed in Hawaii

The fourth installment of Disney's popular "Pirates of the Caribbean" series will be filmed in Hawaii, according an announcement Monday by Gov. Linda Lingle.

Johnny Depp will return to his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," which will begin shooting this summer on Oahu and Kauai and be released in 2011. The film is produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Rob Marshall.

"We've always sought out the most extraordinary and exotic locations ... Hawaii provides an amazing range of both land and seascapes, and we're delighted to return for 'On Stranger Tides,'" Bruckheimer said in a statement.

Small portions of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," were shot on Maui and Molokai.

Lingle estimated the production will generate $85 million in spending in Hawaii, which is reeling from the steep drop-off in tourism stemming from the global economic crisis.

"Hawaii competes on a global basis for productions and to have Disney choose Hawaii over other states and countries is a huge win for us," said Georja Skinner, which heads the state division that oversees the Hawaii Film Office.

Skinner said what made the difference was the combination of Hawaii's tax incentive, as well as support from the film and travel industries.

Lingle lauded Hawaii's relationship with The Walt Disney Co., saying it was a "testament to the company's confidence in our state as a great place to do business." Other Disney-involved projects in Hawaii include a new hotel-timeshare resort "Aulani" to open in 2011 and ABC's castaway drama "Lost," which has filmed in Hawaii for several years and is currently shooting its final season. ABC is owned by Disney.

"The Walt Disney Company has a great relationship with Hawaii that we're looking forward to building upon with the filming of the latest adventures of Captain Jack Sparrow and his crew," Disney President and CEO Bob Iger said.

"Pirates" is the latest of three big-budget films being shot in the islands this year. "Hereafter," directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Matt Damon, wrapped up shooting on Maui last week. Pre-production has begun for "The Descendants," starring George Clooney, with filming scheduled to begin in March.

Depp says sexiest man title is a 'joke'

Kusturica, winner of two awards at the Cannes film festival, said he wants the festival, now in its third year, to be devoted only to "movies, music and life", far from the "blockbusters that pollute the spirit".

But the journalists following Depp around the event deep in the Serbian mountains, a five hour drive from Belgrade, wanted to know about his reputation as a sex symbol and his thoughts on US President Barack Obama.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Depp could not escape having to comment on the "The Sexiest Man Alive" title bestowed on him last year by US magazine People.

"That should be someone else, that confuses me beyond recognition. I don't know how to react," Depp said. "I really thought it was a joke."

Turning to politics, he is not among those who have turned against the US president. "Obama has great intentions. He is a decent man. He is a strong man as well. I look forward to very good things."

Depp starred in Kusturica's 1993 film "Arizona Dream". The Bosnian-born film-maker said he would soon start preparations for a film about 19th century Mexican bandit-revolutionary Pancho Villa, who would be played by Depp.

That is one reason why the American superstar made the trek to Serbia to meet with independent artists and film students at the mountain resort close to the Bosnian border.

The Drvengrad mountain settlement, near Mokra Gora, is where Kusturica now lives and was the setting for his 2004 film "Life is A Miracle".

Kusturica wants the quirky festival, which included a celebration for the Serbian Orthodox New Year and musical performances by Kusturica's own "No Smoking Orchestra", to enable film artists to exchange ideas and expertise as an alternative to the Hollywood-dominated industry.

Last year, American director Jim Jarmusch advised film students on how to make their dream scripts come true.

This year the festival, which runs until Tuesday, will show 29 films from 18 countries vying for the Golden, Silver and Bronze Egg awarded by a three-member international jury chaired by French-Iranian author and director Marjane Satrapi.

"It is really great to rediscover people, talk about film trade (at a festival) without a protocol," Satrapi, one of the directors of the Oscar-nominated animation movie "Persepolis", told AFP.

When you arrive in Drvengrad, after a five-hour drive from Belgrade, "you do not know exactly where you are," Satrapi said, clearly amused.

"At an ordinary festival, you never have time to meet the people... There are always people behind you. Always posing, always trying to give themselves a role."

"It's always necessary to be smart, to have a great haircut, to be beautiful, to be everything," Satrapi said.

In Drvengrad there is no red carpet and only a handful of photographers and journalists made the journey.

Festival goers could pass Depp, surrounded by security guards, leaving a wooden cabin where he was Kusturica's guest of honour for a late-night celebration of the Orthodox New Year.

The Hollywood star said he was "very impressed" with the festival, a "place where there is a possibility for communication, possibility of meeting someone".

Depp gets statue in Serbia

The Pirates of the Caribbean star had a statue in his image unveiled to him by renowned Serbian director Emir Kusturica during an annual film festival — called Kustendorf — held in a mountain village in southwestern Serbia.

Depp met with Serbian President Boris Tadic upon his arrival on Tuesday. He was then flown by helicopter to the mountaintop village constructed by Kusturica for one of his movies.

Kusturica, a two-time Cannes Film Festival winner, said he plans to make a movie with Depp paying legendary Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa.

"Depp will be my guest for three days," Kusturica said. "He will lead several workshops for participants of the festival, drink wine, watch films and visit some locations where he will shoot a film about Pancho Villa."

Johnny Depp in Serbia for Kusturica's film festival

Depp, accompanied by Kusturica, was received by Serbian President Boris Tadic in Belgrade, and then left for the festival village Drvengrad in central Serbia, the Mondo.rs website reported.

On Wednesday, a life-sized bust of Depp will be unveiled to mark the opening of the third Kustendorf International Film and Music Festival in Drvengrad, built in 2005 as a setting for Kusturica's film "Life Is A Miracle."

Depp will also receive Kustendorf's "Award for Future Movies," organisers said.

French comic book author and director, Iranian-born Marjane Satrapi will preside a three-member international jury which will award Golden, Silver and Bronze Egg to the best of 28 films from 18 countries.

The festival runs until January 19.

The Bosnian-born director has won two Golden Palm awards at the Cannes film festival for "Underground" (1995) and "When Father Was Away on Business" (1985).

His latest movie, "Promise Me This" has flopped at the box office despite a Golden Palm nomination.

Kusturica recently announced he will make film about Mexico's 19th-century bandit-turned-revolutionary Pancho Villa, to be played by Depp.

Highlights of Hollywood's 2010 movie lineup

Winter and spring:

ALICE IN WONDERLAND: Johnny Depp is the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's take on the Lewis Carroll adventures of a girl who goes through the looking glass.

THE BACK-UP PLAN: A woman (Jennifer Lopez) meets the right guy — just after she gets pregnant through artificial insemination.

THE BOOK OF ELI: Denzel Washington whups some butt as a prophet protecting a critical text in post-apocalyptic America.

THE BOUNTY HUNTER: Jennifer Aniston is a bail-jumping reporter pursued by her bounty-hunter ex-hubby (Gerard Butler).

CLASH OF THE TITANS: Ancient Greek hero Perseus (Sam Worthington) takes on Hades, lord of the underworld. With Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes.

COP OUT: A stolen baseball card sets two detectives (Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan) on the path of a memorabilia-obsessed mobster.

CREATION: Charles Darwin (Paul Bettany) copes with grief over a lost daughter as he struggles with his theory of evolution. With Jennifer Connelly.

DATE NIGHT: A weekly night out turns into a wild ride for a suburban couple (Steve Carell and Tina Fey) whose romance has become routine.

DEAR JOHN: A soldier (Channing Tatum) and a woman (Amanda Seyfried) carry out a seven-year romance from a distance while he's on assignment.

DEATH AT A FUNERAL: Crazy things happen at a family patriarch's funeral. With Chris Rock, Martin Lawrence, Danny Glover.

DISTRICT B13: ULTIMATUM: Martial-arts heroes return to try to quell unrest in a walled crime ghetto in this follow up to the French thriller.,P>EDGE OF DARKNESS: Mel Gibson is a homicide cop whose daughter's murder takes him into a dark world of corporate and government conspiracy.

EXTRAORDINARY MEASURES: A father (Brendan Fraser) teams with a maverick doctor (Harrison Ford) to find a cure for his kids' fatal illness. With Keri Russell.

FROM PARIS WITH LOVE: A trigger-happy spy (John Travolta) and his inexperienced partner (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) try to crack a crime gang.

FURRY VENGEANCE: Animals fight back against the housing developer (Brendan Fraser) whose project threatens their habitat.

GREENBERG: A man (Ben Stiller) searching for meaning finds potential romance while house-sitting for his brother.

GREEN ZONE: Matt Damon goes searching for weapons of mass destruction in a thriller set in Iraq as the war there heats up in 2003.

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON: The world of the Vikings gets a makeover in this animated story of a misfit teen and his dragon.

I LOVE YOU PHILLIP MORRIS: A con man (Jim Carrey) finds his soul mate (Ewan McGregor) while doing prison time.

KICK-ASS: A youth with no superpowers dons a costume to fight crime as a superhero. With Nicolas Cage.

THE LAST SONG: Miley Cyrus is a teen whose estranged father (Greg Kinnear) tries to reconnect with her through music.

LEGION: The archangel Michael (Paul Bettany) and a group of strangers are humanity's last hope for salvation.

THE LOSERS: A Special Forces team seeks revenge after its members are betrayed and presumed dead on a mission. With Zoe Saldana, Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

MACGRUBER: The "Saturday Night Live" bit about a hapless special-ops man (Will Forte) gets big-screen treatment. With Val Kilmer, Ryan Phillippe, Kristen Wiig.

A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET: Freddy Krueger (Jackie Earle Haley) is back to terrorize people in their dreams in an update of the 1980s slasher franchise.

PERCY JACKSON & THE OLYMPIANS: THE LIGHTNING THIEF: A teen demigod is caught up in a potential war among the gods of Olympus, alive and well in modern times.

REMEMBER ME: "Twilight" star Robert Pattinson and "Lost" co-star Emilie de Ravin cope with romance amid adversity. With Pierce Brosnan.

REPO MEN: In a future where mechanical organs are repossessed for lack of payment, a former repo man (Jude Law) becomes the prey of his old partner (Forest Whitaker).

SAINT JOHN OF LAS VEGAS: A compulsive gambler (Steve Buscemi) fights temptation while trying to change his life. With Sarah Silverman.

SEASON OF THE WITCH: A medieval knight (Nicolas Cage) is assigned to escort a peasant girl the church suspects of bringing on the Black Plague by witchcraft.

SHE'S OUT OF MY LEAGUE: An average guy (Jay Baruchel) scores big when a super-babe inexplicably falls for him.

SHUTTER ISLAND: Leonardo DiCaprio reunites with director Martin Scorsese in a tale set at a hospital for the criminally insane.

THE SPY NEXT DOOR: Jackie Chan balances his day job as a spy with baby-sitting his girlfriend's three kids.

TOOTH FAIRY: A mean-spirited hockey star (Dwayne Johnson) is sentenced to do time as a tooth fairy, with magic wings and wand. With Ashley Judd, Julie Andrews.

TYLER PERRY'S WHY DID I GET MARRIED TOO?: Filmmaker Perry co-stars with Janet Jackson, Malik Yoba and other cast mates for this relationship sequel.

VALENTINE'S DAY: A superstar cast copes with the trials of love. With Julia Roberts, Jessica Alba, Jessica Biel, Jennifer Garner, Ashton Kutcher.

WALL STREET 2: Oliver Stone and Michael Douglas bring corporate raider Gordon Gekko out of mothballs in a tale of today's financial fiasco. With Shia LaBeouf.

WHEN IN ROME: Passions are magically aroused when a tourist retrieves coins tossed in a fountain of love. With Kristen Bell, Josh Duhamel, Danny DeVito.

THE WOLFMAN: Benicio Del Toro is a man who finds the curse of the werewolf haunting his family when he returns to his ancestral home.___

Summer season:

THE A-TEAM: The TV action series goes big-screen as former Special Forces troops set out to clear their names. With Liam Neeson, Jessica Biel, Bradley Cooper.

CATS & DOGS: REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE: Cats and dogs unite to take on a nutty feline bent on global domination. With Christina Applegate.

DESPICABLE ME: Steve Carell leads the voice cast in an animated tale of a villain whose plot to steal the moon is sidelined by three orphan girls.

DINNER FOR SCHMUCKS: A young exec (Paul Rudd) finds the perfect buffoon (Steve Carell) for his boss' monthly "dinner for idiots."

EAT PRAY LOVE: Julia Roberts plays a divorced woman on a worldwide journey to find meaning in her life. With James Franco, Javier Bardem.

THE EXPENDABLES: Sylvester Stallone directs and stars in a thriller about mercenaries betrayed on a mission. With Jet Li, Jason Statham.

GET HIM TO THE GREEK: A record company intern (Jonah Hill) has to escort an unruly rock legend to the first concert of his comeback tour.

GROWN UPS: Childhood pals (Adam Sandler, Chris Rock, Kevin James, Rob Schneider and David Spade) reunite as adults. With Salma Hayek, Maria Bello.

INCEPTION: Leonardo DiCaprio stars in a science-fiction thriller from director Christopher Nolan ("The Dark Knight").

IRON MAN 2: Robert Downey Jr. slips back into his metal suit to face new foes. With Gwyneth Paltrow, Mickey Rourke.

JONAH HEX: A disfigured bounty hunter (Josh Brolin) battles a villain aiming to unleash hell on Earth. With Megan Fox, John Malkovich.

THE KARATE KID: Jackie Chan imparts kung fu wisdom to a Detroit youth (Jaden Smith) uprooted by his family's move to China in an update of the 1980s hit.

KILLERS: An ex-assassin (Ashton Kutcher) and his wife (Katherine Heigl) go on the run after he's targeted for a hit in this action comedy.

KNIGHT AND DAY: Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz are a fugitive couple on a jet-setting adventure around the globe.

THE LAST AIRBENDER: M. Night Shyamalan adapts the animated TV show about a young savior with the power to end warfare among four nations with mystical powers.

LETTERS TO JULIET: An old letter to the doomed heroine of "Romeo and Juliet" sparks romance for two women (Amanda Seyfried, Vanessa Redgrave).

THE LOTTERY TICKET: A ghetto dweller (Bow Wow) fends off greedy neighbors after he wins $370 million in the lottery. With Ice Cube.

MARMADUKE: Owen Wilson provides the voice of the Great Dane in a family comedy based on the canine comic strip.

MEET THE PARENTS 3: Ben Stiller and Robert De Niro find new ways to test their in-law relationship in the "Meet the Fockers" follow up.

THE OTHER GUYS: A detective more interested in paperwork and a street-tough cop (Mark Wahlberg) are partnered up. With Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne Johnson.

PREDATORS: Hardcore human killers become prey for alien hunters in a new take on the sci-fi franchise. With Adrien Brody, Topher Grace.

PRIEST: A renegade priest (Paul Bettany) tracks a gang of vampires that have abducted his niece.

PRINCE OF PERSIA: THE SANDS OF TIME: The video-game adaptation stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a fugitive prince who finds a dagger of enormous power.

RAMONA AND BEEZUS: The pesky young heroine of Beverly Cleary's best sellers comes to life in an adaptation of the children's books.

ROBIN HOOD: Russell Crowe reunites with director Ridley Scott for a fresh take on the 13th-century soldier turned folk hero. With Cate Blanchett.

SALT: Angelina Jolie is a CIA operative on the lam after she's accused of spying for Russia. With Liev Schreiber.

SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD: To win his dream woman, a slacker musician (Michael Cera) must vanquish her seven evil ex-boyfriends.

SEX AND THE CITY 2: Sarah Jessica Parker and her Manhattan mates return for more fashionable urban romantic angst.

SHREK FOREVER AFTER: Mike Myers' ogre is hurled into an alternate reality where he and his true love never met. With Cameron Diaz, Eddie Murphy, Antonio Banderas.

THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE: An ancient wizard (Nicolas Cage) recruits a protege (Jay Baruchel) to battle an evil foe (Alfred Molina).

STEP UP 3-D: Street dancers and a college freshman square off in a competition against world-class hip-hop dancers.

TAKERS: A detective (Matt Dillon) pursues a gang of bank robbers (Idris Elba, Paul Walker, Tip "T.I." Harris, Chris Brown, Hayden Christensen, Michael Ealy).

TOY STORY 3: Tom Hanks, Tim Allen and their plaything pals face abandonment after their kid grows up in this animated sequel.

THE TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE: Danger comes calling again for a teen (Kristen Stewart) and her vampire and werewolf suitors (Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner).

____

Fall and holiday season:

ALPHA AND OMEGA: Two wolves relocated halfway across the country try to return home. The animated tale features the voices of Justin Long, Hayden Panettiere.

THE AMERICAN: A hit man (George Clooney) finds romance and friendship in Italy while awaiting what he hopes will be his last assignment.

BURLESQUE: Christina Aguilera aims for stardom with a musical revue at an aging theater. With Cher, Stanley Tucci.

THE CHRONICLES OF NARNIA: THE VOYAGE OF THE DAWN TREADER: C.S. Lewis' young heroes land aboard an incredible ship as the fantasy series resumes.

DUE DATE: Robert Downey Jr. stars as a first-time dad who has to hitch a ride with an actor (Zach Galinianakis) to get home in time for his baby's birth.

FLIPPED: Rob Reiner directs a story of first love following a smitten girl and unwilling boy from grade school to junior high.

GOING THE DISTANCE: A couple (Drew Barrymore and Justin Long) struggle to make their bicoastal romance work.

THE GREEN HORNET: A rich party boy (Seth Rogen) turns to crime-fighting as the masked Hornet. With Cameron Diaz.

GUARDIANS OF GA'HOOLE: A young owl battles to save his kind from evil enemies in this animated family adventure.

GULLIVER'S TRAVELS: Jack Black does a modern take on the world-traveling hero who encounters a race of tiny people on his sojourn.

HEREAFTER: Paths cross for three people around the world who are touched by death. Clint Eastwood directs, Matt Damon stars.

HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS — PART 1: The young wizards (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint) aim to destroy the crux of evil Voldemort's power.

LIFE AS WE KNOW IT: Mismatched godparents (Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel) must team up as guardians for their orphaned goddaughter.

LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS: Romance develops between a free spirit (Anne Hathaway) and a dauntless Viagra salesman (Jake Gyllenhaal).

MEGAMIND: A supervillain flirts with virtue after his superhero opponent turns to the dark side in an animated tale featuring the voices of Brad Pitt and Will Ferrell.

MORNING GLORY: A TV morning-show producer (Rachel McAdams) copes with a clash between her tough newsman (Harrison Ford) and his new co-host (Diane Keaton).

RAPUNZEL: Mandy Moore provides the voice of the long-haired fairy-tale princess locked away in a tower in this animated musical.

RED DAWN: A group of youths forms a guerrilla army to fight back against military forces that have invaded America.

SAW VII: The horror franchise returns for part seven in the diabolical games initiated by killer Jigsaw.

SECRETARIAT: A housewife (Diane Lane) and trainer (John Malkovich) team to raise the 1973 Triple Crown-winning racehorse.

THE TOWN: Ben Affleck directs and stars as a bank robber who falls into romance with his former hostage (Rebecca Hall).

TRON: LEGACY: Jeff Bridges reprises his 1982 character, whose son (Garrett Hedlund) is pulled into the digital world where his dad has disappeared.

UNSTOPPABLE: A railway engineer (Denzel Washington) and a conductor (Chris Pine) race to stop a runaway train carrying toxic cargo.

YOGI BEAR: The smarter-than-average bear of the TV cartoons comes to the big screen in a live-action and animation combo. With Dan Aykroyd.

YOU AGAIN: Rivalries are renewed after a woman (Kristen Bell) learns her brother's marrying her high school nemesis. With Sigourney Weaver and Jamie Lee Curtis.

YOUR HIGHNESS: A black sheep knight (Danny McBride), his perfect brother (James Franco) and a fierce warrior (Natalie Portman) embark on rescue mission.

ZOOKEEPER: A kindly zookeeper (Kevin James) gets romantic advice from the animals in his charge.

People's Choice Awards Winners

Johnny Depp can't get used to winning awards

Depp, best known for his Oscar-nominated role as Captain Jack Sparrow in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" blockbusters, made the comments Sunday night before receiving a career achievement award at the Bahamas International Film Festival.

"Whenever anybody say they are going to give me some kind of award, I'm always a little stupefied by the notion. The first thing I say is 'why?'," Depp told a small scrum of reporters. "I just go to work like anyone else, except my job happens to be a little stranger."

Lit by cameras during a red carpet event, Depp said he planned on spending Christmas on his private island ringed with white sand off Exuma.

"The place is as close to paradise as anywhere you can get," said Depp, wearing a black pinstriped suit and tinted glasses with heavy black frames.

Fellow acting superstar Sean Connery, who also owns a home in the Bahamas, presented Depp with the award at the Balmoral Club in Nassau.

The festival's founder, Leslie Vanderpool, described Depp as an "icon" who is one of the finest actors of his generation.

"What makes this tribute to Johnny even more special is that he has a home in the Bahamas and possesses a true love and appreciation for the region and culture," Vanderpool said in a statement.

Depp's diverse screen credits through the years include starring roles in "Donnie Brasco," "Edward Scissorhands," and "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

In September, Disney announced that a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" film is on the horizon. Depp will reprise his celebrated role as Sparrow in "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides," slated for summer of 2011.

Depp said he's enjoyed playing all of his screen characters.

"I'm still amazed I get jobs after all this time," he quipped.

Depp to play Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa

Playing opposite Mexico's Salma Hayek, the 46-year-old Depp will trade the swashbuckling antics of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series for the part of General Villa, El Pais newspaper quoted the Serbian director as saying.

Shooting on the film is to begin early next year, split between Mexico and the Granada region of southern in Spain, said Kusturica, who is said to have hesitated between Depp and the Spaniard Javier Bardem for the part.

An emblematic figure from the 1910 Mexican Revolution, Francisco "Pancho" Villa (1878-1923) took up arms alongside Francisco Madero and later Emiliano Zapata, fighting against conservatives to found modern-day Mexico.

Based on a book about the Mexican hero by the US writer James Carlos Blake, the Depp film will tell his story "through the eyes of his friends and the woman he loved," Kusturica said.

Companion to French singer Vanessa Paradis, with whom he has two children, Lily-Rose, 10, and Jack, seven, Depp was last month voted the sexiest man alive by the US magazine People.

Depp promotes latest movie, but hasn't seen it

Depp, in Tokyo for the Japan premiere of "Public Enemies," said Wednesday he was drawn to the movie because of his childhood interest in John Dillinger, the bank robber who in Depression-era America was declared public enemy No. 1 by the federal authorities.

"I haven't seen the film yet, but I hear great things about it," Depp said at a news conference at a Tokyo hotel.

Depp said he saw Dillinger, who was eventually killed by police, as a brave and charismatic figure, and listed the famed criminal among his childhood idols, along with Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin.

He said he felt a special connection to Dillinger because his own grandfather was pushed into illegal activities — "moonshining," or brewing illegal liquor — to make a living in Kentucky during the Depression.

Unlike Dillinger, however, the 46-year-old Depp, who was named this year's "Sexiest Man Alive" by People magazine, said he did not believe he had any enemies.

"I don't think I have any enemies, really," Depp said. "The scariest enemy is within, allowing yourself to conform to what is expected of you."

Will Johnny Depp + Angelina Jolie = Good Lovin'?

Depp getting $33M for 'Pirates 4'

The Sexiest Man Alive: Johnny Depp

Sightings

2010 People's Choice Awards nominees

"Twilight" and "True Blood" were among the top nominees announced Tuesday. Fans cast more than 18 million votes online to select the nominee slate and will also choose the winners in 35 categories.

The People's Choice Awards lets the general public vote for their favorite stars and works of popular culture.

"Twilight" is up for favorite movie, franchise and on-screen team for its trio of stars: Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner. Stewart and Pattinson were also nominated individually for favorite movie actress and actor, and Lautner is up for breakout movie actor.

"True Blood" was nominated for favorite TV obsession and sci-fi/fantasy TV show, plus star Anna Paquin earned a nod for TV drama actress.

Fans can vote for their favorites online at www.peopleschoice.com.

Queen Latifah is set to host the People's Choice Awards at the Nokia Theatre. The ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS on Jan. 6, 2010.

The complete list of nominees:

TV drama: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," "Grey's Anatomy," "House," "Lost," "NCIS."

TV comedy: "Desperate Housewives," "How I Met Your Mother," "The Big Bang Theory," "The Office," "Two and a Half Men."

TV drama Actor: Hugh Laurie, Kiefer Sutherland, Mark Harmon, Matthew Fox, Patrick Dempsey.

TV drama Actress: Anna Paquin, Blake Lively, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Katherine Heigl, Mariska Hargitay.

TV comedy Actor: Alex Baldwin, Charlie Sheen, Jim Parsons, Neil Patrick Harris, Steve Carell.

TV comedy Actress: Alyson Hannigan, America Ferrera, Amy Poehler, Eva Longoria Parker, Tina Fey.

TV obsession: "Dexter," "Gossip Girl," "The Hills," "The Secret Life of the American Teenager," "True Blood."

TV talk show: "Chelsea Lately," "Live with Regis & Kelly," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "The Tyra Banks Show."

TV sci-fi/fantasy: "Heroes," "Lost," "Supernatural," "The Vampire Diaries," "True Blood."

TV competition show: "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "Project Runway," "So You Think You Can Dance," "Survivor: Samoa."

Animal show: "Animal Cops," "DogTown," "Dog Whisperer," "It's Me or the Dog," "Rescue Ink."

New TV drama: "Eastwick," "FlashForward," "Melrose Place," "Mercy," "The Forgotten," "The Good Wife," "The Vampire Diaries," "Three Rivers," "NCIS: Los Angeles," "V."

New TV comedy: "Accidentally on Purpose," "Brothers," "Community," "Cougar Town," "Glee," "Hank," "The Cleveland Show," "The Middle," "Modern Family."

Movie actor: Brad Pitt, Hugh Jackman, Johnny Depp, Robert Pattinson, Ryan Reynolds.

Movie actress: Anna Hathaway, Drew Barrymore, Jennifer Aniston, Kristen Stewart, Sandra Bullock.

Action star: Christian Bale, Gerard Butler, Hugh Jackman, Shia LaBeouf, Vin Diesel.

Comedic star: Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, Ryan Reynolds, Vince Vaughn.

Breakout movie actress: Anna Kendrick, Emily Osment, Ginnifer Goodwin, Miley Cyrus, Zoe Saldana.

Breakout movie actor: Chris Pine, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Sam Worthington, Taylor Lautner, Zachary Quinto.

On-screen team: Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson, "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"; Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, "The Proposal"; Robert Pattinson, Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner, "The Twilight Saga"; Shia LaBeouf and Megan Fox, "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen"; Hugh Jackman, Liev Schreiber, Ryan Reynolds, will.i.am, Dominic Monaghan and Daniel Henney, "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

Family movie: "Hannah Montana: The Movie," "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs," "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian," "Up," "Where the Wild Things Are."

Independent movie: "(500) Days of Summer," "District 9," "Inglourious Basterds," "Paranormal Activity," "Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail."

Franchise: "Harry Potter," "Star Trek," "The Twilight Saga," "Transformers," "X-Men."

Comedy movie: "17 Again," "Bride Wars," "He's Just Not That Into You," "The Hangover," "The Proposal."

Favorite movie: "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," "Star Trek," "The Hangover," "The Proposal," "Twilight."

Male artist: Eminem, Jason Mraz, John Mayer, Keith Urban, Tim McGraw.

Female artist: Beyonce, Britney Spears, Carrie Underwood, Pink, Taylor Swift.

Country artist: Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Keith Urban, Rascal Flatts, Taylor Swift.

Breakout Music Artist: Adam Lambert, Demi Lovato, Kris Allen, Lady Gaga, Susan Boyle.

Hip-hop artist: Eminem, Flo Rida, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne, T.I.

Rock band: Daughtry, Green Day, Kings of Leon, Muse, Paramore.

Music collaboration: Cobra Starship & Leighton Meester, "Good Girls Go Bad"; Jason Mraz & Colbie Caillat, "Lucky"; Jay-Z, Rihanna & Kanye West, "Run This Town"; T.I. & Rihanna, "Live Your Life"; The Lonely Island & T-Pain, "I'm on a Boat."

R&B artist: Alicia Keys, Beyonce, Jennifer Hudson, Mariah Carey, Usher.

Pop artist: Britney Spears, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, the Black Eyed Peas.

Web celeb: Andy Samberg, Ashton Kutcher, Miley Cyrus, P. Diddy, Will Ferrell.

Johnny Depp Falling Into Angelina's Tourist Trap?

Johnny Depp is in talks to star with Angelina Jolie in The Tourist, a remake of a French thriller in which Depp would play an American abroad who gets swept up in an Interpol agent's web of intrigue as she tracks down a fugitive who used to be her lover, according to Variety.

And we feel sorry for any guy who incurs Jolie's wrath.

Sam Worthington, the Australian star of James Cameron's upcoming 3-D spectacle, Avatar, had been slated to play the titular tourist, but recently dropped out, along with director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who helmed the Oscar-winning The Lives of Others.

This isn't The Tourist's first casting shakeup, either. Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron were originally set to give chase in the lead roles before scheduling snafus got in the way.

We don't know about you, but we're liking the sound, not to mention the look, of this switcheroo.

Depp, Fox voted sexiest stars

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star beat out competition from Twilight hunk Robert Pattinson and Robert Downey Jr., who landed second and third place respectively.

Brad Pitt came fourth in the sexiest man rundown by Empire magazine, while The Dark Knight star Christian Bale scooped fifth place.

Transformers babe Fox was closely followed by Pitt's partner Angelina Jolie in the female countdown, while Harry Potter wizard Emma Watson was voted in third place.

Scarlett Johansson and Star Trek actress Zoe Saldana rounded out the top five.

Depp, Richards light up Spike TV's 'Scream 2009'

"It's crazy," said "Dexter" star Julie Benz. "It's a real loud, rock 'n' roll show."

Rock 'n' roll indeed: Fans welcomed Keith Richards with a standing ovation as Johnny Depp presented the legendary Rolling Stones guitarist with the Rock Immortal award.

"I liked the living legend, that was all right, but immortal is even better," Richards said in an interview before accepting his award.

Quentin Tarantino continued the celebration of the immortal as he paid tribute to "Night of the Living Dead" director George A. Romero with the Scream Mastermind award.

The star-studded event was taped Saturday and is scheduled to air as a two-hour special on Oct. 27. Jessica Alba, Kate Bosworth, Harrison Ford, Justin Long and Christina Ricci helped present the spike-shaped trophies to their peers.

The show opened with a larger-than-life snow globe inhabited by two creepy little girls. They emerged from the orb and as one girl slashed her throat, the other started bleeding from the neck. Keeping the creep-factor constant, a zombie piano player appeared later in the show.

Fans voted online for the winners, so some of the year's most popular films and TV shows took home trophies. "True Blood" was a four-time winner, taking honors for best TV show, along with best villain for Alexander Skarsgard and best horror actor and actress for real-life couple Steven Moyer and Anna Paquin.

"Twilight" won twice: Best fantasy film and breakout performance for star Taylor Lautner, who showed world-premiere footage from the film's next installment, "New Moon."

"Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" also won a pair of prizes: Megan Fox was voted best sci-fi actress and Isabel Lucas was recognized for her breakout performance as an evil shape-shifting robot.

Celebrities arrived on a checkered carpet flanked by costumed fans while two women wearing angel wings — and little else — sat in swings suspended overhead.

"It kind of reminds me of Comic-Con," said "Watchmen" star Jackie Earle Haley, who plays Freddy Kruger in the reboot of "Nightmare on Elm Street." "It's just awesome."

Fans were invited to vote online for their favorite films and TV shows in categories such as best villain, best superhero and most memorable mutilation.

Johnny Depp's 'Pirates' will sail 'On Stranger Tides'

So what do we know? "On Stranger Tides" is the title of a 1987 book by Tim Powers, one of our favorite authors. The story, though, seems a bit pedestrian for an accomplished scoundrel like Jack Sparrow: A young puppeteer named Jack Shandy is pressed into service as a pirate and must eventually take on Blackbeard to save his lady love.

Of course, the book also includes voodoo and the Fountain of Youth, the second of which had already been rumored to be Sparrow's goal in a potential fourth "Pirates" chapter.

Powers' publicist wouldn't comment other than to refer us back to Disney, so we're cautiously optimistic. Beyond that, all we know is that Johnny Depp is on board -- he attended the title's announcement, apparently "sailing in" on a pirate ship -- and that Rob Marshall is in talks to direct.

In other D23 news, Robert Zemeckis has been officially confirmed as director of a "Yellow Submarine" remake. Rather than cartoon animation, the new version will be 3D performance capture.

Depp tackles vampires

Depp and regular collaborator, director Tim Burton, hope to turn the '60s series - about a man struck down with a vampire curse - into a movie franchise.

The actor says, "I was obsessed with (lead character) Barnabas Collins. I have photographs of me holding Barnabas Collins' posters when I was five or six."

And Burton - who worked with Depp on movies Edward Scissorhands, Sleepy Hollow and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - admits work is already under way.

The director reveals, "That's the plan. There was something very weird about (Dark Shadows), it had the weirdest vibe to it. I'm sort of intrigued about that vibe. It's early days on it, but I'm excited about it."

Depp pulls out of Gilliam epic

Eccentric director Terry Gilliam lined up Depp and Jean Rochefort to appear in the film back in 2000, and his attempts to make The Man Who Killed Don Quixote were chronicled by filmmakers Keith Fulton and Louis Pepe in 2002 movie Lost in La Mancha.

The filming of the oddball epic was set back by scheduling and financial issues and weather-damaged sets, but Gilliam has always been adamant the project will go ahead with Depp on board.

Rochefort pulled out of the movie after suffering a herniated disc - and now the Pirates of the Caribbean actor has followed suit, due to scheduling conflicts.

Gilliam, 68, says, "I can now honestly say that I'm not working with Johnny on Don Quixote. He's booked himself up on a lot of other films.

"I wanted to shoot Don Quixote next spring. He said he's not available and we have both agreed that I'm going to die soon, so it would be nice to get this film under my belt."

Depp was among the movie stars who stepped in to help Gilliam complete his film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus after Heath Ledger's death last year.

Sightings

Johnny Depp Crashes Comic-Con-Then Splits!

And—would you look at that!—he did.

In fact, Depp stopped by, said five words and then totally just left.

Here's what went down:

After screening a custom-made trailer for his Comic-Con fans, director Burton asked the crowd if they would like to meet the "imaginary friend" that follows him around.

The crowd cheered and Depp, who plays the Mad Hatter, walked onstage in a button-up shirt and fitted black vest. He had long bangs sweeping the side of his face, and wore a thick leather bracelet.

After several moments of cheering, Depp whispered into the mic:

"Hey. Happy to be here."

And then, poof, he was gone.

Moderator Patton Oswalt told the crowd that Depp could reappear later in the day, so "be nice to every guy you see dressed like Jack Sparrow."

Meanwhile, Burton said he's still filming the CGI-heavy fantasy flick, due next spring, and that he feels there's a "white rabbit with a stop watch" timing him.

In terms of plot, he also dished that there was an effort to make Alice (Mia Wasikowska) more active in the story rather than a bunch of "weird scenes" happening to her. Oh, and remember that Depp isn't the only person in this movie: Anne Hathaway and Helena Bonham Carter also star.

Johnny Depp Is One Step Closer to His Dream Job

Last week, we told you about the star's dream gig: to star in a Carol Channing biopic as the song-and-dance gal herself.

Well, he took a big step in that shiny-shoed direction the other day when Channing gave her blessing!

"I imagine when or if Johnny should portray me, he will succeed," the Broadway legend told the Advocate. "Because a true artist, such as himself, is one who loves his or her creation and therefore represents their honest view of that which they are creating. I think he is a gifted performer and I would be very proud, as well as interested, in seeing what his vision of me would be."

Apparently, this isn't the first time a man has wanted the coveted part.

"Men have been imitating me for as long as I can remember," she said. "In fact, most of the impersonations I have seen have had a five-o'clock shadow."

Perhaps Johnny was onto something after all...

Depp's next role unclear as green lights delayed

But the Mad Hatter is facing an unusual situation: Like the character he plays in "Alice," he soon could be killing time.

Depp is attached to a number of high-profile development properties but is facing a landscape devoid of "go" pictures -- those ready for production. Instead, there are a dizzying number of possibilities and schedule permutations, none of which seems likely to result in a produced movie for him anytime soon.

Producers have been interested in Depp for the title role in Warner Bros.' "The Incredible Mr. Limpet." Kevin Lima's remake of the 1964 fantasy comedy that would continue a whimsical, if slightly less drama-intensive, streak for the actor. He has not signed on, however, and in any event the pic would not go into production until next year.

Meanwhile, the fourth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" remains a priority for Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer. At an earlier point, it was going to be the next picture for Depp, who toplines as Jack Sparrow. But with Gore Verbinski no longer directing the franchise, the ship has slowed.

Disney is seeking a new director, a process that could take time. Although the studio is believed to want an established helmer of franchise and action fare, it has put the word out to agents that it would be open to younger directors and new ideas, potentially prolonging the process. That could mean as much as a four- or five-year hiatus since the 2007 release of the previous picture, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

(Disney also would like to scale back the size and budget of the next movie compared with previous installments; for that reason, it likely won't bring back relatively pricey Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley.)

'RANGER' NOT YET RIDING

Because of the "Pirates" lag, a Depp project that was supposed to go into production after the Sparrow-fest, "The Lone Ranger," could end up getting pushed back further, though there's also a possibility it could shoot ahead of the nautical tale.

For the moment, though, "Ranger" also remains locked in the stable. "Pirates" writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio have written a script for the Disney/Bruckheimer update, but the studio could wind up commissioning a polish or another draft. There's also no director, and Depp is attached to play Tonto, with the title role still to be cast.

Finally, Warners' feature update of the ghoulish TV series "Dark Shadows" -- a Depp/Tim Burton collaboration that might have shot later this year or early next year -- also might be back-burnered. Burton still has work to do on "Alice," which opens in March, and tends to spend a lot of time on prep work.

What the possibilities boil down to, besides head spinning, is that there are projects with momentum that Depp has not signed for, and projects he has signed for that don't have a lot of momentum.

In other words, it's a very 2009 phenomenon brought on by a star's choosiness on the one hand and studios' increasing caution on the other. (In what might be an emerging mini-trend, Will Smith and Leonardo DiCaprio happen to find themselves in similar situations.)

The result is that Depp could face a year or longer without appearing on the big screen.

That might not sound like a major departure, but for moviegoers, it will seem like a shift. Depp has been in one of the most fertile periods of his career: The actor also stars in the Hunter S. Thompson adaptation "The Rum Diary" and had a supporting role in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," which hasn't yet been released in the U.S. In the past nine years, Depp has not had more than two movies come out in any 18-month period; if "Imaginarium" gets a release by the end of 2010, he'll have had four.

Then again, the absence of a new role might mean a respite from his breakneck schedule. Even a pirate needs some time off.

Johnny Depp Wants to Be an Old Lady

After a pirate, John Dillinger, Willy Wonka, Ichabod Crane, Sweeney Todd and a surfer dude on SpongeBob SquarePants, what else is there?

The steamy actor points out several new frontiers for himself in an interview in the U.K.'s Mirror.

"My dream role would be to play music legend Carol Channing in a biopic of her life," he said. "I love her, I really do. She's amazing. With all the digital technology these days, I could probably pull it off."

The Tony Award-winner is 88-years-old!

He jumps even further off the deep end when he adds, "I'd have a go at playing a 12-year-old girl if they asked me too."

We Hear...

'Public Enemies' guns for glory

The film, set in the early 1930s, concerns notorious bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp), one of a handful of particularly colourful criminals who became infamous during the Depression.

While regular people scraped to get by, Bonnie and Clyde, Ma Barker, Baby Face Nelson, Pretty Boy Floyd and others ran riot across the American midwest.

Public Enemies begins shortly after the end of Dillinger's first prison term. He is back in Indiana, helping orchestrate a prison break for his mates, and in this first sequence director Michael Mann makes sure to remind you that Dillinger was a ruthless man. (Like several of his criminal peers, Dillinger became a hero to the people, a Robin Hood type whose exploits fascinated the general public.)

Next, we meet FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), a man as crucial to the right side of the law as Dillinger was to the wrong side.

Bale plays Purvis as a clenched fist, a man obsessed with capturing Dillinger, named Public Enemy No.1 by the FBI. He's busy dispatching Pretty Boy Floyd when he enters the narrative; Floyd is played by Channing Tatum, not that you see him at all.

Purvis reports to J. Edgar Hoover (Billy Crudup), a man busy with the matter of creating a new federal bureau, his pet project. He too is obsessed with apprehending Dillinger, and he pushes Purvis hard toward that goal.

Public Enemies eventually becomes the story of Dillinger and Purvis and their entwined fates; if they're meant to be mirror-image type characters, there isn't enough of Purvis in the picture to make that happen.

The movie covers some of Dillinger's bank jobs, his love affair with Billie Frechette (Marion Cotillard), his association with other criminals, such as Baby Face Nelson, and his amazing abilities at breaking out of jail.

Public Enemies also shows the crime changes in America that eventually left Dillinger alone and on the run, particularly the rise of organized crime.

Betrayal is key to the story, and betrayal on several levels, too, including FBI agent Purvis' betrayal of his own belief system as he uses any means to an end.

Reading between the lines, it's not tough to find contemporary political commentary, if you're so inclined.

Public Enemies has an extraordinary cast, with cameos from Diana Krall, Shawn Hatosy, Matt Craven, Leelee Sobieski and Lili Taylor, among many others.

The soundtrack and the cinematography are likewise impressive, but there's something about the pace of the tale that doesn't feel right.

Only in the last third of Public Enemies can you feel typical, Michael Mann-generated adrenalin, and for the first 90 minutes it was difficult to enter the world of the film completely.

You want to fall into it the way you fall into a great novel, but that didn't happen at once for this viewer.

On the other hand, a Michael Mann movie is a Michael Mann movie, and fans will not be disappointed.

Public Enemies is based on the non-fiction book by Bryan Burroughs called Public Enemies: America's Greatest Crime Wave and the Birth of the FBI, 1933-34.

A damn long title, we must say.

Can Johnny Depp Take Out Transformers?

Or does it…?

Johnny Depp's Public Enemies, the period gangster drama with Oscar aspirations opening Wednesday, was expected to acquit itself OK in a box-office battle with Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

Which is not the same as saying it's going to topple the Michael Bay behemoth.

Chad Hartigan, a box-office analyst for Exhibitor Relations, was calling for Public Enemies to gross in the high $20 millions to low $30 millions, and finish its first weekend in third place, behind Revenge of the Fallen and Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, another giant popcorn picture, likewise opening Wednesday.

The projected gross would mark a career best for director Michael Mann (Collateral), a bigger-than-average debut for a non-Pirates of the Caribbean Depp movie—and a turnaround for a year that's been especially unkind to grown-up movies in which the grown-ups don't fly.

But it would not be near enough to best Revenge of the Fallen, which could plunge 60 percent from last weekend—and still collect another $43 million or so.

In the end, the business of taking out giant robots is probably best left to wizards.

And, yes, that's a hint that Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is nigh.

Depp's 'Public Enemies': Dillinger captured at last

Director Michael Mann (The Insider) mounts a technically proficient, visually enthralling crime drama anchored by the low-key but captivating performance of Johnny Depp as legendary bank robber John Dillinger.

Christian Bale is one-note as Melvin Purvis, the lead FBI agent on the case. His efforts to nab Dillinger are juxtaposed against the fugitive's cocky bravura in outwitting teams of law enforcement.

Dillinger seems impervious to capture, cleverly escaping when outgunned and surrounded, dodging flurries of bullets and brazenly taunting the authorities by hiding in plain sight.

A memorable scene features an almost impish Dillinger sitting in a crowded theater while a newsreel projects his larger-than-life image on the big screen.

Some might be put off by the high-definition photography and handheld-camera shots, but it suits the story, which is anchored in historical accuracy.

The production design, costumes and evocative score add to the film's sense of authenticity.

The tale is no biopic. Mann avoids armchair psychology, forgoing childhood flashbacks and focusing tightly on a distinct period in Dillinger's life.

Shortly after the film introduces Dillinger, he falls in love with Billie Frechette, a beautiful hat-check girl played by Marion Cotillard.

Depp and Cotillard have palpable chemistry; their romantic scenes are some of the movie's finest.

Depp plays the glamorous Dillinger with a subtly simmering charm while avoiding theatricality. Mann photographs him in tight close-ups, which heighten his appeal. But Dillinger remains enigmatic. Billy Crudup as the histrionic FBI head J. Edgar Hoover is perfectly pitched.

Regarded as a latter-day Robin Hood, Dillinger was a folk hero to the masses. He often insisted he robbed banks but not the common man.

In addition to being timely in its depiction of banks as symbols of villainy, Mann's story is a commentary about the ineptitude of law enforcement.

An action film that feels like an epic, Public Enemies is an exciting and stylish slice of Americana. Though the film may leave viewers wanting to know more about the iconic gangster, it is clearly intended to be a slice — the most exciting portion — of the Indiana-born bank robber's life. (Rated R for gangster violence and some language. Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes. Opens today nationwide.)

Public Enemies
* * * out of four

Stars: Johnny Depp, Marion Cotillard, Christian Bale, Billy Crudup
Director: Michael Mann
Distributor: Universal Pictures
Rating: R for gangster violence and some language
Running time: 2 hours, 2 minutes
Opens today nationwide

Depp - and Chicago - star in 'Public Enemies' film

But as "Public Enemies" opens this week, one thing that may help viewers travel back in time is that Depp drove the same streets, emerged from the same theater and pretended to die in the same alley where the feds plugged Dillinger full of lead more than 70 years ago.

Take a bow, Chicago.

The marquee may proclaim the film stars Depp, Christian Bale and Marion Cotillard, but the credits could just as easily included Chicago — and the Midwest in general.

Director Michael Mann said filming on location at spots like Chicago's Biograph Theater and Little Bohemia Lodge in Wisconsin, where a gun battle erupted between Dillingers' gang and the feds, were instrumental in bringing Dillinger's story to life.

"It feels like you are there now and you know what John Dillinger's feeling," said Mann.

If the scene where Dillinger realizes the FBI are outside his window at Little Bohemia looks authentic, it may be because Depp is in the same room where Dillinger stayed, laying on the same bed and even touching some of Dillinger's things in what were Dillinger's suitcases.

Bryan Burrough, the author of the book that the film was based on, was even impressed that while playing one of the movie's news reporters who rush across the street after Dillinger is shot, he was handed a notebook and mechanical pencil that he was told were from the era.

John Russick, a Chicago History Museum curator who watched the film recently at a screening in the city, said Mann captures Chicago at the time when Dillinger was a big a star here.

"I thought they did a really great job of creating a different time in Chicago, the pace of the public scenes, the look of the architecture, the way the streets were not so floodlit the way they are today," said Russick.

Russick recalls driving up Lincoln Avenue, where the Biograph Theater still stands, and being amazed at the transformation of the street, from the jalopies parked along it to the trolly line that ran down it and the stores that lined it.

"I was driving my Honda Civic , thinking the odd thing was me in my car," said Russick, who said the filmmakers studied dozens of photographs, including many of Lincoln Avenue, from the museum's archives.

Perhaps just as significantly, he said, is that the movie captures the city's place in America during that time.

As Depp's Dillinger drives down country roads on the way to the city, his car is flanked by nothing but corn fields, farm houses and the occasional tractor.

"Places like Chicago were kind of like Oz, they kind of emerged out of the cornfields," Russick said.

Mann said while some historical elements are condensed and altered slightly for the film, they accurately reflect what was going on at the time.

Historians may quibble, for example, about whether Dillinger actually met with organized crime figures — as Depp's character does — who told him that his robberies were drawing too much attention from the feds.

But his activities were certainly not appreciated by the likes of mobsters, Frank Nitti included.

"Dillinger got to the point where he was probably worth more (to organized crime figures and others) dead than alive," said Elliott Gorn, a history professor at Brown University who recently published a book, "Dillinger's Wild Ride."

Gorn has not seen the movie but said that as far-fetched as Dillinger breaking out of jail twice sounds, it's true — one of many examples of his brazenness.

Then there's the Hollywood staple, the love story.

Gorn agrees with Mann that Dillinger and Billie Frechette were in love. But Gorn said Dillinger also had other girlfriends and if the movie would have focused on the other women, it would have diluted the love story.

The history professor also said he's not bothered by a few other discrepancies because the movie captures the lore of Dillinger. For example, in the movie, Depp's Dillinger walks into a squad room of the very detectives searching for him without being noticed. Those detectives don't even turn around when he asks them about the World Series Chicago Cubs game they are listening to on the radio.

Of course, any good Cubs fan and tell you that their team wasn't in the World Series in 1934 — the year when the scene takes place.

"I don't expect to be disappointed if some stuff is wrong or simplified and some dialogue is made up," said Gorn. "It's a movie."

Even Depp is no sure thing

We’ll soon know when Public Enemies, starring Depp as Depression-era gangster John Dillinger, machine-guns its way into theatres Wednesday.

For Depp’s Dillinger, more daunting than the prospect of swarms of federal agents is the current movie-going landscape - one in which audiences have shown little interest in adult-aimed, star-driven dramas.

What once was a sure thing - the teaming of Depp with Christian Bale in a big-budget Michael Mann crime saga - now seems an iffier, even risky, proposition. Consider: while box office has been surging all year, 2009’s most profitable hits have been youth-driven: From Paul Blart: Mall Cop to Fast & Furious to Star Trek to The Hangover and Up.

Conversely, dramas with edgier undercurrents have disappointed, rejected by audiences who, seeking an escape from the doldrums of a recession, want simply to be entertained, favouring broad-strokes laughs and CGI spectacle over story and stars.

“It’s definitely more difficult now to make a drama - even to put it together, period,” acknowledges Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes, whose latest film is the effects-free Away We Go.

Last December his Revolutionary Road grossed a paltry $22 million despite the A-list wattage of Leonardo DiCaprio and Mendes’s wife Kate Winslet.

Since then, high-priced flops have included The Soloist with Robert Downey Jr. and Jamie Foxx (box office tally: $30 million), Duplicity with Julia Roberts and Clive Owen ($39 million) and State of Play with Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck ($40 million). Meanwhile Fast & Furious, the fourth film in the enduring bone-headed franchise, grossed more than $70 million just in its first three days.

Understandably, that’s grim news for filmmakers who want to traffic in more than sequels, remakes and adaptations of comic books.

“I don’t make movies about helicopters exploding,” says director Nick Cassevettes, whose Cameron Diaz-led tear-jerker My Sister’s Keeper opened on Friday, the same weekend as Michael Bay’s sequel Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen.

“Mainly that’s because I’ve never witnessed a helicopter exploding. The themes in this movie are universal - family, love, life, loss ... These are bigger problems than cars changing into robots.”

Tell that, though, to studio executives who are increasingly skittish about financing dramatic fare. Among the most recent casualties? Moneyball, a baseball drama with Brad Pitt that Sony yanked the plug on just days before filming was set to begin.

Granted, there are always exceptions: Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino, for one, proved to be the actor-director’s biggest hit ever, raking in close to $150 million. But is even that enough to dispel the notion that bankrolling a Hasbro-based production is a safer, savvier bet if you’re an executive hoping to greenlight a hit and keep your job?

“There’s definitely an adult crowd that wants to see movies too,” says scribe Alex Kurtzman who, with writing partner Roberto Orci, penned such blockbusters as Star Trek and Transformers.

Future of drama

But it’s tough, Orci believes, for soft-sell dramas to cope amid what he calls the “blunt force trauma” of modern movie marketing.

Still, the pair is adamant there’s a future for the drama, insisting they would love to write one themselves one day - without droids or aliens. “We came out to Hollywood thinking that’s what we would be doing actually,” says Kurtzman.

Says Orci, “The first script we read was Sex, Lies and Videotape.”

If the drama does survive, however, it will probably do so with a cheaper pricetag. It’s extremely doubtful, for instance, that Crowe will ever get another $20 million payday to play a pudgy grungy political reporter. (And it’s no coincidence that he will next be seen as a slim, gladiatorial Robin Hood in next May’s Ridley Scott-helmed action-adventure.)

Of course, some of this is culturally cyclical: The gritty films of the 1970s were shoved aside for the escapism of the 1980s, which in turn led to the indie boom of the 1990s. Presumably, the zeitgeist could shift again - this time away from mall cops and street racers.

But even if Public Enemies performs well, it’s doubtful it will be enough to coerce Hollywood brass into making a course correction.

Last spring, executives at Universal, the studio behind Frost/Nixon, State of Play, Duplicity and Enemies, announced they were putting a moratorium on pricey adult dramas, instead focusing on broad comedies and so-called “event” pictures.

Not that there are any guarantees. Take, for example, the studio’s Land of the Lost, which appeared to include all the ingredients for success: a big star (Will Ferrell), a big budget ($100-million-plus) a high concept based on a 1970s children’s TV show and plenty of computer-generated effects. The result? An abysmal $43 million so far - and one of the summer’s biggest bombs.

Sightings

Johnny Depp lurks in 'Dark Shadows'

Depp said at the Los Angeles premiere of "Public Enemies" earlier this week that Burton will direct a film based on the 1960s daytime soap about 200-year-old vampire Barnabas Collins. Depp's production company acquired the rights to the show in 2007.

"'Dark Shadows' with Tim will also be down the line," he told Entertainment Weekly. "Tim has to finish ['Alice in] Wonderland' before he can start work on the next film."

Depp stars as the Mad Hatter in Burton's version of "Alice," which is due theaters in March 2010. He's also starring in an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's "The Rum Diary" next year and has several other projects in various stages of development.

Depp will play Barnabas Collins in the "Dark Shadows" movie, and he says he'll be "thrilled" to work with Burton again.

"I was a big fan of it when I was a kid," Depp tells EW, "and I think it is another of those perfect projects for Tim to reimagine."

Depp living like a recluse

'Public Enemies' star Johnny Depp enjoys comparisons to the other J.D.

He thinks so, too.

"Oddly," said the star of the legendary criminal, "I'm a big fan."

Depp chatted about the folklore-like merits of Dillinger at the Los Angeles premiere of Public Enemies, the new Michael Mann-directed film, which opens July 1. The movie, set during the Great Depression, follows the true story of 1930s American gangster Dillinger (Depp) and FBI agent Melvin Purvis (Christian Bale), who was handpicked to lead a manhunt to catch the infamous criminal.

"Especially in that era … everything was going against the common man. People like John Dillinger came back and were anti the establishment in their own special way," Depp said. "I actually hope people root for him, too."

Bale said he understands that even though his character is on the right side of the law, moviegoers will naturally fall for the criminal's charm.

"Especially because this is a gangster who really has the heart of the common man, too," Bale said. "It's like today, there's a recession and like now, people back then felt there was this great sense of injustice and that these fat cats were just screwing them over. And Dillinger was somebody taking it back. It's like Dillinger was the right man at the right time and he seemed almost to have a cause. It's a question whether that was really the case, but you can see how easily the people felt about that and gravitated toward that."

The cast also chatted about the Robin Hood-like quality that Depp brings to Dillinger.

"He wasn't really that bad," cooed Oscar winner Marion Cotillard, who portrays Depp's love interest in the film. "People will love this guy. And it doesn't hurt that Johnny Depp is playing Dillinger, either. I think he was perfect for the role. They share this charismatic way of being."

Stephen Dorff, who plays Dillinger's sidekick, said the movie's cast hit it off at post-filming dinners organized by Depp. "Johnny is the greatest. I always looked forward to talking with him and having dinner with him. He always had these dinners — and this was a long shoot — after we were done shooting," he said. "He was incredibly generous."

Plus it was pretty fun, Dorff said, that the twosome got to play bad boys. "Everybody wants to play a gangster, right?" Dorff asked. "I was really happy to be with JD in this film. We love a good badass."

Johnny Depp's Secret Recipe to Chill: His Own Island

As experienced from aboard his 156-ft. yacht, the Vajoliroja, an amalgam of the names of his children, himself, and partner Vanessa Paradis, "I don’t think I'd ever seen any place so pure and beautiful," the Public Enemies star, 45, tells Vanity Fair for its July issue, on sale nationally June 9.

The Pond Cay life, he says, "is my decompression. It's my way of trying to return to normalcy," he says. "Escapism is survival to me."

On the island itself, one can snorkel among barracudas and neon-colored fish, and nurse sharks in what Depp has named Heath's Place, after Heath Ledger.

"You can feel your pulse rate drop about 20 beats. It's instant freedom. And that rare beast – simplicity – can be had. And a little morsel of anonymity," he says.

"Whenever I was getting frustrated about being 'novelty boy' and making movies, I told myself, Calm down. I can come down here and disappear. I spent the Christmas season here with Vanessa and the kids. You can feed hot dogs to the nurse sharks in the Exumas [the out islands of the Bahamas] – but it's best to not swim when doing it."

Owning one's own island also affords its special privileges, and Pond Cay allows Depp to indulge in his hobbies, which include reading, playing guitar and painting. Quoting an old adage, he admits, "Money doesn't buy you happiness. But it buys you a big enough yacht to sail right up to it."

Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp Most Beautiful Down Under

Topping their list of international stars, Angelina Jolie, followed (in order) by Kate Winslet, Jessica Alba, Halle Berry and Jennifer Aniston.

In the men's vote, Johnny Depp took the crown, trailed (in descending order) by Brad Pitt, George Clooney, Orlando Bloom and David Beckham.

When it came to picking apart the stars for their enviable body parts, the WHO readers went for Aniston's hair; Jolie's eyes, lips, cheeks and breasts; Nicole Kidman's nose; Kylie Minogue's bottom; and Elle Macpherson's legs.

The ideal guy, on the other hand, would consist of Hugh Jackman's hair, eyes, nose, abs, backside, arms, chest and legs – with Brad Pitt's mouth and Johnny Depp's cheekbones.

Johnny Depp surfs to 'Spongebob SquarePants'

The Oscar-nominated actor will lend his voice to Nickelodeon's "SpongeBob SquarePants" for the episode, "SpongeBob vs. the Big One," premiering Friday, April 17 at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

"We're excited to have Johnny Depp guest star on the 'SpongeBob' TV special that kicks off the series 10th anniversary celebration," says Nick animation president Brown Johnson. "This is a big year for our porous pal, and some of the biggest celebrities are helping us honor him in a special way throughout the year."

In the episode, our absorbent hero and his pals Patrick, Squidward and Mr. Krabs are swept away by a giant wave and stranded. In order to return to Bikini Bottom, the gang searches out the legendary Jack Kahuna Laguna, aka JKL. The wisdom he imparts about surfing will be essential for the friends to catch the wave known as The Big One, which will arrive in a few days.

Depp tops dinner date wish list

The Pirates Of The Caribbean actor was first choice in a poll to find the most popular celebrity dates, with women choosing him as their favourite fantasy companion - beating heart-throb George Clooney into second place.

Girls Aloud beauty Cheryl Cole was top amongst the males polled, with Jennifer Aniston and British model Kelly Brook also proving popular.

The survey, for environmental charity WWF, also found that Elvis Presley, Freddie Mercury and Marilyn Monroe were the three late celebrities that would be most welcome at the dinner table.

Sightings

WRITING SIBLING

Will Smith leads Forbes star bankability list

Smith, who received a perfect 10 on the survey, was followed on the Forbes list by Johnny Depp, Leonardo DiCaprio and Hollywood supercouple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, who were all tied with a score of 9.89.

John Burman, special projects director for Forbes Media, said Smith, who won fame on 1990s television sitcom "The Fresh Prince of Bel Air," can star in any movie genre.

"He can move from doing the pop film to an 'Ali' to a 'Seven Pounds' to 'The Pursuit of Happyness,' so he's able to play in all worlds and I think people just like watching him on screen," Burman said.

For its first-ever "Star Currency" list, measuring the financial clout of Hollywood stars to get movie projects going, Forbes surveyed more than 150 entertainment industry professionals, including producers and directors.

The stars were ranked on ability to attract financing for a project, box office success, appeal to different audience demographics and other factors.

The Philadelphia-born Smith's latest movie "Seven Pounds" was released on December 19 and has made more than $141.6 million worldwide. He also starred in the 2008 summer hit "Hancock," which made more than $624.4 million worldwide.

Most of the stars on Forbes' top 100 Star Currency list are over 35, including 78-year-old "Gran Torino" star Clint Eastwood at No. 20.

The top 20-something actor was "Transformers" star Shia LaBeouf at No. 33, followed by "The Duchess" star Keira Knightley at No. 42.

Actors need time to establish a star "brand," Burman said.

Also, some stars have international box office appeal that more than compensates for modest U.S. and Canada ticket sales.

The 45-year-old Pitt's 2004 movie "Troy," for example, made $133.4 million in the U.S. and Canada, but $364 million internationally. His 2006 movie "Babel" made $101 million internationally, nearly three times U.S. and Canada totals.

"He's certainly strong in the U.S., but you see the global reach of him," Burman said.

The Forbes list is online at Forbes.com/starcurrency.

Sightings

Johnny Depp Is Inspired by His Kids, Mortified by Celebrity

"I could sit there all day and do nothing but watch them grow," he says in the January issue of Britain's Psychologies magazine. "I'm totally inspired by them."

Depp, 45, has two children – Lily-Rose, 9, and Jack, 6 – with longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis. He says meeting Paradis gave him "proper perspective and understanding" in his life.

"It wasn't until then that things started to get real for me," he tells the magazine. "We just have a miraculous understanding of each other."

The Golden Globe-winning actor also looked back at his more memorable roles.

"I was a million percent in love with Edward Scissorhands," Depp says of his 1990 film persona. "I remember looking in the mirror on the last day of shooting ... and thinking how sad I was to be saying goodbye to Edward."

The first Pirates of the Carribean was also a blast for the star.

Orlando Bloom and I would say to each other, 'We're actually getting paid to do this?' It felt very intimate."

But the screen idol and former Sexiest Man Alive says he hates being front and center: "I never wanted to be the guy people looked at. I don't think of myself as being a celebrity, it's too mortifying."

Road detour for Depp movie shoot costs a small Wisconsin county big-time

"Public Enemies" was Wisconsin's first film under the governor's new movie incentives. During the shoot, state highway traffic was diverted away from the centre of Columbus, 110 kilometres northwest of Milwaukee.

The detour road couldn't stand the load, and collapsed.

Dodge County was left with a $116,000 repair and it has filed a claim against the city of Columbus that could lead to a lawsuit.

Columbus Mayor Nancy Osterhaus says talks are ongoing between the city, county and film studio NBC Universal, with hopes that they might split the bill for the March mishap.

"Public Enemies" is out July 2.

Vanessa Paradis Opens Up About Her Romance with Johnny Depp

"Each summer people say we're supposed to be getting married, but we don't talk about it that much," Paradis – Depp's girlfriend of 10 years and the mother of his two children – tells the U.K. edition of Elle in its November issue. "He's got me, and he knows he's got me."

Adds Paradis, 35: "I love the romance of 'let's get married,' but then, when you have it so perfect ... I mean, I'm more married than anybody can be – we have two kids [Jack, 6, and Lily Rose, 9]. Maybe one day, but it's something I can really do without."

When French singer-actress-model first met Depp, it was not quite love at first sight.

"We were in two different worlds – him in America, me in France – but we had friends in common," explains the current face of Miu Miu. "We saw each other sometimes over the course of four years. But then, the day we found each other in Paris, we were both in the same world and free and it was just instant. There was no more time to waste – just no way around it."

Asked if she's "tamed" the Pirates of the Caribbean star, whose previous girlfriends include Kate Moss and Winona Ryder, Paradis says: "Tamed. What's that? Like a lion? Noooo, no, we did it to each other. Maybe I'm a good girlfriend because I'm his girlfriend. I'm not sure I'd be a good girlfriend to anyone else; the same for him. It's difficult to explain, but it's something that's natural, obvious and beautiful."

What's also natural: Women's desire to mob Depp, 45. In fact, Paradis feels it herself. "I understand. I want to mob him all the time, I do," she says. "He's a very charming person."

Depp hits Captain Jack-pot!

Of course, that would have been before his box office three-peat for the studio as the wonky Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy.

The $1.62-billion worldwide haul was enough to make people forget about Depp's prior penchant for riskier stuff such as Blow and Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, to the extent that the versatile actor has suddenly become Johnny Depp-endable.

Which would explain the $56-million payday he's rumoured to be collecting for taking to the high seas once again in an-as-yet unwritten fourth instalment.

It's got the whole town talking, but, let's be honest -- it would be near impossible to imagine anybody else in the role.

Can you picture the line-ups in front of Pirates of the Caribbean 4 starring Tim Allen? Arrr! Neither can we.

But Disney's love for Depp doesn't end there --they've also got him suited up to play the part of The Mad Hatter in Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, but it won't be hitting theatres until 2010.

That same year will also likely see the arrival of The Lone Ranger, in which Depp will play the part of Tonto (George Clooney has expressed interest in playing the man in the mask), although at this point the script is still being written by Pirates scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio.

Although there seems to be plenty to keep him occupied in the Magic Kingdom, Disney doesn't have exclusive dibbs on Depp.

He's also got his eye on playing certifiably eccentric artist Salvador Dali in a planned biopic and there's also been talk of again reuniting with director Burton to play Barnbas Collins in a big-screen rendition of Dark Shadows, not to mention popping up in a third Sin City for director Robert Rodriguez (the sequel is scheduled for 2010).

And before all that, he's got a couple of other things in the can, including an animated movie (Rango) and the gangster epic Public Enemies, in which he portrays John Dillinger. Go, Johnny, Go!

Johnny Depp to star in 'Pirates 4'

Since Depp's first three "Pirates of the Caribbean" films added $2.6 billion in worldwide box office to the Disney coffers, it was no surprise that the company made him its unofficial posterboy at its Wednesday (Sept. 24) presentation in Hollywood.

Perhaps the most predictable piece of Depp-related casting announced at the event was that the Oscar nominated actor will reunite with Tim Burton to play the Mad Hatter in the director's 3-D, performance capture take on "Alice in Wonderland."

A 2010 release date is planned for "Alice," the latest collaboration between the "Sweeney Todd," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Ed Wood" partners.

It's Depp's second commitment to an animated project in less than a month, having signed on for "Rango," to be directed by "Pirates" helmer Gore Verbinski.

The announcement about the development of "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" also wasn't a surprise, since viciously negative reviews and a 168 minute running time couldn't prevent 2007's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" from taking in over $960 million worldwide.

The Disney event's bigger surprise, according to media reports, was the revelation that Depp will play trusty sidekick Tonto in the studio's in-development "Lone Ranger" project. Disney apparently has no reservations about casting a non-Native American actor in the role. To be fair, Depp is actually 1/4th Native American and previously played a Native American in his unseen directing debut "The Brave."

Depp will next be seen in Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" and in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies."

Depp to play Tonto, Mad Hatter in upcoming films

Disney formally announced the casting Wednesday at a studio presentation. It also said it is officially in development on a fourth installment of "Pirates of the Carribean," which would see Depp reprise his popular role of Captain Jack.

On the "Alice" front, Depp and Burton -- who first worked together in 1990's "Edward Scissorhands" and most recently collaborated on "Sweeney Todd" -- have formed one of the longest-running director-actor partnerships in modern Hollywood. When Burton committed to filming a new live-action/CG-animated version of "Alice," Depp was touted as the most likely candidate to play the Mad Hatter -- after all, having worked with Burton on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," he's practiced in wearing a top hat.

Mia Wasikowska, the young Australian actress who appeared in HBO's "In Treatment," has the film's title role.

Matt Lucas, who stars in the sketch comedy series "Little Britain USA," which debuts on HBO Sunday, is set to play the dual roles of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

"Ranger," meanwhile, puts Depp back in business with Bruckheimer, who produced the "Pirates" movies. Tonto is the Native American colleague of cowboy hero the Lone Ranger. The casting could stir up controversy with Native American groups, who might accuse the studio of putting a white actor in the role. One factor that could counter such an argument is Depp's mixed ancestry, which includes German, Irish, and Cherokee.

"Ranger" is being written by "Pirates" scribes Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio and has no director at this time.

Johnny Depp dons another hat for Tim Burton

Depp and Burton -- who first worked together in 1990's "Edward Scissorhands" and most recently collaborated on "Sweeney Todd" -- have formed one of the longest-running director-actor partnerships in modern Hollywood. When Burton committed to filming a new live-action/CG-animated version of "Alice," Depp was touted as the most likely candidate to play the Mad Hatter -- after all, having worked with Burton on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," he's practiced in wearing a top hat.

Disney formally announced the casting Wednesday at a studio presentation.

Mia Wasikowska, the young Australian actress who scored in HBO's "In Treatment," has the film's title role.

Matt Lucas, who stars in the sketch comedy series "Little Britain USA," which debuts on HBO Sunday, is set to play the dual roles of Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

Johnny Depp Reunites with 'Pirates' Director

The Paramount feature will be very different from Depp and Verbinski's previous collaborations on the mega-blockbuster "Pirates of the Caribbean" features. To begin with, "Rango" is an animated film.

According to Variety, Verbinski came up with the idea for "Rango" and John Logan wrote the script. ILM will provide the CG animation for the feature with an eye toward a March 2011 release date.

Depp will voice the main character, a pet who "goes on an adventure to discover its true self."

It's expected that Depp will begin character work with ILM and Verbinski in January.

Last seen in an Oscar nominated turn in "Sweeney Todd," Depp has completed work on Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" and Terry Gilliam's "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus," but slated for 2009 release.

Johnny Depp Rocks Out for a Good Cause

The Oscar nominee played a 90-minute set with his bandmates from The Kids, a power-pop group formed in 1978 when Depp was a South Florida high schooler, at the 2,800-seat Club Cinema.

And Depp had two of his biggest fans in the audience watching him: girlfriend Vanessa Paradis and their 9-year-old daughter Lily-Rose, who sat together in the venue's box seats as Depp smiled up at them from the stage (son Jack, 6, was not at the show).

Last year, Depp reunited with his band for a similar gig, held in honor of the band’s late manager, Sheila Witkin, with proceeds donated to the Dan Marino Foundation. The former Miami Dolphin football player's charity funds programs for children with special needs – including the Marino Autism Research Institute. Marino's 17-year-old son Michael has autism.

Earlier in the day, the actor – who arrived in South Florida with his family on Thursday to give him some time to rehearse – posed for photos with Marino and his bandmates.

Onstage at Club Cinema, Depp – who dressed down in a blue T-shirt with holes, torn jeans and a flannel shirt tied around his waist – blended in with his fellow band members, playing lead electric guitar and singing background vocals on some of the band's original tunes, as well as covers of classics like The Ronettes’ "Be My Baby."

Lily-Rose cheered on her dad during the performance, and the proud daughter even snapped some photos of him with a disposable camera.

Hollywood's Good Guys Help Heath Ledger's Daughter

We Hear...

Bale, Depp star in crime drama

The 34-year-old Welsh actor, who made headlines after an alleged altercation with his mother in London, will be seen in Public Enemies, due next July.

The crime drama, which concerns the formation of the FBI in the midst of a 1930s crime wave, recently wrapped production. Bale plays Melvin Purvis, the federal agent who hunted famed bank robber John Dillinger (Johnny Depp).

Bale, who spoke to Sun Media during interviews for The Dark Knight which took place well before his much-publicized arrest, said of Purvis, "He's a fascinating character. You could make a couple movies just about his life."

The film is being directed by Heat's Michael Mann, who Bale called "one of the most thorough and wonderful researchers ... (He) has such nuance and is such a fine filmmaker."

Bale, who has said he is open to making another Batman sequel, may not be done carrying a badge and gun either.

He is also attached to Killing Pablo, a gritty thriller about the search for famed drug kingpin Pablo Escobar.

Will Smith, Cameron Diaz Named Top Hollywood Moneymakers

Cameron Diaz is no victim of the current economic pinch, either. Making $50 million last year, the Shrek and What Happens in Vegas star was Tinsel Town's top-earning female, reports the business publication.

Among others in the financial stratosphere: No. 2-ranked Johnny Depp, with a $72 million paycheck, and, tied for third place, Eddie Murphy and Mike Myers, with $55 million each – even though Myers's recent The Love Guru tanked.

Leonardo DiCaprio, with $55 million, rounded out the top five.

And while Atonement leading lady Keira Knightley earned $32 million, and Jennifer Aniston pulled in $27 million, Forbes notes that, once the gold dust settles, men make twice as much as women in Hollywood.

In terms of media personalities, Oprah Winfrey still owns the bank. Her earnings last year were a staggering $275 million.

As for other TV stars, Charlie Sheen was the top-earning male ($20 million), while Grey's Anatomy star Katherine Heigl – who's also been stepping into big-screen roles – deposited $13 million, making her the top-ranking female.

'Gonzo' gets under the surface of Hunter S. Thompson

Larger than life — no, higher than life — Thompson collected people and drew such disparate admirers as Jimmy Carter and Pat Buchanan. Director Alex Gibney (Taxi to the Dark Side) probes how Thompson's persona nearly eclipsed the real man, a highly talented writer and a deeply tortured soul who lived on the edge — before that notion became a cliché— and shot himself in 2005 at the age of 67.

Gonzo is not just a fascinating portrait of an enigmatic and charismatic figure, but a serious examination of the social and political milieu in which he flourished. Thompson wrote compelling articles in the early days of Rolling Stone that brought an original, candid voice and subversive edge to political journalism. The film also explores a time — the late '60s through the mid-'70s — when individual journalists had the power to effect political and social change.

From interviews with Thompson's first wife, his widow and his son Juan, we get a view of the troubled man. From such politicians as George McGovern and Gary Hart, we get a look at Thompson's place in socio-political history. His work was often a hybrid of clear-eyed reporting and flights of fantasy.

"We were all amused by him," says McGovern. "Nobody was writing like that."

Thompson himself is quoted in an interview as saying, "Most people are surprised I walk on two legs." He spoke of his distress at becoming a caricature, a prisoner of his own fame.

"The myth has taken over," he laments in a recording. "I am no longer necessary."

The film also probes the outrageous behavior that made him famous for challenging and mocking the establishment.

Colleagues such as Tom Wolfe detail Thompson's days with the Hell's Angels and Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. Friends including Jimmy Buffett describe Thompson's infectious spirit as well as his infuriating habits.

"We could have used a few more years of Hunter," says Buffet. "He could have wielded a pretty effective sword against what's going on right now."

In his later years, the outlaw writer didn't wield swords as much as collect guns. He amassed 22, all fully loaded and kept at his Colorado home.

The film never reveals what drove his fits of anger and obsession with firearms, though to Gibney's credit, he acknowledges Thompson was an "agonized human being" but avoids superficial speculation.

Johnny Depp's narration is a highlight. He reads several passages from Thompson's work, illuminating the Kentucky-born writer's gifts. The film takes a while to take off, but once it does, it is nothing short of captivating. It would have been good to learn more about what tormented Thompson besides a fatherless childhood and decades of storied drug use. Perhaps the massive amounts of drugs he ingested were not mere self-indulgence, but an effort to self-medicate his anxious psyche. In either case, drugs fueled his image and informed his work, arguably more than any other writer in recent times.

Gonzo is not just for Thompson fans, though they will undoubtedly find it illuminating. It's for anyone interested in art, human nature and political history.

In the immortal words of the doctor himself, "Buy the ticket, take the ride."

Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson

* * * 1/2 (out of four)

Narrator: Johnny Depp

Director: Alex Gibney

Distributor: Magnolia Pictures

Rating: R for drug and sexual content, language and some nudity

Running time: 1 hour, 58 minutes

Opens Friday in select cities

DOPE STYLES OF THE BOLDFACES

The erratic actress is featured in "The Curious World of Drugs and Their Friends," which hits stores in August and details the "fun and fascinating facts" about "every conceivable kind of drug and the people who use them."

"Lindsay is the bad girl everybody wants to be once in a while - but then again maybe not," authors Adriano Sack and Ingo Niermann write, noting Lohan checked into rehab twice, the second time after cops found cocaine in her car.

Last summer, they add, "friends found her doing cocaine at Teddy's nightclub in Hollywood's Roosevelt Hotel. After a few lines, the actress could be heard saying, 'Tomorrow I go to New York to [bleep] Jude Law.' "

The starlet's rep, Leslie Sloane Zelnik, told Page Six, "Obviously they are trying to sell their book - writing about someone they don't even know."

While Lohan is the youngest living celeb in the book, she has plenty of older company. Reformed drug dabbler Johnny Depp is quoted as saying, "I think I lived the first 35 years of my life in a fog." He further confesses: "Cocaine is a strange one. I mean, I hated it. You get this synthetic happiness, and then you're just panicking and grinding your teeth."

Teetotaler Elton John also gets ink for his onetime snorting habit, admitting, "I did not know how to speak to anyone unless I had a nose full of cocaine." And there's Robin Williams, who quips, "Cocaine for me was a place to hide . . . sometimes it made me paranoid and impotent, but mostly it just made me withdrawn."

Other celebs in the Plume book include Courtney Love, Amy Winehouse, George Michael, Robert Evans, Stephen King, Whitney Houston and Brian Wilson.

Johnny Depp Delivers on Promise to 12-Year-Old

Playing 1930's bank robber John Dillinger – American's Most Wanted at the time – for his upcoming movie Public Enemies, Depp was shooting on location in Wisconsin in April when he was observed on the set by local boy Jack Taylor, who especially admired Depp/Dillinger's hat.

In fact, the boy wanted the fedora, and asked the actor if he could have it. Depp, 45, said Taylor could, once the movie was finished.

Last week, reports the Oshkosh, Wis., newspaper the Northwestern, Depp made good on his promise. Taylor received the hat.

The leading man's rep also included gifts for Taylor's four siblings from Depp's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, as well as a note from the star himself, telling Jack to enjoy what was sent.

Now Taylor is at work on a thank-you note. His parents are helping.

Depp Goes Diva

2008 Forbes Celebrity 100 Power List

Johnny Depp Takes Two MTV Movie Awards

With the golden carpet rolled out, Paris Hilton and Benji Madden came hand-in-hand, talking fashion and her show about a quest for a BFF. Audrina Patridge debuted new bangs and talked about wrapping Blue Crush 2. And while Sarah Jessica Parker talked about the record-breaking weekend opening of her new movie Sex and the City, Brendan Fraser hijacked the microphone to plug The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor and Journey to the Center of the Earth.

Inside the awards show, host Mike Meyers interrupted his opening act (a spoof of the German film Wings of Desire) to plug his upcoming film The Love Guru. Charlize Theron joined costars Will Smith and Jason Bateman onstage to promo their upcoming film Hancock – and also hand out the award for best female performance to Ellen Page for Juno. Smith later picked up the award for best male performance, and reminisced about his first MTV appearance 20 years ago.

Seth Rogen and his Pineapple Express costar James Franco hit the stage to present best summer movie ... so far. Before handing the award to Robert Downey Jr. for Iron Man, they pretended to smoke a joint onstage.

Johnny Depp took best comedic performance honors for his turn as Captain Jack in Pirates of the Caribbean and won best villain for Sweeney Todd. Zac Efron won for his breakthrough performance in Hairspray. Efron's date Vanessa Hudgens screamed and planted a big kiss on his cheek when his name was announced and he seemed truly surprised.

Viewers chose Transformers as the year's best hit, and star Megan Fox promised the sequel, which starts filming Monday according to director Michael Bay, will be "f---ing bada--."

Meanwhile one star made his way in without promoting anything: Tom Cruise was spotted making his way into the fest with Suri on his shoulders, and he later presented Adam Sandler with the MTV Generation Award.

Depp Fans Urge a Little More Wrist Action

In advance of his 45th birthday on June 9, Johnny's Angels—a club whose members share both a love for the Sweeney Todd star and a yen for doing good—is urging fellow fans to don a Children's Hospice and Palliative Care Coalition memorial bracelet (which Depp has been spotted wearing) in honor of the brave kids involved with the organization and the way they've touched the lives of others.

Depp's wristwear is imprinted with the phrase "Today Is a Gift...Have Fun," but other choices include "Only Love" and "Live and Love It Up." The messages are printed on a silver bar on a silver or leather band and 100 percent of the proceeds go to the CHPCC.

"Thanks to organizations like Johnny's Angels, more and more people are learning about the work of [CHPCC]," said cofounders Lori Butterworth and Devon Dabbs. "With the support of Mr. Depp's fans, we know that we'll be better able to make a difference in the lives of children with life-threatening conditions and their families."

Other celebs who have worn the bracelets: Tom Hanks, George Clooney, Mandy Moore, Jeremy Piven, Kiefer Sutherland, Nia Vardalos, Bradley Whitford, Jane Kaczmarek and Tom Bergeron.

Nickelodeon's 21st Annual Kids' Choice Awards

Favorite Male Movie Star
Ice Cube ("Are We Done Yet?")
Johnny Depp ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End") (Winner)
Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson ("The Game Plan")
Eddie Murphy ("Norbit")

Depp, Farrell and Law step in to finish Ledger film

Johnny Depp, Colin Farrell and Jude Law will step in to complete Ledger's unfinished role in the movie "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" which is due for release next year.

"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," said the film's producers in a statement.

"Each of the parts played by Johnny, Colin and Jude is representative of the many aspects of the character that Heath was playing."

Gilliam said filming on the British-Canadian production had resumed in Vancouver "with the blessing and support of Heath Ledger's family."

Ledger had just finished shooting scenes for the movie in London before his death. Newspapers have reported that the story involves a magical mirror that takes people into different dimensions, allowing Gilliam to switch between actors.

"I am delighted that Heath's brilliant performance can be shared with the world," Gilliam said.

"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."

"The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" is described as a modern-day fantasy adventure and has a budget estimated at $30 million.

Johnny Depp gifts Hasselhoff 'Sweeney Todd' barber's chair

Depp's kind gesture came after he came to know that Hasselhoff had been struggling to get his antique barber's chair back from his ex-wife Pamela Bach's Los Angeles home.

Hasselhoff and Pamela have been locked in a bitter dispute over their divorce settlement for some time, and the former has been trying to regain access to the former family home to get his beloved chair back.

Now that Depp has presented him with the movie prop, Hasselhoff does not bother about getting his original chair back any more.

"David is just so pleased to have the matter behind him," Contactmusic quoted his lawyer Melvin S. Goldsman as saying.

A-List Trio Replaces Heath Ledger in 'Imaginarium'

According to Ain't It Cool News, which even scooped trade heavyweight Variety, Jude Law, Johnny Depp and Colin Farrell will play Tony in the Terry Gilliam-directed feature.

The plot revolves around a man (Ledger) who discovers three mirrors, each of which transport him into a different dimension. Law, Depp and Farrell will play the character in those other dimensions.

"Imaginarium," which also stars Christopher Plummer, Tom Waits, Lily Cole, Andrew Garfield and Verne Troyer, is intended for a 2009 release. It's unclear when the movie will resume production.

Ledger was found dead from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs in his Manhattan apartment on Jan. 22.

Depp, up for an Oscar for "Sweeney Todd," will shoot Michael Mann's "Public Enemies" next.

Most recently seen in "Sleuth," Law has "My Blueberry Nights" and "Repossession Mambo" on tap.

If you live in the right places, you can currently see Farrell in "Cassandra's Dream" and "In Bruge." He's already completed work on the 2009 release "Pride and Glory."

L.A. venue Viper Room sold to Hard Rock Cafe scion

Morton, a one-time paramour of Lindsay Lohan, plans to open Viper Rooms in such cities as Las Vegas, Miami, Portland, Seattle, New York, London and Tokyo.

As for the existing one, which occupies a small corner dug into a slope on the Sunset Strip, Morton said he planned only minor cosmetic changes, and would not compromise its identity or culture.

The Viper Room has hosted such acts as Johnny Cash, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Bruce Springsteen since Depp took control in 1993. He changed its name from The Central, a blue-collar bar previously known as the Melody Room and Filthy McNasty's, and turned it into one of the city's hippest hangouts. It is perhaps best known as the site of actor River Phoenix's fatal drug overdose, also in 1993.

Depp sold the club to investment bank Blackhawk Capital Partners in 2004, according to the firm's Web site. Morton's statement said Blackhawk will retain a minority stake. Morton also owns the fledgling Pink Taco Mexican restaurant chain.

2008 Kids Choice Awards announces nominees

Favorite Movie: Alvin and the Chipmunks, Are We Done Yet?, The Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Transformers

Favorite Movie Actor: Ice Cube, Are We Done Yet?, Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, The Game Plan, Eddie Murphy, Norbit

Favorite Movie Actress: Jessica Alba, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, Drew Barrymore, Music and Lyrics, Kirsten Dunst, Spiderman 3, Keira Knightley, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Favorite Animated Movie: Bee Movie, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third, The Simpsons Movie

Favorite Voice from an Animated Feature: Cameron Diaz, Shrek the Third, Mike Myers, Shrek the Third, Eddie Murphy, Shrek the Third, Jerry Seinfeld, Bee Movie

Favorite Song: "Beautiful Girls," Sean Kingston, "Big Girls Don't Cry," Fergie, "Don't Matter," Akon, "Girlfriend," Avril Lavigne

Favorite Male Singer: Bow Wow, Chris Brown, Soulja Boy, Justin Timberlake

Favorite Female Singer: Beyoncé, Fergie, Miley Cyrus, Alicia Keys

Favorite Music Group: Boys Like Girls, Fall Out Boy, Jonas Brothers, Linkin Park

Favorite Television Show: Drake & Josh, Hannah Montana, iCarly, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Favorite Television Actor: Drake Bell, Drake & Josh, Josh Peck, Drake & Josh, Dylan Sprouse, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Cole Sprouse, The Suite Life of Zack and Cody

Favorite Television Actress: Miley Cyrus, Hannah Montana, Emma Roberts, Unfabulous, Jamie Lynn Spears, Zoey 101, Raven-Symone, That's So Raven

Favorite Cartoon: Avatar: The Last Airbender, Ed, Edd and Eddy, The Simpsons, SpongeBob SquarePants

Favorite Male Athlete: Tony Hawk, Shaquille O'Neal, Alex Rodriguez, Tiger Woods

Favorite Female Athlete: Cheryl Ford, Danica Patrick, Serena Williams, Venus Williams

Favorite Videogame: Dance Dance Revolution, Guitar Hero, High School Musical: Sing It!, Madden NFL '08

Favorite Book: Buffy the Vampier Slayer Season Eight, Volume One: The Long Way Home, Diary of a Wimpy Kid, Harry Potter series, How to Eat Fried Worms

Oscar gives "Todd" overseas boost

Best picture nominees "No Country for Old Men" and "Atonement" either registered gains or held strongly overseas

Paramount Pictures International's release of the Coen brothers' "No Country" drew an estimated $4.8 million from 671 spots in six markets, four new. The strongest was France, where the crime drama opened at No. 2 with $2.4 million from 360 situations. Universal International's "Atonement" grossed an estimated $3.5 million from 1,075 screens in 30 territories, lifting its international total to $55.5 million; worldwide, it stands at $93.1 million.

20th Century Fox International's "Juno," with four Oscar nominations, rolled up a lusty $17,889 per-screen average in its Sweden bow, an estimated $161,000 from just nine locations. Thanks to a strong Australia run, the sleeper hit drew $1.5 million for the weekend from 208 screens in three markets for an overseas cume of $4.4 million.

Universal's "Charlie Wilson's War," with 40 territories still to play, pulled in an estimated $3.7 million during the weekend from 1,100 situations in 16 markets, lifting its overseas cume to $15.4 million. Universal's "Elizabeth: The Golden Age" drew an estimated $250,000 from 348 sites in 25 markets for a cume of $48.2 million. Universal's Spain opening of Sean Penn's "Into the Wild" came away with $250,000 from 81 screens, ranking 12th in the market.

The biggest driver for "Todd" was its No. 1 U.K. opening with $8.7 million (including previews) from 436 situations. Distributor Warner Bros. International said the tally represented nearly 50 percent of the market's top five film grosses. "Todd" also had a muscular bow in France, taking the No. 1 spot with an estimated $4.4 million from 365 locations, and a No. 1 second frame in Japan, where it earned $2.3 million from 400 sites.

"Gonzo" brings mythic life into sharp focus

In "Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson," director Alex Gibney smoothly brings together a strong visual strategy, astute talking heads, never-before-seen home movies, old interviews and archival footage both rare and familiar to pull off a three-dimensional portrait of a man who in life -- and most certainly death -- is extraordinarily hard to pin down. Gibney nails him.

For Thompson's readers and others intrigued by the mystique surrounding the man who invented "gonzo" journalism, this film will of course be a must-see. But the themes both Thompson's work and this film explore speak directly to America in 2008 -- a country in a quagmire of national self-doubt, the politics of rage and distrust, a baffled administration and a war that has lost its purpose. In other words, all the things Thompson railed against when Nixon was his nemesis. With careful marketing and a positive critical response, which the film should elicit, "Gonzo" might reach a much wider audience, both theatrically and on cable and DVD.

Thompson was a split personality. A man capable of enormous kindness and affection, he also was given to rage and chemical- and alcohol-fueled depravity. He was acutely aware of these two sides but apparently not in complete control of either. It says something about the man's good side, though, that so many important people have come forward to pay heartfelt tribute to him in this film.

Gibney must be a great interviewer, because the comments here not only from Thompson's two wives and close friends but such figures as President Carter, George McGovern, Pat Buchanan, Jimmy Buffett, Gary Hart and Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, paint a picture that feels accurate and catches the moods of the country during Thompson's heyday as an author-cum-rock star.

How fascinating to learn that Thompson taught himself how to write the literature of the outsider by typing over and over again F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby." How odd to see him in vintage black-and-white on the quiz show "To Tell the Truth" after penning his first best-seller on the Hell's Angels. What a nervous guy he was then and how he changed.

Indeed, Thompson fit right into the freak show of the '60s in the Bay Area -- the acid-dropping, hippie-dippy, antiwar, clothes-optional guerrilla theater that caused him to turn on but not to drop out. Rather, he engaged the power structure in America in a way no one else ever has. Without the usual journalistic concerns over burning sources and currying favor, he reported everything, whether on or off the record, but also made stuff up. And the phony facts somehow got as close to the truth as the real ones. One interviewer remarks that his coverage of the McGovern campaign was the most accurate and least factual of any journalist's.

Having access to hundreds of Thompson's photos and 200 hours of audiotapes, home movies and other documentary footage allows Gibney to find just the right visuals to illustrate the narration, which Johnny Depp, the man who paid for Thompson's spectacular funeral, delivers in a tone of irreverent seriousness. From a treasure trove of the era's music, Gibney always hits on just the right song for the moment. And Steadman's paint-splattered, grotesquely exaggerated but deadly accurate illustrations bring everything all back.

Fellow journalist-authors Tom Wolfe and Timothy Crouse and Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner fill us in on the arc of Thompson's journalistic accomplishments, identifying key moments in his career and reactions to such seminal works as "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" and "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72." His wives, Anita Thompson and former wife Sandy Thompson, and son Juan fill us in on living with a coke-snorting, bourbon-swilling wild man with virtually no acrimony, only a kind of amazement.

The crash and burn that led to the suicide everyone, including Thompson, knew would be his end happens in slow motion. He screwed up a major assignment. He gave in more and more to what McGovern campaign manager Gary Hart identifies as his "infantile" side. And, yes, the Bush re-election seriously depressed him.

He felt trapped in a character he had created, a character that Garry Trudeau has immortalized as "Duke" in his long-running comic strip, "Doonesbury." He loved his guns, he knew he was washed-up ... and yet a piece he wrote in the aftermath of September 11, which opens the film, shows he still had it in him to offer up prescient, shrewd commentary.

Gibney -- currently Oscar-nominated for "Taxi to the Dark Side" and executive producer of another nominee, "No End in Sight" -- is one of our key social and political documentarians. "Gonzo" continues his vital work.

Narrator: Johnny Depp.

Director: Alex Gibney; Producers: Jason Kliot, Joana Vincente, Alison Ellwood, Eva Orner, Graydon Carter, Alex Gibney; Director of photography: Maryse Alberti; Music: David Schwartz; Editor: Alison Ellwood.

Nominations for 80th Annual Academy Awards

George Clooney, Michael Clayton
Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Tommy Lee Jones, In the Valley of Elah
Viggo Mortensen, Eastern Promises

Johnny Depp's Big Donation

A day after winning a Golden Globe, the Pirates of the Caribbean star on Monday gave a bundle of his own doubloons, $2 million worth, to London's Great Ormond Street Hospital as thanks to the staff who saved his daughter's life.

Per Britain's Daily Mail, the 43-year-old Depp also made a surprise visit to the facility to personally thank the doctors and nurses.

The star's eight-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose, was hospitalized in March after an E. coli poisoning reportedly caused her kidneys to fail.

Depp and his longtime companion and Lily-Rose's mom, Vanessa Paradis, put their lives on hold (including filming of Sweeney Todd) for a bedside vigil. Fortunately, after intensive treatment, the child's health gradually improved, and she was able to go home nine days later.

Depp and Paradis also have a six-year-old son, Jack.

As an extra thank-you, Depp reportedly invited Lily-Rose's five doctors and nurses to last month's London premiere party for Sweeney.

And in a gesture that undoubtedly put a smile on every sick kids' face, Depp also secretly turned up at Great Ormond Nov. 29 and entertained its young patients with bedtime stories in the guise of Captain Jack Sparrow. (He even had his costume flown in from Los Angeles for the occasion.)

Lily-Rose apparently caught a virulent strain of the bacterium at a rented mansion in Richmond, Surrey, where the family was holed up while he was filming the big-screen adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical at nearby Pinewood Studios.

Burton halted production on Sweeney until Depp could return.

Depp told Entertainment Weekly in a recent interview that the experience was the most terrifying moment of his life.

"To say it was the darkest moment, that's nothing," he said. "It doesn't come close to describing it. Words are so small."

He also added that he wasn't sure whether he'd be able to make it back to the Sweeney set and suggested Burton consider recasting the role.

As it turned out, Depp did resume work on the movie, which on Sunday earned him his first Golden Globe for Best Actor in a Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

Johnny Depp 'Overjoyed' by Golden Globes Win

Said Entourage winner Jeremy Piven: "I was on the set working last night and I heard my name called and then I heard a lot of yelling from the trailers. The cast broke out some champagne. I feel really lucky – except for the fact that I didn't get to be on the same stage as Steven Spielberg."

Piven, who won best supporting actor in a series, miniseries or TV movie, says he's one of the lucky ones. Not only did he get the Globe, but he gets to work in the middle of the strike. (He was on the set of the new Will Ferrell comedy, The Goods.)

Daniel Day-Lewis, best actor in a drama for There Will Be Blood, was on a plane from L.A. to Ireland when the announcements were made – and he kept his statement short and sweet: "I'm delighted."

And Johnny Depp – best actor in a comedy or musical for his turn as the murderous barber in Sweeney Todd – thanked everyone from his costar to his family. He released the following statement:

"I would like to thank my beloved friends at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association for bestowing such an honor on me. It is a humbling experience, especially in the company of such talent. For many years the HFPA has supported my work and for that I have always been truly grateful. While this is indeed a happy day for me, I am overjoyed at the recognition the film as a whole is receiving. Tim [Burton] is a dear friend and a true artist whose vision and skill inspire us all. He is a genius. Without his unwavering trust and support, I would not be anywhere near where I am today."

"Also, big thanks and respect to Helena [Bonham-Carter], whose simply staggering performance as Mrs. Lovett is a wonder to behold. I must send a behemoth salute to the wonderful crew and cast of Sweeney Todd and all at Dreamworks/Paramount and Warner Bros. Pictures. In addition, I'd also like to extend my sincere gratitude to, first and foremost, my cherished friend and agent of forever ago, Tracey Jacobs; the extraordinary man and producer, Richard Zanuck; the mastermind Stephen Sondheim; and, of course, my precious family, Vanessa, Lily-Rose and Jack, for all of their love, support and pure and absolute happiness everyday. Overall, I believe it to be a proud achievement for everyone involved and on behalf of us all, I thank you."

2008 Golden Globe Results

Best Actor in a Movie Comedy or Musical
WINNER Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Burton films a step above for Depp

The New York Times' A.O. Scott called it "something close to a masterpiece," and Depp, as a pale-faced 19th century serial killer out for revenge, has been singled out for a performance that earned him a Golden Globe nomination and early Oscar buzz.

"There are films that you do that you have enjoyed and the process is fantastic and the directors are great," Depp told Reuters in a recent interview to promote the movie.

"And then there are the phone calls that you get from Tim," added the 44-year-old, sitting alongside Burton and wearing his trademark rimmed hat and glasses.

"That is a magical moment for me when the phone rings from Tim, because you know you are about to embark on something very very interesting," he said, sipping red wine in a suite in London's upmarket Claridge's hotel.

The star of the hit "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, who has a reputation as an offbeat actor with box office clout, believes "Sweeney Todd" was as big a challenge as any during a career spanning more than 20 years.

"It's an obtuse situation to be in when, at the ripe old age of 43, you find yourself suddenly trying to sing songs all the way through for the first time in your life," Depp said.

"It's to say the least absurd and it was an odd feeling. So initially just hearing myself doing it, I was embarrassed..."

He overcame his qualms, and, despite being "no Sammy Davis, Jr." and "no Frank Sinatra" in Burton's words, convinced the movie's backers that he could pull it off.

NOT FOR THE KIDS

Burton, 49, had already directed Depp in "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood," "Sleepy Hollow," "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and animation movie "Corpse Bride."

"I've worked with him six times. I feel like I've worked with six different people," Burton said.

"There are a lot of people that really do a very good job maintaining their persona ... they are good at being themselves in a movie. I like character actors that like to become different people, that's what energizes me."

Depp stars alongside Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, who fills her popular meat pies with the remains of Todd's victims. The movie also features Alan Rickman as Judge Turpin and Sacha Baron Cohen in a cameo role.

Released in the United States on December 21, the film has earned $40 million, according to www.boxofficemojo.com. It premieres in London on Thursday and hits theatres around the world through January and February.

Burton's "Sweeney Todd" is gory and bloody, earning it an R rating that prevents under-17s from seeing it without an adult and adds to the challenge of marketing the movie.

Burton said he refused to water down his film to be "politically correct," and said the vivid color of the blood against a black and white background made it look obviously fake.

"It's bright red, and the last time I cut myself I didn't see that color."

What is Johnny Depp made of? Frogs' legs!

But the actor says his own would taste of frogs' legs.

In Tokyo for the Japan premiere of the film, which has been nominated for four Golden Globes, Depp was asked to imagine what he would taste like to a cannibal.

"Frogs' legs," he told giggling reporters, adding that the taste might be a little bitter. "I would suggest deep-frying," he said.

Movie director Tim Burton thought for a while before saying he would taste of chicken, but Sweeney Todd producer Richard Zanuck had no hesitation in characterizing his own flavor.

"Shark!" he replied to laughter.

In the movie, Depp plays a London barber who lures victims to his shop, where they are murdered and made into meat pies.

2008 People's Choice Award Winners

MUSIC:
Male Singer: Justin Timberlake
Female Singer: Gwen Stefani
Group: Rascal Flatts
Pop Song: "What Goes Around Comes Around," Justin Timberlake
Hip-Hop Song: "Give It to Me," Timbaland, featuring Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado
R&B Song: "Shut Up and Drive," Rihanna
Rock Song: "Home," Daughtry
Country Song: "Stand," Rascal Flatts
Soundtrack Song: "You Can't Stop the Beat," Cast of Hairspray
Reunion Tour: The Police

TELEVISION:
TV Drama: House
TV Comedy: Two and a Half Men
Male TV Star: Patrick Dempsey
Female TV Star: Katherine Heigl
Scene-Stealing Star: Chandra Wilson, Grey's Anatomy
Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres
Animated Comedy: The Simpsons
Sci-Fi Show: Stargate Atlantis
New TV Drama: Moonlight
New TV Comedy: Samantha Who?
Game Show: Deal or No Deal
Competition/Reality Show: Dancing with the Stars

MISCELLANEOUS
Funny Female Star: Ellen DeGeneres
Funny Male Star: Robin Williams
User-Generated Video: Shoes, Liam Kyle Sullivan

Survey: Depp remains No. 1 at box office

Depp — star of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" and "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" — has nabbed the No. 1 spot for the second year in a row in an annual survey by Quigley Publishing Co.

The survey, conducted every year since 1932, asks movie exhibitors to vote for the 10 stars who generated the most box-office revenue for their theaters.

Will Smith, now starring in "I Am Legend," placed second on the list, followed by George Clooney, Matt Damon, Denzel Washington, Russell Crowe, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Will Ferrell and Tom Hanks.

Though Cruise appeared in the box-office clunker "Lions for Lambs," his track record is undeniable: He's finished first seven times. Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Bing Crosby finished first five times.

Meanwhile, this was the first time in 24 years that exhibitors haven't included a woman in the top tier of moneymakers, despite the success of Katherine Heigl ("Knocked Up") and Keira Knightley ("Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End").

'Sweeney Todd' cuts a fine figure, thanks to costume designer

And the two-time Oscar winner responsible for his dapper, deathly duds? Costumer Colleen Atwood. Her inspiration for the musical, says the wardrobe whiz who worked on Beloved, Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events and Sleepy Hollow, was "the music. It's the starting point of all of it. It's a moody piece, so I wanted a lot of texture in the costumes. I wanted you to be able to feel them on screen."

And though Depp's and his partner-in-crime Helena Bonham Carter's ensembles might have a certain goth flavor, that's accidental. "My root isn't goth," says Atwood, who took home Academy Awards for 2002's Chicago and 2005's Memoirs of a Geisha. "To me, the influence was the makeup and styling of the old black-and-white movies. The lips and eyes are dark, and the face is light. That's the feeling we were going for, more than a conscious goth look."

Atwood shares her sartorial inspirations for Sweeney Todd:

Sweeney Todd

Character: Depp stars as the bloodthirsty barber, who returns to London after being exiled to Australia for a crime he didn't commit.

Atwood's style notes: "He comes off a boat, crusted with salt. He's been through a terrifying time in prison, and he's hardened to life. He enters the world with a shell on, like an insect shell. His jacket has a sheen. As he starts barbering, he becomes part of the world he's living in, a world where people use recycled clothing. (The) jacket he wears to work was influenced by work wear of the period. I really felt he needed some heavy weight to his feet, like he was dragging weight, and his boots are quite heavy and have nails around the outside of the sole on top. You get a kick of silver when he hits the pedal on the barber chair. His costumes are simple. He's not conscious of what he's wearing. "

Mrs. Lovett

Character: Bonham Carter is the piemaker who is in love with Todd.

Atwood's style notes: "She was somebody who almost was like a crow. She was always picking a bit of this or that up. Everyone is a little grimy in the movie. As she got more money, she got a couple of new dresses. I used a lot of authentic fabrics. Her dresses were a range of color but subtle and controlled. There was always a hint of red peeking out, but very low-key. A lot of her stuff had a sheen or beading. I thought she'd be attracted to a bit of obvious glitter. Underneath she had fantastic underwear you never see — great bloomers and corsets. As for the fingerless gloves — people wore them in the period. They'd been around."

Judge Turpin

Character: Alan Rickman takes a turn as the judge who destroys Todd's life, steals his wife and daughter, and starts him on his killing spree.

Atwood's style notes: "The judge had a little poetry in his heart. His heyday was pre-Victorian, and he clung to those kinds of clothing. His clothing had once been fine, but he was very unkempt and grubby and unshaven, but harking back to a time when he was on top of the world, in the beginning of the movie."

Depp says `Sweeney' flashback was scary

The movie is the sixth collaboration for Depp and director Tim Burton — and one of their riskiest. It's based on Stephen Sondheim's bloody Broadway musical about a murderous barber, and Depp had scant singing experience.

But it wasn't the singing that scared Depp — or any of his character's numerous gory murders. It was a flashback to young Sweeney's happy life before he was sent to prison by Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman).

It's arguably the most normal scene in the movie, and both Depp and Burton could hardly stomach it.

"I think that was the weirdest thing I ever had to shoot," Depp told The Associated Press in a recent interview. "(Burton) literally was sobbing. He left the set of his own movie."

Burton said the extreme melodrama of the scene was difficult to watch.

"That's when I knew (Depp) was a great actor, because that was terrible," the 49-year-old director said. "That was so bad."

Depp, star of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films and "Edward Scissorhands," has received rave reviews for his performance, and Burton wonders if the 44-year-old actor will look back in later years and cringe at the young Sweeney flashback.

"That and having to soap up Alan Rickman's face were two of the scariest moments, maybe of my life," joked Depp.

For some reason, Burton explained, preparing Rickman's character for a shave was "quite a traumatic experience" for Depp.

"Sweeney Todd," a DreamWorks/Paramount release, has received four Golden Globe nominations, including best musical or comedy, best director for Burton, best actor for Depp and best actress for Helena Bonham Carter.

Burton says Depp singing wasn't concern

The movie, based on the Stephen Sondheim musical about a murderous barber, stars Johnny Depp as the title character and Helena Bonham Carter, whose character serves the barber's victims up in her meat pies.Burton says he didn't worry about whether Depp could sing.

"I worry about a lot of things but I strangely did not fear that at all," the 49-year-old director told reporters recently, according to AP Radio. "He exceeded my expectation."

Burton also said Bonham Carter, his romantic partner, didn't pressure him for a role in the movie.

"She's been an actress for a long time. She gets the whole picture," he said. "She was very good about not overpressuring me because she knew I was probably putting that all on myself anyway."

Bonham Carter, 41, recently gave birth to the couple's second child, a girl. They also have a 4-year-old son, Billy. She has worked with Burton in several other films, including "Planet of the Apes" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"Sweeney Todd" has Golden Globe nominations for best musical or comedy, best director for Burton, and acting nominations for Depp and Bonham Carter.

Burton said he isn't thinking about possible Oscar nominations.

"The joy for me has been the film," he said. "I feel lucky to have the opportunity to do this particular project with these particular people. So for me, that's the reward that I get."

"Sweeney Todd" is a DreamWorks-Paramount release.

'Sweeney Todd': A sharp adaptation with a comedic edge

But unlike more realistic violent fare, the gore in this gloomy Gothic marvel feels exaggeratedly theatrical and a vital part of the melodramatic mayhem. Sweeney Todd is the perfect marriage of filmmaker and material. Director Tim Burton has adapted Stephen Sondheim's Tony Award-winning musical in a darkly clever and comical fashion.

Johnny Depp is ideally cast as the barber who transforms himself from the embittered, falsely imprisoned Benjamin Barker to the demonic, vengeful Sweeney Todd. He's undeniably one of the best actors of his generation, and there are hints of his past collaborations with Burton in his performance. You'll catch glimpses of Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood and Victor from The Corpse Bride.

The production design is intriguingly monochromatic and grimly gorgeous. The musical numbers play out compellingly. It's notable that some of the best musical performances are by actors who are not trained singers, such as Depp, Alan Rickman (as the nefarious judge who preys upon the barber's wife and daughter) and Sacha Baron Cohen. Cohen, as Pirelli, a flamboyant Italian barber and Todd's archrival, nearly steals the show.

Rounding out the cast is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett. The musical interlude in which she decries her inedible meat pies and rhythmically swats away large insects is a hoot.

After escaping from 15 years in prison, Barker is intent upon wreaking vengeance on Judge Turpin (Rickman) and his sycophantic henchman, Beadle Bamford (Timothy Spall), who sent him away on a trumped-up charge in order to steal Barker's wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and baby daughter, Johanna.

For the rare person who is not familiar with the squeamishly funny plot, set in the late 1700s, the real fun begins when Barker/Todd panics and slits the throat of Pirelli after he threatens to reveal Todd's true identity as an escaped prisoner. Mrs. Lovett, ever lamenting the high price of meat, sees the fleshy corpse as an opportunity to augment her pie fillings. Thus, her meat pie business is rejuvenated as a result of Todd's murderous barbering enterprise. The musical crescendos on a wave of witty cannibalistic references, including the best production number, A Little Priest.

Fleshing out the cast is Toby (Edward Sanders), Pirelli's former child assistant who ends up helping Mrs. Lovett in her thriving pie establishment.

There also is a romance between Johanna (Jayne Wisener), now a young lady, and a young sailor (Jamie Campbell Bower). It's an emotional story about the madness of revenge, but the romantic elements are a distant second to the tale's horrific goings-on.

Burton's fascination with the macabre and the mischievous has found a perfect outlet in this lavish Grand Guignol slaughterfest.

Sweeney Todd is a bloody good, even haunting, re-imagining of the Broadway musical, with its emphasis on the jugular, not the heart.

14th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards Nominations

Oustanding Performance by a Stunt Ensemble in a Motion Picture

300
The Bourne Ultimatum
I Am Legend
The Kingdom
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

Review: `Sweeney,' Burton a perfect fit

Everything about Stephen Sondheim's revered musical, which provided the inspiration for the film, seems tailor-made for the director's sensibilities. Truly, what other filmmaker could tell the story of a vengeful barber (Johnny Depp) who slits his customers' throats and the lovesick baker (Helena Bonham Carter) who grinds up the dead bodies for her meat pies?

It's strangely beautiful and beautifully strange, with horrific subject matter that produces plenty of wicked humor and characters who initially seem ghoulish but ultimately reveal themselves as sympathetic and deeply sad.

Burton fell in love with Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler's 1979 work when he saw it 20 years ago in London, and it shows.

The absurdity, loneliness and darkness that infuse the best of Burton's oeuvre — "Edward Scissorhands," "Ed Wood" and "Corpse Bride," all of which starred his longtime friend and collaborator Depp — seem heightened here. Burton's vision of 19th century London, created with the help of cinematographer Dariusz Volski and production designer Dante Ferretti, is vividly gritty, full of strikingly contrasting blacks and grays punctuated by dramatic splashes of red.

That would be the blood, of course.

It sprays like a fire hose from the necks of Sweeney's unsuspecting victims, who are then dumped down a chute and into Mrs. Lovett's meat grinder. Watching Sweeney do this over and over — passionately but methodically with the help of his "friends," his ornate silver razors — is at once harrowing and hilarious.

Sweeney, formerly known as Benjamin Barker, goes on his killing spree after spending 15 years in an Australian prison on false charges. The villainous Judge Turpin (Alan Rickman, always a subtly delicious bad guy) sent Sweeney away to steal his bride and baby girl. The wife has long since poisoned herself and young Johanna (Jayne Wisener), now Turpin's ward, is kept like a fragile bird in a cage in his elegant home.

Once he dispatches his first victim — the Italian huckster Pirelli, played by a scene-stealing Sacha Baron Cohen in tight blue pants that leave nothing to the imagination — Sweeney doesn't know what to do with him and stuffs him in a trunk. But the ever-practical Mrs. Lovett, who famously makes "the worst pies in London," sees the body and instantly gets an idea of how to improve her product. (Her cheery line about how "everybody shaves, so there should be plenty of flavors" is a twisted classic.)

As the carnage piles up and their relationship evolves, it turns unexpectedly sweet. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett fall into an easy rhythm, but he's too focused on his goal — slicing Turpin's throat — to realize she's in love with him and dreams of building a simple life with him and the orphaned Toby (Edward Sanders), who helps out around the shop. Bonham Carter is no Angela Lansbury, who originated the role on Broadway, or Patti LuPone, who took it over in a 2005 revival, but she absolutely has the right look for the part and a touching tinge of melancholy.

Depp, meanwhile, has been immersing himself in challenging roles like Sweeney Todd his whole life, and is just as snug a fit for the material as Burton himself. With his shock of black-and-white hair and obsessed look in his darkened eyes, Depp's Todd could be a long-lost relative of Edward Scissorhands.

Perhaps some of the emotions have been lost in cutting a three-hour stage production down to a two-hour movie. When Sweeney's traveling companion Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower) instantly falls for Johanna from afar and promises in song, "I'll steal you," it comes out of nowhere and rings hollow.

Ironically, these two young performers, who have some of the smallest amounts of screen time, are the only ones who impress with their voices. Depp and Bonham Carter aren't exactly musical theater veterans — they're acting the music more than singing it a lot of the time, though that does make "Sweeney Todd" more raw.

But it's no small feat what Burton has accomplished in creaing a captivating movie musical; making the transition from Broadway to the big screen has proven an iffy proposition in recent years. "Dreamgirls" dazzled and "Chicago" won the Oscar for best picture with big stars bursting from each, but they're the exceptions.

Everyone could sing — really, really sing — in Joel Schumacher's version of "The Phantom of the Opera" and in "Rent," which retained much of its original stage cast. And that didn't exactly make either of them a smashing success, now did it?

"Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a DreamWorks and Warner Bros. Pictures release, is rated R for graphic bloody violence. Running time: 117 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Johnny Depp rates No. 1 for autographs

The 44-year-old actor is the most gracious celebrity — for the third year in a row — on Autograph magazine's annual list of the "10 Best and 10 Worst Hollywood Signers."

Depp is "`Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' on film, and Johnny and the Signing Factory in person," the magazine said.

"Though soft-spoken and laid-back, he likes to talk to fans and get to know them while signing," New York autograph dealer Anthony Risi explains in the December issue, now on newsstands. "He'll sign more than one item when he has time, too."

The magazine said editors compiled input from autograph-collecting judges based in Europe, New York and California in ranking the celebs.

Matt Damon is second on the list, followed by George Clooney, Jack Nicholson, Rosario Dawson, John Travolta, Katherine Heigl, Jay Leno, Dakota Fanning and Russell Crowe — wait, Russell Crowe?

Crowe, who has a history of throwing temper tantrums, ranked among the worst signers on last year's list. But in a turnaround, the magazine said, the 43-year-old actor "started treating fans great, signing, taking pictures and chatting them up."

Will Ferrell is deemed the worst celebrity signer, followed by Tobey Maguire, Joaquin Phoenix, William Shatner, Renee Zellweger, John Malkovich, Julie Andrews, Bruce Willis, Teri Hatcher and Scarlett Johansson.

However, "keep in mind that even the best signers don't sign sometimes, the worst sometimes do, and that just because they're on the worst list doesn't mean they're bad people," the magazine said.

'Sweeney' showcases the artistic mayhem of Depp & Burton

Would they compare the relative beatnik cool of their goatees?

Debate possible names for Burton's next major production, a stork delivery of unknown gender due any day?

Or maybe congratulate each other on how the critics are besotted with their sixth, and unlikeliest, collaboration: an R-rated film version of the Broadway musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, just nominated for four Golden Globes.

A check of the tape reveals that the director and his alter ego got caught in the act of discussing a couple of horror heroines of yore: Elsa Lanchester, the shrieking bride of Frankenstein, and the more obscure Caroll Borland, who once vamped with Bela Lugosi.

Why? Why not, given the Goth overtones and general weirdness that infuses their movies together.

It's all the more fitting a topic, given that the actor now plays a vengeful Victorian-era serial killer who is filled with hateful rage after being wrongfully jailed and losing his wife and baby daughter.

Moviegoers eager to see Depp cut throats and growl Sondheim songs will get their chance Dec. 21, when Burton's younger, gorier, sexier and swifter take on the haunting Tony-winning material reaches theaters.

They'll find a barber whose customers get a closer shave than they bargained for. Think Jack the Ripper. Only with hot towels and a splash of bay rum.

In fact, Burton's approach was inspired by old horror movies and spooky actors like Boris Karloff and Peter Lorre.

"We took cues from silent movies," he says. "When Johnny walks into the barbershop, you just see the pain in his eyes. I find he doesn't have to say anything. It's an acting style you don't really see anymore."

Like a mad scientist and his monstrously talented creation, Burton, 49, and Depp, 44, have a kind of psychic bond that results in sometimes-bizarre notions that still manage to connect with the mainstream public. Even the actor's horsey teeth and fey vocal manner couldn't keep audiences from buying more than $200 million worth of tickets to see 2005's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

"We've been lucky to usually be on the same wavelength and like similar kinds of things," explains Burton, who, like his favorite leading man, doesn't like to get overly introspective when it comes to his work or his life.

A synergistic relationship

Helena Bonham Carter, Burton's very pregnant paramour of six years and mother of Billy, 4, has no such qualms. Depp's on-screen partner in crime plays a lusty Mrs. Lovett, the meat-pie baker who puts Sweeney's victims to practical use as filling, and she gladly dishes on the director-star relationship as she speaks from her London home.

"They have a great synergy," she says. "They are very like each other. Chosen brothers elected by each other. They have the same sense of humor and share a deep respect. They have grown up together. Edward Scissorhands joined them. They are both introverts, but very flamboyant when it comes to their work. That is their release. They are rebels, anti-authoritarian. They are very age 7 in their sense of humor."

But even in dark times, such as when Depp's daughter, Lily-Rose, then 7, was hospitalized with a serious illness three weeks into filming, the two stick by each other. The actor suggested recasting. Instead, Burton shot Sweeney-free scenes until he returned.

"Thank God, she was all right," Bonham Carter says. "It was really tough. But once it was definitely over, he was determined to finish the film and was very ready to come back."

But mostly they are like adult playmates, grown men whose careers pay them to be childlike, at least in their imaginations. Unlike most male chums, they see nothing wrong with going shopping together.

The paparazzi recently snapped them drooling over Dr. Who and Star Wars toys at the British geek emporium Forbidden Planet.

"In fact, we have to end this interview right now," Burton jokes. "We have to run to Bergdorf Goodman."

"There's a sale on," Depp adds.

Shopping is one thing. Broadway musicals? Not major fans, which makes their involvement in Sweeney Todd all the more strange.

Jests Burton: "Oh, when are we going to see The Drowsy Chaperone? Let's go 10 times!"

Exclaims Depp: "Mamma Mia!"

Confesses Burton: "Often, I'm dressed as one of the members of Cats."

Actually, it wasn't Stephen Sondheim or even the musical genre that interested Burton. It was Sweeney Todd, period. It made him want to do a film adaptation even before he was a director.

"I was about 20," says Burton, who saw the show on the London stage. "I was a college student still then. I didn't really know what I was going to do for the rest of my life. But I went three times in a row, I liked it so much. I just liked the mix of emotion and the melodrama and the humor. And the beauty of the music against that imagery, I thought was really unique. I hadn't seen anything like it."

So why don't either of them enjoy other musicals?

"I just don't go out of my way to see them," Burton says. "Most are too campy for my taste. They are campy by nature, just someone breaking into song. This is more like melodrama, which I guess is kind of campy, too. Just not in the same way. It's something I can relate to."

Depp, who dropped out of high school to be a guitarist in a punk-pop band, concedes that he likes a few musicals. But only if they rock. "The Wall is as far as I would go. Tommy. Quadrophenia. Then I ended up in Cry-Baby in 1989, which is interesting. I didn't have to sing then. We didn't have time for any of that. They got some guy to sing for me, but I had to dance. Which was the most frightening part."

At least he and Bonham Carter only briefly waltz in Sweeney Todd. Still, "I did ask for a stunt double," he half-kids.

But Depp was eager to attempt his own singing this time. Unlike Bonham Carter, who took the traditional route and found a veteran vocal coach, he went off with one of his former bandmates, and together they found a way to handle the near-operatic numbers.

"When I first heard his demo, it blew me away," Burton says. "He took this real hard music and he made it is own. It's slightly modernized and makes it accessible."

Depp isn't so sure. "I would go back and try it again if I could right now."

Bonham Carter also took baking lessons ("It was Martha Stewart gone mad"), the better to knead in time to the music while belting out The Worst Pies in London.

But no shaving classes for her Sweeney. "I didn't have to take throat-slitting lessons, either," explains Depp, who wielded custom-made blades. "And I slit more throats than I shave people."

Not that he really disposed of anyone's whiskers. "Only myself in the morning." Though he came close with Alan Rickman's lascivious Judge Turpin. "I lathered him, which made me very nervous."

'Spectacular,' says Sondheim

Sondheim approved of the casting and conferred on which songs to cut and other changes, slicing about an hour from the stage version. "He trusted me, knowing that I am not an idiot," Burton says. "I think he sensed my passion."

As the composer and lyricist told a preview audience full of highly opinionated Broadway types, "Those of you who know the show — forget it. Just go along with it, and I think you will have a spectacular time. It is its own animal."

Speaking of animals, one of the more comical highlights of the movie is when Sweeney has a shave-off with his preening rival, Signor Adolfo Pirelli, played by Sacha Baron Cohen of Borat fame with the ripest Italian accent since Chico Marx.

He nearly upstages the entire movie. Not with his voice. But with the considerable bulge in his pants. Asked if Cohen perhaps shoved a large rodent into his tight periwinkle-blue trousers, director and actor laugh and deny any knowledge — although costume designer Colleen Atwood has since admitted that "a little quilted thing" was nestled near his groin.

"He was just very enthusiastic," Depp suggests.

"He was very excited to do a musical," Burton adds. "We tried to cover it up. But he's just happy to be there."

As for whether Christmas crowds will be happy to spend the holiday counting the bodies as they pile up in Mrs. Lovett's basement, Burton has his answer all wrapped up with a bow and ready to go.

"You leave the theater thinking your life isn't so awful, so it's a time of hope. You know. 'My family isn't so rotten after all. That turkey wasn't so bad.' "

Besides, we know someone who could carve that bird to perfection.

Depp 'Super-Flattered'

Viggo Mortensen was also nominated for his dramatic leading role, in Eastern Promises. Congratulating his leading man, the film's director, David Cronenberg, said, "For me, there was only one actor who could powerfully convey the lead character Nikolai's many subtleties." The nomination for the 49-year-old actor is, according to Cronenberg, "perfect and exciting."

Not that all is merry and bright in Hollywood. With the strike by the Writers' Guild of America now more than a month old, and with no solution yet in sight, Grey's Anatomy nominee Katherine Heigl, 29, tells Entertainment Tonight, "I'm not crossing the picket line – not unless I'm contractually obliged to do so – which [with] the Golden Globes I'm not."

The Globes are due to be broadcast over NBC on Jan. 13.

65th Annual Golden Globe Nominations

Best Actor, Musical or Comedy
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd
Ryan Gosling, Lars and the Real Girl
Tom Hanks, Charlie Wilson's War
Philip Seymour Hoffman, The Savages
John C. Reilly, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story

Best Director
Tim Burton, Sweeney Todd
Ethan Coen and Joel Coen, No Country for Old Men
Julian Schnabel, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Ridley Scott, American Gangster
Joe Wright, Atonement

Depp, Burton together again on `Sweeney'

In its genuine warmth and weirdness, this moment, played out between scenes during the filming of 1994's "Ed Wood," encapsulates the ongoing collaboration between Depp and director Tim Burton.

Even amid the dark, surreal worlds the two have brought to life, they're all smiles.

Marking their sixth film together is "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," the new adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's gory musical about a barber who seeks revenge while cutting the throats of his customers.

"Singing. Who'd have ever thought?" wondered Burton at a recent interview, where he and Depp both still found it hardly comprehensible that two guys who don't like musicals (including an actor who doesn't sing) had just made one.

"Certainly not me. Least of all me," chimed Depp, whose hippy-dippy necklaces, colorful bracelets and round-rimmed glasses stood in stark contrast to Burton's dark duds, spiky black hair and squarish, purple shades.

While reminiscing about their new film and 17 years of working together, Depp and Burton often pick up each other's conversational trails, most of which end in either reveling in what they've managed to get away with in Hollywood, or in some kind of self-deprecating joke.

Burton continued: "Now you're going to get all these scripts and be like, `Shall I do `Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat' or `Jesus Christ Superstar?'"

Laughing, Depp retorted: "`Hair.' Then I'm going straight to `Annie.'"

The two can chuckle at more mainstream fare because they have both specialized in offbeat eccentrics. Their paths first crossed in 1990's "Edward Scissorhands" when Burton cast Depp in his first leading role following his teen idol success on the TV series "21 Jump Street."

The two recall their first meeting with clarity.

"I remember walking into that coffee shop like it was yesterday," said Depp. "I just knew instantly that he was the real thing. That was clear to me. There was an instant connection."

While many of the classic director-actor pairings (John Ford and John Wayne, Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune) have often focused on a particular genre, the Burton-Depp collaborations span a variety of films, albeit ones with a penchant for fantasy.

Besides "Scissorhands" and "Ed Wood," their previous projects include "Sleepy Hollow" (1999), "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (2005) and the animated "Corpse Bride" (2005).

"We've been lucky enough to do things that the studios never want to do," said Burton, with Depp adding: "On more than one occasion."

"It's surreal," says Burton, a veritable expert on that topic. "That feeling never quite leaves you that we're able to do something. It's almost like getting away with something."

Though Burton has maintained a mostly consistent record of box office or critical success, Depp has ascended to the top of the A-list — a development that has made their risky endeavors a lot easier to bankroll.

"He protected me well," said Depp. "He fought for me to be in his movies for a number of years."

The advantage of frequently working together, Burton and Depp said, is that they have a well-developed shorthand and are able to discuss characters in abstract terms but still arrive at the same understanding.

"When we were doing `Sleepy Hollow,' Tim and I were talking about a scene and obviously you veer off on weird little tears and start talking about Charles Nelson Reilly or Paul Lynde or something odd," said Depp. "A crew member came over to me after we were talking and he said, `I just listened to you and Tim talk about the scene for the last 20 minutes and I didn't understand a word you guys were saying.'"

"That about sums it up," added Burton.

The two are close friends and Depp is the godfather to Burton's young son. But Burton said the partnership has evolved without any conscious planning or consideration.

"It surprised me. I wasn't looking for it," said Burton. "You never plan anything, it's just project to project — if it's the right role and something he responds to. I always think of him because he can do anything."

Others have noticed their unique relationship, including Chris Lebenzon, who has edited Burton's last nine films, five of which have starred Depp. He compares Burton's movie sets to a strange kind of family.

"Tim is a guy who needs the best people around him because he won't always articulate what he wants, but he knows it," said Lebenzon speaking by phone from Los Angeles. "It can frustrate him if people aren't getting it, and Johnny always gets it."

Depp originally came to Hollywood to pursue a music career, but as a guitarist — he only occasionally sang back up. He had no proper experience ever singing before "Sweeney Todd," yet received the blessing of the studio and Sondheim (who could veto any casting decision) without so much as a demo tape.

"It's like, `OK, you want to do an R-rated musical without any clue whether the lead actor can sing or not?'" marveled Burton. "He's finally arrived at the absurd level of show business."

"I'll never do it again," said Depp of singing. "It was one time only. If it worked at all, it only worked because of the circumstances."

Depp opted not to take singing lessons and instead hunkered down in a studio with a musician friend to work on his voice.

"It seemed counterproductive to stand in front of a piano noodling on scales," said Depp. "It seemed like you wouldn't be able to find the character."

Several of the other leads are similarly distant from being Broadway musical veterans, including Alan Rickman (who plays the object of Sweeney's vengeance) and Helena Bonham Carter (Mrs. Lovett). Another frequent actor for Burton, Bonham Carter is also his longtime girlfriend and mother to his child; a second is expected any day now. (Said Burton: "Hopefully, it will turn out to be a human being.")

For Burton, casting Depp was a matter of trust in his actor that made him at ease having a non-singer star in the musical.

"When Johnny said he thought he could do it, that was good enough for me," said Burton. "He wouldn't have said that otherwise. He would have just said, `No ... way in hell I could do this.'"

Burton is now in the process of planning two features: "Alice in Wonderland" and "Frankenweenie," the latter of which is based on his 1984 short of the same name. Depp, who lives in France with long-term girlfriend Vanessa Paradis and their two children, has had one project ("Shantaram") shelved due to the writers strike. Instead, he recently signed on to star in Michael Mann's "Public Enemies."

Though they have no immediate plans to work again together, they both hope — and rather assume — it will happen.

Says Depp: "If the phone rings, he doesn't even have to finish the sentence. I'd be there in a second."

Depp is bloody good in "Sweeney Todd"

The period drama, one of many pre-actors strike projects revving up at Universal, focuses on the government's attempts to stop some of the most famous criminals of the Depression era.

Depp will play Public Enemy No. 1 John Dillinger in the film, which will also feature real-life characters including Baby Face Nelson and Pretty Boy Floyd, as well as FBI head J. Edgar Hoover.

Mann wrote the script based on the 2004 book by Bryan Burroughs, according to Variety.

"Public Enemies" is a film of convenience for both Mann and Depp. The director had been eying a possible reunion with "Collateral" co-star Tom Cruise on Columbia's "Edwin Salt." Depp, meanwhile, had expected to shoot Mira Nair's "Shantaram." When script, budget and monsoon concerns put the Depp film on hold, "Public Enemies" became a more tangible possibility.

Depp's latest film, the musical "Sweeney Todd," is generating Oscar buzz in advance of its holiday season release. "Sweeney Todd" is Depp's first film outside of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise since 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Depp is bloody good in "Sweeney Todd"

Stephen Sondheim's award-winning musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," a savage tale of cannibalism, madness and serial murder, is now Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." The show couldn't have fallen into better hands. With realistic gore replacing the stylistic bloodletting in the stage version, "Sweeney" loses some of its darkly comic tone -- not a lot of laughs here except the nervous kind.

More akin to Burton's "Sleepy Hollow," where heads rolled like so many bowling balls, his "Sweeney Todd" places its emphasis on Grand Guignol and the deeply human story of twice-lost love and the horrifying destructiveness of revenge.

It took two studios, Paramount and Warner Bros., to share the considerable risk of making and marketing this tragic tale that defies so many conventions of the American musical. It will be a significant challenge to find a substantial audience despite the advantage of the Burton and Sondheim brands along with a cast that includes Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Sacha Baron Cohen.

"Sweeney Todd" comes from an obscure British melodrama -- which might or might not have been based on true 18th century events -- about a deranged barber who slit the throats of customers and his landlady who served the victims up in meatpies.

Sondheim's 1979 show took place within the context of the Industrial Revolution and its rampant corruption and avarice. More satiric opera than musical, "Sweeney Todd" blended together a number of theatrical and literary modes, making the show at once Brechtian, Dickensian and Jacobean. Sondheim acknowledges the influence of the film music of Bernard Herrmann even as he throws in a Viennese waltz or music hall burlesque.

Burton and writer John Logan take all this as a gift, which is then filtered through Burton's own unrepentant sense of the macabre. Except for imaginary sequences or flashbacks to happier days, the film has a monochromatic look with color drained from cityscape. Depp and Bonham Carter dress mostly in stark dark clothes with black circles around the eyes, almost as if the figures in Burton's "Corpse Bride" served as models.

In choosing actors who can carry a tune as opposed to singing-actors, Burton has wisely gone for the tragic, emotional heart of the story, narrowing the focus to Sweeney; Mrs. Lovett, the meatpie lady, plagued by unrequited love for Sweeney; and Toby (Edward Sanders, who has a striking voice), the street urchin who assists but is innocent of the pie's ingredients.

Depp is the movie's heart and guts. His Sweeney, nee Benjamin Barker -- having escaped false imprisonment in Australia after 15 years -- is ruled by revenge upon his return to London. Presented with his razors, which Mrs. Lovett (Bonham Carter) has lovingly guarded all these years, he grasps a blade with his firm right hand. "At last, my arm is complete again," he thunders.

His homicidal rage centers on Judge Turpin (a dour Alan Rickman), a vile sexual predator who had Benjamin arrested by henchman Beadle Bamford (a smarmy Timothy Spall) so he can steal Benjamin's wife (Laura Michelle Kelly) and baby daughter. Sweeney learns that his wife poisoned herself and Turpin, who took the baby as his ward, lusts after the now grown woman Johanna (a wan Jayne Wisener). Anthony (Jamie Campbell Bower), a young sailor who rescued Sweeney at sea, now longs to do likewise for Johanna on land.

Thus, a triangle of obsessed characters emerges. Depp plays Sweeney as a man so focused on death, so committed to blood, that he has lost all touch with life. Bonham Carter's amoral Nellie Lovett, her hair apparently combed with an egg beater, is herself obsessed with Sweeney. She imagines an impossible life with him without realizing he is unmoored from any reality in which this might take place.

The judge, hungering after young women, is the film's major disappointment. Onstage, the tormented man struggled with his obsession, longing to regain his goodness. Here he is a stock melodramatic villain who lacks any ideals other than those of self-interest, though Rickman uses all the tricks in his actor's bag to coax a human being out of the caricature.

Sanders' Toby is a street kid who turns out to possess a moral compass the adults so sorely lack. Baron Cohen as Pirelli, the barber's first victim, is surprisingly muted. Perhaps the requirement to sing has neutralized Cohen's usual outrageousness. Burton doesn't seem to know what to do with film's ingenues, Wisener's Johanna and Bower's Anthony, so they are largely ignored.

The musical numbers ooze with Sondheim's audacious wit and scathing lyrics. A lullaby conveys menace. A waltz celebrates conspiracy. Cynicism runs through all the songs' social critique.

The blood juxtaposed to the music is highly unsettling. It runs contrary to expectations. Burton pushes this gore into his audiences' faces so as to feel the madness and the destructive fury of Sweeney's obsession. Teaming with Depp, his long-time alter ego, Burton makes Sweeney a smoldering dark pit of fury and hate that consumes itself. With his sturdy acting and surprisingly good voice, Depp is a Sweeney Todd for the ages.

Cast:
Sweeney Todd: Johnny Depp
Mrs. Lovett: Helena Bonham Carter
Judge Turpin: Alan Rickman
Beadle Bamford: Timothy Spall
Signor Adolfo Pirelli: Sacha Baron Cohen
Toby: Edward Sanders
Johanna: Jayne Wisener
Anthony Hope: Jamie Campbell Bower

Director: Tim Burton; Screenwriter: John Logan; Based on the stage musical by: Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler; Music-lyrics: Stephen Sondheim; Producers: Richard D. Zanuck, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, John Logan; Executive producer: Patrick McCormick; Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski; Production designer: Dante Ferretti; Co-producer: Katterli Frauenfelder; Costume designer: Colleen Atwood; Editor: Chris Lebenzon.

Depp plays "punk rock Sweeney Todd" in new film

But Johnny Depp did not let it get in the way of arguably his most challenging film role yet -- an all-singing turn as the serial-killing barber Sweeney Todd in a remake of the Stephen Sondheim musical.

Directed by long-time collaborator Tim Burton, Depp is pale-faced and dark-eyed in the grim story of revenge, blending into the black-and-white world of grimy 19th Century London punctuated only by the vivid red of his victims' blood.

His sinister sidekick is Mrs. Lovett, played by Burton's partner Helena Bonham Carter, whose meat pies start to sell like hot cakes when she teams up with neighbor Todd in an ingenious venture to dispose of the countless bodies he produces.

"I never sang before in my life, so I had to kind of find my way to it," Depp told journalists in London at a recent press launch for the film, which premieres on Monday. "I didn't know if I would be able to hit a note, to be honest."

To find out, Depp called a member of the band he played for in the 1980s and recorded "My Friends," an early song in the musical. When producer Richard Zanuck heard the recording, he believed Depp could pull it off.

The 44-year-old star of the hit "Pirates of the Caribbean" films, as well as Burton pictures including "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Edward Scissorhands," said he hoped to bring something new to the Sweeney Todd legend.

"I just thought it might be a great opportunity to try to find a new Sweeney, a different Sweeney, in a good way a slightly more contemporary, almost like a punk rock Sweeney."

Asked why he took more risks in his career than many actors, he replied: "I think it's probably something in between hard-headed and ignorant."

SONDHEIM BLESSING

It was script writer John Logan's job to condense the three-hour stage musical "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street" to a two-hour movie. Sondheim had approval rights over the parts of Todd and Lovett and the choice of director.

Some songs were shortened, others cut altogether, and the focus of Burton's lens is as much on the acting as the singing.

Depp and Bonham Carter are joined by Alan Rickman as the malevolent Judge Turpin, who wrongly imprisons Benjamin Barker to steal his wife, and later his daughter.

Sacha Baron Cohen of "Borat" fame plays Pirelli, a buffoonish rival barber who threatens to reveal Barker's true identity after he takes on the guise of Todd.

It is generally accepted that Sweeney Todd never existed, although some have argued that the personality is based on fact.

One legend has it that he was born in London in 1748 and arrested aged 14 for theft. After becoming apprentice to a prison barber, he opened a shop on Fleet Street, where he carried out his grisly crimes with the help of Mrs. Lovett.

Burton recognized it was not obvious material for a Christmas release, which tend to be feel good and child friendly.

Pulling few punches in a film full of gore and blood, the movie has been given an R rating, meaning anyone under 17 must by accompanied by a parent or adult guardian.

"I've seen productions where they've tried to be a bit more politically correct, and 'Let's lessen the blood', and it really deflated the impact of what the story is," Burton said.

The film is scheduled for limited U.S. release on December 21.

Depp in play as strike delays two films

The actor was scheduled to film "Shantaram" -- Warner Bros. and Initial Entertainment Group's adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel -- in the winter, but that project has now been postponed.

Among the reasons the film has been delayed is that the script was not in the shape the filmmakers wanted; the current strike prohibits any revisions.

Budgetary concerns also were a factor. Sources said "Shantaram's" budget was heading north of $75 million, outside the studio's comfort zone for the drama set in India and Afghanistan.

The story revolves around an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery who escapes from a maximum-security prison, flees to India and reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of Bombay. He gets involved in counterfeiting, smuggling and gunrunning, which leads him to Afghanistan, where he and a mob boss battle the Russians. Eric Roth, whose screenplay credits include "Forrest Gump," "The Horse Whisperer" and "Munich," did the latest script rewrite.

Also put on hold for Depp is "The Rum Diary," an adaptation of Hunter S. Thompson's novel for Warner Independent Pictures. Bruce Robinson, whose 1987 comedy "Withnail & I" gained a cult following, was adapting and directing.

"Rum," loosely based on Thompson's experience working as a freelance journalist in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s, is in the development stages. Depp had planned to make the film after "Shantaram."

Depp next appears on the big screen in "Sweeney Todd," which premieres December 3 in New York.

Nominees for the 34th annual People's Choice Awards

The nominees are:

1. Favorite Movie: The Bourne Ultimatum; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; Transformers

2. Favorite Family Movie: Evan Almighty, Ratatouille, Shrek the Third

3. Favorite Action Movie: 300; The Bourne Ultimatum; Transformers

4. Favorite Movie Comedy: Knocked Up; The Simpsons Movie; Wild Hogs

5. Favorite Movie Drama: Disturbia; Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; Premonition

6. Favorite Threequel: The Bourne Ultimatum; Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End; Spider-Man 3

7. Favorite Independent Movie: Becoming Jane; A Mighty Heart; Sicko

8. Favorite Female Movie Star: Halle Berry; Sandra Bullock; Reese Witherspoon

9. Favorite Leading Lady: Jessica Alba; Drew Barrymore; Queen Latifah

10. Favorite Female Action Star: Jessica Alba; Jodie Foster; Keira Knightley

11. Favorite Male Movie Star: Johnny Depp; Denzel Washington; Bruce Willis

12. Favorite Leading Man: Jamie Foxx; Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson; Joaquin Phoenix

13. Favorite Male Action Star: Matt Damon; Johnny Depp; Bruce Willis

14. Favorite On Screen Match Up: Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker in Rush Hour 3; George Clooney and Brad Pitt in Ocean's Thirteen; Kirsten Dunst and Tobey Maguire in Spider-Man 3

15. Favorite TV Drama: "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation;" "House;" "Law and Order: SVU"

16. Favorite TV Comedy: "The King of Queens;" "My Name is Earl;" "Two and a Half Men"

17. Favorite Animated TV Comedy: "Family Guy;" "King of the Hill;" "The Simpsons"

18. Favorite Sci-Fi Show: "Battlestar Galactica;" "Doctor Who;" "Stargate Atlantis"

19. Favorite Competition/Reality Show: "American Idol;" "Dancing with the Stars;" "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"

20. Favorite Game Show: "Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?;" "Deal or No Deal;" "Jeopardy"

21. Favorite Female TV Star: Sally Field; Katherine Heigl; Jennifer Love Hewitt

22. Favorite Male TV Star: Patrick Dempsey; Charlie Sheen; Kiefer Sutherland

23. Favorite Scene Stealing Star: Richard Belzer from "Law & Order: SVU;" Neil Patrick Harris from "How I Met Your Mother;" Chandra Wilson from "Grey's Anatomy"

24. Favorite Funny Female Star: Ellen DeGeneres; Whoopi Goldberg; Wanda Sykes

25. Favorite Funny Male Star: Will Ferrell; Adam Sandler; Robin Williams

26. Favorite Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres; Jay Leno; Oprah Winfrey

27. Favorite Female Singer: Beyonce; Fergie; Gwen Stefani

28. Favorite Male Singer: John Mayer; Tim McGraw; Justin Timberlake

29. Favorite Group: Daughtry; Maroon 5; Rascal Flatts

30. Favorite Rock Song: "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's; "Home" by Daughtry; "Makes Me Wonder" by Maroon 5

31. Favorite R&B Song: "Beautiful Liar" by Beyonce with Shakira; "Because of You" by Ne-Yo; "Shut up and Drive" by Rihanna

32. Favorite Country Song: "I Need You" by Tim McGraw with Faith Hill; "Never Wanted Nothing More" by Kenny Chesney; "Stand" by Rascal Flatts

33. Favorite Hip-Hop Song: "Give It to Me" by Timbaland feat. Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado; "Party Like a Rock Star" by Shop Boyz; "Stronger" by Kanye West

34. Favorite Pop Song: "Big Girls Don't Cry" by Fergie; "Irreplaceable" by Beyonce; "What Goes Around...Comes Around" by Justin Timberlake

35. Favorite Song from a Soundtrack: "Read My Mind" by The Killers from "Friday Night Lights;" "What I've Done" by Linkin Park from Transformers; "You Can't Stop the Beat" by the Cast of Hairspray from Hairspray

36. Favorite Reunion Tour: Genesis; The Police; Van Halen

37. Favorite New TV Comedy: Aliens in America; Back to You; The Big Bang Theory; Carpoolers; Cavemen; Chuck; Reaper; Samantha Who?

38. Favorite New TV Drama: Big Shots; Bionic Woman; Cane; Dirty Sexy Money; Gossip Girl; Journeyman; K-Ville; Life; Life Is Wild; Moonlight; Private Practice; Pushing Daisies; Women's Murder Club

Movie Preview

"I consider Sweeney Todd to be on the dark side, but entertaining," says Burton's longtime producer Richard D. Zanuck. "It's nearly wall-to-wall music, almost operatic in nature. But once you get into it, it becomes very natural." It helps that Sweeney moves in a swifter fashion than some musicals of late, shaved down to a mere 108 minutes from the 2½-hour stage version.

Yes, as they say, there will be blood. "A great deal," concedes Zanuck, rather pointedly. "But it is taken out of the realm of realism, a Kill Bill kind of blood. It's not to be taken seriously."

But Sacha Baron Cohen as Depp's rival and first victim should be. No nude wrestling, but the funnyman can carry a tune. "He sings like a bird and volunteered for the role a few months before Borat came out," the producer says.

"He came in and performed for Tim and myself in a little recording studio in London. He didn't do anything from Sweeney Todd, though. Instead, he did Fiddler on the Roof. We nearly fell out of our chairs."

Johnny Depp says daughter is now healthy

"Now every single millisecond is a mini-celebration," the 44-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly in its Nov. 9 issue. "Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything."

Lily-Rose, the daughter of Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis, was admitted to a British hospital to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment about three weeks after Depp started work on "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," Tim Burton's adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical about a murderous barber.

"To say it was the darkest moment, that's nothing," Depp tells the magazine. "It doesn't come close to describing it. Words are so small. But knowing that those people, Tim and the crew, shut down and stood by and waited ... I didn't know if I was coming back. I remember talking with Tim, saying, `Maybe you need to recast.'"

"Once we were given the all-clear, I had to dive back into the work," he says. "I had to get back in there for Tim."

"Sweeney Todd" is set for limited release in the U.S. next month.

Depp and Paradis also have a 5-year-old son, Jack.

Depp Is Named Nickelodeon's Best Actor

Notably absent were any big-name celebrities being doused in Nick's traditional green slime. That, of course, was good news for Emma Watson, who also was named Nickelodeon's Best Movie Actress.

"This is so cool. I'm so thrilled," the 17-year-old Harry Potter star said.

Watson – who was wearing a gold-sequined top and Diesel jeans – beat out Cameron Diaz, Dakota Fanning and Keira Knightley for the award.

Online Voting: For the past few months, kids have been voting online for their top choices in 16 different categories, including Best Movie Actor (Johnny Depp), Best Sports Person (David Beckham), Best Female Singer (Avril Lavigne) and Best Movie (The Simpsons Movie).

Although they were unable to attend, High School Musical stars Zac Efron and Ashley Tisdale won Best TV Actor and Actress. The Greenie Award – created to encourage kids to recycle – was accepted by Nancy Drew's Emma Roberts, who pledged to become more environmentally conscious.

Jamie Lynn Spears was a no-show, but she did send a video message saying, "I'm so sad I'm missing out on all the fun you guys are having there."

'Sweeney Todd' Goes Wide at Christmas

DreamWorks and Paramount certainly hope so. According to Variety, "Sweeney Todd" is now set to go wide on Dec. 21, rather than taking a proposed limited, Oscar-qualifying run on that date and going out nationwide on Jan. 11.

Directed by Tim Burton, the adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical stars Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Sacha Baron Cohen. The trade paper suggests that after seeing early footage from the feature, the studio decided that "Sweeney Todd" might be able to stand out as a wide release from the start rather than being platformed to build buzz.

The biggest Christmas release currently scheduled is Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets." Also expected to open wide are "P.S., I Love You," the Judd Apatow-produced "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story" and a number of limited award hopefuls including "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly."

A Bloody Mess

Depp toasts Hunter S. Thompson with "Rum Diary"

Oscar-winning producer Graham King, the Oscar-winning producer of "The Departed," has acquired all rights to the property, which King would produce with Depp for Warner Independent Pictures.

A spokesperson for King's GK Films banner said it was hoped that production would begin shortly after principal photography is completed on Depp's next film, Mira Nair's crime drama "Shantaram." No shooting dates have been set for either film.

Loosely based on the late author's experience working as a freelance journalist in Puerto Rico in the late '50s, the book was written in 1959 but not published until 1998. Depp would play a reporter who works alongside a motley crew of self-destructive staffers at a struggling San Juan newspaper, where an erotic love triangle emerges.

Bruce Robinson, whose 1987 comedy "Withnail & I" gained a cult following, is writing the screenplay and directing.

Depp previously played Thompson's alter ego in Terry Gilliam's 1996 adaptation of the author's book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" for Universal Pictures.

Many plans to make "Rum Diary" have been announced over the years. The now-defunct indie production outfit Shooting Gallery and SPi Films optioned the book and announced plans to make the film in 2000, with Depp set to star and executive produce and Nick Nolte co-starring. A new producer came on board in 2002, and Benicio Del Toro and Josh Hartnett were soon attached as cast members.

Del Toro reportedly was set to make his directorial debut with "Rum Diary" in late 2003, but the project remained dormant through Thompson's February 2005 suicide. According to their reps, Del Toro, Nolte and Hartnett are no longer attached to the project.

Depp Peeks Into 'Dark Shadows'

According to Variety, Depp's Infinitum-Nihil production shingle and Graham King's GK Films banner are looking to adapt the popular Dan Curtis-crafted drama, though the trade offers no word on whether or not Depp would also star.

The story does, however, mention some past interview in which Depp said that as a kid he'd always wanted to be Barnabas Collins, the show's central vampire patriarch.

"Dark Shadows" aired weekdays on ABC from 1966 to 1971 with Jonathan Frid as the original Barnabas Collins. More than 1,225 episodes were produced over the years and the show has been subject to repeated attempted revivals, most recently with a 2004 WB pilot featuring Martin Donovan and Alec Newman.

Curtis died last year of a brain tumor and the various companies reached a rights deal with his estate. David Kennedy of Dan Curtis Prods. would be a producer on the "Dark Shadows" revamp.

Depp, the star of this summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," will next be seen in Tim Burton's "Sweeney Todd." She's circling a number of upcoming projects including Mira Nair's adaptation of "Shantaram" and a biopic of the late former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko.

Disney delays "Pirates" game

The MMO, which is based on the popular amusement park ride and film franchise and has been in beta testing for the past several months, originally was scheduled to be ready closer to the theatrical release of "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End."

In a statement, Disney Online cited the need for additional development time as reason for the delay.

"After a careful internal assessment of the state of game development as well as a review of external feedback, we have elected to spend additional development time," the company said Friday. "We will use this extra time to further enhance the game, respond to additional data we've collected during beta testing and incorporate more of the input we have gathered."

The MMO, which is designed as a computer game set in a virtual world, is an important one for Disney because it is deliberately geared toward a nontraditional gaming audience. The game incorporates community features and will provide a wealth of demographic information about its users. It is also Disney's largest effort thus far to create a virtual world experience as an extension of a Disney franchise.

The game is subscription-based, but participants can play it a third of the way through without subscribing, although they will be subjected to ads.

Oprah, Brad, Madonna Have the Power; Paris Doesn't

The multimedia maven topped Forbes' 2007 list of the 100 Most Powerful Celebrities, a status achieved not only by her nine-figure earnings but also via Internet ubiquity, press clippings, magazine covers, shout-outs on TV and radio and the other "popularity metrics" that factor into Forbes' analysis, based on the past 12 months.

Lucas, while a power player last year, is nowhere to be found on the new list, despite being one of the richest people in Hollywood with a net worth of $3.6 billion, per Forbes. Apparently he generated less buzz than Winfrey, whose yearly pay is estimated at $260 million, bringing her net worth to about $1.5 billion. The talk show host (and so much more) also had the biggest Web and TV presence, according to Forbes.

Last year's A-list He-Man, Tom Cruise, slipped from the top spot to number eight, with his overall paycheck totaling a mere $31 million. Really, after the tabloid-crazy year that was, his number of press clippings had nowhere to go but down.

Golf superstar Tiger Woods is both the top-ranking athlete in the bunch and, considering he generates headlines every time he picks up a club and pulls in about $100 million a year, is sitting pretty right below Winfrey at number two on the list, despite having only the 16th-highest Web presence.

Madonna, although her pay is only a piddling $72 million these days, received the most press out of all the celebrities listed, had the second-biggest Internet showing, and came in at number three. (Ranked on her biceps alone, she would have been number one, of course.)

Rounding out the top five were the Rolling Stones, whose Bigger Bang tour was the highest grossing musical act in North America last year (and Keith Richards helped on the press side with that malarkey about snorting his dad's ashes), and Brad Pitt, 25th on the pay scale with $35 million but ninth in press, thanks to his roles in Babel and Ocean's Thirteen and his tabloid-friendly cohabitation with Angelina Jolie (14th place).

Meanwhile, the lower-profile (in certain ways) Johnny Depp banked more booty in a single year, $92 million, than any actor in history, thanks to his stake in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, and landed at number six.

Elton John earned $53 million, put out a greatest-hits album in April and celebrated his 60th birthday with a star-studded concert at Madison Square Garden—enough for seventh place; recently un-retired rapper and hip-hop mogul Jay-Z makes his debut on the list at number nine; and the always-influential (and rich) Steven Spielberg, who produced Clint Eastwood's twin critical darlings, Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, and is working on a fourth Indiana Jones pic closes out the top 10.

Other fresh faces this year include the cast of Grey's Anatomy, which as a whole banked $33 million and scrubbed into 12th place; boy-bander turned jack of all trades Justin Timberlake, 34th place; George Clooney, somehow not on this list before but now on it in 40th place; Harry Potter players Daniel Radcliffe, also the top-ranking child star with $15 million, and Emma Watson; Dakota Fanning, the second-biggest underage earner with $4 million; and Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere, who may not be able to regenerate in real life, but is the 98th most powerful celebrity.

Gone since last year are, among others, Paris Hilton (um, did this list include press from the past two weeks?), Nicole Richie, the now 21-year-old Olsen twins, Jennifer Lopez, Bruce Springsteen, the cast of The Sopranos (obviously this list doesn't factor in the past few days), Peter Jackson, Paul McCartney and Law & Order mastermind Dick Wolf. Other notable boldface types who made the list in the past but were MIA this year: Britney Spears (who topped Forbes' 2002 rundown) and Lindsay Lohan.

Tops in their field were:

The king of snark, TV personality Simon Cowell, whose small-screen presence and $45 million paycheck helped him achieve 21st place

Comedian Jerry Seinfeld (42nd place), still powerful on DVD and in syndication with $60 million

Brazilian model Gisele Bündchen, 53rd, who proves that she's more than a pretty face—she's a pretty face with $33 million

Celebrity chef Rachael Ray, whose 30-Minute Meal juggernaut helped her burst through that glass ceiling with $16 million and land in 66th place

Jerry Bruckheimer, who does, in fact, produce everything on CBS—or enough, at least, to make $120 million and rank 39th

Here's a recap of the top 10 from Forbes' 2007 list of the 100 Most Powerful Celebrities:

1. Oprah Winfrey, $260 million
2. Tiger Woods, $100 million
3. Madonna, $72 million
4. Rolling Stones, $88 million
5. Brad Pitt, $35 million
6. Johnny Depp, $92 million
7. Elton John, $53 million
8. Tom Cruise, $31 million
9. Jay-Z, $83 million
10. Steven Spielberg, $110 million

'Pirates' passes $500M mark worldwide

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," starring Johnny Depp, opened on 17,500 screens internationally around the same time as its domestic debut and earned $506 million as of Wednesday, the studio said Wednesday.

The film also took in $1.3 million on its opening day in China on Tuesday, the studio said.

That's a record for the studio, which played the film at 506 locations across the country — its widest release in China ever.

Domestically, the film has taken in $253 million as of Sunday after three weeks in theaters.

The Chinese version of "Pirates" was slightly shorter than the original after censors insisted bits of the film be cut.

Disney excised some of the scenes featuring Chow Yun-Fat as Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng after the Chinese objected due to "cultural sensitivities," Disney said.

"They weren't quite ecstatic with how the Chinese pirate was portrayed," Anthony Marcoly, distribution chief at Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Distribution International, said. "He's still prevalent throughout the movie, though.'

"Ocean's Thirteen" steals No. 1 spot at box office

The Friday-through-Sunday tally for the latest "Ocean's" sequel, returning George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Bernie Mac to the scene of their first heist, Las Vegas, was roughly on par with the debut gross of the first two films in the series.

"Ocean's Thirteen," released by Time Warner Inc. unit Warner Bros. Pictures, is the third film to team Clooney and company with director Steven Soderbergh for a franchise inspired by the 1960 "rat pack" adventure starring Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which had sailed atop the box office for the past two weekends, sank to No. 2 in its third week with $21.3 million in U.S. and Canadian receipts, according to studio figures compiled by box-office tracking firm Media by Numbers.

The comedy "Knocked Up," from Universal Pictures, slipped a notch to No. 3 in its second weekend with $20 million in ticket sales, while the latest animated penguin movie, "Surf's Up," from Sony Pictures Entertainment opened at No. 4 with $18 million.

Another of this summer's blockbuster sequels, the animated storybook satire "Shrek the Third," grossed $15.7 million in its fourth weekend to round out the top five. The DreamWorks Animation SKG film, released through Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures, has now grossed nearly $282 million in domestic distribution.

Sightings

Review: `James' a dreamlike look at fame

It's set during the late 1800s in Missouri, at the end of James' storied criminal career and during the final year of his life before he was shot to death by a member of his gang. A Western in aesthetics only and steeped in period detail, it's really more of a steadily percolating psychological thriller, a study of obsession and paranoia. But it has a dreamlike quality that lifts it from the trappings of time, place and genre, an impressionistic flow reminiscent of the best of Terrence Malick.

Some will call writer-director Andrew Dominik's film slow, overlong, draggy, even self-indulgent. "Languid" and "hypnotic" might be more felicitous words, but it's true, "Jesse James" could have been stronger if it had been a half-hour shorter.

Still, it features some moments of tantalizing suspense, as well as riveting performances from Pitt and Casey Affleck as the killer, Ford. Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider, Sam Shepard and James Carville compose the well-chosen supporting cast. But just as much a star is the great Roger Deakins, the longtime Coen brothers cinematographer who also recently shot "In the Valley of Elah" and who bathes "Jesse James" in a warm, soft sense of melancholy.

That may sound like a surprising stylistic choice given the violent nature of the movie's subject matter, based on Ron Hansen's book, but the result is disarming and inspired. A nighttime train robbery, for example, becomes an almost romantic ballet of light and shadow.

The holdup turns out to be the last for James' stoic older brother Frank (Shepard, barely used), who's getting out of the crime business for good. Jesse carries on with the other longtime members of his gang, as well as a new hanger-on by the name of Bob Ford, who's read about Jesse's exploits in nickel novels from afar and desperately longed to join him.

Affleck does something remarkable here with his performance: He makes you feel sorry for this weasely, whiny, 19-year-old kid, yet fear him at the same time. From the title you know he's the killer, but he's also the film's true villain. Pitt's Jesse can be volatile and his reputation for unflinching violence is justified, but he's so complex and charismatic, you almost want to see him succeed; you certainly don't want to see him shot down, even though you know that's what's going to happen at the outset.

"I have believed I am destined for great things," Bob announces at the beginning, though even he doesn't seem entirely convinced of his words.

Jesse seems vaguely annoyed by this creepy, clingy newcomer but he also likes the idolatry, so he keeps him around to the frustration of his more senior soldiers, Dick Liddil (Schneider) and Wood Hite (Jeremy Renner). Only Bob's ingratiating older brother Charley (Rockwell) is on his side because he figures the two of them can get in on the action as a team.

But slowly, over time, Jesse comes to trust none of them. He suspects that they're all out to get him — not just Bob but the men he's worked with for years — and that if two of them are talking together, they must be conspiring to take out this most wanted of wanted men and collect the reward.

Simultaneously, they grow more frightened of him than they already were, worrying that he has a sixth sense about what they're up to at all times. A scene in which Jesse shows up at a farmhouse where his men are staying and sits down to dinner is breathtaking in its suspense; Charley awkwardly falls all over himself to make Jesse happy, Bob chafes at being the butt of jokes, and Jesse challenges them both in such a way that it's impossible to tell whether he's kidding.

Just because he's paranoid, though, doesn't mean he's wrong. Bob goes from worshipping Jesse to realizing "he's just a human being," a husband and father of two. And so when Jesse asks in toying fashion, "You want to be like me, or you want to be me?" the answer isn't obvious to Bob or to us — and it's no clearer even after he's fatefully pulled the trigger.

"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford," a Warner Bros. release, is rated R for strong violence and brief sexual references. Running time: 160 minutes. Three stars out of four.

Brad Pitt: I Hope My Kids Don't Inherit My Dance Moves

"It is a really special time, a time I value and it's that one-on-one time where you really ask the questions and I want to make sure they have that," the 43-year-old actor told Good Morning America's Diane Sawyer on Friday.

The ritual stems from Pitt's own childhood, which he told Sawyer about in 1997 on ABC's Primetime. "The three of us siblings, we'd jump in our beds, separate rooms, and we'd all be yelling for [mom], because she'd take turns coming from room to room, right? And we'd just talk for hours sometimes. Just talk," he said.

One thing Pitt, 43, doesn't want to pass on to his kids – Maddox, 6, Pax, 3, Zahara, 2, and Shiloh, 1 – are his dance moves.

"We hope they're not soaking up our moves because they'd be seriously lacking in their future. We'll get them some proper training," he said of himself and partner Angelina Jolie. "There's a lot of dancing around the house, a lot of music time."

In terms of what they dance to, Pitt says: "Wheels on the bus and there's, you know, five monkeys jumping on a bed – [singing] no more monkeys jumping on the bed!"

"Ocean's" on deck to overtake "Pirates"

George Clooney and company are looking to shake up the status quo, sending "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" down a few notches while declaring themselves the new boxoffice kings.

After a month in which movies reaching for the widest possible audience dominated, this weekend the studios, though still aiming big, are starting to carve out more specific constituencies. While "Ocean's," from Warner Bros. Pictures and Village Roadshow, is expected to demonstrate broad appeal thanks to its all-star cast -- which should attract an older demographic, i.e. moviegoers over 25 -- Sony Pictures will aim for families as well as teens with its animated "Surf's Up," and Lionsgate Films will attempt to lure the hardcore horror crowd with its sequel "Hostel: Part II."

Even though "At World's End" will command a sizable audience -- if its third-weekend decline stabilizes at around the 50 percent mark, it could bring in a sum just north of $20 million -- it still should be smooth sailing for the "Ocean's" crew. The PG-13 film is the second sequel to a remake, but director Steven Soderbergh remains on board and has rounded up the usual suspects (Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Don Cheadle) while adding Ellen Barkin and Al Pacino to the Las Vegas heist tale.

Soderbergh's first two "Ocean's" films had consistent openings: "Ocean's Eleven" bowed to $38.1 million in December 2001, while "Ocean's Twelve" debuted to $39.2 million three Decembers later. Re-outfitted as summer entertainment, the latest edition, launching in 3,565 theaters, is expected to cross the $40 million mark. Some observers have it reaching as high as $50 million.

PENGUINS POISED FOR ACTION

Meanwhile, with Paramount Pictures/DreamWorks' "Shrek the Third" starting to lose ground -- it ranked third last weekend, grossing $28 million -- Sony is betting that there's room for a new animated entry. The PG "Surf's Up," from Sony Animation, is co-directed by Ash Brannon and Chris Buck and will have to prove itself as an original; like last year's "Happy Feet," it is yet another movie about penguins. But never underestimate penguins.

Shia LaBeouf ("Disturbia") leads the voice cast as surfing penguin Cody Maverick. In a bid to give the film a hipper sheen, "Surf's Up" is shot as if it is something of a sports documentary.

Sony Animation doesn't have the track record yet of a Pixar or a DreamWorks -- its first feature, "Open Season," arrived in September to a $23.6 million opening. But if the waves break right, the new movie could find itself in the low- to mid-$20 million range, which could allow it to nudge aside "At World's End" and capture the No. 2 spot.

The competition likely will be intense for the second through fourth slots because the comedy "Knocked Up," which debuted last weekend with a strong start at No. 2, looks as if it will post one of the best holds of the summer to date. The movie more than held its own during the week; Monday through Wednesday it supplanted "At World's End" in the top spot. A strong hold would see "Knocked Up," which bowed to $30.7 million in its first weekend, hang on in the $20 million-plus region.

The new "Hostel" sequel probably will end up contending in the midteen million-to-$20 million range. Like "Knocked Up," the movie is rated R, though the former is the sweeter of the two, while the latest "Hostel" is aimed at true gore aficionados.

Directed by Eli Roth, who also helmed the original, the new "Hostel" stars Lauren German, Heather Matarazzo and Bijou Phillips as college students who wind up in a veritable meat locker of a Slovakian hostel. The first "Hostel," which opened in January 2006, bit into a first weekend of about $20 million. Because the new entry faces stiffer competition it might not reach that figure. But, debuting in 2,350 theaters, it still could find a spot in the top five.

"Pirates" races past $400 million overseas

Its foreign total stands at $408.8 million. Worldwide, including North America, "At World's End" has grossed $625.3 million to date.

"At World's End" is the 24th film in industry history to have grossed more than $400 million overseas, and the fifth Disney title to pass that milestone.

The latest in the "Pirates" film already has grossed 16% more than the final international total ($350 million) of 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and 60% of the final overseas gross ($642 million) accumulated by last year's "Dead Man's Chest."

The weekend's only new market was India, where "At World's End" made off with an estimated $1.4 million, 50% more than the combined opening gross in the market of the first two "Pirates" titles. It was the market's third-biggest opening ever, Disney said.

"At World's End" was No. 1 with mighty market share everywhere. In Japan, it earned $11.5 million (off just 4%), for a market total of $35.5 million. In the U.K., the weekend tally also was $11.5 million (down 49%), for a total of $57 million.

Meanwhile, "Spider-Man 3" registered a weekend estimate of $11.8 million from 77 territories, lifting its overseas total to $525.7 million. Sony said it now ranks as the 12th-biggest overseas box office hit in industry history, one notch behind last year's "The Da Vinci Code," which grossed $539.7 million. Worldwide, "Spider-Man 3" has earned $844 million in five weeks.

"Zodiac" performed well despite the tentpole onslaught, grossing $5.8 million from 38 territories. The crime drama's overseas total stands at $26.4 million.

"Shrek the Third" added four markets -- India, Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand -- to an as-yet-limited foreign rollout, garnering an estimated $4 million from nine territories. Its overseas total rose to $27.6 million. It will bow in 36 territories by June 30.

Other foreign totals: "28 Weeks Later," $16.7 million; "Shooter," $44.3 million; "Mr. Bean's Holiday," $181.2 million; "Hot Fuzz," $50.1 million; and "300," $232.2 million.

Johnny Depp wins at MTV Movie Awards

Depp joined "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer to accept the Golden Popcorn trophy.

"This is the man who did it all right here, Johnny Depp," Bruckheimer said. "Without him, we wouldn't be here."

"I'd like to thank this man and Disney for not firing me first," Depp quipped.

Other big winners during the live broadcast from the Gibson Amphitheater included Mike Myers, who won the MTV Generation Award, and Sacha Baron Cohen, who collected two trophies.

Cohen earned the comedic performance prize for his starring turn in "Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan."

"Unfortunately, Borat can't be here tonight," he joked. "He's been feeling the pressures of fame and had to check himself into rehab."

Cohen also claimed best-kiss honors for his smooch with Will Ferrell in "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby." The two comedians shared a long, passionate kiss — culminating in a roll-around-on-the-floor makeout session — as they accepted their awards.

The movie prizes were almost upstaged by a star who wasn't nominated for any: Paris Hilton.

The heiress, who must report to Los Angeles County Jail by midnight Tuesday, caused a commotion when she arrived on the ruby carpet outside the amphitheater. Wearing a ruffled black dress and dazzling jewels, she flashed her trademark coy smile as she posed for photos and talked with reporters.

"I'm really scared but I'm ready to face my sentence," she said. "Even though this is a really hard time, I have my family, my friends and my fans to support me, and that's really helpful."

Host Sarah Silverman cracked a crude joke at Hilton's expense to open the show. When the camera panned to Hilton, she was not smiling.

Then the focus turned to films. MTV's irreverent mix of honors includes prizes for best fight and best villain, plus awards for aspiring filmmakers.

Jack Nicholson was the winning villain, capturing the Golden Popcorn trophy for his mobster role in "The Departed." The fight prize went to Gerard Butler, who battled "The Uber Immortal" in the epic "300."

The breakthrough performance prize went to 9-year-old Jaden Smith, who starred opposite his father, Will Smith, in "The Pursuit of Happyness." He accepted his award by video from Toronto with his dad by his side and his mom behind the camera.

The two-hour program was punctuated by musical performances. Rihanna and Jay-Z paired up on her new song "Umbrella," and soul songstress Amy Winehouse sang her megahit, "Rehab."

The 16-year-old awards show unveiled two new categories Sunday: best movie spoof and best summer movie you haven't seen yet. Andy Signore, a filmmaker from Pennsylvania, won for "United 300," a hybrid spoof of "300" and "United 93."

"Transformers," due July 3, was named the best as-yet-unseen summer film.

MTV viewers voted by telephone, text message and Internet to choose the winners in all categories.

"Pirates," "Knocked Up" lead box office

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, the third installment in Walt Disney Co.'s buccaneering franchise sold $43.2 million worth of tickets in the three days beginning June 1. Its 10-day total stands at $216.5 million. But the second Pirates film, "Dead Man's Chest" had earned $258 million after the same time last year.

Worldwide, the Johnny Depp adventure has earned $625.3 million, and will soon pass the $653 million total of the first Pirates film -- 2003's "The Curse of the Black Pearl." "Dead Man's Chest" topped out at $1.1 billion.

"Knocked Up" squeezed out $29.3 million, equivalent to its production budget. The film's distributor, Universal Pictures, had hoped the acclaimed comedy would open in the same $21 million range as director Judd Apatow's previous film, 2005's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." The Steve Carell comedy went on to make $109 million domestically.

The new film stars Katherine Heigl ("Grey's Anatomy") as an entertainment journalist impregnated during a drunken one-night-stand with a slacker, played by Seth Rogen.

Exit surveys provided by Universal indicated that 57 percent of the audience was female, and 44 percent were under 30. It is also the best-reviewed wide release so far this year with raves from 92 percent of critics, according to Rotten Tomatoes (http://www.rottentomatoes.com), a Web site that tabulates reviews.

Amid a proliferation of family-friendly sequels, the film was "absolutely a breath of fresh air for the target audience," said Nikki Rocco, Universal's president of domestic distribution.

Universal, a unit of General Electric Co.'s NBC Universal Inc., has largely been missing in box office action this year. The studio and Carell will return on June 22 with "Evan Almighty," whose reported $175 million budget makes it the costliest comedy of all time.

DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Shrek the Third" slipped one to No. 3 with $26.7 million, taking its three-week haul to $254.6 million -- about $100 million off the pace of 2004's "Shrek 2."

Also new was the Kevin Costner thriller "Mr. Brooks," which opened at No. 4 with $10 million, in line with the modest expectations of its closely held distributor, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.

Costner plays a man held in high esteem by the community, who is a serial killer and is in turn pursued by a stalker. Critics were scathing, and exit surveys were not good.

"Spider-Man 3" fell two places to No. 5 with $7.5 million. The superhero franchise has earned $318.3 million after five weeks. The worldwide total stands at $844 million, surpassing the $821 million haul of 2002's "Spider-Man," the previous record-holder in the franchise. "Spider-Man 2," released in 2004, finished with $784 million worldwide. The series was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE).

`Pirates' opening booty: $404M worldwide

The third "Pirates" film starring Johnny Depp as boozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow surpassed the four-day mark of $122.9 million for last year's "X-Men: The Last Stand," the previous record-holder for a Memorial Day weekend.

"At World's End" raised its domestic gross to $153 million since debuting with Thursday night preview screenings. Overseas, the movie has added an additional $251 million since the sequel began rolling out overseas last Wednesday.

The franchise failed to snatch back the three-day weekend record it lost to this month's "Spider-Man 3," whose $151.1 million debut eclipsed the $135.6 million mark for last summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Monday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Tuesday by Media By Numbers LLC are:

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," Disney, $139,802,190, 4,362 locations, $32,050 average, $153,042,234, one week.

2. "Shrek the Third," DreamWorks Animation-Paramount, $67,010,012, 4,172 locations, $16,062 average, $217,348,470, two weeks.

3. "Spider-Man 3," Sony, $18,112,261, 3,723 locations, $4,865 average, $307,754,583, four weeks.

4. "Bug," Lionsgate, $4,015,846, 1,661 locations, $2,418 average, $4,015,846, one week.

5. "Waitress," Fox Searchlight, $4,005,008, 510 locations, $7,853 average, $6,522,396, four weeks.

6. "28 Weeks Later," Fox Atomic, $3,280,306, 2,013 locations, $1,630 average, $24,401,556, three weeks.

7. "Disturbia," DreamWorks-Paramount, $2,433,028, 1,632 locations, $1,491 average, $74,943,105, seven weeks.

8. "Georgia Rule," Universal, $2,407,910, 1,904 locations, $1,265 average, $16,832,880, three weeks.

9. "Fracture," New Line, $1,646,761, 907 locations, $1,816 average, $37,170,866, six weeks.

10. "Wild Hogs," Disney, $1,586,929, 426 locations, $3,725 average, $163,409,353, 13 weeks.

11. "The Invisible," Disney, $1,102,840, 457 locations, $2,413 average, $19,211,918, five weeks.

12. "Away From Her," Lionsgate, $947,459, 256 locations, $3,701 average, $2,568,800, four weeks.

13. "Delta Farce," Lionsgate, $649,713, 833 locations, $780 average, $7,341,920, three weeks.

14. "Blades of Glory," DreamWorks-Paramount, $643,146, 317 locations, $2,029 average, $116,366,996, nine weeks.

15. "Hot Fuzz," Focus, $636,457, 462 locations, $1,378 average, $22,311,585, six weeks.

16. "Paris Je T'aime," First Look, $550,796, 58 locations, $9,496 average, $896,808, four weeks.

17. "Once," Fox Searchlight, $435,958, 20 locations, $21,798 average, $540,753, two weeks.

18. "300," Warner Bros., $435,414, 403 locations, $1,080 average, $209,184,269, 12 weeks.

19. "Next," Paramount, $414,505, 309 locations, $1,341 average, $17,320,209, five weeks.

20. "Black Book," Sony Pictures Classics, $411,891, 172 locations, $2,395 average, $3,368,552, eight weeks.

Latest "Pirates" underperforms previous film

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" sold an estimated $126.5 million worth of tickets during the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend, distributor Walt Disney Co. said on Sunday.

The three-day tally compares with the $151 million record set four weekends ago by "Spider-Man 3," erasing the old mark of $135.6 million established last year by the second film in the "Pirates" franchise, "Dead Man's Chest."

The tally for the latest "Pirates" film includes sales from Thursday-evening previews. Disney declined to detail that sum Sunday, but earlier in the weekend, it had provided an estimate of $14 million.

"Pirates" did, however, break the four-day (Friday-Monday) Memorial Day record with a day to spare. The old mark of $123 million was set last year by "X-Men: The Last Stand."

Internationally, "Pirates" earned $176.7 million from 102 markets, Disney said.

Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Picture Marketing and Distribution, said he was "not a bit" disappointed by the North American tally, given the tough competition.

Depp returns, as Captain Jack Sparrow, as do co-stars Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, on whom Depp modeled his slurring, boozy character, makes a cameo as Sparrow's father. All three films were directed by Gore Verbinski.

Critics were largely unenthused by the latest film, but their words of warning are often ignored when it comes to big-budget popcorn extravaganzas.

Meanwhile, incumbent North American champ "Shrek the Third" slipped to No. 2 with $51 million, a week after opening to $122 million. Its 10-day haul rose to $201 million. The animated comedy was produced by DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc. and released by Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures.

"Spider-Man 3" followed at No. 3 with $13.7 million in its fourth weekend. Its total stands at $303.3 million. The superhero franchise was released by Columbia Pictures, a unit of Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE).

`Pirates' opens with $112.5 million

"At World's End" had the fifth-biggest three-day opening ever, with this month's "Spider-Man 3" ($151.1 million) and "Shrek the Third" ($121.6 million) both outperforming it.

Adding in $14 million from Thursday night preview screenings, "At World's End" had taken in $126.5 million domestically, according to studio estimates Sunday. The Thursday night screenings skewed the weekend figures for "At World's End," which likely would have done much of that business on Friday without those previews.

"At World's End" took in an additional $205.5 million internationally since it began rolling out overseas Wednesday, putting its worldwide total at $332 million.

Though it missed out on key box-office records, "At World's End" is on course to surpass last year's "X-Men: The Last Stand," which had the best four-day Memorial Day weekend debut with $122.9 million.

"We will go flying by that," said Chuck Viane, Disney head of distribution.

After 2003's acclaimed "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," reviews were mixed at best for both sequels.

Critics found the second and third movies more akin to the Disney theme-park attraction on which the franchise is based, cinematic thrill rides whose huge visual set pieces supplanted much of the charm of the first film, which earned Johnny Depp an Academy Award nomination as boozy buccaneer Jack Sparrow.

Released just 10 months after "Dead Man's Chest," the new movie picks up from that cliffhanger as Sparrow's friends and foes (Keira Knightley, Orlando Bloom and Geoffrey Rush) set sail to rescue him from Davy Jones' locker.

It remains to be seen how well "At World's End" will measure up in the long run to "Curse of the Black Pearl," which topped out at $305 million, and "Dead Man's Chest," last year's biggest hit with $423 million.

"Fifth-biggest opening of all time. There's really nothing to complain about here," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "These numbers tell us that people love to see these `Pirates' movies, regardless of reviews, regardless of any other factors."

With a big first weekend behind it, "At World's End" appears positioned to avoid the fate of some third installments such as "Jurassic Park III" and "The Matrix Revolutions," whose returns fell far short of their predecessors.

The new "Pirates" poached the box-office crown from DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third," whose No. 1 debut a week earlier was a record opening for an animated film. "Shrek the Third" slipped to second place with $51 million, pushing its domestic total just beyond $200 million.

With $13.7 million, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" came in third, raising its domestic take to $303.3 million. Worldwide, "Spider-Man 3" has topped $800 million.

"At World's End" was hindered by a running time of two hours, 47 minutes, limiting the number of screenings theaters could schedule. "Dead Man's Chest" was about 15 minutes shorter and "Spider-Man 3" was nearly a half-hour shorter.

But "At World's End" made up for that by playing in more theaters, an all-time high of 4,362, 110 more than "Spider-Man 3," the previous record-holder.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Tuesday.

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $112.5 million.
2. "Shrek the Third," $51 million.
3. "Spider-Man 3," $13.7 million.
4. "Bug," $3.3 million.
5. "Waitress," $3.1 million.
6. "28 Weeks Later," $2.5 million.
7. "Georgia Rule," $1.9 million.
8. "Disturbia," $1.8 million.
9. "Wild Hogs," $1.1 million.
10. "Fracture," $1.08 million.

"Pirates" grosses $58 million in limited release

The film, starring Johnny Depp as the woozy pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, nearly sold out late-night showings at U.S. cinemas on Thursday night for a total of $17 million.

Overseas, Wednesday and Thursday night showings scored $41.1 million, Disney said.

The film was released in 52 countries and territories in addition to the United States and that release widened to 102 countries on Friday.

"At World's End" will be opening in a record 4,362 North American theatres, about 110 more than "Spider-Man 3" and about 200 more than DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Shrek the Third," which set an opening-weekend record last week for an animated film at $122 million. The figures come from Media by Numbers, a box office tracking firm.

Mark Zoradi, president of Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures marketing and Distribution, said U.S. exit surveys "gave the film among the highest numbers in Disney's history and placed it well above comparable scores" for the first two "Pirates" films.

`Pirates' opens to record theater count

The third film in the "Pirates" franchise officially opens Friday in an all-time high of 4,362 theaters domestically, 110 more than the previous record-holder, "Spider-Man 3."

Released by the Walt Disney Co., "Pirates of the Caribbean" now aims to snatch back the record for best debut it lost this month to "Spider-Man 3," the Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). blockbuster that pulled in $151.1 million over opening weekend.

That debut shattered last summer's record of $135.6 million set by "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

The length of "At World's End" — two hours, 47 minutes — will be a hurdle, limiting the number of screenings theaters can fit in each day. The movie runs about 15 minutes longer than "Dead Man's Chest" and nearly half an hour longer than "Spider-Man 3."

"At World's End" also faces stiffer competition than "Spider-Man 3," which had no other big movies to contend with when it opened May 4. Besides "Spider-Man 3," the animated blockbuster "Shrek the Third" will be competing with "At World's End" for audiences.

Along with the higher theater count, "At World's End" has the advantage of opening over the Memorial Day weekend, which should boost its Sunday grosses since movie-goers have the day off Monday.

That gives the "Pirates" sequel a better chance to beat the Friday-through-Sunday receipts for "Spider-Man 3," which opened over a non-holiday weekend.

To get a jump on the official release date Friday, many theaters scheduled early screenings of "At World's End" at 8 p.m. Thursday. Once it opens, the movie will be running around the clock at some cinemas to meet audience demand, said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

"We hear there are theaters that once they open tonight will be open for 24 straight hours," Viane said Thursday.

Third "Pirates" sets sail for Memorial Day record

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," which opens on Friday in 102 countries and territories is the final film in a trilogy that has so far grossed $1.7 billion at global box offices and has sold 40 million DVDs and home videos for the Walt Disney Co.

Advance ticket sales for the film were on par with the record-breaking $151 million debut earlier this month for Sony Corp.'s "Spider-Man 3" but the film's length -- nearly three hours with trailers -- will limit the number of times it is shown and could affect its 3-day total, said Jeff Bock, an analyst for box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

"At World's End" also appears to be opening on slightly fewer screens than "Spider-Man" and DreamWorks Animation SKG Inc.'s "Shrek the Third," which set an opening weekend record last week for an animated film at $122 million.

"We are looking at a bow (debut) that's got to be between 'Shrek the Third' and 'Spider-Man 3,' and if everything works out it could surpass it," Bock said.

"No doubt it will be the biggest Memorial Day opening weekend, eclipsing 'X-Men: Last Stand' with a 4-day $122 million total," Bock added.

Top U.S. online ticket sellers Fandango.com and MovieTickets.com both showed "At World's End" outpacing "Spider-Man" at the same point in the sales cycle.

Disney Chief Executive Robert Iger told attendees at the Society of American Business Editors and Writers this week he was anxiously awaiting the public's reaction to the new film.

"This is one of those weekends where you are on your computer or waiting by the phone to get the results almost on an hourly basis," Iger said.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," the second film in the series, was the first live-action movie to pass $1 billion in global box-office sales during a theatrical run. Disney has positioned itself to reap the full benefit of what could be the lucrative franchise's final film.

The company enlisted 13 corporate partners -- the most ever for any Disney film -- to promote "At World's End." The partners include Volvo, Verizon Communications Inc., Coca-Cola Co., Circuit City, Best Buy and Toys 'R Us.

Disney has shipped 2.8 million units of its new video game and 2 million books from its "Pirates of the Caribbean" series in conjunction with the release of "At World's End." The book franchise, which boasts 60 titles, has already sold 9 million units.

"Pirates" merchandise is the company's No. 2 selling line from a feature film, behind "Cars," and the company plans to continue with the line of clothing, jewelry, furnishings, toys and collectibles for years to come, a Disney spokesman said.

The Walt Disney World and Disneyland theme parks installed WiFi hot spots that let gamers download exclusive content for the online "Pirates" game. Disneyland retooled its Tom Sawyer Island as a "Pirates Lair" that opens on Friday.

Depp's Capt. Jack redefined pic pirates

Johnny Depp defines the pirate of the new millennium with Captain Jack Sparrow, his drunken, dreadlocked scamp at the center of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy. With his flamboyant style and campy charm, Depp's Jack Sparrow is a departure from the macho swashbucklers of yore, yet with the same good looks and rebellious edge that have long made pirate films so popular.

"He's so handsome," said "Pirates of the Caribbean" producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "Let's face it, he's a heartthrob, and the fact that he gave it this real character twist adds to the intrigue and the fun of the movie."

Past movie pirates were typically tough guys — take-no-prisoners types who managed to slay the villain and get the girl.

"These were vehicles for the most handsome and athletic of all Hollywood stars," said Jonathan Kuntz, a professor of film history at UCLA. "Jack Sparrow is a definite contrast to the hero of those days."

Sparrow is the rare pirate captain "who's such a goofball," said film historian Leonard Maltin.

He's not so serious and not so brave — more a silly rapscallion who flirts with women and danger but prefers a nice bottle of rum.

"He's enormously appealing," Maltin said. "He's so off-the-wall and such a total surprise, everybody was disarmed and delighted. ... He's made such a tremendous impact, he's now immortalized at Disneyland" as part of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride, on which the original movie was based.

Depp's co-star Naomie Harris, who plays Tia Dalma in "Pirates" 2 and 3, credits the actor's unique pirate character for much of the movie's allure.

"When I ask people, `What do you want so badly to see in the second and the third,' often they say Johnny Depp," she said. "I think it's incredible how he just made that character his own, just did his own thing with it."

But Bruckheimer said Jack Sparrow isn't vastly different from other pirates who've sailed Hollywood's seas, such as Wallace Beery, who starred as Long John Silver in 1934's "Treasure Island."

"He was outrageous, too," Bruckheimer said. "He was bigger than life and fun. He didn't play a drunk, but it was really out there."

Maltin also compared Depp's character to Long John Silver, only he pointed to Robert Newton's version in Disney's 1950 telling of "Treasure Island."

"Newton's performance is probably the closest antecedent to Jack Sparrow because he's colorful, unpredictable, roguish and scurrilous but somehow likable," Maltin said.

Though Jack Sparrow is more goofy than gallant, he can still stand up for himself in a sword fight. He fought aspiring pirate Will Turner in the first two films, and with his tenacity could surely give past movie pirates a run for their booty.

"He's a fly you can't swat," said "Pirates" director Gore Verbinski. "The booger that's stuck to your finger, and you flick it and it's on your other finger. And you try to flick it again, and he keeps coming back. He's pesky in that way. In that final battle with Davy Jones, he just keeps showing up."

He also defines the macho pirate in a way that makes sense for the new millennium, Kuntz said.

"We're in the 21st century and the whole idea of masculinity has been questioned," he said. "Depp is idiosyncratic and unique and amazing. He's still got something going for him, but it's something quite different from Errol Flynn."

"Pirates" finds treasures in Southern California

While the majority of the first two films in the Walt Disney Co.'s billion-dollar franchise were shot in the Caribbean locales of the Bahamas and Dominica, a good chunk of "At World's End" was shot closer to home, not only on studio stages but also in areas just outside Los Angeles -- with a quick jaunt to Utah thrown in for good measure.

"The things that we could shoot here, we absolutely brought back to Los Angeles," said Eric McLeod, who executive produced both "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and "At World's End."

Producer Jerry Bruckheimer was more succinct on why the production moved back home. "We support people here, that's why," he said.

Shipping the Black Pearl last year via the Panama Canal, the production moored the ship in 70-80 feet of water off the coast of Palos Verdes and Redondo Beach, shooting nonaction scenes and exciting the paparazzi that gathered onshore. The filmmakers also shot on the beaches near Santa Maria, north of Santa Barbara, for a shipwreck scene.

"We needed a place that was along the coast that has unique and interesting sand dunes that go to the water's edge, and it was the closest place to L.A. that we could find that look," McLeod said.

BATTLE REQUIREMENTS

The key reason for the move was a 40-minute climactic sequence involving two ships battling in the maelstrom of a violent whirlpool.

"I was planning that sequence before I started shooting 'Pirates 2,"' director Gore Verbinski said. "Doing storyboards, previsualization, cutting it to music. When you break something like that down, it becomes a shot-specific conversation."

It was a sequence that involved full-size replicas of the movies' Black Pearl and Flying Dutchman, not to mention greenscreens, rain machines and wind fans.

"This was something we couldn't do in the Bahamas or (off the coast of) Los Angeles because it's quite the storm," McLeod said. "We needed size. We explored stages at Disney and Universal and Sony -- and nothing. These ships are about 130 feet long and, with the gimbal and the mast, they are sitting almost 60 feet tall, plus you need lighting and the rain system sitting above all that. We needed in essence a 300-by-300 (foot) clear span area with no support beams just to set everything up."

The production found the required space in two huge hangars at the Palmdale Regional Airport. Referred to as Site 9, the facility is owned by the City of Los Angeles World Airports. The hangars had been sitting empty as the city looked for an aeronautical tenant until a location manager had the brainstorm that they could be used for filming. The hangars -- one measuring 332,000 square feet, the other 202,000 square feet -- had been used once before in a film: Steven Spielberg built an entire airport in them for "The Terminal."

DYING BREED

Verbinski felt lucky that the production found the facility. "These places are dying," he said. "There's not that many of them around."

For several months last year, the facility became home to a 225-by-225-square-foot greenscreen, four full ships on gimbals that rocked side to side and a huge sprinkler and filtration system that pumped massive amounts of water and then collected it back up again.

The production fully engaged three local hotels and used several more for overflow, generating more than $1 million in hotel revenue, local officials said.

In the end, however, shooting close to home was about more than just economics.

"Between 'Pirates 2' and 'Pirates 3,' our shooting schedule went on for almost two years," McLeod said. "To know who your kids are and to stay married, you need to, you want to, stay as close to home as possible."

Review: Third `Pirates' big, messy fun

The third movie in the freakishly successful "Pirates" franchise feels substantial and looks impressive and fulfills the hype surrounding it in a way the other thirds — Spidey and Shrek — haven't so far.

Having said that, it is, of course, a giant meandering mess that leaves you feeling as if you've been tossed about on the high seas for three hours, but theoretically that's also part of the allure of these movies. Director Gore Verbinski and writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio return with even bigger helpings of special effects, including an interminable climax in which the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman battle each other in the driving rain while circling along the edge of a swirling, sucking maelstrom.

And yet, within such sequences, there are enough individual "wow" moments that make you appreciate just how inventive and complicated an achievement this was. Stuff gets blown up (this is a Jerry Bruckheimer production, after all) and it looks like real stuff really getting blown up, not just digital blips that have been manipulated by hundreds of people sitting in the dark in front of computer screens. Though CGI technology clearly was used often, "At World's End" never appears fakey-cartoony, like so many of these epics often do.

For better and for worse, the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" actually resembles the Disney amusement park ride that inspired the series more than its predecessors (with traces of the "It's a Small World" ride thrown in for good measure), especially when characters are cruising through some waterway, singing some rousing yo-ho song. You're constantly aware that what you're watching is a manufactured vision of what heroes and ruffians are supposed to do and say, and yet the kid in you wants to give in, then go for a $5 cotton candy afterward.

As for the plot — not that it ever matters — this one's more confusing than ever. Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) must rescue Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the purgatory of Davy Jones' Locker, where he wound up last year at the end of "Dead Man's Chest." They also must round up the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court, sort of a U.N. of unsavory behavior, in the hopes that their combined power can stop the Machiavellian Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), head of the East India Co., from ridding the world of pirates.

All of these people end up double-crossing one another at some point — switching alliances and screwing each other over in ways that make "Survivor" look subtle — and if you stopped to think about whether it all makes sense, it would make your head spin.

And, there's more!

Will also wants to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard, still covered in barnacles), from the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, which Beckett controls. At the same time, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, still covered in tentacles) wants to get his heart back, which is trapped inside a chest, which Beckett's goons control. And Will and Elizabeth must win each other's hearts back after various romantic stops and starts.

Along for the ride once again are the sorceress Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris); wacky, bickering sidekicks Pintel (Lee Arenberg) and Raghetti (Mackenzie Crook); and a new partner, Chinese pirate Captain Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat), who reluctantly provides the charts, ship and crew that will help the good guys find Jack.

And it is good to see Jack again. Depp's wildly unpredictable, effete shtick made part one, 2003's "The Curse of the Black Pearl," a thrill to watch. By the time part two came around, it had gotten old; he'd earned an Oscar nomination for doing it, we knew it was coming. Here, though, Depp gets to bring some nuance to the character, something you don't ordinarily expect from a big, summer popcorn movie.

The first time he appears, in a wonderfully surreal, strikingly sparse scene in which he's stuck in the desert with his ship, he's hallucinating dozens of versions of himself, like a moment out of "Being John Malkovich." All of Depp's range is right there on display: He's goofy, proud, brazen, sometimes fearful, but always riveting.

Later, tiny versions of Jack stand on his shoulders, whispering in his ears and goading him into action. It's straight out of the Bugs Bunny cartoons, one of the longtime inspirations behind the physical comedy in the series. But then again, there are also references to Shakespeare and spaghetti Westerns, just to show you how all-over-the-place "At World's End" can be.

Knightley also gets to come into her own — not that Elizabeth was ever a traditional damsel in distress — but here she evolves from feisty fighter to a woman of real confidence and power. The "Pirates" movies may seem like a man's world by definition, but this time there's a strong message for girls and young women, as well.

Whew! That's a lot to digest, huh? And we haven't even mentioned the cameo from Keith Richards yet.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is rated PG-13 for intense sequences of action/adventure, violence and some frightening images. Running time: 167 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

`Pirates' seeks more box-office booty

Disney's third "Pirates" flick arrives Friday, just a week after DreamWorks Animation's "Shrek the Third" set a new high for animated debuts and three weeks after Sony's "Spider-Man 3" shattered the record for best opening weekend.

The three franchises now account for the top debuts ever: "Spider-Man 3" with a domestic haul of $151.1 million, last summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" with $135.6 million and "Shrek the Third" with $121.6 million.

Can the "Pirates" franchise reclaim the opening-weekend record it lost to "Spider-Man 3"?

"I don't think you can break their record, because when they came in the marketplace, there weren't a lot of big movies. So there were a lot of screens available," said "Pirates" producer Jerry Bruckheimer. "We'll have two huge movies in the marketplace. We can't get the amount of seats they had. ...

"So I doubt if we'll do it, but you never know. If we get opened to a nice number, I'll be thrilled."

Even if "Pirates" does not surpass the opening of "Spider-Man 3," studios expect one of the busiest times ever for modern Hollywood over the long Memorial Day weekend.

Some of the year's biggest releases are always out around Memorial Day, but the industry has never had a trio of such mammoth sequels fresh in theaters as the third installments in the "Spider-Man," "Shrek" and "Pirates" franchises.

"Memorial Day weekend is like the Super Bowl of box-office weekends," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. "In particular this year, it will have all three of these big `three-quels' extending their reach for that longer weekend."

The three movies could lift Hollywood beyond its busiest Memorial Day ever in 2004, when the industry grossed $247 million over the four-day weekend.

"With the head of steam that has been built up, it's possible to have a record-breaking holiday, for sure," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney.

Through last weekend, Hollywood's domestic revenue for 2007 was at $3.3 billion, 6.5 percent ahead of last year's receipts. Factoring in higher ticket prices, movie attendance is up 3 percent this year.

With a rush of big movies in the wings, Hollywood's summer season could finish as a record-breaker, as well.

Summer's first three blockbusters will be followed by a sequel-laden lineup that includes " Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," "Evan Almighty," "Ocean's Thirteen," "Live Free or Die Hard," "The Bourne Ultimatum" and "Rush Hour 3."

Analysts say the industry could have its first $4 billion summer, surpassing the $3.95 billion revenue record set in 2004 and possibly topping modern Hollywood's admissions record of 653.4 million tickets sold in summer 2002.

The third "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie reunites producer Bruckheimer, director Gore Verbinski and stars Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush, the same team that launched the franchise in 2003.

That summer's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" took in $305.4 million domestically, a surprise sensation considering the movie was based on a Disney theme-park ride.

Last July's "Dead Man's Chest" was 2006's biggest hit with $423.3 million.

Much of the second and third films were shot at the same time, allowing Disney to follow the cliffhanger of "Dead Man's Chest" with "At World's End" just 10 months later.

The new movie picks up where the second left off, with Bloom, Knightley and Rush embarking on a voyage to rescue Depp's buccaneer Jack Sparrow from Davy Jones' locker.

Anyone who gets claustrophobic in crowds may want to avoid theater multiplexes this weekend. But for movie fans who just can't wait for the next big hit, sitting in a dark theater with a bunch of strangers is the thing to do this weekend, studio executives said.

"I just love that opening-weekend thrill, being there with all the avid fans," Disney's Viane said. "The most exciting time to view a movie is that first weekend, when you can be part of what I call the communal effect of cinema and you can share the laughter and the cheers with a sold-out auditorium."

Depp: Captain Jack Sparrow may be back

Before the Tokyo premiere Wednesday of the series' third installment, Depp said he would consider taking the oddball character out for one more spin.

"It's been a great experience," Depp said. "Trying to discover who Captain Jack was, getting slapped around by the Disney people — it was all fun."

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" was to premiere Wednesday and open in theaters across the United States and elsewhere on May 24.

Depp stars as the eclectic and mascara-fancying pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, who is rescued at the beginning of the movie from Davy Jones' Locker, where he wound up last year at the end of "Dead Man's Chest," to begin a journey that takes the Black Pearl and its crew to, well, the end of the world.

It's not an easy story to follow.

Will Turner (Orlando Bloom), Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) and Captain Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush) must rescue Jack and round up the Nine Lords of the Brethren Court to stop the Machiavellian Lord Cutler Beckett (Tom Hollander), head of the East India Co., from ridding the world of pirates.

Will also wants to free his father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard, still covered in barnacles), from the ghost ship the Flying Dutchman, which Beckett controls. At the same time, Davy Jones (Bill Nighy, still covered in tentacles) wants to get his heart back, which is trapped inside a chest, which Beckett's goons control. And Will and Elizabeth must win each other's hearts back after various romantic stops and starts.

The film completes what had originally been intended as a trilogy of movies based on the ride by the same name at Disneyland.

Depp, who was nominated for an Oscar for his quirky portrayal of Captain Jack, said the pirates may rise again.

"There was always that potential that each of us would have to say goodbye to the character," Depp said. "But if it is over, which one never knows, Captain Jack will always be with me."

Even so, producer Jerry Bruckheimer cautioned that no one will be jumping right back into the waters.

"This is the end for now," he said. "I think everybody is exhausted and needs some time off. We're all going to take a little break."

Third "Pirates" film grows up, themes turn darker

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End" opens on Friday and some experts think the Walt Disney Co. film will set a new record for biggest opening day weekend, a title that the film's predecessor "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" held last year when it opened at $135.6 million but lost earlier this month after "Spider-Man 3" debuted at $151.1 million.

In the latest "Pirates," lovers Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley) set sail to raise Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) from the dead and unite the Nine Pirate Lords against the East India Trading Company, which wants to hunt down pirates using a cursed ship called the Flying Dutchman.

The movie brings back cast members from the earlier films, including Geoffrey Rush as Captain Barbossa, Jack Davenport as Admiral Norrington and Bill Nighy as Davy Jones, the captain of the Flying Dutchman, but as more careworn, sunburned versions of those characters.

"I think the first movie was much more naive in a way. The love story gets complicated and there are betrayals, distrust and jealousy," director Gore Verbinski told Reuters.

"Those are things that you have to overcome to have that love story grow up. Our audience has grown up -- those 9 year olds are now 13 year olds."

DIZZYING PLOT TWISTS

As the East India Trading Company hunts the pirates, they turn against each other in a series of betrayals that make for dizzying plot twists and transformations of the characters from trustworthy to suspect and back again.

Actor Orlando Bloom said he enjoyed seeing his lovelorn young blacksmith grow up into a full-fledged pirate whose intentions may or may not be honorable by the end of the movie.

"(Will) embraces the pirates' code and the idea of being a pirate in order to get what he wants, which in turn sort of puts a question mark above his head (about) his motives," Bloom told Reuters. "I think he can't escape who he is."

The action takes the adventurers from the Caribbean shack of the mysterious Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris) to Singapore, where they meet the Chinese pirate lord Captain Sao Feng, played by Hong Kong action star Chow Yun-Fat.

"Nobody is a good guy and nobody is a bad guy -- everybody is out for himself in the pirate world," Chow told Reuters.

Chow, who had director Verbinski personally shave his head and endured 2-1/2 hours daily in the makeup chair to become the scarred Sao Feng, said making "At World's End" was "like my Christmas every day."

"I never wanted to leave," he said.

While it ties up plot threads hinted at in the previous two films, "At World's End" winds the series up at a new starting point for further adventures of Captain Jack, if producers, Disney and the cast should so desire.

Depp has said he would sign on for another film, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, who was ridiculed for basing the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" on a Disneyland ride until the franchise became a $1.7 billion blockbuster, said last week that a fourth film is possible.

"Who knows where that little boat will lead us?" he told Reuters. "Obviously we've thought of something because there is a hint of something at the end."

Verbinski, who directed all three films in a grueling four years, said Captain Jack may have set sail for the last time with Will and Elizabeth.

"We've all felt like we've finished the story of the governor's daughter and Port Royale and ... the destiny of Will Turner," he said. "Whether there is the continued adventures of Jack Sparrow somewhere down the road, that would be a sort of start-over and would have to be a story that's worth telling."

Depp says Keith Richards is `Cool'

Depp, who received an Oscar nomination for his work in the first "Pirates" film, said he drew inspiration for loopy pirate king Jack Sparrow from Richards.

"He was one of the people I admired for what he's done and how he's handled it," the 43-year-old actor tells Rolling Stone magazine in its new issue, on newsstands Friday. "Forty-whatever years of being this god. And he's just cool."

The Rolling Stones guitarist agreed to play Sparrow's father, Captain Teague, in "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," the third installment of the blockbuster film franchise.

"It was the right place at the right time with the right guys," said Richards, 63, who was also interviewed.

"Me, I'm just a musician," Richards said. "And if the people like my stuff, thank God. It pushes me on to do more. And I want to do more. That's something that you don't factor in when you start this game."

Richards said Depp and Mick Jagger have been the best at impersonating him.

"There's been loads of wannabes," he said. "But it's all posing with a guitar. And not playing right, not looking right, so not being me. ... Really, it's just in the bones and in the moves. You don't know what attracts people to what you do."

"You think, `Who's the greatest rock 'n' roll star? Who's that charismatic and interesting?' And you go, `Oh ... it's Keith, isn't it?'" he said.

Had Richards seen the first two "Pirates" movies?

"Oh ... yeah," he said. "How can you not with your grandkids around? I saw `Pirates' one when it came out. `Pirates' two I did fall asleep in, but I'd been up for three days."

"I might have fallen asleep myself," Depp replied.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," a Walt Disney Pictures release, is slated for release May 25.

Report: Johnny Depp Talks About Daughter's Illness

"It gave us a great scare," the actor, 43, tells Britain's Daily Mirror. "It was a very bumpy patch, but she has come through it beautifully and unscathed, and she is now as healthy as she always was. She is wonderful."

Lily-Rose, Depp's 7-year-old daughter with French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis, 34, was hospitalized in London while Depp was in England filming Sweeney Todd, although a studio rep told PEOPLE at the time: "We have adjusted the schedule to accommodate [Depp's] needs at this moment."

In early March, Depp's rep said in a statement: "We are happy to report that their daughter is doing much better. The family greatly appreciates the continued support and respect of their privacy."

"What got us through this wasn't the strength of Vanessa or me but our daughter and her incredible ability to make us feel okay even though she was very unwell," Depp tells the Daily Mirror. "She was super-strong." He did not disclose the cause of Lily-Rose's illness.

Depp and Paradis also have a son, Jack, 5. The actor spoke to the paper while in London promoting Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End.

Depp admits that the blockbuster film series, in which he stars as Captain Jack Sparrow, has been a boon for his career and his family.

"I was the guy who had been bouncing around the film industry for years, and I'd been lucky if five or 10 people would see my movies, so Captain Jack did a big flip for my career," he says. "[It has] afforded me and my family a certain luxury in that we are able to live a little more comfortably and it will be something that will reverberate for my kids and their kids."

He says he and Paradis have learned from the scare with Lily-Rose. "It was a reminder to us of how lucky we are," he says, "to be able to breathe, walk, talk, think and surround ourselves with people we love."

Depp says he is open to fourth "Pirates" movie

The star of the upcoming film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," told Entertainment Weekly magazine in an issue hitting newsstands on Friday that he is open to making a fourth film in the blockbuster series, which has earned more than $1.7 billion at worldwide box offices.

"As long as you're doing it for the right reasons, why not?" Depp told the magazine. "If we came up with a story where we could explore something absurd or funny or totally insane."

In the movies, Depp plays a buccaneer known as Captain Jack Sparrow, distinguished as much for his swishy hips and love of adventure as his pirating skills. The 43-year-old actor's portrayal of wildly funny Sparrow has been credited with much of the franchise's popularity.

The first film in the series, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," was a surprise hit with audiences and critics in summer 2003, and last year "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" turned in blockbuster results despite mixed reviews for too many plot twists.

"At World's End" debuts on May 25 and anticipation is running high. But the stars, including Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, are remaining mostly mum when asked to explain the plot of the third film.

"Someone asked me, 'So tell us about your character's arc in the third movie,"' Bloom told Entertainment Weekly. "I said, 'Dude, the writers can't even explain the third movie."'

If, like the second movie, "At World's End" takes its lumps for a twisted plot, Depp is not worried.

"With this one, they're probably going to do the same thing and maybe even go below the belt," he said of the critics.

Depp praised the acting of Richards, who plays Depp's father in the movie and whom Depp has credited with inspiring his portrayal of Jack Sparrow.

"What I didn't expect was he was going to be such a great actor," Depp said. "It was like a gunslinger who arrived in the town, charmed all the women and impressed all the men and then split."

2007 MTV Movie Nominees

BEST MOVIE
'300'
'Blades of Glory'
'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'
'Little Miss Sunshine''Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'

BEST PERFORMANCE
Gerard Butler - '300'
Johnny Depp - 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'
Keira Knightley - 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'
Jennifer Hudson - 'Dreamgirls'
Beyonce Knowles - 'Dreamgirls'
Will Smith - 'The Pursuit of Happyness'

BREAKTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
Emily Blunt - 'The Devil Wears Prada'
Abigail Breslin - 'Little Miss Sunshine'
Lena Headey - '300'
Columbus Short - 'Stomp the Yard'
Jaden Smith - 'The Pursuit of Happyness'
Justin Timberlake - 'Alpha Dog'

BEST COMEDIC PERFORMANCE
Emily Blunt - 'The Devil Wears Prada'
Sacha Baron Cohen - 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'
Will Ferrell - 'Blades of Glory'
Adam Sandler - 'Click'
Ben Stiller - 'Night at the Museum'

BEST KISS
Cameron Diaz & Jude Law - 'The Holiday'
Will Ferrell & Sacha Baron Cohen - 'Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby'
Columbus Short & Meagan Short - 'Stomp the Yard'
Mark Wahlberg & Elizabeth Banks - 'Invincible'
Marlon Wayans & Brittany Daniel - 'Little Man'

BEST VILLAIN
Tobin Bell - 'Saw III'
Jack Nicholson - 'The Departed'
Bill Nighy - 'Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest'
Rodrigo Santoro - '300'
Meryl Streep - 'The Devil Wears Prada'

BEST FIGHT
Jack Black & Hector Jimenez vs. Los Duendes - 'Nacho Libre'
Gerard Butler vs. The Uber Immortal - '300'
Sacha Baron Cohen vs. Ken Davitian - 'Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan'
Will Ferrell vs. Jon Heder - 'Blades of Glory'
Uma Thurman vs. Anna Faris - 'My Super Ex-Girlfriend'

BEST SUMMER MOVIE YOU HAVEN'T SEEN YET
'Evan Almighty'
'Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer'
'Hairspray'
'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'
'Rush Hour 3'
'Transformers'

The secret's out: Sparrow returns for 'Pirates' 3

Though Johnny Depp's iconic Jack Sparrow was swallowed whole by the many-tentacled sea beast at the end of last summer's blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the makers of the third installment say it should be no surprise that he survives.

The only worst-kept secret is that Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, on whom Sparrow was partly modeled, would be in the third movie, At World's End, opening May 25.

"It would be hard to suspend the belief that Jack Sparrow isn't going to be back," says Orlando Bloom, who plays Will, Sparrow's romantic rival for Keira Knightley.

Director Gore Verbinski says the suspense will come from how Sparrow's friends rescue him from the afterlife. "As always, he has his own path in the madness," Verbinski says. "It's interesting what solitary confinement does to the brain. If his brain was sunbaked before, it's freeze-dried now."

The story involves Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) teaming with the previously deceased bad-guy Capt. Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush), who made a surprise appearance at the end of Dead Man's Chest.

They journey to 18th-century Shanghai to secure maps from Chinese pirate lord Sao Feng (Chow Yun-Fat) that will lead them to the ends of the earth, where ships plunge off the edge of the sea into the afterlife.

Bloom says his too-good-to-be-true Will gets to have devious motives.

"The question is why do we need to have Jack Sparrow back? And that's revealed in this movie," Bloom says. "But I thought it would be cool for Will to be slightly darker. He's so good, but he wants to be bad."

Verbinski says everyone gets to be bad this time. "There are betrayals on top of betrayals," he says. "There's a meeting of the pirate lords, and it's like a bad gathering of relatives at Thanksgiving, where everybody is pretending to get along. You can feel the psychosis. It's a fishbowl filled with sharks."

Naomie Harris, who plays the witch Tia Dalma, says she finally gets to leave her swamp because she has her own secrets to reveal.

"In her own environment she's playful; in other environments, she's serious," Harris says. "She has a lot of powers, and she's out for herself."

A trailer for At World's End will air during Monday's Dancing With the Stars on ABC.

Depp on Hiatus Until Daughter Is Better

The star of the upcoming Sweeney Todd said that he won't be working again until his seven-year-old daughter Lily-Rose is fully recovered from the undisclosed illness she has been suffering from for the past several weeks.

Lily-Rose, the elder of Depp's two children with longtime girlfriend Vanessa Paradis, was discharged Mar. 9 from a London hospital, with the actor's rep saying the child was "doing much better."

Production on the Tim Burton-directed film—the auteur's sixth collaboration with Depp—has been suspended until the actor is ready to come back. He and Paradis are currently looking after their daughter at their home in Bath.

"We've adjusted his schedule to fit in with his needs," read a statement issued by DreamWorks last week. "Everybody's with them in good spirits."

The crew at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, which is also where Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was filmed, has been told that it's out of a job if Depp does not return to the set.

"He does not want to come back until Lily-Rose gets the all-clear," a source close to the film told the U.K.'s Sun newspaper. "The plan is to reemploy everybody when she is better."

In Sweeney Todd, an adaptation of the Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim musical, Depp takes on the role of the vengeful Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Sacha Baron Cohen, flush from his Borat travels, plays Todd's rival barber, Signor Adolfo Pirelli. Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman and Christopher Lee also star.

Already in the can is Depp's third turn as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, due to invade theaters and bag serious box office booty May 25.

Johnny Depp's Daughter 'Doing Much Better'

"We are happy to report that their daughter is doing much better," Depp's rep, Robin Baum, said in a statement. "The family greatly appreciates the continued support and respect of their privacy."

Depp and his longtime girlfriend , Vanessa Paradis, have two children, Lily-Rose, 7, and Jack, 5.

Several British papers have reported that Lily-Rose came down with an undisclosed illness over a week ago and that Depp, 43, has been by her bedside every day.

Depp has been filming a movie version of the stage musical Sweeney Todd for DreamWorks. A studio rep tells PEOPLE: "We have adjusted the schedule to accommodate [Depp's] needs at this moment. We understand that [Lily-Rose] is improving. ... Obviously everybody at the studio is certainly with them in their good spirits."

Directing Johnny Depp a "challenge," says India's Nair

Depp stars in her next project, "Shantaram," based on the life story of Gregory David Roberts, whose book of the same name describes his escape from an Australian prison to Mumbai and his adventures with the city's powerful mafia dons.

Roberts, who was later captured and extradited to Australia, now lives in Mumbai and has set up a free health service for the poor and does some teaching, the author says on his Web site www.shantaram.com.

Roberts' book "gripped" New York-based Nair and she decided to direct the film with Depp playing "Lindsay" -- the central character who is modeled on Roberts.

Nair was born in the eastern Indian state of Orissa in 1957 left for the United States at the age of 19 after receiving a scholarship from Harvard university.

Her debut film, "Salaam Bombay!" (1988) about Mumbai's underbelly, won the Golden Camera Award at the Cannes Film Festival that same year.

Some of Nair's critically acclaimed works include "Mississippi Masala" (1991), "Kama Sutra: A Tale of Love" (1996), "Monsoon Wedding" (2001), "Vanity Fair" (2004) and "The Namesake" (2006).

Q: You recently agreed to direct "Shantaram." When will you start work on the film?

A: "Well, I have just got the offer a few days back but I will start with it soon. It is a book that completely gripped me as it did millions of others."

Q: You have Johnny Depp as the leading actor in "Shantaram." Your thoughts about him playing the role of Lindsay.

A: "Johnny Depp is such an extraordinary human being and an extraordinary actor and he embodies so much what Shantaram is and so when he asked me to direct him it was obviously a great honor and challenge for me."

Q: Why and how did you choose to make a career in film making?

A: "I was an actor in political theater and got a scholarship to go to Harvard when I was 19 and there the theater was not so politically engaged and I took the next best thing which was documentary film making and made documentaries for about 7 years till I directed 'Salaam Bombay!"'

Q: What has been your motivation/inspiration behind film making?

A: "My films definitely reflect the life I live and my films 'Monsoon Wedding' and 'The Namesake,' which is coming out in March, are very much to do with my family. So, my films definitely reflect what I am going through in my own life."

Q: You have been very choosy about the themes you have made films on. How do you decide on the theme before you make a movie?

A: "Well I am a very intuitive person. If I have an idea that just doesn't let me go, that's my film. You know 'The Namesake' was born out of that for instance."

Q: How would you define your cinema?

A: "I like to reach millions of people with my cinema so for me life is very important -- humour, sorrow but I like to hold my work as a mirror to the world and I like to make films that wake people up while they are enjoying them."

Depp Plays 'Spy' Games

According to Variety, Alan Cowell, New York Times London bureau chief, is writing "Sasha's Story: The Life and Death of a Russian Spy," which will be developed by Depp's Infinitum Nihil shingle.

The Litvinenko story first broke in November when the former spy arrived in London poisoned by polonium-210. Litvinenko served in the KGB and later in the FSB, but he was jailed by the Russian government after accusing his organization of playing a role in a high profile civilian assassination. He fled to England and was granted political asylum, but continued to speak out against Vladimir Putin's Russian government. Litvinenko and later his widow accused Putin and the FSB of poisoning him. Authorities remain puzzled.

Already on tap for Infinitum Nihil are "A Long Way Down," "Bomb in my Garden" and the long-in-development "Shantaram."

Depp's acting slate includes a third "Pirates of the Caribbean" film followed by the musical "Sweeney Todd" with frequent collaborator Tim Burton.

"Pirates," Depp win top People's Choice awards

"Pirates of the Caribbean" star Johnny Depp, who plays fanciful Captain Jack Sparrow in the movie that raked in over $1 billion at global box offices, earned awards for best male movie star and favorite male action star.

Depp Becomes His Subject

2007 Golden Globe Nominations

SACHA BARON COHEN- BORAT
JOHNNY DEPP- PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: DEAD MAN’S CHEST
AARON ECKHART- THANK YOU FOR SMOKING
CHIWETEL EJIOFOR- KINKY BOOTS
WILL FERRELL- STRANGER THAN FICTION

'Pirates' sequel sets DVD record for 2006

The sequel, also the top box office earner of 2006, shot to No. 1 on the Nielsen VideoScan First Alert sales chart for the week ending December 10, and its draft pulled the original "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" back up to No. 9 a full three years after it was released.

On trade publication Home Media Magazine's video rental chart for the week, "Dead Man's Chest" also scored an easy victory, generating an estimated $12.9 million its first week out.

"Dead Man's Chest" is now poised to be the top-selling DVD of the year, beating another Disney title, "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe," which was released in April and has since sold about 14 million copies.

The "Pirates" sequel also will likely become the No. 1 live-action DVD ever. That honor currently belongs to the original "Pirates," which sold 9.9 million DVDs its first week out (and another 1.1 million VHS cassettes) and went on to sell more than 18 million units, discs and cassettes combined.

The strong sales debut of "Pirates" sounded a vote of confidence among DVD boosters, many of whom were cringing in the wake of a broadcast earlier this month on NBC's "Today" in which an executive from file-sharing service BitTorrent predicted DVD's days were numbered due to digital downloading.

"With the incredible success of 'Pirates,' it is evident that the home entertainment industry continues to flourish," said Bob Chapek, president of Buena Vista Worldwide Home Entertainment, Disney's video distribution arm.

The success of the "Pirates" DVD isn't limited to the United States. In the United Kingdom, the film sold nearly 1.5 million DVDs its first of release, a record. And in Japan, "Pirates" sold nearly 1 million units to become the No. 1 live-action movie of all time in that country.

Elsewhere on the First Alert DVD sales chart, Universal Studios' big-screen "Miami Vice" debuted at No. 2, while the previous week's best seller, "Superman Returns," slipped to No. 3.

Two animated features that have been in stores for several weeks, Disney's "Cars" and Fox's "Ice Age: The Meltdown," finished fourth and fifth for the week, while "Beerfest" debuted at No. 6, one notch above "24-Season 5."

In rental stores, "Miami Vice" debuted at No. 3, with estimated earnings of $7.9 million. "Beerfest" bowed at No. 6, with $6.1 million, more than 30% of its theatrical take.

'Pirates 2' DVD Unlocks Davy Jones

In the featurette "Meet Davy Jones: Anatomy of a Legend," the filmmakers examine how they brought their version of the mythical roaming pirate to life. Even though this Davy is part octopus with a multi-tentacled "beard" and a couple of crustacean limbs thrown in for good measure, the design team still wanted the character to resemble the actor who ultimately portrayed him.

"When I had started on these photorealistic drawings based on Crash McCreery's drawings, they hadn't really cast anyone yet," says Visual Effects Art Director Aaron McBride during an October tour of George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic facility in San Francisco. "They were talking about certain people [like] Christopher Walken and Ian McShane. And then about halfway through, they finally cast Bill Nighy. So I grabbed a bunch of reference photos of him and tried to work in his signature facial features, like he's got super-chiseled cheekbones and very tight pursed lips."

The British actor Nighy -- along with the other actors who comprise Davy Jones' similarly cursed crew -- was the first to try out ILM's newest motion capture setup, which allows the actor to perform on the actual film's set, interacting with the other live actors. Previously, the film's sets were shot separately from the actor, who had then had to perform on a special, limited motion-capture stage with fixed cameras and lighting. Based on that peformance, the CG character would then be created and then placed back into the scene.

"We came up with a different system where we had a lightweight high-definition video cameras. The actor still had to wear a goofy suit, but it was a little less goofy," explains Animation Supervisor Hal T. Hickel, referring to lightweight grey "pajamas" with matching caps that made the actors appear to be members of a chain gang. "He's in the scene. That way we have good lighting reference and of course we have terrific performance reference."

Although the finished Davy Jones is fully computer generated, Nighy's input into the character is unmistakable, most notably in the flamboyantly exaggerated Scottish accent that he affects. At one point while shooting, Nighy uttered the word "price" and then finished by audibly popping his lips together. That little flourish is now Davy's in the film.

"That shot's a good example of one of the real pluses of how a character can be altered by a single actor," observes Hickel. "When Bill would make an eccentric choice like that -- that pop -- it's sort of up to him and Gore whether that's right or not for the character. That's where it stops. Instead, if you've got a big team of animators trying to figure out what a character is, sometimes things like that get committeed away."

Nighy's unique take was also a boon to the modelers, who didn't have facial capture -- the equivalent of motion capture for a face -- to inform their work. Instead, they examined each frame and replicated the way his face and lips moved so that the CG Davy would synch up with the audio performance. The character's Scottish accent was helpful because it had more defined sounds at the ends of words, as opposed to the American accent, which often drops off at the end of a word.

"In terms of facial performance, the first thing to look at is the emotional state that is being communicated by the actor," says Geoff Campbell, the senior digial model supervisor. "What are the underlying muscles doing? Bill Nighy was such a great actor to work with because he's so unpredictable and he uses a full range. He uses his face more than any actor I've seen in communicating so many different emotions.

"The second part is synching up your ear and what you see with air flow, suppression of air flow," Cambpell continues. "We were coming up with a standard lip synching library of phonemes, like 'A, E, I, O, U' -- all of that. When you're dealing with the face, there are some 20 muscles that you're really thinking about."

Even with all these challenges, the biggest one was Davy Jones' eyes. Verbinski initially thought he'd have to use images of Nighy's actual eyes underneath the computer graphics if the visual effects team was unable to create realistic-looking eyes, especially in close-ups. This was essential because CG eyes often have the tendency to look flat or dead.

"There's a phrase coined by a Japanese professor [Masahiro Mori] called the 'uncanny valley.' He was studying the emotional response that people had to robots,' says Hickel. "At one end of the spectrum you might have very simple, abstract industrial robots. And as they got more and more human towards say, C3PO or something, people's emotional response went up and up. And then when the robots became very real -- like rubber skin and hair and glass eyes and everything -- suddenly, there's a deep fall off because people got creeped out. It looks like an animated corpse.

"Getting back up to a good response is a ton of work. Those last few percentage points of realism really become glaring because everything else is working. AThat guy's studies ... really apply to what we're doing with Davy. Even though he wasn't a normal human where the task is even more difficult, he's human enough, and his eyes are completely human. There's so much of Bill in him that there were lots of places where we could derail pretty easily and have him look kind of unfocused, mannequin-like or just creepy and monster-like instead of having him feeling like a tragic human who's undergone this hideous tranformation."

In the end, the visual effects department created a Davy Jones who was 100 percent computer generated and able to menace Captain Jack on the big screen.

The "Dead Man's Chest" DVD hits stores on Tuesday, Dec. 5.

Endquote

2007 People's Choice Award Nominees

Television:Favorite TV Comedy: The King of Queens, My Name is Earl, Two and a Half Men
Favorite TV Comedy – Animated: Family Guy, King of the Hill, The Simpsons
Favorite TV Drama: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, Grey's Anatomy, House
Favorite Competition/Reality Show: American Idol, Deal or No Deal, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
Favorite Female TV Star: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Eva Longoria, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Favorite Male TV Star: Patrick Dempsey, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland
Favorite Talk Show Host: Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno, Oprah Winfrey

Music:Favorite Female Singer: Faith Hill, Shakira, Carrie Underwood
Favorite Male Singer: Trace Adkins, Kenny Chesney, Toby Keith
Favorite Group: The Black Eyed Peas, Nickelback, The Red Hot Chili Peppers
Favorite R&B Song: Christina Aguilera, "Ain't No Other Man"; Justin Timberlake, "SexyBack"; Mariah Carey, "Shake It Off"
Favorite Hip-Hop Song: Nelly, "Grillz"; Chamillionaire, "Ridin'"; Eminem, "Shake That"
Favorite Pop Song: Shakira, "Hips Don't Lie"; Nelly Furtado, "Promiscuous"; Pink, "Stupid Girls"
Favorite Country Song: Carrie Underwood, "Before He Cheats"; Rascal Flatts, "What Hurts the Most"; Tim McGraw, "When the Stars Go Blue"
Favorite Rock Song: Evanescence, "Call Me When You're Sober"; Red Hot Chili Peppers, "Dani California"; Bon Jovi, "Who Says You Can't Go Home"

Miscellaneous:
Favorite Funny Female Star: Ellen DeGeneres, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Queen Latifah
Favorite Funny Male Star: Will Ferrell, Adam Sandler, Robin Williams

Fans can vote for their favorites in movies, TV and music online at pcavote.com. Winners will be announced when the show airs live on CBS Jan. 9.

DVD places the loot in 'Dead Man's Chest'

Industry observers expect the DVD of the year's biggest movie to easily be the year's top seller, beating another Disney title, The Chronicles of Narnia, which was released before Easter and sold more than 11 million DVDs in the USA alone.

"It's definitely a repeatable movie that people will want to own," says industry analyst Tom Adams of Adams Media Research. He predicts sales of 12 million to 13 million for Dead Man's Chest.

The sequels only fuel renewed interest in the movies that came before. During Dead Man's summer theatrical run, the DVD of the original Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl shot back into the top five on the national DVD sales chart nearly three years after it was released.

"That's likely to happen again with the DVD release of the second one," Adams says.

The Dead Man's Chest DVD will come out in both a single-disc edition ($30) and a two-disc collector's edition ($35).

Both DVDs have bloopers and commentary from writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, who also are writing the upcoming movie.

The collector's edition also comes with 10 featurettes, including a profile on Depp, an inside look at the movie's premiere on Disneyland's Main Street, a photo diary from producer Jerry Bruckheimer, a feature on how Disneyland's popular Pirates of the Caribbean attraction became the basis for a movie and an extensive making-of documentary.

For the DVD, Bruckheimer worked to be sure the special features give audiences something fresh.

"We wanted to give people more than they saw in the theater, a little insight into the filmmaking process," he says.

For the making-of featurette, "a documentary filmmaker followed us around during the prep work, and you'll see things that went wrong, as well as the joy of the first day of filming, which is really nice."

Bruckheimer says work on the third installment in the franchise is progressing nicely.

"We shot a lot of Chow Yun-Fat's stuff already, and we should finish the principal actors by the beginning of November, so we are quite a ways into it."

The third film is expected to open May 25, on Memorial Day weekend.

And by Christmas 2007, expect a DVD release and a boxed set of all three films.

DEPP'S CROSS-DRESSING SECRETS

In the upcoming bio, "The Secret World of Johnny Depp," author Nigel Goodall says Depp found out that just like Wood - the infamous director of "Plan 9 from Outer Space," considered one of the worst films ever made - Depp had a thing for angora sweaters as a young boy. Goodall quotes the star as saying: "I love angora sweaters. Oh man, they're unbelievable. They really feel good. This girl I dated when I was a teen-ager, she had an angora sweater. When we broke up, I was upset, but not about her. It was the sweater."

But his interest in all things soft and slinky really peaked when he was signed by director Tim Burton to play the quirky Wood and began parading around as a woman in full drag to get into character. At first, it had Burton worried that Depp might get beaten up because people in drag "were real easy targets, but Johnny was so credible" that he pulled it off.

Depp also got a package from "Miss Vera's Finishing School for Boys Who Want to be Girls," ex-porn star Veronica Vera's quirky Manhattan school that teaches men how to become transvestites. According to Scott Alexander, who wrote the screenplay, Depp also developed a weird habit where he would "grab the little hairs over his nipples and just try to twist them around, absentmindedly, while he was pacing around" in women's underwear.

Goodall tells how Marlon Brando once tried to intervene when Depp was busted in Manhattan for trashing a suite at the Mark Hotel in 1994. Brando "was very concerned about Johnny's well-being, and if there was anything he could do to help, he would like to," Depp's attorney David Breitbart tells the author.

Of that incident, Depp admits: "It wasn't a great night for me. I'm not trying to excuse what I did or anything." The book hits stores in November.

"Pirates" sequel third-biggest film of all time

The film starring Johnny Depp had sold $1.003 billion worth of tickets as of Friday, the company said in a statement. But it was unlikely to climb any higher up the rankings.

"Titanic," released in 1997, holds the record with $1.8 billion, followed by 2003's "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" with $1.1 billion.

"Pirates," which has ruled the foreign box office for the last nine weekends, enters its final major market, Italy, on Wednesday. The first film, 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," earned $21 million there, and $656 million worldwide.

All told, the sequel has earned $415.1 million in North America, and $587.5 million internationally, the No. 1 film of the year by both measures.

A third film, "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," is shooting in Los Angeles with plans for release next May.

Key cast members including Depp, Keira Knightley and Orlando Bloom are returning. Additionally, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards has just flown in to shoot a cameo role, a source close to the set said.

Richards, on whom Depp modeled his flamboyant character, Captain Jack Sparrow, has long been asked by producers to play Sparrow's father. The source declined to say what role Richards was playing.

Summer Box Office: "Dead Man's" Best

With one more weekend to go at the summer box office, Dead Man's Chest has clinched the season's title with a $407.5 million booty through Sunday. Arguably more impressive, it has moved up to sixth on the list of all-time moneymakers--any season, any year.

Poseidon, meanwhile, appears to destined to be the summer's, if not the year's, biggest bust. Made for a reported $160 million, the disaster remake sunk with $60.7 million.

On paper, the panned Poseidon will go down as the 17th "biggest" moneymaker of this beach season, according to stats released Tuesday by the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

And while the movie has taken in $181.2 million worldwide, per BoxOfficeMojo.com, Poseidon also will go down as the redo that got shown up by its 24-year-old predecessor, The Poseidon Adventure, which grossed $84.6 million domestically back when movie tickets cost less than $2 each.

This summer, movie tickets cost, on average, $6.61 a pop--an all-time high, per Exhibitor Relations. Undeterred, audiences nudged up attendance about 3 percent, from 564.9 million admissions last summer to an estimated 582.5 million. And they pushed up revenue more than 6 percent, from $3.6 billion to an estimated $3.9 billion.

Up from summer 2005, the box office still was way off from summer 2003, when 17 movies, including the first Pirates of the Caribbean adventure, made at least $100 million

This summer, 11 movies will cross the Labor Day finish line with at least $100 million, the Exhibitor Relations estimates show. Of those, four are bona fide blockbusters grossing at least $200 million each: Dead Man's Chest; Cars ($240.6 million); X-Men: The Last Stand ($234.2 million); and The Da Vinci Code ($217.5 million). And one is a relative blockbuster: The Devil Wears Prada, which was produced for a reported $35 million, made an estimated $120.6 million, and became the biggest hit of star Meryl Streep's nearly 30-year screen career.

For box-office purposes, the summer began in early May with the release of Mission: Impossible III. With a $133.4 million take (eighth place), it was Paramount's second biggest hit of the season, and former studio associate Tom Cruise's seventh straight $100 million-plus performer. Worldwide, it's made $394.6 million, per BoxOfficeMojo.com, covering its reported $150 million budget, and delivering many dollars directly to Cruise--as Viacom chieftain Sumner Redstone likely could attest.

Here's a look inside some of the other numbers of summer, per Exhibitor Relations and BoxOfficeMojo.com stats:

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $407.5 million
2. Cars, $240.6 million
3. X-Men: The Last Stand, $234.2 million
4. The Da Vinci Code, $217.5 million
5. Superman Returns, $195.4 million
6. Over the Hedge, $154.8 million
7. Click, $135.9 million
8. Mission: Impossible III, $133.4 million
9. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, $127.8 million
10. The Devil Wears Prada, $120.6 million

"Pirates" hits $960 million at global box office

Disney's seafaring sequel has now earned $554.7 million internationally; including its North American haul, the global total stands at $962.3 million.

Disney expects the title to surpass within a week the global gross of 2001's "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" ($976.5 million), which would make "Dead Man's Chest" the third-biggest worldwide box office smash of all time.

The latest box office infusion included openings in Greece (an industry record of $2.6 million) and, of all markets, Lebanon (a Disney record of $100,000).

Holdovers continued mightily: $3.2 million in France (market total: $42.8 million); $2.3 million in Germany (market total: $55.5 million); $2.1 million in Spain, No. 1 for a third consecutive weekend (market total: $30.3 million); and $2.2 million in Japan (market total: $74 million).

In the U.K., where "Dead Man's Chest" has played for two months, the weekend gross estimate was $1.1 million, enough to qualify for the No. 3 slot with a market total of $91.5 million. Its next big opening is September 13 in Italy.

Thanks to No. 1 openings in Germany and Austria, "Miami Vice" claimed the second spot overall for the weekend with an estimated $11.4 million from 38 markets, raising its overseas total to $52 million.

In Germany, the Michael Mann actioner took 30% of the market with $4 million. In France, "Vice" emerged in the No. 1 spot in its second weekend with $2.1 million for a 12-day total of $7.4 million. The film opens the all-important Japan market this weekend and has been approved for a mid-October opening in China.

"Cars" finished at No. 3 for the weekend, yielding $9.6 million from 35 territories and lifting its overseas total to $157.6 million. No. 1 openings in Italy ($5.2 million, the fourth-biggest market opening for an animated film), China (a solid $1.2 million, a market record for an animation title) and Norway accounted for much of the action. Openings in Sweden and Denmark are scheduled for this weekend.

In fourth place for the weekend was "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties," which pulled an estimated $7.2 million from 20 markets. Its overseas total stands at $77.6 million.

At No. 5 was "Monster House," which generated an estimated $5.8 million from 24 markets for an overseas total of $29.1 million.

Among foreign totals: "Lady in the Water," $10 million; "You, Me and Dupree," $13 million; "Superman Returns," $173 million; "The Break-Up," $67 million; "United 93," $28 million; "Click," $30.3 million; "Over the Hedge," $154.5 million; "Mission: Impossible III," $261.1 million; "Nacho Libre," $11 million; "Lake House," $44 million; "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," $83.5 million; and "My Super Ex-Girlfriend" and "The Sentinel," both at $13.6 million.

2006 Teen Choice Award Winners

Television
Comedy/musical - High School Musical
Reality - American Idol
Actress, drama/action adventure - Rachel Bilson, The O.C.
Actor, comedy - Wilmer Valderrama, That '70s Show
Personality - Ashton Kutcher, Punk'd
Actress - Mischa Barton, The O.C.
Breakout show - So You Think You Can Dance
Breakout star - Zac Efron, High School Musical
Chemistry - Vanessa Anne Hudgens and Zac Efron, High School Musical
Summer TV series - So You Think You Can Dance

Music
Single - Fall Out Boy, "Dance, Dance"
R&B artist - Rihanna
Rock group - Fall Out Boy
R&B/hip-hop track - Nelly Furtado, feat. Timbaland, "Promiscuous"
Rock track - Fall Out Boy, "Dance, Dance"
Love song - Nick Lachey, "What's Left of Me"
Breakout, female - Rihanna
Song of the summer - Nelly Furtado, feat. Timbaland, "Promiscuous"
V Cast Music artist - Nelly Furtado

Other awards
Hottie female - Jessica Alba
Hottie male - Orlando Bloom
Comedian - Adam Sandler
Red carpet fashion icon, female - Jessica Alba
Red carpet fashion icon, male - Nick Lachey
Choice grill - Brooke Hogan
Action sports athlete, male - Shaun White

"Pirates" nears $1 billion at box office

The pirate tale is also Walt Disney's biggest release ever, and the industry's 12th highest-grossing film internationally.

With a weekend estimate of $25.5 million from 51 territories, "Dead Man's Chest" pushed its international gross to $522.7 million. Its worldwide total stands at $923.8 million, pushing it above the $866.9 million worldwide gross of Disney's previous record holder, 2003's "Finding Nemo."

On the global chart, "Dead Man's Chest" is poised this week to climb two ranks to No. 4, overtaking 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" ($924.3 million worldwide) and 2002's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" ($926.3 million). (The film opens Friday in Greece and September 13 in Italy.)

Local totals include: Britain, $89 million; Japan, $69.3 million; Germany -- No. 1 for a fourth weekend -- $52.4 million; France, $37.4 million; and Spain, $24.6 million after two weekends.

Filling the No. 2 spot overseas was "Miami Vice," which pulled an estimated $13 million from 31 territories, 11 of which were new. The biggest of the latter was France, where the Michael Mann actioner bowed at No. 1 with $5.2 million. Its overseas total stands at $38 million.

The No. 3 film was "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties," which bowed in five territories and pulled an overall weekend estimate of $8 million from 36 markets. Its international total stands at $61 million. The biggest of the openings was Russia, with $2.1 million.

At No. 4 was "Superman Returns" with $7.9 million, It added three markets -- Japan (No. 1), Germany (No. 2) and Austria (No. 1). The foreign total rose to $166 million.

"Monster House" was No. 5 after a $4.7 million weekend drove its total to $20.5 million.

Last week's No. 1 title in North America, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," dipped its gear-box into international waters, drawing an estimated $320,000 in Spain. U.K. and Australia openings are due next month.

Other totals: "The Break-Up," $61 million; "Click," $26 million; "Cars," $145 million; "Lake House," $40.3 million; "Over the Hedge," $150 million; "United 93," $21.8 million; "Nacho Libre," $8.6 million; "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," $80 million; "You, Me and Dupree," $8.2 million; "Lady In The Water," $4.8 million; and "Mission: Impossible III," $259.6 million.

Depp, Burton team up for 'Sweeney Todd' film

Depp often brings an eccentric edge to his roles, like the swishy pirate captain Jack Sparrow in current hit "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," and director Burton has created some of the movies' strangest characters like the shrub pruning monster in "Edward Scissorhands," played by Depp.

In "Sweeney Todd," to be released in late 2007, Depp will play the murderous barber of the same name who seeks his own brand of razor-slashing revenge against a judge who wrongfully imprisoned him.

Depp and Burton have teamed up in other quirky films including 1994's acclaimed "Ed Wood," about a B-movie director, and in 1999's "Sleepy Hollow," which tells the American folk tale of Ichabod Crane's encounter with a headless horseman.

The legend of serial-killer Sweeney Todd is rooted in British lore, and has given rise to numerous earlier plays and films, including a 1936 film called "Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," and a 1998 TV movie, "The Tale of Sweeney Todd," starring Sir Ben Kingsley.

The new movie, which will be co-produced by DreamWorks and Warner Bros., will be adapted from the modern musical thriller "Sweeney Todd, The Demon Barber of Fleet Street," with songs originally composed by Sondheim. That version became a Broadway hit in 1979 and won 8 Tony Awards.

A musical revival was launched in England in 2004 and hit Broadway last year. Both its stars, Michael Cerveris and Patti Lupone, earned 2006 Tony Award nominations, and the play won Tonys for best direction of a musical and best orchestrations.

Weekend Box Office - Aug 4 to 6

1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, $47 million.
2. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, $16 million.
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $11 million.
4. Miami Vice, $9.7 million.
5. The Descent, $8.8 million.
6. John Tucker Must Die, $6.05 million.
7. Monster House, $6 million.
8. The Ant Bully, $3.9 million.
9. The Night Listener, $3.6 million.
10. You, Me and Dupree, $3.6 million

Miami Vice speeds to weekend box office victory over the Pirates

The film, which pairs Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx as the iconic TV characters Sonny Crockett and Ricardo Tubbs, took in $25.2 million US, compared to $20.5 million US for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, according to studio estimates Sunday.

"It's nice to be number one," said Nikki Rocco, president of distribution at Universal Pictures.

The gritty, dark action film was directed by Michael Mann, who created the 1980s TV show. The movie was especially attractive to older audiences, with 62 per cent of the audience over 30, according to the studio's exit polling.

The audience was pretty evenly split between men and women, the polling showed.

"It's what our expectations were," Rocco said. "We tried to do something different. There has been a lot of criticism regarding unoriginal product. We took a TV series and made it very different."

The news was not necessarily bad for The Walt Disney Co., which produced Pirates.

In its third week, Pirates has earned $358.4 million US to become the highest grossing film in Disney's history, passing the $339.7 million US earned by the Pixar Animation Studios film Finding Nemo.

"After posting the biggest opening weekend of all time, it is living up to the promise created that opening weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations.

Pirates is on track to break the $400-million US mark in the coming weeks, Dergarabedian said.

The Pixar film Cars has also raked in $234.6 million US to date. And while the film is no longer in the top 10 at the box office, its cumulative gross makes it the second highest grossing film of the year, giving Disney the top two spots so far.

"It's a very happy weekend," said Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution.

The teen flick John Tucker Must Die from 20th Century Fox debuted in third place with a respectable $14 million US.

The film, with a budget of about $18 million US, attracted a predominantly young female audience with its story of four high school girls who seek revenge against an unfaithful boyfriend.

The Ant Bully, an animated film from Warner Bros., opened with a mere $8.1 million US.

The film featured the voice talents of Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts and Nicolas Cage and was produced by Tom Hanks. But it just couldn't compete against a crowded field of family pictures.

"It's much less than what we had wanted," said Jeff Goldstein, general sales manager at Warner Bros. "The marketplace is crowded. The kids have been bombarded."

The independent film Little Miss Sunshine opened strongly in limited release.

The quirky film starring Greg Kinnear and Steve Carell, took in $356,863 US in only seven theatres in New York and Los Angeles for a per screen average of $50,980 US.

Overall, box office revenue was up 6.3 per cent and attendance was up 3 per cent.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Miami Vice, $25.2 million.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $20.5 million.
3. John Tucker Must Die, $14 million.
4. Monster House, $11.5 million.
5. The Ant Bully, $8.2 million.
6. Lady in the Water, $7 million.
7. You, Me and Dupree, $7 million
8. Little Man, $5.1 million.
9. The Devil Wears Prada, $4.8 million.
10. Clerks II, $3.9 million.

Tidbit

The London Telegraph quotes Depp saying, "It's so beautiful there, so peaceful and free and relaxed. We want to spend a lot more time there in the future because it's a completely different way of life. It'll be our home base, but we'll still spend time in France and the States, so our children will grow up in both cultures."

"Pirates" rides buoyant foreign box office

Studio executives say overseas moviegoing is vibrant and that the industry may well be on its way to a record year.

Nine films have exceeded $100 million overseas this year: "Ice Age: The Meltdown," $448.1 million; "The Da Vinci Code," $525.1 million; "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" $250 million this year, for a total of $453 million; "Dead Man's Chest," $214 million to date; "Superman Returns," $110 million; Mission: Impossible III," $239.7 million; "Over the Hedge," $107.9 million; "X-Men United: The Last Stand," $206.5 million; and "Poseidon," $109.8 million.

"Cars," with $96.3 million at the weekend, is expected to raise the $100-million achievers to 10 by midweek.

"Dead Man's Chest" commandeered the No. 1 position in 11 new openings, taking in $30.2 million in those markets. its is playing in 35 markets overall.

Japan greeted "Dead Man's Chest" with $16.7 million, saluted as the third-biggest industry opening in the market behind "The Matrix Revolutions" and " Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." The $5.6 million in Mexico set an all-time record for Disney, as did the $2.7 million in Brazil, $1.1 million in Argentina, and the $937,000 in Portugal.

In Britain, the film has earned $62.1 million after three weeks, Russia has chalked up $20.6 million after two weekends; Korea, $22.3 million after three, and Australia, $21.4 million, also after three. Openings this coming weekend include Germany, Austria and Belgium.

"Superman Returns" shot up to $110 million after grossing $16.4 million from 40 markets. According to Warner Bros., the Man of Steel did better than expected in Israel on Sunday despite the clash with Hizbollah and the inability to screen prints in the northern part of the country.

Second-weekend totals include $16.6 million from the U.K., $7.1 million from France, $10.4 million from Mexico, $8 million from Spain and $5.3 million from Brazil.

"Over the Hedge" came in third over the weekend, grossing $9.6 million and lifting its total to $107.9 million, followed by "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," which tallied $9.1 million and raised its international gross to $54.9 million.

"Cars" delivered $7.1 million from 36 countries to lift its total to $93.3 million.

Other weekend action: "The Da Vinci Code" jumped over "Finding Nemo" to take 10th place in the industry's all-time international box office chart; "The Break-Up" brought in $5.6 million -- including a $3.9 million, No. 3 bow in Britain -- to lift its total to $31.2 million; "Mission: Impossible III" took in $5.7 million to raise its total to $239.7 million; "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," in its first overseas venture, opened at No. 2 in Australia; and "Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties" took in $4.4 million from 15 countries to lift its total to $12.4 million.

"Pirates" passes $200 million overseas

Walt Disney Pictures' monster swashbuckler grossed nearly four times the weekend tally of the No. 2 film, "Superman Returns" ($16.3 million from 40 markets).

In just three weekends of release -- and with about 40% of the overseas market yet to play -- "Dead Man's Chest" has tallied $217 million, nearly double "Superman's" international total ($110 million).

The film is now the 20th Disney title to cross the $200 million gross mark internationally. "Dead Man's Chest" is also the 10th title in Disney history to gross more than $500 million worldwide, and is poised this week to surpass 1998's "Armageddon" as Disney's third-biggest live-action title ever. The worldwide gross for "Dead Man's Chest" stands at $538.7 million vs. $553 million for "Armageddon."

All of the 11 new "Dead Man's Chest" territories this weekend were huge, led by Japan (an estimated $17.3 million), Mexico ($5.8 million), Brazil ($3.1 million) and Poland ($1.5 million). In Scandinavia (Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland), "Pirates" pulled an exceptional $4 million.

Finishing in the No. 3 spot was "Over the Hedge," with $9.6 million from 48 markets. The animal cartoon opened in Belgium, Iceland and Peru, but Germany remains the title's biggest territory (market total: $11.5 million). The foreign total for "Hedge" stands at $107.4 million.

At No. 4 was "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," which bowed in France, Spain, Korea and United Arab Emirates. Its overall weekend estimate was $9 million from 35 territories, with 20 territories still to come. Its international total rose to $61 million.

No. 5 for the weekend was "Cars," which grossed $8 million from 34 territories. The international total rose to $100.1 million.

Overseas returns for "The Break-Up" still lag far behind the comedy's U.S. haul ($117 million). Playing this weekend in 20 territories, it garnered $5.3 million, raising its international total to $31 million. The biggest market return came from the U.K., where "Break-Up" finished in the No. 3 spot with an estimated $4.4 million.

The weekend marked the finale of "Mission: Impossible III's" international run, with $5.2 million from two markets: China ($2.8 million) and Japan ($2.4 million in its third weekend for a market haul of $28.6 million). Its international total stands at $238.5 million vs. $133.5 million domestic.

"The Da Vinci Code" increased its international gross to $525.1 million on the strength of an estimated $1.9 million weekend in 50 markets.

The overseas returns for "Poseidon" rose to $109.8 million with an estimated $1.2 million weekend from 47 territories. "United 93" drew an estimated $1.1 million in a dozen markets for an overseas total of $13.2 million.

'Pirates' rules at box office, as 'Lady' flops

Shyamalan's mystical fantasy "Lady in the Water" opened at No. 3 with $18.2 million, amid a critical pasting that got personal at times. The New York Post described Shyamalan as "a crackpot with a messianic delusions."

His last movie, "The Village," opened to $50 million in 2004 and stalled at $114 million -- half of what 2002's "Signs" finished up with. Shyamalan's 1999 breakthrough, "The Sixth Sense," earned $293.5 million.

The new movie was distributed by Time Warner Inc.'s Warner Bros. Pictures, which said it had hoped for an opening in the mid-$20 million range. It cost in the mid-$50 million range to make.

Reitman's romantic comedy "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," which received only marginally better reviews, opened at No. 7 with $8.7 million. The Uma Thurman vehicle marked Reitman's first directing effort since the 2001 flop "Evolution."

"Girlfriend" was distributed by News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, which had hoped for an opening in the mid-teens.

Walt Disney Co.'s "Pirates," meanwhile, was No. 1 with $35.0 million, as its total rose to $321.7 million after three weekends. It set a new speed record hitting $300 million, taking 16 days -- one day faster than last year's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith."

Pirates of the Caribbean plunders $62.2 million US more in box-office loot

Already a record-shattering blockbuster, Johnny Depp's sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest dug up $62.2 million US in its second weekend, raising its 10-day total to $258.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The movie has quickly become the year's top-grossing film, rocketing past X-Men: The Last Stand, which has taken in $232 million in eight weeks.

"It's really fun when you're riding a comet like this," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which based the Pirates of the Caribbean movies on its theme park attraction. "This thing is just unbelievable. It creates its own wake."

Sony's Little Man, the Wayans brothers' slapstick farce about a pint-size thief masquerading as a baby, opened as the No. 2 movie with $21.7 million. The tale stars Shawn and Marlon Wayans, who co-wrote it with brother Keenen Ivory Wayans, the director.

Universal's comedy You, Me and Dupree, starring Owen Wilson as a houseguest causing chaos for a buddy and his new bride (Matt Dillon and Kate Hudson), debuted at No. 3 with $21.3 million.

Hollywood's business dipped for the first time in two months. After eight straight weekends of rising revenues, overall receipts totalled $156 million, down five per cent from the same weekend last year, when Depp also was at the top of the box office with Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Still, the second weekend gross for Dead Man's Chest topped the debut of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which opened with $56.2 million. Dead Man's Chest had the third-best second weekend ever, behind Shrek 2 ($72.2 million) and Spider-Man ($71.4 million).

By next weekend, Dead Man's Chest should climb past the $305 million domestic total rung up by its predecessor, 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Disney's Viane said.

Dead Man's Chest debuted with $135.6 million over the opening weekend, beating the previous record of $114.8 million set by Spider-Man in 2002.

Ending with a cliffhanger, Dead Man's Chest will be closely followed by a third Pirates movie due out next May, with Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and other co-stars on a voyage to rescue Depp's rakish pirate Capt. Jack Sparrow.

"Huge expectations. Pirates 2 is maybe the toughest act in box-office history to follow," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "Pirates 3 is the definition of a predestined blockbuster."

After a strong start in narrow release the previous weekend, Warner Independent's sci-fi drug-addiction tale A Scanner Darkly expanded to more theatres and broke into the top 10 with $1.2 million. The movie, featuring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr., was shot in live action then painted over with digital animation.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, $62.2 million.
2. Little Man, $21.7 million.
3. You, Me and Dupree, $21.3 million.
4. Superman Returns, $11.6 million.
5. The Devil Wears Prada, $10.45 million.
6. Cars, $7.5 million.
7. Click, $7 million.
8. The Lake House, $1.6 million.
9. Nacho Libre, $1.5 million.
10. A Scanner Darkly, $1.2 million.

"Pirates" sequel sailing to USA in 2008

No "Pirates" Life in Dominica

The only movie theater on the tropical island where much of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest was filmed will not be showing the swashbuckling blockbuster--and not because of any cannibalism controversy.

Despite the fact that the Dead Man's Chest set included at least 275 Dominicans employed as crewmembers and extras and that Disney's presence on the West Indies island was expected to provide a much-needed economic boost, the 300-seat theater has a leaky roof and will not be open in time to screen the movie, which grossed $135.6 million in its opening weekend. The venue has been closed for about two months, the Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Though Dominica has a growing tourism industry, the agriculture-dependent nation is still considered one of the poorest in the Caribbean, with about 30 percent of residents living below the poverty line. So far people seem pretty content to blame the movie theater's owners for the lack of cinematic booty.

"I would have hoped that the people who own the only cinema in Dominica [located on the island's capital of Roseau] would have negotiated something," local historian Lennox Honeychurch, who was an extra in Dead Man's Chest, told the AP.

This is not the first time that Pirates has had trouble finding its footing on Dominican soil. Last year, Charles Williams, chief of the island's indigenous Carib Indian tribe, complained about Dead Man's Chest's plotline involving a troupe of flesh-hungry natives ready to make a meal out of Captain Jack Sparrow. A particular point of contention was a scene featuring the charming rogue hogtied to a spit and covered with garnishes.

Disney responded to the controversy with a statement about the film's "purely fictitious" plot points and even the local Carib Territorial Council emphasized the fact that Dead Man's Chest takes place on a fictional island and that the cannibals are called Pelegosto.

Besides, how vicious can they be? Sparrow gets away. He's got another sequel to film, after all.

"Happy Days" for Zwigoff on Depp film

Laurent Graff's story follows a thirtysomething man who decides to leave his wife and children and check himself into a rest home. There he develops a special bond with an old woman suffering from terminal cancer, taking her on a special journey as her last wish.

"Johnny Depp asked me to do the film," Zwigoff said. "He said he chose me because I'm very Hal Ashby-like," referring to the late director of the intergenerational romance "Harold and Maude." "I took that as a compliment. It's a very quaint, fantastical story."

Zwigoff's credits include the recent "Art School Confidential," "Ghost World" and the director's cut of "Bad Santa," set for an October DVD release.

He will write the script with Jerry Stahl, whose credits include the drug addiction memoir "Permanent Midnight" and co-writing the screenplay for "Bad Boys II." Graff's novel was translated into English by Linda Coverdale.

The "Happy Days" project, being developed by Depp's Infinitum Nihil banner, is based at Warner Bros. Pictures. Depp stars in Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," which set a new record for a three-day opening with an estimated haul of $132 million over the weekend.

No safe haven for "Pirates" in China

The Walt Disney Pictures sequel could still screen in China if it passes a second round of examination, a source close to the film review process told the daily Beijing News Friday.

According to the paper, the Film Bureau disliked the portrayal of the souls of the dead and of a ferocious "octopus-faced" character. The bureau's representatives declined to comment.

A Disney spokeswoman in Hong Kong said, "Regarding 'Pirates,' we are still gathering information from the Film Bureau and so at this point we cannot comment."

China does not have a film rating system. The Film Bureau typically rejects sex and violence but does not reveal the criteria. It passes only 20 foreign films each year for revenue-sharing theatrical release.

The Johnny Depp film set a new record for a three-day opening in North America over the weekend, earning an estimated $132 million. It was also No. 1 in seven international markets, with sales of $46.6 million.

It carries an MPAA rating of PG-13 in the U.S., cautioning parents that some material in the film may be inappropriate for children under 13 years of age.

Last month, China passed "Mission: Impossible III" for a July 18 release after a protracted review process resulted in Paramount agreeing to cut unspecified scenes. One-third of the action film was shot in Shanghai. Industry insiders say censors found the film's portrayal of China's largest city insulting.

The first film in the "Pirates" franchise, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," screened in China in November 2003 and earned about $3.4 million.

Separately, Disney confirmed that its Pixar-produced cartoon "Cars" will be released in late August.

Depp's 'Pirates' plunders record $132M

Disney's swashbuckling sequel sailed past the previous all-time best debut, 2002's "Spider-Man," which took in $114.8 million in its first weekend.

"Dead Man's Chest" also did nearly three times the business of its predecessor, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which took in $46.6 million over opening weekend in 2003.

The sequel surpassed that total in its first day alone, taking in $55.5 million Friday to beat the previous single-day record of $50 million, set last year by "Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith." With $44.7 million on Saturday, "Dead Man's Chest" also became the first movie to top $100 million in just two days.

Despite sky-high projections for the "Pirates" sequel from industry analysts, producer Jerry Bruckheimer said he had expected "Dead Man's Chest" to open closer to the $77 million debut weekend of last spring's "The Da Vinci Code."

"When people in the industry predicted these high numbers, I thought they were just trying to be mean. So no matter how good we did, if we did $100 million, we'd be failures," Bruckheimer told The Associated Press on Sunday. "I didn't think we'd get near these numbers."

The movie sent Hollywood's overall business soaring. The top 12 films grossed $206.5 million, up 48 percent from the same weekend last year, when "Fantastic Four" opened with $56.1 million.

"Dead Man's Chest" raked in nearly double the total of the rest of the top 12 combined. The previous weekend's top film, "Superman Returns," fell to No. 2 with $21.85 million, down 58 percent from opening weekend.

"Superman Returns" has grossed $141.7 million in 12 days and should fly past the $200 million mark, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., which released the film.

The sci-fi tale of drug addiction "A Scanner Darkly" debuted strongly in limited release with $406,000 in 17 theaters. Shot in live action then painted over with digital animation, the movie stars Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder and Robert Downey Jr. in a hallucinatory tale adapted from Philip K. Dick's novel.

In a single weekend, "Dead Man's Chest" reeled in 43 percent of the $305 million total domestic gross the original "Pirates" rang up in its entire six-month theatrical run.

The movie's audience was equally divided between males and females, and it drew strongly from all age groups, according to Disney.

"It is straight across the board," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which based the movies on its "Pirates of the Caribbean" theme park ride. "Everybody's coming. Whoever it is, they're there."

Even factoring in higher admission prices since 2002, "Dead Man's Chest" still set a record of just under 20 million tickets sold, about 200,000 more than "Spider-Man."

"Maybe the only movie that has a chance to beat this record might be the next `Pirates' movie," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

Audiences won't have to wait long. Disney shot much of the third installment at the same time as "Dead Man's Chest," which ends in a cliffhanger leading into part three, due in theaters over Memorial Day weekend next year.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," $132 million.
2. "Superman Returns," $21.85 million.
3. "The Devil Wears Prada," $15.6 million.
4. "Click," $12 million.
5. "Cars," $10.3 million.
6. "Nacho Libre," $3.3 million.
7. "The Lake House," $2.8 million.
8. "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift," $2.5 million.
9. "Waist Deep," $1.9 million.
10. "The Break-Up," $1.6 million.

'Pirates' estimated $55M haul sets record

The movie was shown on 4,133 screens, beginning at midnight Friday. Only 2004's "Shrek 2" and "Spider-Man 2" debuted on more screens.

Disney also received reports of continuous sellouts and requests to add more screens at multiplexes.

"We're obviously thrilled beyond belief. Anytime you break an industry record ... the word ecstatic comes to mind," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution at Disney.

The swashbuckling sequel is on pace to eclipse the three-day, box-office record held by "Spider-Man" in 2002 with $114.8 million.

"This goes a long way of dispelling the notion that people don't want to go to movies anymore," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-officer tracker Exhibitor Relations. "People aren't waiting for the DVD on this one. They are going out to see it."

Hollywood has been mired in a filmmaking slump. Last year audiences stayed away from such offerings as the action bombs "Stealth" and "The Island," and the remakes "House of Wax" and "The Bad News Bears."

Revenues this year to date are at $4.6 billion, 5 percent ahead of last year's disappointing take, though factoring in higher ticket prices, attendance is up just 1.7 percent.

At the current pace, 2006 ticket sales would come in slightly below Hollywood's average of 1.46 billion a year over the last decade.

But Dergarabedian said those fortunes could change with "Pirates."

"It's on track to make $120 million or more this weekend," he said. "It's a monumental number. It's a great place for the industry to be right now."

Preliminary three-day box-office estimates were to be released Sunday, with final figures expected Monday.

"Pirates" sets sail for record box office debut

"Dead Man's Chest" already ranks as the third-widest film release ever in the United States with a debut in 4,133 venues, just behind second-place "Spider-Man 2," which opened in 4,152 theaters, and "Shrek 2," which holds the record at 4,163, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Both of those films were 2004 releases.

Some analysts expect "Dead Man's Chest" will top the $100 million dollar box office mark during its first three days, while others put the opening weekend range at $90 million to $100 million.

"It just has everything going for it to give it one of those openings that everyone is going to talk about," said Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian.

In international markets, "Dead Man's Chest" debuted in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand on Friday, and South Korea and Thailand on Thursday. Distributor the Walt Disney Co. will rapidly add more countries in coming weeks.

"Dead Man's Chest" is a follow-up to summer 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which dug up $654 million worth of box office gold during its long run, establishing a loyal fan base for the sequel.

Moreover, the movie is one of the last major event films of the summer, and is opening on a non-holiday Friday, which tends to draw more people to theaters in a shorter period of time.

Indeed, "Spider-Man" opened on a non-holiday weekend in May 2002. The same is true for the No. 2 debut of "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which grossed $108.4 million in its first three days, and No. 3 "Shrek 2" with $108 million. Those films opened in May 2005 and May 2004, respectively.

Advance ticket sales for "Dead Man's Chest" were strong. Movietickets.com reported its sales at three times the rate for "Spider-Man 2" in 2004, and Fandango.com said "Dead Man's Chest" has sold more tickets on its site than any film before, surpassing last year's " Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

Brandon Gray, president of tracker Boxofficemojo.com, estimated that the latest "Pirates" debut will top $100 million, but added that even if it doesn't, the movie will play strongly during weekdays.

"It is the last event picture of the season, and will have free rein in theaters for quite some time," he said.

"Pirates" reviews mixed ahead of key debut

"Too much of what was a good thing," a Los Angeles Times headline said of Disney's swashbuckling sequel, although the full review described the film as "intermittently fun and high-spirited."

The Hollywood Reporter called the special effects "envelope-pushing" and praised Johnny Depp's performance as quirky pirate captain Jack Sparrow, but it panned the story in which Sparrow confronts the evil Davy Jones.

On the Web site rottentomatoes.com, which compiles reviews, the movie scored a 68 percent "fresh" rating.

Richard Horgan, film commentator for Fandango.com, said one of every three advance tickets sold by the online ticket service this week was for "Dead Man's Chest." That is roughly twice the rate posted by its precursor, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," in 2003.

"Personally, I think it's going to be a monster" at box offices, he said of the sequel.

Hollywood needs a huge hit after a string of major films -- "Mission: Impossible III," "The Da Vinci Code," "X-Men: The Last Stand" and "Cars" -- racked up solid box office but fell short of the eye-popping business generated by the "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars" movies.

Similarly this past week, "Superman Returns" opened over the long Independence Day holiday in the United States to a final tally of $108 million in its first week, according to the Warner Bros. film studio. The number was good, but not super.

"PIRATES" TO THE RESCUE?

"It has not been an exciting summer," said Brandon Gray, president of Boxofficemojo.com. "There is no major blockbuster everyone can get behind. The hope is that 'Pirates' is that blockbuster."

To date, U.S. summer movie ticket sales stand at roughly $1.84 billion, up 2.3 percent from last year but down 9.5 percent from 2004, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

Moreover, movie attendance as measured by the number of people buying tickets is down about 1 percent from 2005 and off 15 percent from 2004.

That is an ominous sign because the summer movie season, which runs from the first week of May through August, is typically used by Hollywood to launch its most expensive movies and accounts for as much as 40 percent of total annual ticket sales.

The success of "Dead Man's Chest" is especially pivotal. There seem to be few movies in the next eight weeks capable of matching the commercial clout of 2005's July-August combination of surprise comedy hits "Wedding Crashers" and "The 40 Year Old Virgin," which ended up grossing $209 million and $109 million, respectively, box office watchers said.

Despite "Crashers" and "Virgin," last summer's overall box office ended with revenues totaling $3.62 billion, down 8.5 percent from 2004's $3.96 billion, Exhibitor Relations said.

"Dead Man's Chest" is being released by the Walt Disney Co.. Warner Bros. is a unit of Time Warner Inc. Hollywood's other major studios are owned and operated by units of Viacom Inc, News Corp, Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news) and General Electric Co.

Depp dazzles again in 2nd "Pirates" escapade

Anticipation is huge for the middle film in this projected pirate trilogy, so "Dead Man's Chest" should equal, if not surpass, the $656 million worldwide gross of 2003's "The Curse of the Black Pearl." Most of the crew has reunited under the helm of producer Jerry Bruckheimer and director Gore Verbinski, including Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley; the second and third films were shot simultaneously in Caribbean locales.

Depp is less a swashbuckler than a swishbuckler as he prances and preens through the movie with the devil-may-care attitude of a hero who knows things will turn out well. He is the comic gel that holds the enterprise together. The performance is a total delight that somehow combines Bugs Bunny, Peter Pan and Charlie Chaplin.

"Dead Man's Chest" revolves around a blood debt Captain Jack Sparrow (Depp) owes to Davy Jones (Bill Nighy), the legendary fiend aboard his ghostly ship, the Flying Dutchman. To escape this fate, Captain Jack must recover a key that will open a buried chest containing his nemesis' still-beating heart.

Others want to seize this chest, however, most particularly the East India Trading Co.'s Lord Beckett (Tom Hollander). He imprisons Will Turner (Bloom) and Elizabeth Swann (Knightley) before their wedding on trumped-up charges so that Will is motivated to beat Captain Jack to the prize. Along the way are encounters with Will's father, Bootstrap Bill (Stellan Skarsgard), who long ago lost his soul to Davy Jones; a blackened-tooth Jamaican soothsayer, Tia Dalma (Naomie Harris); and Mercer (David Schofield), Beckett's informer in ne'er-do-well disguise.

Many characters are unearthly creatures with extreme physiologies -- essentially bloated, decaying, barnacle-encrusted corpses of dead sailors arisen zombielike to terrorize the sea. Their leader, Davy Jones, is the movie's most amazing creature. His head is that of an octopus whose many tentacles wiggle, glower and reach out ominously as he rages against all living beings. This imagery gets repeated in his pet sea monster, Kraker, a giant version of his head.

Nighy does a great job of getting across his tormented character despite his face being hidden behind special effects. Knightley, who gets lovelier with each picture, makes a stout-hearted heroine, adept at physical action yet demure when need be. Bloom, though, is too much in earnest, as if he were playing Errol Flynn rather than a comic version of same.

If one wants to carp about such things, this family adventure has morphed into something decidedly odd, though perhaps it fits the zeitgeist: The film overflows with as much gleeful sadism as a PG-13 rating can contain. Birds pluck eyes from living captives, a father must whip the flesh from his son's back, Captain Jack is prepared for roasting, and the threat of rape clearly looms over Elizabeth as she languishes in prison.

The whole pirate stew is flavored with moral fuzziness. The movie views pirates, who rob and murder on the high seas, as exemplars of fun-loving freedom; the East India Trading Company -- admittedly an imperialistic global corporation but nevertheless one that wants to rid the seas of homicidal criminals -- represents the forces of repression.

This production is a vast, expensive, sprawling affair that never feels out of control thanks to Verbinski's assured direction. Dariusz Wolski's cinematography superbly admires Rich Heinrich's lavish sets, while Hans Zimmer's busy though effective score -- he makes nice use of organ music -- pumps the action.

The film also marks the debut of a snappy new logo for Walt Disney Pictures that gives Sleeping Beauty's Castle a glittering cityscape in which to shine.

Cast:
Captain Jack Sparrow: Johnny Depp
Will Turner: Orlando Bloom
Elizabeth Swann: Keira Knightley
Norrington: Jack Davenport
Davy Jones: Bill Nighy
Gov. Swann: Jonathan Pryce
Pintel: Lee Arenberg
Ragetti: MacKenzie Crook
Lord Beckett: Tom Hollander
Bootstrap Bill: Stellan Skarsgard
Tia Dalma: Naomie Harris

Director: Gore Verbinski; Screenwriters: Ted Elliott, Terry Russio; Based on characters created by: Ted Elliott, Terry Russio, Stuart Beattie, Jay Wolpert; Producer: Jerry Bruckheimer; Executive producers: Mike Stenson, Chad Oman, Bruce Hendricks, Eric McLeod; Director of photography: Dariusz Wolski; Production designer: Rick Heinrichs; Music: Hans Zimmer; Costume designer: Penny Rose; Editors: Craig Wood, Stephen Rivkin.

It's a pirates life for actor Johnny Depp

Depp, 43, is known for quirky roles in movies like "

Ed Wood" and "Edward Scissorhands." Perhaps his best-loved part is flamboyant Capt. Jack Sparrow in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies. The newest version, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," hits theaters on Friday.

For the new film, Depp said that stepping back into Capt. Jack's boots was as natural as everyday life.

"It was funny just simply going through that process again" of getting back into the character," Depp told reporters recently. "Going through make-up and hair and buckling myself into the costume ... just felt so natural and normal."

A pirate is rugged and fearless, but in 2003's original "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," Depp's Capt. Jack bordered on swishy, even slightly effeminate.

The actor has said his style of nautical ne'er-do-well mixed the rock 'n' roll swagger of Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards with the romantic longing of cartoon skunk Pepe LePew, but Capt. Jack was still as freewheeling as any pirate could be.

Audiences loved him. While the handsome actor had enjoyed a long career starting with the 1980s TV drama "21 Jump Street," only one of his films over the next decade was a blockbuster, 1999's "Sleepy Hollow."

"Curse of the Black Pearl" changed that. It grossed $654 million worldwide and earned Depp an Oscar nomination -- an honor that had eluded him until then, despite critical success in movies such as "What's Eating Gilbert Grape."

"I think someone somewhere miscounted. I was very surprised. I'm still surprised ... It was never even in the deepest darkest recesses of my brain or heart to go for that kind of thing," Depp said.

Early in his career, Depp was known for dating beautiful starlets and trashing hotel rooms. But in recent years, he has settled down with model Vanessa Paradis and they are raising their two children between homes in France and Los Angeles.

Fatherhood and maturity seem to have mellowed his attitude toward Hollywood's star-making machinery. During his "Jump Street" teen idol heyday, Depp felt "forced into the role of product," more so than an actor known for his craft. Now, Capt. Jack can be seen on cereal boxes.

Still, he said that box office hits have not changed his attitude toward work and the roles he takes. He still injects his own brand of quirkiness into each part he plays.

"It's not going to make me change my approach to the work," he said, adding that with Capt. Jack, "I still did the same thing that I always did."

New "Pirates" movie aims for box office treasure

To meet the challenge, director Gore Verbinski and writers Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio fought fire with fire. For sequel "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest," they fought their devil of a dilemma with the devil of the sea -- Davy Jones.

Action-adventure film "Dead Man's Chest," starring Johnny Depp as swishy pirate Captain Jack Sparrow, sails into U.S. movie theaters on Friday as perhaps the most widely anticipated movie of Hollywood's lucrative summer season.

On its face, that should be good news for the movie backed by The Walt Disney Co, but any Hollywood executive worth his sea salt knows that high expectations can lead to huge disappointment if movies fail to meet expectations.

Verbinski, Depp and the others have their work cut out for them. "We always said with the first movie, our chief weapons were low expectations and the element of surprise," Elliott told reporters. "In this, we don't have the low expectations."

Indeed, audience hopes are high. At Movietickets.com, for instance, advance ticket sales for "Dead Man's Chest" were nearly 20 times greater than those for the first film.

When "Curse of the Black Pearl" sailed into theaters in summer 2003, no one knew what to expect. Hopeful audiences thought it might be a raucous seafaring adventure, and skeptics pegged it as a kiddie movie based on a Disneyland ride.

Instead, what everyone got was a comedic pirate captain that Depp has said was a cross between Rolling Stones rocker Keith Richards and lovesick cartoon skunk Pepe LePew.

DEVIL OF THE DEEP SEA

Audiences fell for Capt. Jack hook, line and sinker. Oscar voters nominated Depp for an Academy Award, and a film franchise was born. There will be one more "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie after this. Disney is said to have spent $450 million making No. 2 and No. 3 at roughly the same time.

"On the one hand, there are these tremendous expectations and on the other hand, you have to approach each film like it's your last," said Verbinski, saying this meant taking risks.

All the main characters are back for "Dead Man's Chest," including good Will Turner (Orlando Bloom) and his lady love Elizabeth Swann (Keira Knightley). But their tale is as much a ghost story under the sea as it is nautical adventure on top, and the special effects are supercharged.

Sailors say that when a seafaring ne'er-do-well drowns in the ocean, he or she is sent to "Davy Jones' Locker." Davy is a devil of the deep.

Audiences learn early in "Dead Man's Chest" that Capt. Jack traded his soul 13 years ago to become a pirate captain. His time is now up, and Davy wants him drowned.

But Capt. Jack has a plan to live. He has a compass that leads to a chest in which lies Davy's beating heart. If he gets his hands on the heart, he wins back his life.

Problem is, Lord Cutler Beckett of the East India Trading Company wants Davy's heart too. He arrests Will and Elizabeth on the eve of their wedding and tells Will he might spare Elizabeth's life if the young man leads him to Capt. Jack.

Thus begins a journey across a Caribbean inhabited by pirates, wenches, cannibals, voodoo worshipers, a boatload of ghosts and a digital sea monster called the Kracken.

SWISHY SWASHBUCKLER

Depp's offbeat pirate stole the show in "Black Pearl," but the movie's makers did not want Capt. Jack to overshadow the adventurous tale in "Dead Man's Chest." "All around agreed that it shouldn't be the Capt. Jack show," Depp said.

Make no mistake, the actor known for quirky roles in films like "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," is still the star of "Dead Man's Chest" and his swishy swashbuckling remains.

Depp said he easily slipped back into the role. "It felt to me like we'd had about a week break ... And you just sort of found it right away and you were there," he said.

But new elements include Davy Jones ( Bill Nighy) and his ghost ship, The Flying Dutchman, which cruises not on top of, but underneath, the sea like a submarine with sails.

Many in its crew assume the forms of fish. Davy's face features the tentacles of an octopus, and his key lieutenant is a hammerhead shark.

But will the story and Hollywood effects magic meet the expectations of an audience that is obviously hungry for more "Pirates of the Caribbean?" On Friday, fans will know.

"There is a lot of pressure," deadpanned Verbinski.

Tidbit

Johnny Depp plays it his way

Defiance is the troublemaker's oxygen, and the surprise of a great big bearhug from the mainstream powers-that-be can be enough to choke it right out. There's a temptation to bite the embracer's ear and wriggle free.

Johnny Depp, one of his generation's most iconoclastic actors, is in that situation now with Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the sequel to the 2003 blockbuster that earned him his first Oscar nomination and propelled him from cult star to cultural touchstone. The movie opens July 7 and is expected to be one of summer's biggest hits.

He was in more familiar territory four years ago, when the money men of the Walt Disney Co. were hopping from foot to foot in a nervous panic over his performance as a swishy swashbuckler in an expensive pirate movie based on an amusement park ride.

Depp now says he wonders what they expected.

His career is a menagerie of peculiar and inscrutable men: the quivering, comedic Ichabod Crane of Sleepy Hollow, the oblivious B-movie maker Ed Wood, Hunter S. Thompson's drug-crazed alter ego in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and the heartbreaking monster Edward Scissorhands.

"They must be related to me in some way. Not so much that they're outsiders, though it must be. I never considered myself an outsider," the actor says, a devilish smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. "But I definitely didn't consider myself an insider."

So Depp came to expect anxiety from the studio brass when he set to work. "I'm so used to those calls now that I wait for them, where they say: 'Now, what exactly are you doing?' "

The actor is 43 but doesn't look battle-hardened. His boyish face is shaded by the wide brim of a well-worn gray Borsalino hat and a necklace jangles around the frayed collar of his white T-shirt as he recalls the internal uproar over the original Pirates, which came principally from former Disney CEO Michael Eisner.

"They did come to me and say, you know, 'What's going on? What does this mean? Is he gay, is he drunk? We can't understand what you're saying. It sounds like you're slurring your words. None of it makes any sense.'

"They were really worried and, in a lot of ways, rightly so. They had a lot of dough invested in the thing and here comes this really weird guy doing something they never experienced before from a human being. I did understand it, but it didn't change anything. I still had to do what I had to do, even when the threat was to potentially be fired."

Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer, the powerhouse behind movies such as Top Gun, Armageddon and Pearl Harbor, talked down the hostility. "You protect him by giving confidence to the studio. We all agreed to hire Johnny Depp, and the fact that he's interpreting the character in a unique way is why you hired him. Otherwise you hire anybody."

Depp, of course, wasn't fired, and his wobbly buccaneer, Jack Sparrow (inspired by Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards), launched the movie to a worldwide gross of $653.9 million.

Then came the best-actor Oscar nomination and an order for two back-to-back sequels. (The third Pirates movie, which is still shooting, arrives next summer.)

Among certain audiences, Depp always had a degree of loyalty, but suddenly his appeal was much broader. It was no longer just the gothically inclined who got him — it was the so-called regular folks.

Since then he has had three smaller successes —Finding Neverland (which earned him a second Oscar nomination), the offbeat murder thriller Secret Window and the action-comedy Once Upon a Time in Mexico— and one blockbuster, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which brought in $475 million worldwide last year.

His performance in Charlie as the somewhat menacing, slightly androgynous, saccharine-free candy tycoon Willie Wonka reportedly rankled Warner Bros. executives — as he often did.

But it proved, once again, that Depp's brand of cheerful weirdness and dark poetry strikes a chord with people.

And in resurrecting his Sparrow character, Depp found himself in strange territory: acceptance.

"On Pirates 2 and 3, we didn't get the calls — 'My God, you're ruining the movie!'

"In a lot of instances they kind of were beyond supportive to the degree where it's, 'Keep doing it! Make some more stuff up! Add some more weirdness!' But we did hit a couple of places that made them nervous ..."

Depp pauses for a long time. That devil's smile returns. "And it does feel good. It does," he says. "If you don't sort of tread in the arena of fear, you won't move forward somehow."

Locked in that mainstream embrace, Depp did not bite the ear of those doubters who now celebrate him. Instead, he nibbled on a toe.

Gore Verbinski, director of the Pirates movies, says he and Depp were trying to find a way to "one-up each other" to avoid playing it safe the second time around. At one point in the sequel, when Sparrow is captured by cannibals, Verbinski had the savages drape a necklace of severed toes around his neck.

Sparrow then does something outrageous. (We won't spoil the joke.) "People were like, 'You can't put that in the movie,' " Verbinski says. "Well, who's going to stop us?" Not the suits. Not this time.

The scene gets a big groan, followed by laughter, from preview audiences. "It's a sort of gambit," Verbinski says. "We're both really uncomfortable if other people are comfortable. You worry, 'Are we phoning it in?' If executives are going to sleep well at night, well, you don't want that."

Depp explains that the anxiety level of businessmen is simply a good way to gauge your balance on the high wire. "It's not like you get a thrill out of worrying them. But if they're freaked out about it, that means it's different. Let's keep going in that direction."

Frustrating times early in his career on the 1980s TV drama 21 Jump Street made him vow never to perform solely for the sake of a job again.

It's about "pushing yourself to the absolute brink of failure, in terms of like, 'Boy, if this don't work, it's going to be real bad. And if it does work, it might be great,' " Depp says. "When I'm about to pop my clock I want to be able to say, 'From this particular period to this particular period, I was solid and I was honest and there were no compromises.'

"I could be wrong," he adds. "I might have been wrong many times."

Movies like last year's The Libertine, about a debauched aristocrat, misfired with critics and were ignored by the masses. Occasionally, the daredevil breaks a leg. And some day, Depp knows, the daredevil could break his neck.

"There was always the chance that maybe you'd get away with (taking risks) for one or two movies, and then you'd get deep-sixed and you're out on your ear. And I was OK with that. I figured, I pumped gas before, I worked construction before. So I could do it again, what the heck. It's still kind of miraculous to me that I was able to stick around after all these years."

Memories of two important figures in his life — Marlon Brando, his co-star in 1995's Don Juan DeMarco, and Thompson, the iconic crazed journalist of Fear and Loathing— guide his tastes.

"I wouldn't do anything that I thought could disappoint them or make them ashamed. Even if I'm alone — even if I'm going down this road and I feel it's really what this character is and everyone in the world thinks I'm wrong — you've got to do what you believe in."

But, like many creative enigmas, Brando's life was full of personal grief and emotional and social exile, and Fear and Loathing was not just a title for Thompson, it was a lifestyle. Slowed by declining health, he committed suicide last year — his final act of defiance.

Depp is testing whether it's possible to follow their fearsome creative path and still have happiness. He says his personal life has mellowed because of his longtime romance with model/actress Vanessa Paradis, and their two children, daughter Lily-Rose, 7, and son Jack, 4.

That's when he says he let go of what "freaks me out or bothered me or confused me" along with the "boozing" that helped him deal with it.

"It took kind of meeting that right girl, her getting pregnant, and that whole beauty of nine months waiting for the kid and then BOOM — there's your baby and you go, 'My God, there is my life.' The same moment your child is born, you're born. You're brand-new, because you are revealed finally to yourself. You're meeting yourself for the first time. And it's about being OK with yourself, not hating yourself anymore."

So, maybe there is danger for a rebel like Depp in being loved too much, but he seems willing to sacrifice some of that defiance. He has found ways to fill that void.

'Pirates' premiere was a swashbuckling good time

"I'm floating up the red carpet in a white Chanel number, which should (fare) well on Splash Mountain," Knightley joked. "Everyone said, 'You can't go on a ride in that dress,' and I said, 'I definitely can.' " Pirates opens July 7.

Co-star Orlando Bloom, who was joined later in the evening by girlfriend Kate Bosworth, said he encountered fans who began camping out at 6 a.m. to offer him a "pirate booty" of "hugs, kisses and gifts."

The event was a virtual redo of the 2003 Disneyland premiere for the first Pirates pic, with a few exceptions — notably the attendance this time of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and first lady Maria Shriver, close friends of the film's producer, Jerry Bruckheimer. Shriver shocked with an eye-popping T-shirt: Michelangelo's David, bedazzled with purple gems over the famed statue's privates.

Outside the park, guests passed picketers from the Caribbean, protesting the film's portrayal of their people as cannibals. "I love that," an unfazed Bruckheimer said. "But the movie's make-believe."

Star Johnny Depp made hundreds of fans happy by signing autographs for almost three hours. He then dashed down the carpet, waved to fans and boarded a pirate ship with his co-stars.

The ship cruised around Tom Sawyer Island, stopping in front of a giant screen, where the film played until midnight and was followed by a fireworks display.

Screenwriter Terry Rossio revealed the likely title of the third Pirates film, due Memorial Day: At World's End, which ties to the film's cliffhanger ending. "It's the pirates' last stand; the end of an era," Rossio said of the third, which sees the introduction of Chow Yun-Fat as a Chinese pirate. The Caribbean scenes have all been shot, but the cast will reunite in late July and August to shoot interiors.

Rossio then reteams with Bruckheimer for National Treasure 2, which finds Nicolas Cage's character, Ben Gates, exploring an Old West mystery.

More fun on the way: Disney chairman Dick Cook revealed that a film titled Jungle Cruise, after another popular Disneyland attraction, is in development. And animatronic figures of Knightley's and Bloom's characters are expected to join the newly installed Depp character in Disneyland's Pirates ride next year.

Disney Adds More Depp

When the Pirates of the Caribbean ride reopens June 26 at Disneyland after being shuttered since March, visitors will be treated to bigger cannon explosions, more gold doubloons and an animatronic figure of Captain Jack Sparrow from the film franchise originally inspired by the classic theme park attraction.

Basically, Disney made movies based on a ride and, in turn, is now making the ride look more like the movies. Which, when you think about it, is pretty much what the company has been doing for the past 50 years.

This reintroduction to Jack Sparrow's wily ways has been craftily timed, of course, to coincide with the nationwide July 7 release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest, the sequel to 2002's smash hit, The Curse of the Black Pearl, which has grossed more than $653 million worldwide and turned Depp into a $20 million man. (A third film is already slated for a late May 2007 opening.)

The Gore Verbinski-directed Dead Man's Chest features seafaring lovebirds Will and Elizabeth (Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley) getting arrested on their wedding day for aiding and abetting Sparrow's misadventures. In the meantime, Sparrow runs into a few obstacles of his own, such as an island full of cannibals and a ghost ship out to capture his soul.

"It's those moments when you realize how absurd your job is," Depp told Newsweek recently. "It's great fun, but it was a bastard to shoot."

For the past 18 months, more than 400 Disney Imagineers have been toiling away in California and Florida (the Disney World version opens July 7) to replicate that glorious absurdity, adding new video and lighting installations; digitally remastering the audio effects and adding snippets from the movies' Hans Zimmer-composed soundtracks; and fashioning more than 400,000 new gold coins and set pieces. And then 750,000 gallons of water had to be drained and put back over the course of three days.

Instead of the old storyline featuring pirates on a pillaging bender, riders will watch the same pirates trying to capture the charming ne'er-do-well Jack Sparrow--played by an animatronic figure modeled after Depp's heavily eye-penciled film character--before he can reach the newly blinged-out booty. The other person brought to electronic life in the ride is Jack's nemesis, Barbossa (Geoffrey Rush). Sorry, ladies, no Orlando Bloom animatronics today.

The ghostly image of Davy Jones, a new already-dead character from Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest played by Bill Nighy, will be projected onto the ride's refurbished waterfall scene. LED displays will make the "sky" appear more forbidding and natural looking, the banjo player languishing on the edge of the bayou will have some new licks, and the cannon blasts will be more up-close and realistic (or, louder, if you will--so, if those old pop-pop-pop gunshots used to startle you, cover your ears).

Depp, Rush and Nighy all lent their voices to the ride's soundtrack, which is now piped in through 220 speakers and bass subwoofers strategically placed throughout the 14 1/2-minute-long attraction.

Despite the upgraded special effects and new story line channeling the action from the Pirates of the Caribbean films, Disney has said that the changes will not tarnish what people tend to love about the ride--its kitschy, retro charm.

"The film's writers really used our ride as their inspiration, so the new characters feel like they've always been part of our attraction," Kathy Rodgers, a senior show producer at Disney Imagineering, told E! Online. Rodgers' job is more or less to ensure that the vision designed on paper years before a ride debuts is then translated into a tangible, immersive Disney experience. (So, no pressure or anything.)

"We have not disturbed the classic storytelling," she said. "We have given Pirates of the Caribbean a new fresh look that will add to its longevity."

Fans of the original have been worrying that their favorite ride is now going to look more like a Happy Meal? box than it will the 1968-era creation that features a band of rowdy, red-faced pirates chasing after treasure, beer and barmaids. Even a minor change in 1997 that made the merry marionettes hunger for plates of food rather than women had purists up in arms. (Good news for them--as part of the redesign, the pirates have ditched the grub and are after the gals again.)

A fan who grew up riding the original told the Los Angeles Times that if it wasn't broken, it didn't need to be fixed. "I think it's really lamentable when society feels that they need to go back and adjust their pop culture icons to fit whatever new spawns out," Candy Richter, 39, said. "I don't think people are going in Haunted Mansion and wondering where the Eddie Murphy character is." (Well, she's got a point there.)

But Rodgers said that she is very confident that no one will walk away disappointed. And, she added, in response to the observation that more things in this world should be designed to look like Johnny Depp, "You're not going to find anyone who's going to disagree with you."

Depp, 43, whose adaptable talents are a huge part of what makes these Pirates of the Caribbean films so darn appealing, recently sat down with Newsweek to discuss the films, fame, fatherhood and why he likes to do Pirate publicity while still sporting Sparrow's gold teeth.

"They don't come off until the ride stops," he said in the interview featured in the magazine's June 26 issue. "It's a horrible process. I didn't want to go through yanking them off and putting them back on. And it leaves some residue of the character behind."

That tactic appears to have worked in the past, considering Depp earned an Oscar nomination the first time he inserted those metallic falsies a few years ago.

He decided to do Pirates because he originally wanted to make a movie that his kids could see (they haven't quite reached the Blow level yet), and is still processing how popular the film became. It "made perfect sense to me on the one hand, and at the same time, it made no sense at all, which I kind of enjoyed," Depp said.

The father of two also related how he never worried about losing his "serious actor" credibility by signing up for a big-budget action flick.

"Never, not once, and I don't know why," he said, "because one would think that I would have. I suppose it's because I feel like I have a voice. The idea of commercial success never bothered me necessarily. What bothered me was striving for that, and lying to get that. If I was going to do something, it had to be on my terms--not because I'm some hideous control freak--but because I don't want to live a lie. You really don?t want to look back on your life and go, 'I was a complete fraud.'"

But in addition to a voice, the man who was named People's Sexiest Man Alive in 2003 also happens to have a face--a face that has been pleasing movie audiences in all its incarnations for years, from Depp's sensitive aesthete who can't touch anybody in Edward Scissorhands to his transvestite turn in Ed Wood to his freakish Willy Wonka in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (all Tim Burton films, by the way).

And all that face time has taken him to a fairly stratospheric level of fame, or whatever Depp wants to call it, which he offsets by spending a lot of his time in France with his girlfriend, French singer Vanessa Paradis, and their children, seven-year-old Lily-Rose and four-year-old Jack.

"I can't use the word 'fame' with myself, but yeah," Depp said. "I was never horribly self-obsessed or wrapped up in my own weirdness, but when my daughter was born, suddenly there was clarity? And it was liberating. In that moment, it's like you become something else. The real you is revealed."

But if you can't get close to the real Depp, Disney's animatronic version will be a good place to start.

'PIRATES:' NO SECOND CHANCE

Simple pleasures, anonymity are what draw Johnny Depp to life in France

In this week's issue of Newsweek, the 43-year-old actor says life is simpler there.

"I've always loved it there," he said. "The phones don't ring as much. Movies are never brought up in conversation. I'll take the kids and we'll go out to the trampoline and the swing set, and we'll stop by the garden and see how our tomatoes are doing. You know, old-fart stuff. Good stuff."

It's a sharp contrast to his early acting days when he became a teen idol starring on the TV series 21 Jump Street.

"Suddenly, you go into restaurants and people are pointing at you and whispering," he said. "You feel spooked by it because that freedom of anonymity is gone. You never get used to that. You'd leave the hotel to go to dinner and there'd be tons of cameras and flashbulbs."

In 2003, Depp gave an interview to the German magazine Stern in which he was quoted as criticizing Washington's confrontation with France over the war in Iraq.

Depp was quoted as saying that "America is dumb, is something like a dumb puppy that has big teeth - that can bite and hurt you, aggressive."

He later said he intended no anti-American sentiment and called it an "inaccurate and out of context misquote." The magazine stood by its story.

Depp, French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis and their two children split their time between homes in France and Los Angeles.

Depp says his life changed dramatically when daughter Lily-Rose was born in 1999. His son, Jack, was born three years later.

"I was never horribly self-obsessed or wrapped up in my own weirdness, but when my daughter was born, suddenly there was clarity," he said. "I wasn't angry anymore. It was the first purely selfless moment that I had ever experienced. And it was liberating. In that moment, it's like you become something else. The real you is revealed."

Forbes Annual Power List

Teen Choice Award Nominations

TELEVISION

Choice TV Show: Drama/Action Adventure
"The O.C."
"Grey's Anatomy"
"One Tree Hill"
"House"
"Lost"
"Smallville"

Choice TV Show: Comedy/Musical
"Desperate Housewives"
"Everybody Hates Chris"
"Gilmore Girls"
"My Name Is Earl"
"High School Musical"
"The War at Home"

Choice TV Show: Animated
"American Dad"
"Family Guy"
"King of the Hill"
"South Park"
"The Boondocks"
"The Simpsons"

Choice TV Show: Reality
"America's Next Top Model"
"American Idol"
"Beauty and the Geek"
"Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County"
"Survivor: Guatemala"
"Yo Momma"

Choice TV Actor: Drama/Action Adventure
Adam Brody, "The O.C."
Chad Michael Murray, "One Tree Hill"
Kiefer Sutherland, "24"
Matthew Fox, "Lost"
Patrick Dempsey, "Grey's Anatomy"
Tom Welling, "Smallville"

Choice TV Actress: Drama/Action Adventure
Evangeline Lilly, "Lost"
Katherine Heigl, "Grey's Anatomy"
Kristen Bell, "Veronica Mars"
Mischa Barton, "The O.C."
Kristin Kreuk, "Smallville"
Sophia Bush, "One Tree Hill"

Choice TV Actor: Comedy
Michael Rapaport, "The War at Home"
Jason Lee, "My Name Is Earl"
Zach Braff, "Scrubs"
Steve Carell, "The Office"
Tyler James Williams, "Everybody Hates Chris"
Wilmer Valderrama, "That '70s Show"

Choice TV Actress: Comedy
Alexis Bledel, "Gilmore Girls"
Eva Longoria, "Desperate Housewives"
Jaime Pressly, "My Name Is Earl"
Mila Kunis, "That '70s Show"
Raven Symone, "That's So Raven"
Tichina Arnold, "Everybody Hates Chris"

Choice TV Sidekick
Allison Mack, "Smallville"
Amaury Nolasco, "Prison Break"
Vincent Martella, "Everybody Hates Chris"
Donald Faison, "Scrubs"
Jorge Garcia, "Lost"
Percy Daggs III, "Veronica Mars"

Choice TV Personality
Ashton Kutcher, "Punk'd"
Nick Cannon, "Nick Cannon Presents Wild 'N Out"
Ryan Seacrest, "American Idol"
Simon Cowell, "American Idol"
Maria Menounos, "Access Hollywood," "Today"
Vanessa Minnillo, "TRL," "Entertainment Tonight"

MOVIES

Choice Movie: Action Adventure
"King Kong"
"Mission: Impossible III"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
"Superman Returns"
"V for Vendetta"
"X-Men: The Last Stand"

Choice Movie: Drama
"Flight Plan"
"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"
"Pride & Prejudice"
"Take the Lead"
"Goal!"
"Walk the Line"

Choice Movie: Chick Flick
"Failure to Launch"
"Just Like Heaven"
"Just My Luck"
"Last Holiday"
"Aquamarine"
"The Lake House"

Choice Movie: Comedy
"Click"
"Nacho Libre"
"Scary Movie 4"
"She's the Man"
"The Benchwarmers"
"The Break-Up"

Choice Movie: Thriller
"American Haunting"
"Hostel"
"Red Eye"
"Saw II"
"Silent Hill"
"The Omen"

Choice Movie Actor: Drama/Action Adventure
Hugh Jackman, "X-Men: The Last Stand"
Johnny Depp, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Chris "Ludacris" Bridges, "Crash," "Hustle & Flow"
Orlando Bloom, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Terrence Howard, "Crash," "Hustle & Flow"
Tom Cruise, "Mission: Impossible III"

Choice Movie Actress: Drama/Action Adventure
Halle Berry, "X-Men: The Last Stand"
Jessica Alba, "Fantastic Four"
Keri Russell, "Mission: Impossible III"
Keira Knightley, "Pride & Prejudice," "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest"
Natalie Portman, "V for Vendetta"
Reese Witherspoon, "Walk the Line"

Choice Movie Actor: Comedy
Vince Vaughn, "The Break-Up"
Jim Carrey, "Fun with Dick and Jane"
Johnny Depp, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
Jon Heder, "The Benchwarmers," "Just Like Heaven"
Jack Black, "Nacho Libre"
Adam Sandler, "Click"

Choice Movie Actress: Comedy
Lindsay Lohan, "Just My Luck"
Jennifer Aniston, "The Break-Up"
Hilary Duff, "The Perfect Man," "Cheaper by the Dozen 2"
Queen Latifah, "Last Holiday"
Rachel McAdams, "Wedding Crashers," "The Family Stone"
Sarah Jessica Parker, "Failure to Launch"

Choice Hottie - Male
Chad Michael Murray
Chris Brown
Justin Timberlake
Nick Lachey
Orlando Bloom
Wentworth Miller

Choice Hottie - Female
Eva Longoria
Jessica Alba
Jessica Simpson
Scarlett Johansson
Rachel Bilson
Rihanna

Choice Comedian
Adam Sandler
Chris Rock
Dane Cook
Jack Black
Jim Carrey
Rachel Dratch

New Line's "Nightmare" DVD extras make the cut

The original 1984 "A Nightmare on Elm Street," which spawned eight feature films, a TV series and a new wave of teen chillers, is being prepped for a special-edition DVD release September 26 as part of the studio's premier "infinifilm" line.

Using the "infinifilm" option, viewers can access behind-the-scenes documentaries, interviews and other extras as they are watching the film, so the bonus materials can be digested in context.

Among the bonus features New Line is preparing are audio essays with director Wes Craven and star Robert Englund, documentaries on the franchise's origins and its legacy, a trivia challenge and a making-of feature.

"Many DVD features that are now considered the standards of the home entertainment experience were born at New Line, and we continue to push the envelope," New Line Home Entertainment president and chief operating officer Stephen Einhorn said.

Indeed, the release of "Nightmare" follows another New Line release that is generating lots of advance buzz for its innovative bonus materials, "Final Destination 3: Thrill Ride Edition." The two-disc DVD, scheduled for a July 25 release, has a groundbreaking "choose-their-fate" interactive viewing option that lets viewers change the course of the film -- and the fate of some of the characters.

To do this, the New Line DVD team worked with director James Wong to build the alternative scenes into the script and schedule additional time during the shoots.

In one scene, Frankie's head is sheared off by a dislodged engine when a runaway truck smashes into a row of cars. In the alternative take, he is pulled out of a convertible, his head intact.

Bogus Design

Depp Best, Diaz Worst for Autographs

Depp, followed by George Clooney, topped the magazine's 14th annual survey of Hollywood's best and worst signers. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star also was rated best last year.

"Many stars become bad signers once fame and fortune hits, but not Depp. He's even signed autographs for crowds at the airport while carrying luggage," said Steve Cyrkin, editor and publisher of the Santa Ana, Calif.-based magazine.

As for Clooney, "he'll joke as he signs, and make fun of how he looks in photos he's handed to autograph," Cyrkin said.

When it comes to her moniker, however, Diaz gets a flunking grade.

"Cameron Diaz may be a talented actress, but she's persistently a terrible signer. Instead of just turning down a person's autograph request, she'll lecture them about how dumb autographs are," Cyrkin said.

Russell Crowe would have been named as the best of the worst but in recent months he has been much nicer to fans, Cyrkin said in a telephone interview Friday.

Cyrkin said the list, which appears in the magazine's June issue, was based on information from a professional autograph collector and an enthusiastic amateur who is a journalist.

"They're the guys who want to get five or 10 or 12 of everything but they do see people" and know the "track records" of the stars, he said.

"It's looking at the spirit of the way they sign," Cyrkin said. "It's how they treat their fans."

Here is the list of 10 best and 10 worst Hollywood autograph signers for 2006, according to the magazine:

Best
1. Johnny Depp
2. George Clooney
3. Matt Damon
4. Al Pacino
5. Tom Cruise
6. Angelina Jolie
7. Elijah Wood
8. Brittany Murphy
9. Jack Nicholson
10. Clint Eastwood

Worst
1. Cameron Diaz
2. Bruce Willis
3. Demi Moore
4. Tobey Maguire
5. Alan Alda
6. Halle Berry
7. Winona Ryder
8. Teri Hatcher
9. Joaquin Phoenix
10. Russell Crowe

Depp unhappy with development project; says it would block his view

Depp contends in a lawsuit that the city of West Hollywood violated environmental quality laws by approving development of retail shops, a restaurant and a parking structure on a lot beneath his gated, one-hectare property.

The 42-year-old actor also argues the project would block the view his two children have while playing on a terrace outside their 690-square-metre home.

Developer Joseph Emrani of Venice Investments argued that the youngsters - Lily-Rose, 6, and Jack, 4 - are being raised in France, where Depp and French actress-singer Vanessa Paradis also have a home.

Depp's attorney declined to discuss the case.

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge ruled against Depp last year. The case is being appealed on his behalf by his sister Christi Dembrowski, who is also Depp's personal assistant and president of his film production company.

Johnny Depp May Star In Michael Hutchence Film

Depp is among the names apparently being considered for the lead role in the film, which is being put together by Hutchence's brother, Rhett.

Although plans to make the movie are understood to have been met with some opposition from the family of the star, who committed suicide in 1997, Rhett Hutchence is said to be heavily involved.

He is working alongside British filmmaker and former INXS promo video director Nick Egan on the project.

According to reports in the U.K. press today, Siena Miller, Eric Bana, Naomi Watts, and Rachel Griffiths are being considered for the roles of Paula Yates and Bob Geldof.

'Platoon' gets second shot at Cannes fest

At the same time, festival organizers announced in Paris that French actor Vincent Cassel will serve as master of ceremonies for the 59th annual event, and will host the opening and closing ceremonies on May 17 and May 28.

Stone will attend the festival for the May 21 screening along with most of the major cast members of "Platoon," which won four Oscars in 1986, including best picture and best director. The announcement was made by MGM, which is releasing the DVD.

"It's been digitally re-mastered, so it's the cleanest version of the film there's ever been," said MGM vp communications Jeff Pryor.

Cannes organizers declined to give further details, but it is expected that "Platoon" will unspool in the Cannes Classics section reserved for restored and re-mastered cinema classics.

While in Cannes, Stone will also talk up his upcoming movie "World Trade Center," with Paramount showcasing some early footage from the picture.

Cassel, best known internationally for his role as the charming French crook in "Ocean's Twelve," first attended Cannes in 1995, with "Hate," directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. He returned to Cannes 2002, with Gaspard Noe's "Irreversible."

MISSING DEPP FOOTAGE FOUND

Sightings

Cruise tops list of moneymaking stars; Depp finishes second

Cruise, who appeared in last year's War of the Worlds, has won the annual survey by Quigley Publishing Co. seven times, Arnold Robinson, the actor's publicist, said Thursday. Tom Hanks, Clint Eastwood, Burt Reynolds and Bing Crosby have all snatched the No. 1 spot five times.

The Quigley Poll, conducted every year since 1932, asks motion picture exhibitors to vote for the 10 stars who generated the most box-office revenue for their theatres.

Johnny Depp finished second in the 2005 poll. Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt tied for third, followed by Vince Vaughn, George Clooney, Will Smith, Reese Witherspoon, Adam Sandler and last year's winner Tom Hanks.

Golden Globe Winners

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Pierce Brosnan, "The Matador"
Jeff Daniels, "The Squid and the Whale"
Johnny Depp, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
Nathan Lane, "The Producers"
Cillian Murphy, "Breakfast on Pluto"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"- Winner

Ladies Wear Red, White and Black at Globes

Huffman and Bello wore ethereal white, which will be a top spring fashion trend. Bello complemented her white beaded Elie Saab gown with white gardenias in her upswept hair.

Keira Knightley also wore a stunning strapless white dress by Valentino with a rope-style belt, and Sandra Oh wore a white gown with a sophisticated scarf-style back.

"White was the big winner," Suze Yalof-Schwartz of Glamour magazine said from the red carpet.

Kate Beckinsale's white dress from the Christian Dior archives was dainty and elegant. She showed a bit of a funky streak with her oversized green earrings.

Reese Witherspoon's short vintage Chanel haute couture was a champagne color with metallic trim on the bust.

Cross' dress, meanwhile, was coral, providing a sharp and stunning contrast to her red hair.

"Marcia looked very goddesslike," said Collier Strong, consulting makeup artist for L'Oreal, who helped Cross get ready. "I knew her makeup had to be lighter and more feminine because the fabric was so billowy. ... It's easy to work with her because she has the most perfect skin you've ever seen."

Red also had a strong presence on the carpet: Scarlett Johansson wore a red scoop neck Valentino dress with soft ruffles on the straps and down the back; Geena Davis wore a strapless Escada with a jeweled bustier top; and Laura Linney had an asymmetrical version.

"Desperate Housewives" star Eva Longoria complemented her red Grecian wrap gown by Bob Mackie with gold platform shoes to boost her 5-foot-2-inch frame. Longoria told E!'s Isaac Mizrahi that she was sewn into the dress because it wasn't finished until she was walking out the door.

Equally bright was Ziyi Zhang's Giorgio Armani lime green silk tulle gown with a sweetheart neckline and floor-sweeping train.

But some of fashion's favorite faces stuck with classic black — and proved that it is eternally chic.

Sarah Jessica Parker was in a strapless dress with tiny rows of tulle by Rochas, and Christian Dior's John Galliano designed a custom cocktail dress for Charlize Theron that featured black lace over nude tulle. Swank's black dress by Jean Yu had a sexy back with several straps, and Mary-Louise Parker had a plunging V-front.

Natalie Portman looked Audrey Hepburnesque in a vintage Chanel black lace bustier dress with a ribbon belt and a black-and-white diamond camellia jewel around her waist. Renee Zellweger remained loyal to designer Carolina Herrera, wearing an asymmetrical black silk chiffon dress with rouched detail and a leg-length slit up the left thigh. Zellweger wore a vintage Van Cleef & Arpels brooch pinned to the back of her waist.

Candice Bergen's Michael Kors black turtleneck and ballskirt was a picture of casual elegance.

Nicolette Sheridan and Queen Latifah both choose blue dresses. Sheridan's was an Armani sapphire-blue silk chiffon gown with a deep V-neck and pleated bodice, Latifah's a periwinkle goddess number that she accessorized with 23-carat, round-shaped drop diamond earrings with a fancy yellow pear-shaped diamond drop pendant on a diamond chain by Chopard.

Teri Hatcher wore a body-hugging V-neck bronze halter gown with art deco-style beading, loose hair and a small bronze clutch that held her California driver's license. Hatcher told Mizrahi she was told to bring identification to get in at the door. (She also told him that it was her 8-year-old daughter that warned her about her panty lines, so Hatcher showed up to the Globes without underwear.)

"The Globes set the fashion tone for the rest of the season," designer Randolph Duke told the Associated Press. "It's a very chic show. Some (actresses) wear more cocktail dresses. The Globes are an opportunity to do something other than that classic, glamorous Oscar gown."

Gwyneth Paltrow's overall look was very soft. Her white Balenciaga tiered gown embraced her pregnant belly instead of hiding it and her hair was up with soft waves.

The messy bun worn by so many stars was "crucial," according to Glamour's Yalof-Schwartz, and so was heavy eye makeup, pale lips and big, teardrop earrings.

"I had to find a dress that would glow with me — that was the main challenge," said Rachel Weisz, who is five months pregnant and looked quite voluptuous in her strapless gold gown by Donna Karan.

"You still see a lot of strapless," observed designer Duke. "There's something very easy about the strapless neckline. It solves a lot of problems. The garment has a foundation — usually a bustier or corset — that makes a girl feel more confident."

George Clooney embodied the classic male movie star in his Armani two-button tuxedo with satin lapels and a classic white spread-collar evening shirt and black necktie.

Ludacris, of course, had his own twist on the penguin suit: He wore a black velvet Ralph Lauren jacket with tweed pants. And Johnny Depp — always a fashion rebel — had a red shirt under his baggy suit.

People's Choice Award Winners

MUSIC
-Female performer: Kelly Clarkson.
-Male performer: Tim McGraw.
-Group: Green Day.
-Tour: U2.
-Song From a Movie: These Boots Are Made For Walkin', as performed by Jessica Simpson in The Dukes of Hazzard.

TELEVISION
-New TV comedy: My Name is Earl.
-New TV drama: Prison Break.
-Comedy: Everybody Loves Raymond.
-Drama: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
-Reality show, competition: American Idol.
-Reality show, other: Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
-Late night talk show host: Jay Leno.
-Daytime talk show host: Ellen DeGeneres.
-Female TV star: Jennifer Garner.
-Male TV star: Ray Romano.

OTHER
-Funny female star: Ellen DeGeneres.
-Funny male star: Adam Sandler.
-Crest Whitestrips Fans Favorite Smile: Cameron Diaz.
-Nice 'N Easy Fans Favorite Hair: Faith Hill.
-Olay Total Effects Fans Favorite Look: Jennifer Aniston.

'Sweeney Todd' May Reunite Burton, Depp

So take that with a grain of salt. It may not be happening, but people are certainly talking about the possibility that it's happening and that's something.

All through the weekend, a variety of semi-respectable sources were saying that Depp was in negotiations to join Burton in the project, which tells the gruesome tale of Sweeney Todd, the demon barber of Fleet Street. The musical involves more than a few close shaves and a hearty serving of meat pies.

The Sondheim musical opened on Broadway in 1979 and a revival recently opened on Broadway. The legendary composer won a Tony for his "Todd" score.

Until recently, the "Sweeney Todd" project had been linked to "American Beauty" Oscar winner Sam Mendes, but it appears to have gone a different way. It's unclear if John Logan's screenplay adaptation, the last credited script, will still be used.

The material does sound like a logical fit for Burton and Depp, who have worked together on five previous occasions including the 2005 projects "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Corpse Bride." Already, though, fans have begun grousing that Depp is too young to play Todd, while questions have been raised about his ability to sing the typically complicated Sondheim-penned part.

Depp, Jolie, Pitt top movie Web site's searches

That's according to http://www.IMDb.com's site search index STARmeter, which ranked Johnny Depp the most searched name of 2005, the second consecutive year he has taken that crown. Tabloid favorites Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt followed on the heels of the swashbuckling Depp, up from No. 5 and No. 8 in 2004, respectively, while Jennifer Aniston landed quietly at No. 12.

The index, available through IMDb.com's subscription IMDbPro.com, measures the popularity of Hollywood celebrities by tabulating the searches conducted by the site's 30 million monthly visitors.

Newcomers to this year's top 25 include actresses Jessica Alba (No. 6) and Rachel McAdams (No. 17), while Jon Heder of "Napoleon Dynamite" fame ranked No. 19. "Desperate Housewives" vixen Eva Longoria plotted her way to the No. 22 spot.

"The STARmeter reflects actual public interest in an individual celebrity," IMDb.com managing editor Keith Simanton said. "This list captures a snapshot in time of just how much attention these stars attracted."

While Lindsay Lohan remained in the top 5, Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" co-stars, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, slipped in the rankings.

"It's also interesting to see who tumbled out of the top 25 this year," Simanton said, "a list that includes Jennifer Garner, who was on maternity leave for a good portion of the year; Viggo Mortensen, who needed more than a 'History of Violence' to keep his Aragon standing of No. 23 last year; and Halle Berry, whose 'Catwoman' turn last year kept her in the spotlight at No. 19 but is at No. 63 this year."

'Pride and Prejudice' leads London Film Critics awards

Pride and Prejudice, based on the Jane Austen novel, garnered eight nominations including best actor for Matthew MacFadyen, best director for Joe Wright and best actress for Keira Knightley. Supporting actresses Brenda Blethyn and Rosamund Pike also received nominations.

The Constant Gardner, the story of a British diplomat who uncovers a large-scale conspiracy, gathered seven nominations. Ralph Fiennes is up for best actor, as is director Fernando Meirelles, best known for the Brazilian gang thriller City of God. The movie also has a screenwriting nomination.

Both films are up for best movie, competing against Crash (written by Canadian Paul Haggis), the David Cronenberg-directed A History of Violence, Brokeback Mountain and King Kong.

Others, in addition to Knightley, up for the best actress of the year trophy include:

- Juliette Binoche for Hidden
- Maria Bello for A History of Violence
- Naomi Watts for King Kong
- Laura Linney for Kinsey
- Catalina Sandino Moreno for Maria Full of Grace

Competing for the best actor prize, along with Matthew MacFadyen, are:

- Johnny Depp for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
- Heath Ledger for Brokeback Mountain
- Viggo Mortensen for A History of Violence
- Don Cheadle for Hotel Rwanda
- Bruno Ganz for Downfall

Movies battling for foreign film of the year are:

- Downfall
- Hidden (known as Caché in France)
- The Sea Inside
- The Beat My Heart Skipped
- The Chorus

The London Film Critics' Circle is composed of 100 reviewers who write for newspapers and magazines across the United Kingdom.

The awards will be handed out Feb. 9, 2006, in London.

Depp Dives 'Deep' For 3D Doc

Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet, documentary narration virgins, will attempt to top "Penguins" star (and Oscar winner) Morgan Freeman when the Warner Bros. production hits IMAX screens on March 3, 2006.

In addition to combining the vocal talents of the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "Titanic" stars, "Deep Sea 3D" will mark the first original-to-IMAX movie score from veteran composer Danny Elfman.

"Our last original IMAX production was the second-highest-performing documentary of 2004, so we're very excited about the potential for Deep Sea 3D, especially as it marries the magic of IMAX 3D with an engrossing story, an all-star filmmaking team, and, the talents of Johnny Depp, Kate Winslet and Danny Elfman," says Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. Pictures.

That last original IMAX production was "NASCAR 3D: The IMAX Experience," which has accumulated more than $23 million worldwide. This latest entry, as one might guess, takes viewers deep under the sea to explore the mysterious creatures that lurk down below. It comes from the same filmmaking team that brought IMAX "Into the Deep," the company's first underwater 3D adventure.

"Deep Sea 3D is loaded with breathtaking shots designed specifically for the spectacular IMAX 3D format, and the addition of these major talents makes the film even more attractive to both moviegoers and exhibitors," says Greg Foster, chairman and president of IMAX Filmed Entertainment, of the company's moist movie. "This film represents another milestone in our quest to bring the thrill of Hollywood entertainment to our compelling original IMAX 3D productions, and we're delighted to be the first to join Johnny Depp and Kate Winslet with exotic scorpion fish, tiger sharks and the giant Pacific octopus."

Golden Globe Nominations

Best Actor - Musical or Comedy
Pierce Brosnan, "The Matador"
Jeff Daniels, "The Squid and the Whale"
Johnny Depp, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"
Nathan Lane, "The Producers"
Cillian Murphy, "Breakfast on Pluto"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Walk the Line"

Dismal 'Libertine' leaves much to be desired

And if those elements don't dissuade you, there are grainy visuals and dizzying handheld camera work. Perhaps director Laurence Dunmore intended to make a Restoration-era piece in a contemporary style, with gritty digital camera work. Or maybe he simply had a very low budget.

The off-putting flaws are a shame because Depp puts in a strong performance as the debauched John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, a 17th-century reprobate and poet who spent his short life carousing and posthumously earned acclaim for his literary work.

Samantha Morton, as the object of his affections (and presumably not his affliction), does as good a job as she can, given the limitations of her enigmatic character.

The best thing about the movie is Michael Nyman's evocative score, which strikes the emotional chords the rest can't convey.

John Malkovich, in a long, dark wig, plays King Charles II, who bans the profligate Wilmot from London, then brings him back. Wilmot is an over-indulgent pan-sexual who apparently is also a gifted poet, though we don't get much of a sense of his talents, either as a lover or a writer. (Strangely, Depp remains clothed in sex scenes, while most people around him do not.) He does, however, quote extemporaneous lines of verse while trolling about with his randy pals. He has a devoted wife (Rosamund Pike, also in Pride & Prejudice), but develops an almost chaste fascination with a novice actress (Morton).

On a break from boozing and whoring, he sees her failed debut on stage, but he senses her potential and decides to coach her to become the diva of the London stage. We're supposed to buy that he is an impassioned believer in liberty, but his greatest delight seems to come in simply scandalizing British society.

Depp is such a talented actor that we can't help wanting to like him in any guise. But here it's a struggle. In fact, he addresses the camera early in the movie exhorting us not to like him.

So, grudgingly, we must comply. Though ultimately the dislike is for the entire movie - not just his licentious cipher of a character.

'Charlie' tops DVD sales, rental charts

Director Tim Burton's fantasy, which grossed $206.1 million at the summer box office, bumped "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" from the top spot on VideoScan's First Alert sales chart for the week ending November 13.

The Force was powerful enough, however, to keep the week's other high-profile new theatrical, "Christmas With the Kranks," out of the No. 2 spot. The holiday film bowed at No. 3 and was followed at No. 4 by Rob Zombie's cult horror sequel "The Devil's Rejects" -- a surprisingly strong debut for a low-budget film that earned less than $17 million at the box-office.

The sleeper of the week was "Beavis and Butt-Head -- The Mike Judge Collection," a hefty TV-DVD package that debuted at No. 5.

The coattails of "Charlie" also spurred demand for the 1971 original "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory," which re-entered the DVD sales chart at No. 7.

In rental stores, "Charlie" generated about $13.25 million, according to Home Media Retailing market research. "Christmas With the Kranks" came in at No. 2, while "Sith" slipped to No. 3 its second week in stores. "The Devil's Rejects" bowed at No. 7 with estimated earnings of $5.59 million.

Depp delivers riveting turn as antihero of 'Libertine'

He delivers a haunting portrait of the 17th-century poet, provocateur and debauchee John Wilmot, second Earl of Rochester, who achieved literary acclaim only after his lingering death at 33, ravaged by syphilis and alcohol. One of the achievements of director Laurence Dunmore's insistently gritty first feature is that his protagonist, a repellent creature of rapacious sensual appetites, grows more recognizable the more physically grotesque he becomes. A dark cousin to such screen rapscallions as Raoul Duke, Jack Sparrow and, yes, Willy Wonka, Depp's dissolute earl possesses a staggering allure, sorrow and intelligence beneath the blood-chilling sneer.

Originally scheduled for September release in the midst of Miramax's crowded housecleaning slate, the unrated Weinstein Co. release world-premiered Friday at AFI Fest. (Not an MPAA signatory, the new shingle declined the organization's NC-17.) It bows November 25 in Los Angeles and New York, where it should perform lustily. Wide release in January will be more of a challenge, even with Depp starring.

Like its protagonist, the self-proclaimed cynic of a golden age, "Libertine" makes no concessions to expectation. Shot as if through layers of grime, it takes an admirably different approach to costume fare than high-sheen features like "Shakespeare in Love," which put the Weinsteins' Miramax on the Oscar map.

There's a stark power to Alexander Melman's grainy, candlelit cinematography (Dunmore himself operated the mostly handheld camera) that is in keeping with the unapologetic subject matter. But the drained-of-red palette and fetid green light, artifices in their own right, are at times more tiring than expressive. Audiences used to being spoon-fed dazzling period regalia might feel mired in the sludge. For those who can stick with it, the rewards are considerable.

"You will not like me," Rochester promises from the shadows in his to-the-camera prologue. Stephen Jeffreys' screenplay, based on his play, doesn't explain or excuse the behavior of a man devoted to pleasure and yet numb to it. A favorite in the king's court, though no worshipper of the throne, Rochester accepts a commission to write a major work of literature for Charles II (John Malkovich, who shepherded the project over its nine-year development after playing the title role in the U.S. premiere of the play). Rather than get to work, Rochester pursues his commitment to drink and sex, between escapades trading pornographic ripostes with writers George Etherege (Tom Hollander) and Charles Sackville (Johnny Vegas).

Rochester is shaken from licentious routine when he sees struggling actress Lizzie Barry (Samantha Morton) booed offstage. She's one of the first generation of female actors -- following the trail blazed by women like Claire Danes' character in "Stage Beauty" -- and Rochester determines to make her the leading light of the London theater. He succeeds. Known for his brutal honesty, he demands truth from Lizzie's performances, and the fiercely independent actress, overcoming her wariness, flourishes under his tutelage. She also becomes his lover, igniting a passion that Rochester recognizes too late.

Although capable of listening respectfully to the advice of a favorite whore (Kelly Reilly), the earl shows his pious mother (Francesca Annis) only disdain. Matters are more complex with his wife, Elizabeth (Rosamund Pike), who has her eyes wide open to his philandering. Pike is extraordinarily affecting as the woman who began her relationship with Rochester as his teenage kidnap victim and ended it as his devoted caretaker. Morton, though underused, conveys Lizzie's ardor and formidable ambition.

Almost unrecognizable in fake nose and massive wig, Malkovich has a contained intensity as the free-thinking sovereign who embraces the wonders of scientific and intellectual progress and who, beneath the official ire, seems to enjoy the raunchy irreverence of Rochester's literary output.

Bawdiness notwithstanding, there's a touch of the conventional in the dialogue's self-consciously literary profusion of language. And however flavorful all the supporting turns, the piece is clearly a showcase for its star, who delves into sinister depths that his previous screen work touched upon only in moments.

Contributions by production designer Ben Van Os, costume designer Dien Van Straalen and especially hair and make-up designer Peter Owen ("The Lord of the Rings") are key to the sense of Restoration-era England in the throes of a hangover from post-Puritan excess. The film is dedicated to casting director Mary Selway, Marlon Brando and Hunter S. Thompson.

Cast:

Rochester: Johnny Depp

Elizabeth Barry: Samantha Morton

Charles II: John Malkovich

Elizabeth Malet: Rosamund Pike

Etherege: Tom Hollander

Sackville: Johnny Vegas

Jane: Kelly Reilly

Harris: Jack Davenport

Alcock: Richard Coyle

Countess: Francesca Annis

Downs: Rupert Friend

Director: Laurence Dunmore; Screenwriter: Stephen Jeffreys; Based on the play by Stephen Jeffreys; Producers: Lianne Halfon, John Malkovich, Russell Smith; Executive producers: Chase Bailey, Steve Christian, Marc Samuelson, Peter Samuelson, Ralph Kamp, Louise Goodsill; Director of photography: Alexander Melman; Production designer: Ben Van Os; Music: Michael Nyman; Costume designer: Dien Van Straalen; Editor: Jill Bilcock.

Johnny Depp Defends Kate Moss

"The first thing that went through my mind was I was concerned for her, hoping that she was OK and that she and her baby were OK," said Depp, 42, who dated the supermodel for four years until 1998.

"No. 2 was just being appalled and shocked at the kind of vicious attacks," Depp said in an interview Friday with a British morning TV show.

"She's super sharp, really smart and (has) got a great heart. She's a good mum, and she just happens to be human, and the press wouldn't allow that, and that's unforgivable."

Moss, 31, recently left a U.S. rehab clinic and was reunited with her 3-year-old daughter, Lila Grace.

Moss lost several modeling contracts after the photographs were published, but her career appears to be back on track: she appears on the cover of this month's "Vanity Fair" magazine and recently shot a new campaign for designer Roberto Cavalli.

People's Choices Nominees

TELEVISION

Favorite New Comedy

"Everybody Hates Chris" (UPN)
"How I Met Your Mother" (CBS)
"My Name Is Earl" (NBC)

Favorite New Drama

"Commander in Chief" (ABC)
"Criminal Minds" (CBS)
"Prison Break" (FOX)

Favorite Comedy

"Everybody Loves Raymond" (CBS)
"That '70s Show" (FOX)
"The Simpsons" (FOX)

Favorite Drama

"CSI" (CBS)
"Desperate Housewives" (ABC)
"Law & Order: SVU" (NBC)

Favorite Reality Show/Competition

"American Idol" (FOX)
"Fear Factor" (NBC)
"Survivor" (CBS)

Favorite Reality Show/Other

"Extreme Makeover" (ABC)
"Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" (ABC)
"Supernanny" (ABC)

Favorite Late-Night Host

Jay Leno
David Letterman
Conan O'Brien

Favorite Daytime Host

Ellen DeGeneres
Regis Philbin and Kelly Ripa
Oprah Winfrey

Favorite Female Star

Jennifer Garner
Teri Hatcher
Jennifer Love Hewitt

Favorite Male Star

Ray Romano
Charlie Sheen
Kiefer Sutherland

MOVIES

Favorite Female Star

Sandra Bullock
Angelina Jolie
Nicole Kidman

Favorite Male Star

Nicolas Cage
Johnny Depp
Samuel L. Jackson

Favorite Leading Lady

Cameron Diaz
Reese Witherspoon
Renee Zellweger

Favorite Leading Man

Jamie Foxx
Brad Pitt
Adam Sandler

Favorite Female Action Star

Jennifer Garner
Angelina Jolie
Catherine Zeta-Jones

Favorite Male Action Star

Matthew McConaughey
Brad Pitt
The Rock

Favorite On-screen Matchup

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"
Chris Rock and Adam Sandler, "The Longest Yard"
Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson, "Wedding Crashers"

MUSIC

Favorite Female Artist

Kelly Clarkson
Faith Hill
Gwen Stefani

Favorite Male Artist

Toby Keith
Tim McGraw
Usher

Favorite Group

Black Eyed Peas
Destiny's Child
Green Day

OTHER

Favorite Funny Female Star

Drew Barrymore
Ellen DeGeneres
Queen Latifah

Favorite Funny Male Star

Chris Rock
Adam Sandler
Will Smith

Johnny Depp hooked on heroin tale

The Warner Bros. project is based on the novel by Gregory David Roberts. It will be adapted by Oscar-winning writer Eric Roth ("Forrest Gump").

Set in the 1980s and loosely based on Roberts' life, the story centers on an Australian heroin addict convicted of robbery who escapes to India, where he reinvents himself as a doctor. When he gets involved in smuggling and gunrunning, his adventurous life leads him to Afghanistan and battles with Russians.

The book was acquired in October 2004 in a $2 million deal by Warners and producer Initial Entertainment Group. Depp, who will also serve as a producer, returns to theaters in December with "The Libertine," which also stars John Malkovich and Samantha Morton.

AFI Fest Fetes Depp

The Tribute to Johnny Depp will take place at ArcLight Hollywood on Friday, November 11, 2005.

"Our challenge each year in choosing a tributee is to find someone who is a highly accomplished artist about whom we crave to know more," says AFI Fest Director Christian Gaines. "Johnny Depp is such an artist. He has made interesting, risky choices in his career and has evolved into one of the most absorbing actors of our time."

The ceremony honoring Depp will be followed by a special world premiere screening of the eccentric actor's latest film "The Libertine," co-starring Samantha Morton and John Malkovich.

"Johnny is a brilliant and truly unique actor, whose remarkable career has been defined by its diversity and veracity," says Laurence Dumore, director of "The Libertine." "The originality of both the characters he has portrayed, and the films he has made, further emphasize his integrity and passion. I am delighted Johnny is being honored by AFI Fest"

Depp has been nominated for Oscars each of the past two years for "Finding Neverland" and "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." The former "21 Jump Street" star had one of the biggest hits of his career this summer with "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and is currently at work on two sequels to "Pirates" being shot consecutively. But won't somebody please release Depp's snuff film directorial debut "The Brave," please?

'Charlie' No. 1 at crowded foreign box office

The latest adaptation of Jane Austen's "Pride & Prejudice" was No. 1 in the U.K., Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers" led France, local-language "Die Weisse Massai" excelled in Germany, "Fantastic Four" in Italy, "Monster-in-Law" in Spain, "Dukes of Hazzard" in Australia, "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" in Japan, "The Cave" in Taiwan, "Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo" in Mexico, local entry "The Two Children of Francisco" in Brazil, "Transporter 2" in South Africa, and so on.

But "Charlie" remained the dominant summer holdover, chalking up an estimated $12.8 million from 53 markets and raising its international haul to $176.3 million. The Johnny Depp starrer held the top spot in Japan for a second weekend with $3.2 million, beating out strong local entries and the arrival of "Fantastic Four" and "Cinderella Man" tied at No. 6 with just $1.8 million each. In addition, the family film enjoyed potent bows in Korea, Sweden and Norway.

Ron Howard's "Cinderella Man," with one knee on the canvas after a domestic knockdown, earned $8.5 million from 26 markets, providing a foreign gross to date of $16.1 million. With a $5.5 million bow in Italy, "Fantastic Four" lifted its international total to $155.7 million. "Madagascar" hit $281.4 million after taking in $5.8 million from 23 countries.

This is also the time of the year when specialized films get a chance to break through. Backed by a key nod at the Cannes Film Festival, "Broken Flowers" ranked No. 1 for a second week in France, tallying about $1.3 million for a two-week total of $3.8 million. Altogether, the Jarmusch film brought in $2.3 million over the weekend, holding well in such markets as Germany, Austria, French-speaking Switzerland, and Poland.

Other weekend action: "The Brothers Grimm," $3.5 million to a total of $9 million; "The Dukes of Hazzard," $3.2 million to $16.4 million; "Red Eye," $3.2 million to $15.6 million; "Bewitched," $3.1 million to $46.1 million.

Lifetime updates: "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," $463.6 million; "War of the Worlds," $352.5 million; "The Island," $12l.3 million; "The Skeleton Key," $35.7 million; "The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie," $52.6 million.

Depp gets square on Hollywood Boulevard

Johnny Depp signed his name and placed his handprints and footprints in wet concrete in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard.

"So this is weird," Deep said as hundreds of fans watched the ceremony Friday.

"I mean, to say that this is overwhelming is probably the understatement of the millennium."

The sidewalk honour coincided with the release of Depp's latest film, the animated Corpse Bride, which opened in limited release Friday. The movie expands to wide release next weekend.

It was his fifth collaboration with director Tim Burton, who also directed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands.

Depp is currently filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and Pirates of the Caribbean 3.

Corpse Bride wondrous, strange, poignant, darkly humorous: review

His fans will be more than satisfied - much of it is visually reminiscent of Beetlejuice and Edward Scissorhands, two of his best films - and their children, who may only have been exposed to his work through this year's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, will be dazzled, as well. And at an efficient 74 minutes, the whole family can enjoy it together.

With an all-star voice cast led by Burton regulars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, the film follows the romantic troubles of a shy young man torn between the woman his parents have arranged for him to marry and the woman who rises from the Land of the Dead and accidentally becomes his wife.

Corpse Bride could play on a double bill with another new movie this week, Just Like Heaven. Both are about men who find themselves emotionally entangled with women who aren't exactly alive, but who end up enriched by the experience.

The living aren't exactly the most boisterous crowd, though, in Burton's vision of Victorian repression. It's all sharp angles and overstuffed bellies, a cold, shadowy world coloured in varying shades of grey, like something out of a German expressionist film.

In the midst of this are skittish Victor (Depp) and Victoria (voiced by Emily Watson), who are meeting for the first time the day before their wedding. Victor's parents (Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse) are nouveau-riche fish tycoons, hoping to elevate their social status by marrying their son to Victoria, whose uptight parents (Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney) are old-school - but bankrupt - aristocrats.

While nervously practicing his vows in a forest, he feels a hand reach up from the ground, take his ring and grab him. Suddenly he finds himself in the Land of the Dead, where a lovely but deceased young woman named Emily (Bonham Carter) in full bridal regalia enthusiastically insists that they're now married. She's been waiting eagerly for a husband, ever since she was killed on her wedding day.

The Land of the Dead, naturally, is far more alive than the world upstairs. These people know how to party and they do it all night, with free-flowing beer and nonstop music (provided by longtime Burton collaborator Danny Elfman, who also sings some of his lively original songs as frontman of the all-skeleton band, The Skeletones).

But in an inventive twist, the Land of the Dead isn't just orange and red and surrounded by flames. It's bright, colourful and beautiful - stylistically inspired by the Spanish architect Gaudi - and full of surprises. Even creatures that are disgusting in reality are cute and sort of charming here, like the maggot that lives inside the Corpse Bride's head, pops out of her eye socket and acts as her conscience.

Victor finds he's taken a liking to his inadvertent betrothed, but he'd also hit it off with sweet Victoria during their brief moments together. The fact that you'd be happy to see him wind up with either of them is a testament to how richly the characters are written (the work of John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler, based on a Russian folk tale) and to the vulnerability we've come to expect from Depp in any role.

You sort of end up hoping Victor can stay with both women - that perhaps bigamy is legal in the Land of the Dead. To quote a song from Elfman's band Oingo Boingo, it's a dead man's party - who could ask for more?

Three and a half stars out of four.

'Corpse Bride's' Depp a Man of Character

In his latest guise, Depp gives voice to the stop-motion animated puppet hero in Tim Burton's "Corpse Bride." While filming "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for Burton, Depp was called upon to create Victor on short notice. After shooting a scene earlier in the day as Wonka, the actor rushed over to the "Corpse Bride" recording studio where he cobbled together a persona based on a 15-minute grilling session with Burton.

"[Victor] was born in that little bit of time, and I didn't hear him for the first time until ... they were recording," explains Depp. "So the preparation for this, I was remiss basically. I should be flogged."

In "Corpse Bride," Victorian-era Victor Van Dort is on the verge of marriage to the lovely and sheltered Victoria Everglot. But when he practices his vows in the forest, he accidentally weds himself to the titular bride when he slips the ring onto a tree root, which in reality is her skeletal finger. Now Victor must extricate himself from macabre matrimony and return to his true love.

Although Depp hastily conceived Victor's voice, the character was familiar in more ways than one, beginning with a strange resemblance to the actor, complete with high cheekbones and dark-rimmed eyes. Victor also echoes "Edward Scissorhands," another Burton-created role that struck a chord with Depp.

"He's a little bit an outsider, bumbling, deeply insecure, nervous -- a lot like me in life," says Depp. "It's like Victor is represented in the same way as Edward Scissorhands, of not feeling comfortable in life. That universal feeling we all drag around with us for the rest of our days, of being inept, unable to be understood."

The well-meaning Victor is torn, however, since the Corpse Bride is heartbroken after she was murdered on her wedding night and thinks Victor is the romantic cure for her loneliness.

Says Depp, "I really found myself in that dilemma: 'Man, I know Victoria Everglot is fantastic and everything ... but the Corpse Bride is so magnificent.' I mean, have you ever looked at a corpse and thought, 'Wow, she's really sexy'?"

The actor obviously has affection for most of his characters, and was particularly happy to play the intoxicated Captain Jack for the back-to-back "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels.

"I just like the guy. He's a pal," says Depp. "It's a very strange situation where as a grown man, you start having separation anxiety with an imaginary character. It's worrisome because you know it's not normal but you can't stop yourself."

Although he sometimes combines known personas to create a character -- such as the bizarre Roddy McDowall/Angela Lansbury amalgam for "Sleepy Hollow" -- he often picks up bits and pieces of everyday behavior he observes. Despite this seemingly bottomless inspirational resource, the late Marlon Brando -- with whom Depp work on "Don Juan DeMarco" -- cautioned him to limit the number of films he did a year.

"He said, 'We only have so many faces in our pockets.' After all this time later, I'm starting to realize how right he was. He was very, very wise."

One role Depp isn't tempted to take on is a character resembling his true self. "It's ok to use certain truths, [but for] any actor with any semblance of sanity or insanity, that's probably our biggest fear: to go anywhere near who you are."

Something the actor doesn't necessarily fear is the afterlife, which is depicted as a colorful, rollicking and jazzy place in "Corpse Bride." Depp doesn't claim to know what death will bring, but he has an idea of what he'd like to see in the next world.

"I think it would be great if you one day just went to sleep and woke up and it was 1920s Paris. That would be excellent," says Depp. "But I don't know, because there could be just dirt and worms."

"Corpse Bride" pushes up daisies in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto beginning Friday, Sept. 16, and spreads mayhem nationwide one week later.

Depp plans to be a pirate for years

Sequels frighten Depp, but he said the chance to reprise his role as the suave Sparrow in the next two editions of "Pirates of the Caribbean" was too delicious to pass up.

For an actor who has received far more critical praise than box office success, it is not about the money.

"More than it having anything to do with money, or franchise, or hopefully continued success, it actually had ... more to do with selfishly being able to meet up with that character again," Depp said in an interview at the Toronto Film Festival on Sunday.

He was in town to promote "Corpse Bride," an animated feature made by his longtime friend, director Tim Burton.

Depp said he's often felt separation anxiety when he finishes a film, notably after his breakthrough performance in "Edward Scissorhands," also directed by Burton.

But he said he developed a deep affinity with Jack Sparrow, a character based on Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards. Depp was nominated for a best actor Oscar for the role.

Depp had a sneaking suspicion he'd see Sparrow again after Pirates was released in 2003, but never imagined he would be part of a franchise.

Two Pirates' sequels are filming in the Bahamas and are slated for release in 2006 and 2007.

MANY ODD CHARACTERS

Over the years, Depp has played many odd characters like Hunter S. Thompson in "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," the cocaine trafficker George Jung in "Blow," and Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland."

"I've always considered myself very lucky to still be getting jobs after all the weirdness I've put people through in terms of having to watch my films," he said.

The critical acclaim didn't make him a bankable property though and studios were nervous about using him.

"He's basically a great character actor in a leading man's body. He's always kept that integrity. To me, it's something I find that's really amazing in this business," said Burton, who has cast Depp in five movies to date.

For years, Burton clashed with studio executives over casting Depp, but with the actor's hilarious turn as Sparrow, the studios took notice and actually asked Burton about Depp as a lead in summer 2005's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

Their latest collaboration, "Corpse Bride," is a stop-motion animation film based on a Russian folk tale about unintentional unions between an unfortunate man and a dead bride.

There will likely be more projects together, but where would Depp's career be if not for Burton?

"I don't want to do anything to embarrass future generations of Depps to come, but I don't know that I would have had this much luck or success without a Tim Burton. I owe him a lot."

Movie Review: Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

The title may frighten off some family business, but the Land of the Dead proves to be such a raucous and naughty place that the film's allure should extend beyond Burton fans to include a sizable family crowd.

The puppets come in all shapes and sizes, but the three protagonists are tall and thin with facial characteristics reminiscent of their voice actors: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Emily Watson. The village that is the Land of the Living is vaguely late-19th century Eastern European with a permanent overcast that yields a rich, monochromatic black and white with only faint dabs of color when a match flares or a butterfly appears.

Ah, but the Land of the Dead is ablaze in color. It boasts an open bar, the Ball and Sockett Pub, and its own bony band, the Skeletones led by hep cat Bonejangles (voiced by the film's composer, Danny Elfman). Skeletons collapse and regroup. A bodiless head is the Head Waiter. There's a Second Hand Shop, which means exactly what you think it means. A cheerful maggot, for no apparent reason, sounds like Peter Lorre. You know what one elder means when he says "people are dying to get down here."

The story, penned by John August, Caroline Thompson and Pamela Pettler, is supposedly based on a macabre Russian folk tale. It's set deep into the class-conscious, highly repressed Victorian era, so much so that the two young people, who find themselves the object of an arranged marriage, are called Victor and Victoria.

Victor (Depp) is a shy, talented pianist with a penchant for clumsiness. His social-climbing, nouveau riche parents, Nell and William Van Dort (Tracey Ullman and Paul Whitehouse), push him into marriage with the even shyer Victoria (Watson), daughter of penniless aristocrats Maudeline and Finis Everglot (Joanna Lumley and Albert Finney).

Miraculously, romance sparks between these two. They might be happy after all, which would be a direct affront to the Victorian era, not to mention their parents. While practicing his vows in the nearby forest, Victor places the wedding ring on a dead twig sticking out of the ground . . . which turns out not to be a dead twig but the hand of a murdered bride.

The vow awakens the Corpse Bride (Carter), whose heart no longer beats yet still seeks a true love to share for all eternity. She accepts the astonished groom's vows and drags poor Victor down to the underworld. How will he find his way back?

The story unfolds with several fanciful songs by Elfman. One is reminiscent of Gilbert and Sullivan by way of Lionel Bart. Another is pure New Orleans jazz. The animation, directed by Burton and Mike Johnson from characters created by Burton and Carlos Grangel, is both witty and lovely to behold whether topside or down below. And the voice actors get just the right tone and tenor for their individual characters.

At 77 minutes, you might be tempted to see the film twice.

Cast: Victor Van Dort: Johnny Depp; Corpse Bride: Helena Bonham Carter; Victoria Everglot: Emily Watson; Nell Van Dort/Hildegarde: Tracy Ullman; William Van Dort/Mayhew/Paul: Paul Whitehouse; Maudeline Everglot: Joanna Lumley; Finnis Everglot: Albert Finney; Barkis Bittern:Richard E. Grant; Paster Galswells: Christopher Lee; Elder Gutknecht: Michael Gough; Black Widow Spider/Mrs. Plum: Jane Horrocks.

Directors: Mike Johnson, Tim Burton; Screenwriters: John August, Caroline Thompson, Pamela Pettler; Producers: Tim Burton, Allison Abbate; Executive producer: Jeffrey Auerbach, Joe Ranft; Director of photography: Pete Kozachik; Production designer: Alex McDowell; Music/songs: Danny Elfman; Editor: Jonathan Lucas, Chris Lebenzon; Original characters created by: Tim Burton, Carlos Grangel.

Burton's "Corpse Bride" animates Venice film fest

For his latest film showcased at the Venice Film Festival on Wednesday, the director used painstaking "stop-motion" animation with models, setting it apart from the more common computer generation used in hits such as "Shrek" and "Toy Story."

"We feel so lucky, with computers and all taking over, to be able to do this beautiful, old fashioned technique," said Burton, sporting his trademark dark glasses and shaggy hair.

"It's something about the old fashioned quality of it," he told reporters. "There's something very emotional about it. It is hard to put it into words...the idea of somebody moving a puppet frame by frame."

The film, which took Burton 10 years to bring to the screen, is not in competition for the Golden Lion this, but the thunderous reception it received at a preview for the press and critics late on Tuesday showed it might have been a contender.

When Victor, the bumbling hero voiced by Johnny Depp, wanders into the woods outside his town, a twist of fate takes him to a life beyond the grave.

The surprise arrival of a "breather" in their midst prompts skeleton band the Skeletones to strike up, a severed head scuttles across the bar at the Ball and Socket pub and a general with a cannon-ball-sized hole in his chest knocks back a glass of wine.

Emily, the decomposing damsel who believes she is betrothed to the living Victor, has the unfortunate habit of losing an eye whenever the worm inside her head pops out to make a point.

Based on a Russian folk tale, "Corpse Bride" also features the voices of Helena Bonham Carter in the title role and Emily Watson as Victoria. Christopher Lee is the authoritarian pastor and Richard E. Grant the sinister Barkis Bittern.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCES

Because it could take animators a full day of work to come produce just a few seconds of action, Burton and his team developed new techniques to ease the burden since his 1993 animation effort "The Nightmare Before Christmas."

In that film, facial expressions were achieved using replacement heads on the models.

In "Corpse Bride," puppeteers created a gearing mechanism inside the puppets' heads which could be adjusted through the ears or at various points hidden in the hair.

The corpse bride's tattered veil and accompanying tiara alone took 10 months to develop.

"It can be tedious work," said co-director Mike Johnson. "It's just the kind of thing that you have to be passionate about and willing to commit to completely."

It is Burton's second collaboration this year with Depp, after the two worked together on "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," an adaptation of Roald Dahl's book. Depp also starred in Burton's 1990 film "Edward Scissorhands."

While Burton's film means the attention on the Lido on Wednesday is away from the main competition, two entries have their official premieres.

French production "Vers le Sud" ("Heading South"), directed by Laurent Cantet, is set in Haiti at the end of the 1970s and stars Charlotte Rampling.

"O Fatalista" ("The Fatalist"), an adaptation of "Jacques le Fataliste" by 18th Century French philosopher Denis Diderot, is directed by Portugal's Joao Botelho.

The festival ends with the award ceremony on Saturday.

"Charlie" casts hex over "Bewitched" at cinemas

The sweet-laden movie earned 1.7 million pounds over the weekend, taking its total UK box office earnings to 30.1 million pounds, according to data from Screen International on Tuesday.

"Bewitched", a remake of the 1960s American sitcom, was restricted to second place on its opening weekend with earnings of 1.1 million pounds.

The original TV series starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, a witch with a wiggly nose who was married into an all-American family.

The new film adds a twist by having Nicole Kidman play a modern-day witch who wins the part of Samantha for a television company's updated version of the "Bewitched" show.

The week's other top 10 entry was drama "Unleashed", starring Jet Li as a man raised in a cage to be a killer, which earned just under 500,000 to be weekend's sixth most popular film.

Science fiction thriller "Island", starring Ewan McGregor and Scarlett Johansson, slipped one place to number three, while Los Angeles drama "Crash" was down one slot in fourth place.

Thompson's Cannon Send-Off a Blast

Stars Johnny Depp, Sean Penn and Bill Murray gathered with about 350 of Thompson's friends and relatives to witness the explosive send-off at Woody Creek, Colo., on Saturday, Aug. 20, reports the Los Angeles Times. Depp, who portrayed the writer in the 1998 film based on "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," footed most of the bill for the party.

At 8:45 p.m. that evening, a series of 34 exploding shells containing his ashes were shot from a cannon placed inside a 53-foot high sculpture crafted to resemble Thompson's personal symbol, the "gonzo" raised fist, which was placed on a 100-foot pillar. The monument, which was built in a Los Angeles shop and trucked to Woody Creek, will remain a fixture on the property.

"He said many times he wanted to be shot out of a cannon," says widow Anita Thompson. "The most important thing to Hunter was that we celebrate his life, get together in a beautiful gathering."

The festivities, to which the media were not invited, was a raucous gathering, with fireworks, alcohol flowing freely and performances by Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. The decor was similarly irreverent with stuffed peacocks and blowup dolls adorning the area "in case anyone feels lonely," says the family's spokesperson Matt Mosely.

Of those present, two men who never met Thompson attended after receiving the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory"-style golden ticket hidden inside a boxed bottle of Gonzo Imperial Porter, produced as a tribute to Thompson. For those gathered at a local tavern to get a glimpse of the festivities, Anita Thompson said she'd deliver them a videotape of the launch.

Thompson is best known for his first-person style of writing that revealed his alcohol- and drug-fueled adventures while reporting on events ranging from bike races to political campaigns. On Feb. 20, at the age of 67, he shot himself in the head while on the phone with his wife.

Firework Farewell Set for 'Gonzo' Thompson

The shells were scheduled to be launched Saturday night from a 150-foot-tall monument erected behind Thompson's house in Woody Creek, just outside Aspen. The event will be private, open to about 250 invited guests including Thompson's longtime illustrator, Ralph Steadman, and actors Sean Penn and Johnny Depp.

"We haven't noticed a lot of curiosity seekers or pilgrims, but the buzz and the excitement is increasing every hour," family spokesman Matt Moseley said Friday. "People are coming into town, people invited to the event, and I've been getting calls from fans who'll say things like 'I'm coming in from Wisconsin with a case of Chivas.'"

The scotch whiskey was a favorite of Thompson's.

The counterculture writer fatally shot himself six months ago in his home at the age of 67. Friends and family have said Thompson was rundown by pain and physical problems including hip replacement surgery and a broken leg.

Thompson is credited with helping pioneer New Journalism — or, as he dubbed his version, "gonzo" journalism — in which the writer made himself an essential component of the story. His most famous work is "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," a wild, sprawling satire featuring "Dr. Thompson," a snarling, drug- and alcohol-crazed observer and participant.

His widow, Anita Thompson, 32, has said she plans to publish at least three new books of her late husband's unpublished letters and stories and is looking for a permanent archive for his works.

Anita Thompson has said she doesn't want Saturday's farewell to be a solemn event. She said the memorial will include some reminiscence, readings from Thompson's work and performances by both Lyle Lovett and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.

She said Depp, who grew close to Thompson after portraying him in the 1998 film version of "Fear and Loathing," funded much of the celebration.

"We had talked a couple of times about his last wishes to be shot out of a cannon of his own design," Depp told The Associated Press last month. "All I'm doing is trying to make sure his last wish comes true. I just want to send my pal out the way he wants to go out."

Depp: 'Moss was too good for me'

Depp and Moss had a turbulent relationship from 1994 -1997 and were notorious for their extravagant lifestyle and champagne jacuzzis.

But Depp insists their separation has improved her career and allowed him to meet his true soul mate and conceive his beloved children Lily-Rose Melody, six, and Jack, three.

He says: "I don't think I was very good for her, so what we did was right - we walked away from each other. She went on to bigger and better things and I went on and fell in love and had kiddies."

JOHNNY DEPP STARS IN "21 JUMP STREET SEASON THREE"

JOHNNY DEPP STARS IN 21 JUMP STREET SEASON THREE
Anchor Bay Entertainment Uncovers
A Six-Disc Set on DVD
Tuesday, September 6, 2005!

Guest-Starring Bridget Fonda, Dom DeLuise, Christopher Titus, Mario Van Peebles and Kelly Hu!

TROY, MI – Do you have what it takes to be on the toughest-but-coolest police force? Just ask Johnny Depp aka Officer Tom Hanson! Daring in its day and still provocative, “21 Jump Street Season Three” arrives on DVD September 6, 2005 from Anchor Bay Entertainment and Stephen J. Cannell Productions, Inc. The groundbreaking series, created by prolific television writer/producer Stephen J. Cannell with Patrick Hasburgh, not only stars features Depp (Charlie And The Chocolate Factory,” “Pirates Of The Caribbean) in the final season of the TV role that made him a superstar, but also boasts a veritable who’s who of guest stars including Kelly Hu (X-Men 2, The Scorpion King), Bridget Fonda (The Godfather Part III), Peri Gilpin (“Frasier”), Dom DeLuise (Blazing Saddles, History Of The World Part I), Christopher Titus (“Titus”) and Mario Van Peebles (Ali, Gang of Roses). SRP for the six-disc DVD set is $44.98.

“21 Jump Street” also starred Holly Robinson Peete (“Like Family”) as the smart and beautiful Officer Judy Hoffs, Peter DeLuise as the wise-cracking Officer Doug Penhall, Dustin Nguyen (“VIP”) as Officer Harry Truman Ioki and Steven Williams (“The X-Files”) as Captain Adam Fuller. (The six-disc DVD set of “21 Jump Street Season Three” includes all 20 exciting episodes from the third season, featuring the introduction of Richard Grieco (Mobsters) to the cast as the rebellious Officer Dennis Booker and the gripping two-part cliffhanger finale where Hanson wages a one-man war against the street gang that shot Ioki.

Premiering on the fledgling Fox Broadcasting Network in 1987 and running for five triumphant seasons, “21 Jump Street” dealt with such thought-provoking topics as teen rape, suicide, racism and AIDS, making the series one of the most realistic, emotionally charged dramas of its time. The show's premise was taken from a real-life undercover police unit formed in Los Angeles in the early 1980’s. 21 Jump Street is the headquarters for a squad of police officers specializing in investigations relating to young people. Each of the Jump Street personnel was selected for their ability to pass for high school or college students, allowing them to operate undercover in areas where it is traditionally difficult for ordinary police officers to blend in.

Series co-creator Stephen J. Cannell became one of television’s most respected and prolific writer/producers, forming his own production company and generating hit shows such as “The Greatest American Hero,” “Hunter,” “The Commish” and “Silk Stalkings.” Creatively, his work was so groundbreaking that it reshaped the modern TV drama and action adventure genres.

Click here for more info!

Want more 21 Jump Street? Check out clips and more on the 21 Jump Street Media Player!

'Chocolate Factory' Tour Creams 'Island' Getaway

Reprising its role as the bridesmaid is New Line's "Wedding Crashers," which took in $26.2 million for its second weekend, an impressive showing for an R-rated comedy that dropped a mere 23 percent. "Fantastic Four" followed with a $12.3 million holding its third place position from the previous week.

Debuting at No. 4 and 5 are Michael Bay's explosive sci-fi action flick "The Island" with $12.1 mil and Paramount's remake of "Bad News Bears" with $11.5 mil. "War of the Worlds" ($8.8 mil) followed in sixth place, just ahead of the openings for "Hustle & Flow" ($8.1 mil) and Rob Zombie's gruesome sequel "The Devil's Rejects" ($7 mil).

"Batman Begins," "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "Herbie: Fully Loaded" round out the Top 12, with the adorable documentary "March of the Penguins" rising a whopping 184 percent to 10th place to earn an impressive $6,187 for each of its 695 screens.

Overall, this weekend's Top 12 earned $128.9 million, down 7.2 percent from the $138.9 million from the same weekend last year and 17.2 percent lower than last weekend's gross.

These are estimates by Exhibitor Relations, which tracks daily box-office receipts.

Resemblance to Jackson Surprises Depp

Depp's demure voice, pasty complexion, perfectly bobbed locks, neo-Victorian garb and androgynous air seem to present a reflection of pop singer Jackson, recently acquitted on child-molestation charges.

"A few people have mentioned it, and it kind of took me by surprise. I really didn't expect that," Depp told reporters recently, according to AP Radio. "Michael Jackson was not a sort of ingredient or inspiration for the character at all."

Depp said he based the way Wonka speaks on children's show hosts he remembers from his childhood. "How odd it was the way that they spoke," the 42-year-old actor said. "That bizarre, musical cadence to their speech pattern."

As for the bob, Depp said he figured Wonka had been a recluse for so long, he wouldn't know what a modern haircut looks like.

"I just did this sort of strange, almost like a Brian Jones' kind of bob and supershort bangs. His line of reference would be very, very dated," Depp said.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," Tim Burton's wildly imaginative take on Roald Dahl's beloved children's book, took in $56.2 million on its opening weekend.

Moviegoers have sweet tooth for 'Chocolate'

This was in line with expectations, which had ranged from the high $40 million range to $60 million, and compares favorably with other recent No. 1 films, such as last weekend's champ "Fantastic Four" with $56.1 million, and "Batman Begins" with $48.8 million.

Its major competition came not from another film, but from the release of the keenly anticipated " Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Bookstores around the world started selling the book to millions of excited young fans just after midnight on Saturday.

But Warner Bros., which also has film rights to the "Potter" series, said it could not yet tell how ticket sales for "Charlie" were affected.

"You just can't put your finger on it," said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at the Time Warner Inc.-owned studio.

The $150 million film stars Johnny Depp as creepy chocolate magnate Willy Wonka. Based on the children's book by British writer Roald Dahl, it was directed byTim Burton, who previously worked with Depp on such films as "Edward Scissorhands" and " Ed Wood."

British youngster Freddie Highmore stars as the title character, a humble kid who wins a guided trip to the mythical chocolate factory along with four hideous tykes. He and Depp starred in last year's Peter Pan film "Finding Neverland."

Depp's last big family outing, "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," opened at No. 1 with $46.6 million in July 2003.

A shared taste for the surreal

But when it comes to the cinematic variety, eye candy doesn't come more Godiva-like than the goodies conjured by director Tim Burton, especially when he teams with his always-changing muse, actor Johnny Depp.

So yummy is the scenery in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (opening today), the fourth Burton-Depp film in 15 years, you might have to resist nibbling the screen when a hot-pink bonbon of a Viking ship floats along a sinfully rich chocolate river banked by marshmallow mushrooms.

Rivaling Charlie's riotous array of surreal edibles is Depp's groovy get-up as Willy Wonka, the reclusive sweets mogul who invites five lucky children to tour his factory. Among the wardrobe essentials: latex gloves (violet, to match his contact-enhanced eyes), bobbed wig, plush burgundy jacket, too-perfect fake teeth and cha-cha heels.

The actor took quite a shine to his shoes. "They're very high," Depp says. "They make me look like a complete stringbean."

But the real secret ingredient that lifts the odd duo's odysseys beyond the norm is the magic that can happen when two artists are perfectly in sync.

Burton, who turns 47 in August, counts on his star's versatility. "He's more like Lon Chaney than a leading man," he says.

Depp, 42, relies on his director for creative space. "The most amazing part is the trust he puts in me," says Depp, whose previous Burton match-ups include cutlery-limbed Edward Scissorhands (1990), an inept cross-dressing filmmaker in 1994's Ed Wood and a faint-prone detective in 1999's Sleepy Hollow. "We are constantly surprising each other with new tidbits."

They even found time to sneak off from Charlie's London set at night to record Depp's speaking role as a young bumbler who accidentally finds himself engaged to a lovely zombie for the Burton-directed, stop-motion-animated tale The Corpse Bride, due Sept. 23. Sounds creepy, but Depp calls it "a beautiful love story."

"There is confidence on both sides," says Charlie producer Richard Zanuck, who worked with Burton on Planet of the Apes and Big Fish. "There's not a lot of rehearsal and pondering about what to do. Johnny comes prepared, and Tim lets him do his thing."

Once Burton was named to direct a new $150 million version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, author Roald Dahl's deliciously malicious morality tale of gluttony and greed, it was a given that frequent collaborator Depp would don the signature top hat as the coy yet canny confectioner.

"It was either Willy Wonka or Grandpa Joe," Depp says with a gentle laugh, referring to the genial geezer who joins grandson Charlie when he tours Wonka's sugar shrine.

But Depp seems to have been born to put a dizzy fresh spin on the mysterious candy man while aiming to appease the fans of Gene Wilder's more avuncular interpretation in 1971's Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. With deep-seated father issues, a distinctive lack of social graces and a fondness for '60s slang ("Keep on truckin'!"), his Wonka is quite wonky, indeed.

"It first came to my attention at dinner in New York with Tim," Depp says of his role. "He started talking about Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and brought up Willy, and I didn't even let him finish the sentence."

About Depp's salary

The only question: Could Burton still afford him? Much has changed in the six years since the two did Sleepy Hollow. These days, Depp isn't merely a star. He's a box-office sensation, thanks to Capt. Jack Sparrow in 2003's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.

Depp's waggish performance as a listing lush launched the surprise hit to more than $300 million in box-office treasure and two sequels (currently filming in the Bahamas simultaneously). He also earned his first Oscar nomination, followed by his second for his starring role in last year's J.M. Barrie bio, Finding Neverland.

For the first time in his 21-year career, Depp is legitimately hot, a "$20 million man," as Pirates producer Jerry Bruckheimer has proclaimed him.

That tickles Burton, who had to fight to cast the then-TV hunk from 21 Jump Street as his lead in Edward Scissorhands. "It's like he just landed on the planet," Burton says. "This is the first time in our history where a studio mentioned hiring him even before I did. I told them, 'Well, you have to twist my arm.' "

As for the money question, Depp declares, "He can always afford me."

On the surface, you probably couldn't dig up two men more different. Burton is a disheveled visionary, a lonely horror geek who wanted to be an animator.

Depp is a reluctant heartthrob, a cool bad boy who yearned to be a rock star. But, mentally, they are most definitely on the same page.

"At times, it's as if our brains are connected by some invisible hot wire that can shoot sparks at any second," says Depp, who became close friends with Burton after Scissorhands. "Growing up, we weren't all that dissimilar. We both have an odd fascination with things that were considered supernormal in the '70s. We can talk for hours about how people had resin grapes on their dinner tables. Macrame owls were widely accepted as normal. But as kids, we were both going, 'Ew, really gross.' "

Burton concurs. "We do have a certain shorthand, a connection that we don't have with other people. We like the same obscure things. Like our love of Dean Martin roasts."

Christopher Heard, film historian and author of the biography Depp, notes that the director and actor each have a knack that allows their bizarre sensibilities to be embraced by the mainstream. "They have this innate ability to make the dark and weird into something palatable and friendly."

Take the real Ed Wood. The Hollywood hack behind Plan 9 from Outer Space, who has been declared the worst director of all time, was a sleazeball, Heard says. But with Depp's performance, "You still feel good about the guy, even though he was an abject failure. He and Burton didn't need to make fun of him. Instead, they celebrated his spirit and senseless drive."

Freddie Highmore, 13, who appeared opposite Depp in Finding Neverland and was hired to play Charlie after Depp put in a good word, assures that Burton and the actor are just regular guys. "They are really close, like me and my mates," he says. "You would think that they are going to be talking about amazing astrophysics or something. But they are just normal."

Sort of. Depp did bring a hilarity-inducing fart machine to the Neverland set to entertain his young castmates. And Burton does exhibit a strange clothing quirk. "He might wear a red pair of socks with blue squiggles or something. But otherwise, all he wears is black," Highmore says.

But, he notes, the habit is more practical than eccentric. "Tim has a thousand people to worry about every day. He can't think about what shirt to wear."

Burton has another priority crying out for his attention: son Billy Ray, who turns 2 in October. His mother is actress Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Charlie's mother and also appeared in Burton's Planet of the Apes. Says the director of his new paternal status, "I'm still in shock from the situation."

Depp also became a father since he and Burton last worked together. The actor and French model-actress Vanessa Paradis are parents to Lily-Rose, 6, and Jack, 3. Little wonder, then, that Charlie is the filmmaking pair's first PG-rated family film, even if their adjustment to being dads took a while.

"The first time we sat down together to talk about Charlie, it was really awkward," Depp admits. "Asking, 'How's the family?' Saying, 'Great. Everyone's good.' Having kids can't help but change the way you approach work and live out your day."

Father-child dynamics do feed into their interpretation of Dahl's book. While the film is much truer to the novel than the 1971 version, it also takes greater liberties in its depiction of the enigmatic Wonka.

Inspirations include Howard Hughes (a hermit lifestyle and germ phobias) as well as the actor and director's shared fascination with TV kid-show hosts like Mr. Rogers and Captain Kangaroo. "They have that slightly sinister but weird quality to them," Burton says. "There's a mask they put on. A perpetual grimace," Depp adds.

Depp suggested that Wonka nervously read off cue cards when he first addresses his visitors. Burton came up with Wonka's gag reflex whenever he struggles to say the word "parent."

The gloved one he's not

And despite Wonka's high-pitched voice, pasty skin, theme-park digs and underage playmates, both insist Michael Jackson was not a role model. "It never entered my mind," Depp says.

But it's the tacked-on back story to explain Wonka's chocoholism that lends the most unusual twist. Flackbacks explain how his dad (Burton idol and horror icon Christopher Lee) was a candy-hating dentist who forced his son to wear a torturous teeth-straightening contraption.

"When someone grows up having problems, you can lead it back to the parents nine out of 10 times," Burton says. "I had braces. I had a fear of dentistry. Having Christopher Lee as your father and being a dentist is bound to traumatize anyone."

Given that Burton was estranged from his family as a child, choosing to live with his grandmother at age 10, parallels can be drawn.

But much as Wonka learns to embrace the notion of family, thanks to Charlie and his lovable clan, Depp is teaching Burton some of the parental ropes.

"I introduced him to The Wiggles," says the actor of the wildly popular musical quartet from Australia who are held in Beatles-like awe by the pre-K set. "I turned Billy onto them by giving him the complete DVD set of The Wiggles. I knew Tim would appreciate them."

Says Burton: "I'll never forgive him for that. If you don't watch out, I'll start singing the songs."

'Charlie' looks scrumptious but tastes odd

Still, Depp deserves kudos for fashioning an original and outlandish if occasionally menacing character in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It couldn't have been easy to take on a role so memorably etched by Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory three decades ago. Wilder's Wonka may have been eccentric and enigmatic, but those qualities are intensified when Depp dons the mantle of the bizarre chocolatier. Depp's androgynously idiosyncratic performance surely qualifies as the most disquieting in a career filled with quirky roles.

This adaptation of Roald Dahl's 1964 children's classic is a faithful one, filtered through the vivid imagination of director Tim Burton. But as wondrously whimsical as the movie is - it is a marvel of rich, colorful design and flair - Depp's discomfitingly creepy Wonka tends to overshadow the rest of the film's attributes. One can't help but wonder about the subtext of the film when Depp's peculiar, alabaster-skinned persona has flashes of Michael Jackson. But love it or hate it, Depp's sadistic and snippy Wonka is audacious.

The story concerns five children selected to visit a mysterious candy factory. No one had been seen entering or exiting the place for years, but after a much-publicized contest, Wonka leads the winners, each accompanied by a relative, on a guided tour of the factory's fabulous inner workings.

Four of the kids are obnoxious, disobedient and greedy brats. But the fifth, Charlie Bucket (Finding Neverland's Freddie Highmore), is loyal, brave and kind. He's also rather bland, but that's heightened by the contrast with Wonka's flamboyant weirdness. Dahl was making a statement about overindulgence with characters such as the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Philip Wiegratz), spoiled Veruca Salt (Julia Winter), gum-chomping Violet Beauregarde (Annasophia Robb) and TV-obsessed know-it-all Mike Teavee (Jordon Fry).

An especially entertaining segment is the back story of how the tiny Oompa Loompas came to the chocolate factory, and the diminutive Deep Roy is a standout. Wonka has flashbacks about his childhood and his imposing father (Christopher Lee). Not part of Dahl's story, this was invented by screenwriter John August (Big Fish).

Viewers may find Wonka loopy, bewildering and off-putting, but never boring. With its dazzling sets and fabulous special effects, Charlie is a visual feast, from the dragon-headed boat made of pink spun sugar bolting across a chocolate river to the elaborately kaleidoscopic song-and-dance numbers. Charlie's dilapidated but delightfully cozy home is an architectural marvel.

Dahl's familiar tale feels extraordinary and dreamlike thanks to Burton's creative interpretation. It emerges as the summer's most visually arresting escapist adventure.

'Charlie' premiere sweet

In theaters Friday, this non-musical reimagining of the 1971 classic Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory casts Johnny Depp as the eccentric chocolatier who opens his factory gates to five fortunate children.

On break from filming his next two Pirates of the Caribbean movies, gold-toothed Depp sported a deep tan, a noticeable departure from his Wonka character's vanilla-white skin. "That's what happens when you spend three months on a boat" for the Pirates shoot, Depp said. He said it's looking likely that the Rolling Stones' Keith Richards (the inspiration for Depp's pirate characterization) will appear as his dad in Pirates 2: Dead Man's Chest.

Four of the film's five youngsters made it to the premiere. Philip Wiegratz, who plays the gluttonous Augustus Gloop, was stuck back in his native Germany. Charlie director Tim Burton offered a more sinister theory as to the young actor's absence: "We're still fishing around for him down in the chocolate river."

Also MIA: Burton's girlfriend, Helena Bonham Carter, who plays Charlie's mother. She remained back in Blackpool, England, shooting a film. Explained Burton: "She had a choice of either being at a big Hollywood premiere or doing a movie where she plays the mother of seven autistic children. I think she made the right choice."

Irish actor David Kelly, who turned 76 on Monday, plays Charlie's Grandpa Joe. As in the original film, Charlie's four grandparents all share one small bed, which was just fine by Kelly. "I got paid to spend three weeks in bed with two charming ladies and one gentleman," Kelly joked. "Even by Hollywood standards, that has to be a record."

Inside the theater, Kevin Federline twice escorted his very pregnant wife, Spears, to the ladies' room in the lobby. She wore a blue tank top captioned "I have the Golden Ticket" with an arrow pointing down to her belly.

After the screening, celebs including Martin Landau and Emma Roberts boarded buses to a Hollywood studio that had been transformed into a confectionary wonderland. Upon entry, guests were handed plastic buckets to load up with some of the 25,000 pounds of Nestlé Wonka candies strung from trees and stuck to walls and hanging globes.

Near a tower of flowing chocolate fountains and a mountain constructed of fudge, John Stamos chatted up Full House brother-in-law Bob Saget. Christine Lahti marveled at a lollipop artist sculpting an edible dragon. And Daryl Hannah stepped into a glass booth containing a whirling cyclone of paper tickets, trying unsuccessfully to locate the one prize-winning golden ticket.

"I'm on a big sugar high," Hannah acknowledged.

Depp and Freddie Highmore (Charlie) hung out at a private table where they were pretty much left alone; guests were more focused on filling their buckets than stargazing.

Among the candy-crazed: Depp's partner, Vanessa Paradis, mother to their children, Lily-Rose, 6, and Jack, 3, who did not attend.

Depp and Paradis shared a sweet kiss over her Wonka Bar- and Pixy Stix-filled bucket.

Depp defends 'Chocolate Factory' remake

The film is based on the Roald Dahl book of the same name. It has been adapted once before, as 1971's "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory".

Gene Wilder, who originated the role of the candy magnate in the 1971 version, condemned the new adaptation in a recent interview.

"It's just some people sitting around thinking 'How can we make some more money?' Why else would you remake "Willy Wonka"? I don't see the point of going back and doing it all over again," Wilder told Britain's Daily Telegraph newspaper.

"I like Johnny Depp, and I appreciate that he has said on the record that my shoes would be hard to fill. But I don't know how it will all turn out. Right now, the only thing that does take some of the edge off this for me is that Willy Wonka's name isn't in the title.''

In an interview this week with the Associated Press, Depp struck back at Wilder.

"Somebody sent me an article where Gene Wilder said 'Why would they remake "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory"?' We didn't remake "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory", we remade the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". It's based on the same book they based theirs on," Depp told the news agency.

Depp said he was careful to play Wonka, who hosts a tour of his candy-making plant for a group of children, in a new way.

"I was really conscious about making sure I went to a different area than Gene Wilder," he explained.

Many consider "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" to be a classic film. Wilder's performance was much lauded, and he went on to be one of the biggest film stars of the 1970s.

In the run-up to the release of the new movie, director Tim Burton has revealed that he added a number of his own touches to the story.

Chief among these is a series of flashbacks in which Wonka relates with his father, a dentist played by Christopher Lee. These scenes were added, Burton says, so the audience can understand what makes the off-centre Wonka tick.

Dahl's book, as well as the first movie, are silent on the issue of Wonka's origins.

Depp, known for his turns in movies like "Benny & Joon" and on television's "21 Jump Street", also said Wilder's criticisms about the financial motives behind the new film sound strange to him.

"Making a statement that they only made this film because of the money is a really odd statement to make from a guy who has been in the business as long as he has ... all movies were made because somebody somewhere wanted a return on their dollar that they spent," he noted.

"Ultimately, it's a business."

Teen Choice Nominees

MOVIES

Choice Drama
"Coach Carter"
"Finding Neverland"
"Friday Night Lights"
"Garden State"
"Ladder 49"
"The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants"
"The Aviator"
"The Notebook"

Choice Date Movie
"A Lot Like Love"
"A Cinderella Story"
"Fever Pitch"
"Guess Who"
"Hitch"
"Monster-in-Law"
"Mr. & Mrs. Smith"
"The Notebook"

Choice Actor: Drama
Jamie Foxx, "Ray"
Joaquin Phoenix, "Ladder 49"
Johnny Depp, "Finding Neverland"
Leonardo DiCaprio, "The Aviator"
Ryan Gosling, "The Notebook"
Samuel L. Jackson, "Coach Carter"
Tom Cruise, "Collateral"
Zach Braff, "Garden State"

Depp Funds Cannon for Thompson's Ashes

The Oscar-nominated actor is paying for the tower that will house a cannon from which Thompson's ashes will be shot and scattered, reports the AP. The gun-loving "gonzo" journalist who commit suicide in February requested that his ashes shot from a cannon placed on the grounds of his Aspen, Colo.-area home.

The cannon will be placed inside a 53-foot high sculpture crafted to resemble Thompson's personal symbol, the "gonzo" raised fist, which will in turn be placed on a 100-foot pillar. The monument will remain a fixture on his property. The explosive event will take place Aug. 20, to accompany a larger celebration of Thompson's life.

Until the memorial service, the tower will be draped in black to discourage tourists. The invitation-only event will consist of ""spoken word and live entertainment," says the event's producer Jon Equis. The cannon will be fired around sunset.

Thompson, 67, was speaking on the phone with his wife on Feb. 20 when he put down the receiver and shot himself in the head. His son, daughter-in-law and grandson were in the home at the time. No one was aware of his intention to kill himself.

Thompson is best known for his first-person style of writing that revealed his alcohol- and drug-fueled adventures while reporting on events ranging from bike races to political campaigns. His works include "Hell's Angels," "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," "The Proud Highway" and "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness."

His 1972 book "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" was made into the 1998 film starring Depp and Benicio Del Toro. Under the pseudonym of Raoul Duke, Thompson travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, to cover a biker race. The entire endeavor is colored through the use of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, acid and other miscellaneous barbiturates and amphetamines. Depp and Del Toro will reunite for the big-screen version of "The Rum Diary," which Thompson wrote in 1959.

Depp, 41, has been nominated for his leading roles in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" and "Finding Neverland." He next stars as Willy Wonka in the Tim Burton-directed adaptation of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which opens in July. He reunites with Burton for the animated "The Corpse Bride," due out in the fall.

Depp Takes 'Long Way Down'

Warner Brothers has optioned the rights to the book, which was published on Monday (May 2) in England and will be released in the United States in June. Thus far, the Hollywood trade papers say that two-time Oscar-nominee Depp, next featured in Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," is only attached as a producer.

"A Long Way Down," Hornby's fourth novel, centers on four disparate people who plan to commit suicide on New Year's Eve. Instead, they meet and become an unlikely support system, saving each other's lives.

Hollywood producers have had some success adapting Hornby's previous books into films. "About a Boy" and "High Fidelity" were critically admired modest hits. Reviews for "Fever Pitch," the second adaptation of the memoir, were mixed and the film has taken in just over $36 million through four weeks of release.

The three possible producers come to the project from a trio of shingles. King represents his Initial Entertainment Group, Depp is working through his Infinitum Nihil and Heyman (the "Harry Potter" films) is producing for Heyday Pictures.

Disney Plans New 'Pirates' Online Game for 2006

The Walt Disney Internet Group division plans to go live with the broadband activity to coordinate with the theatrical premiere of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" in summer 2006.

This is the second such venture for Disney Online after the 2003 launch of "Disney's Toontown Online" as the first 3-D MMORPG created for kids and families.

"We've learned through our experience with 'Toontown' that the market for massively multiplayer online role-playing games can indeed reach beyond traditional gamers," said Ken Goldstein, executive vp and managing director at Disney Online. "'Pirates of the Caribbean' is the perfect franchise for our second commercial effort in this arena."

The Walt Disney Internet Group's VR Studio is designing the game to be filled with action and humor as players personalize their own pirate character and form their own crews to engage in swashbuckling adventures, most of which involve battles against other crews or the evil undead.

It is undetermined which, if any, of the actors in the movies will have a presence in the game.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," starring Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Geoffrey Rush, grossed more than $305 million domestically in 2003.

Pricing for "Pirates of the Caribbean Online" has not been finalized. "We expect it to be in line with 'Toontown,' which is $9.99 a month," Goldstein said. "Subscription is a very powerful business model, but the final decision has not been made yet."

According to the underlying intellectual property, there are more than 3,000 islands in this alternative reality, which Goldstein said provides ample scope for missions that will provide hours of entertainment.

"There are many, many islands to visit in the archipelago, and we hope you will visit them all," he said. "There are plenty of characters to meet and plenty of adventures to be had."

Goldstein added that the game's content will be suitable for "'tweens" and adults, similar to the ride and the PG-13 movie.

Among its other offerings, Disney Online already operates "Disney's Blast" for kids and has announced "Playhouse Disney Preschool Time Online" for preschoolers.

"The whole point of what we're doing is a continuum of product in an age-branded strategy," Goldstein said. "We're making a substantial investment in online digital content. We believe in broadband."

"Pirates" Cannibal Scene Irks Natives?

The brain trust behind Walt Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean sequel now shooting on location is taking heat from an indigenous leader over a scene in which Johnny Depp's swashbuckling hero Captain Jack Sparrow gets roasted on a spit.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Chief Charles Williams, head of the 3,500-strong Carib people--a minority who live on the island of Dominica--is calling on his fellow tribe members to boycott Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest because the fantasy film supposedly perpetuates the incorrect view that their ancestors dined on human flesh.

The sequel is one of two to 2003's blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl being filmed back-to-back on location in Dominica and several other Caribbean islands.

Dead Man's Chest is scheduled to hit theaters in summer 2006, while the as-yet untitled third film is due out in 2007.

The spit spat boils down to a scene that's said to take place in the middle of the movie, when Captain Jack gets is captured by natives and ends up hog-tied and generously sprinkled with fruits and vegetables in, as one Disney exec puts it, a human "shish kebab."

"It's a funny, almost campy sequence," Bruce Hendricks, Disney's executive in charge of production, tells the Times about the five-minute scene. "There are a lot of silly moments in it."

Although Captain Jack escapes (and goes on to fight ghostly scalawags and rum-lovin' zombies), the depiction of natives as flesh-craving savages bothers Williams, who says it's un-P.C. and untrue.

"Pirates did come to the Caribbean in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries," Williams tells the Times. "Our ancestors were labeled cannibals."

Caribs migrated to Dominica from South America over a 1,000 years ago. History books used to portray them as cannibals, but historians have since found sufficient evidence to suggest that the Spanish frequently made up such stories as a way to vilify the natives and justify colonization..

"Today, that myth, that stigma is still alive," Williams adds. "Today, Disney wants to popularize that stigma one more time, this time through film, and film is a powerful tool of propaganda."

Disney declined to comment on the spit spat beyond a brief statement.

"Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest is an action-packed adventure full of comedy, romance, and fantasy all born out of the imaginative minds of our writers. While we cannot give away any plot points, any island and tribe depicted in the film are purely fictitious and there is no reference to any particular actual people or group," the statement says.

Williams, as head of the Carib Territorial Council, met with filmmakers in October about shooting scenes in the tribe's stomping grounds and employing the tribe as extras and crew members, and he rejected the idea.

But despite his objections, he was overruled by the council in January. Many fellow Caribs say the film shoot is a boost to the local economy, which suffers 70 percent unemployment. Besides, they argue, the film makes no mention of Dominica or Caribs: It is set on a fictitious island and the cannibals in question are called Pelegosto. Hundreds of Caribs are now working on the project.

"To my mind, this is as much a mythical story as Batman or Superman or Dracula," says Dominica's tourism minister Charles Savarin.

Following the rebuke, Williams went public with his protest, even refusing to allow anyone associated with the project to shack up at his Carib Territory Guesthouse.

But so far the shooting has been unaffected.

"There's been nothing but a very welcoming atmosphere," a production insider tells E! Online. "We're working with 400-plus Dominicans, which includes a very large number of Carib people. The shooting's going beautifully on schedule and we have had a fantastic reception from the Dominicans working on the film and around the towns."

'Pirates 2' Gets Full Name

Although the cast will definitely include Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, not all of the same faces from the first have been asked back yet for the sequel.

Zoe Saldana, who plays Anamaria and has her boat stolen by Depp's Oscar-nominated Jack Sparrow, says she's not sure if she'll be around. "I've not yet been asked about being in the 'Pirates' sequel," Saldana tells Zap2it.com. "It's OK if I'm not, I had a good time in the first, but I'm ready to put my boots back on," she says.

For now, Saldana plays Ashton Kutcher's fiancee in "Guess Who" which opens Friday (March 25).

A spokesman for Buena Vista Pictures says they never wanted the "Pirates of the Caribbean" movies, based on their theme park ride, to have numbers and that each should be its own adventure. "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" was always a working title.

Depp, Cusack Attend Thompson Memorial

Johnny Depp and John Cusack were seen entering the luxurious Hotel Jerome in Aspen, Colo., where Thompson's private memorial service was held on Saturday, March 5, reports the AP.

Depp portrayed the notorious journalist in 1998's big-screen adaptation of Thompson's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," which co-starred Benicio Del Toro. The film centers on Thompson's travels with his Samoan attorney, Dr. Gonzo, to cover a biker race. The entire endeavor is colored through the use of alcohol, marijuana, cocaine, acid and other miscellaneous barbiturates and amphetamines. Depp and Del Toro will reunite for the big-screen version of "The Rum Diary," which Thompson wrote in 1959.

Cusack appeared in an interview for the 2003 documentary "Breakfast with Hunter," which was played during the memorial on a television screen in the hotel. A near life-sized black-and-white photo of Thompson was placed in front of a giant American flag in the ballroom. The service was closed to the public and reporters.

Thompson died at the age of 67 when he shot himself in his home while on the phone with his wife on Sunday, Feb. 20.

Thompson is best known for his first-person style of writing that revealed his alcohol- and drug-fueled adventures while reporting on events ranging from bike races to political campaigns. His works include "Hell's Angels," "Fear and Loathing: On the Campaign Trail '72," "The Proud Highway" and "Hey Rube: Blood Sport, the Bush Doctrine, and the Downward Spiral of Dumbness."

Movies To Nosh On

What's popping? Director Tim Burton and Johnny Depp join forces for the fourth time with this trippy take on author Roald Dahl's deliciously subversive fable, which also inspired the 1971 Gen-X fave Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.

As before, good-natured Charlie Bucket (12-year-old Freddie Highmore, who reunites with his Finding Neverland co-star Depp) and his Grandpa Joe (David Kelly of Waking Ned Devine) win a chance to tour Wonka's wondrous candy factory.

They are joined by four gluttonous children who suffer sticky comeuppances, thanks to the wily Mr. Wonka. Willy's dad, Wilbur (Christopher Lee) - a new character - shows up in flashbacks.

A few more kernels. The pop-art trailer suggests a psychedelic sugar rush is in store. But those salivating to hear The Candy Man, forget about it. "The only music is when the Oompa Loompas (the factory's tiny handymen) sing chants after each child encounters problems," says producer Richard Zanuck. As for the 1971 version, he says, "this not a remake. This is Tim's version of Dahl's book."

Burton is doing his best to bring Dahl's semi-sweet fantasy to high-caloric life, building a candy land on 17 soundstages at London's Pinewood Studio. Besides a chocolate river with an 80-foot waterfall, "there's a nut room with 200 squirrels at work," Zanuck says. Yes, actual rodents. "From birth, we sent them to training school for six months."

As for Depp's interpretation of the mysterious Wonka as a Carnaby Street mod hatter with a propensity for saying, "Let's boogie," Zanuck notes, "All I can say is that it lives up to his sense of the bizarre."

Bonus treat. In the first movie, the Oompa Loompas were played by dwarfs. Now they are all played by the same 42-inch-tall actor, Dee Roy, who is shrunk via camera tricks to a mere 30 inches.

Yum factor. Johnny Depp and chocolate outdoes peanut butter and chocolate any day.

'Incredibles,' 'Neverland' Win Christopher Awards

The 56th annual Christopher Awards will recognize Pixar's "The Incredibles" among three other films that celebrate the human spirit and individual power at a gala in New York on Thursday, March 10.

"Incredibles," which recently won the best animated feature and sound editing Oscars, joins the inspiring "Finding Neverland," Don Cheadle-starring "Hotel Rwanda" and hockey flick "Miracle" as the Christopher Award-winning films for 2005.

"The Christopher Awards recognize stories about those who surmount challenges with courage, persistence and an unshakable belief," says Dennis W. Heaney, president and CEO of The Christophers. "All exemplify The Christopher credo 'It's better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.'"

Previous films recognized include "In America," "Seabiscuit," "The Station Agent," "Whale Rider," "About a Boy," "Rabbit-Proof Fence," "Spirited Away," "Antwone Fisher," "A Beautiful Mind" and "Billy Elliot."

For the full list of Christopher award winners in the TV, book and special categories, visit www.christophers.org.

Depp, DiCaprio Named Generation's Top Actors

The Oscar-nominated "Finding Neverland" star and nine of his peers have landed on GQ's list of the Top 10 greatest actors of our generation.

The magazine's March issue, on newsstands now, praises the 41-year-old Depp for only taking roles that he's wanted, whether they're for offbeat indie flicks or big-budget studio franchises, such as his upcoming "Pirates of the Caribbean" sequels.

Other actors nominated for Oscars this year who made the cut include: "The Aviator" star Leonardo DiCaprio, "Hotel Rwanda's" Don Cheadle and supporting actor nominee Clive Owen for "Closer." The 77th Academy Awards ceremony will be televised live from the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on Sunday, Feb. 27.

Not nominated this year, but still rounding out the Top 10 are: Oscar winners Russell Crowe ("Gladiator"), Benicio Del Toro ("Traffic") and Nicolas Cage ("Leaving Las Vegas"); "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'" rubber-faced star Jim Carrey; "Motorcycle Diaries" actor Gael Garcia Bernal; and "Chicago's" Oscar-nominated supporting actor John C. Reilly.

None of the stars are resting on their laurels and already have projects lined up for 2005. Upcoming films opening this year include Depp's Tim Burton double-header "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and "The Corpse Bride"; the ensemble comic book drama "Sin City," which stars both Owen and Del Toro; Reilly's "Dark Water"; Crowe's boxing drama "Cinderella Man"; Cage's "Weather Man" and Carrey's "Fun with Dick and Jane."

DiCaprio will reunite with "Aviator" director Martin Scorsese to film "The Departed" with Matt Damon, while Cheadle has plans to helm and co-star in the Elmore Leonard film adaptation of "Tishomingo Blues" with Matthew McConaughey. Currently filming are Bernal in Michel Gondry's "The Science of Sleep" and Cage in "Ghost Rider."

Depp's Willy Wonka Is 'Creepy'

That's according to 11-year-old actress AnnaSophia Robb, who stars as Violet in the upcoming "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," starring Depp and directed by Tim Burton.

"His character is very creepy from any other Willy Wonka you've seen," Robb tells Zap2it.com. "I'm not allowed to say very much about that movie."

Robb plays a very polite daughter of a preacher in "Because of Winn-Dixie," which is far different from the bratty Violet, who's one of the winners of the sweepstakes that delivers a group of kids to the mysterious candy factory. She says she often gets asked about what it's working like with Depp.

"He's such a normal guy, he treats everyone with the same amount of respect," she says. "He invites us to his trailer to make us feel more comfortable with him."

As for the eclectic director, she says, "Tim Burton is brilliant, he has so much imagination, it goes off the charts,"

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is expected to be released in July.

We Hear...

Depp's the Best, Spears the Worst Autographer

Depp, 41, tops the list of the best celebrity signers of 2004, according to Autograph Collector magazine.

"Johnny Depp has decided to be the undisputed most-accommodating autograph signer in Hollywood today," says Steve Cyrkin, the magazine's publisher and Editor-in-Chief. "One collector told us, 'He'll sign for everyone, and it doesn't matter how many things you ask him to sign.'"

Depp's fellow stars happy to take up a sharpie for their fans include "Bourne Supremacy" star Matt Damon in second place, followed by Tom Cruise, Mike Myers, Angelina Jolie, "Lord of the Rings" hobbit Elijah Wood, "Mean Girls" star Lindsay Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Hilary Duff and "Monster" Oscar winner Charlize Theron.

On the flip side of fame are the luminaries who'd rather not acknowledge their fans with a signature. Leading the list of the 10 worst celebrity signers is pop star Britney Spears because "no one is better at showing their fans how little they mean to them."

"While we're the first to defend any celebrity's right not to sign, how do you defend rude, crude and downright unattractive behavior?" says Cyrkin. "As one collector told us, 'Britney has done all she can to earn her nickname, 'Bitchney Sneers.'"

Keeping Mrs. Federline company is "Charlie's Angels" star Cameron Diaz, webslinger Tobey Maguire, Diaz's beau Justin Timberlake, the Olsen twins, "Aviator" star Leonardo DiCaprio, rapper Eminem, the now split Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, Halle Berry and hotel heiress Paris Hilton.

The March issue of Autograph Collector is currently on newsstands.

'Pirates' Sequels Capture Skarsgard, Harris

The sequels reunite the main players in the 2003 blockbuster: actors Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, director Gore Verbinski, screenwriters Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer.

In the new films, Skarsgard will play Bloom's long-lost father, and Harris will play a gypsy queen.

"Pirates 2" is scheduled for a summer 2006 release. Shooting is to start in early March in Los Angeles and the Caribbean.

Skarsgard appeared in last year's "King Arthur," which Bruckheimer produced. His recent credits also include "Exorcist: The Beginning" and "Dogville."

Harris might be best known Stateside for starring in the horror film "28 Days Later." She also appeared in "After the Sunset."

List of 77th annual Academy Award nominations

The winners of 77th Academy Awards will be announced on Sunday, Feb. 27, and will be telecast live by ABC from the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland.

NBC's Tsunami Aid Raises More Than $18M

Individual NBC stations raised another $10 million through separate telethons, the network said. Stars donated their time and the $2 million in production costs were covered by a corporate sponsor.

Madonna sang "Imagine," and Elton John, Eric Clapton, Norah Jones, Maroon 5 and others all performed. Brad Pitt, Leonardo DiCaprio, George Clooney, Johnny Depp and Ben Affleck were among the stars who took phone pledges.

The tsunami benefit, aired on NBC and its affiliated stations, struggled for viewer attention Saturday night. It was modeled after a similar benefit aired after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, which raised $130 million for victims.

ENRON JOURNO BARES HIS SOUL

While Leopold isn't guilty of the kind of journalistic sins that doomed the New York Times fabricator, he is flogging his own media-centric mea culpa, "Off the Record: An Investigative Journalist's Inside View of Dirty Politics, Corporate Scandal and a Double Life Exposed" (Rowman & Littlefield).

In the fashionably confessional tome, the Enron-scooping former Dow Jones L.A. bureau chief reveals a secret criminal past that included felony convictions for grand larceny and forgery. He battled cocaine addiction and admits he lied on his résumé about graduating from New York University.

Leopold, 35, landed an exclusive interview with former Enron chief executive Jeffrey Skilling after the energy giant declared bankruptcy in 2001.

The next year, he linked Army Secretary Gen. Thomas White to fraud at Enron in a controversial story for Salon.com. The subsequent backlash resulted in the piece being pulled from the site. He had previously been fired by Dow Jones for flubbing figures in another Enron piece.

"I was so obsessed with Enron," Leopold told us, "I made some errors in judgment . . . I wasn't using drugs anymore, but I was acting like a drug addict. I got high on these news stories. I really was still running away from this stuff about my past."

Leopold says he felt a certain kinship with Skilling. "Here I was interviewing the biggest white-collar criminal in the country, and at the same time I had a felony conviction that I was concealing," he said. "I think that's what allowed me to ask all the right questions and figure out what was going on."

The self-styled Enron addict's legal trouble stemmed from a scheme in which he stole more than 10,000 CDs from Milan Records, where he used to work, and sold them to mom-and-pop record shops in Manhattan for cash to subsidize his coke habit before he became a newspaper reporter.

These days, Leopold is working as a consultant for "Blackout," an A&E cable channel movie about the New York blackout of 2003 — but he has high hopes of making some money off of his life story.

He says his reps at Creative Artists Agency are trying to turn his book into a movie or TV series. "The talk is that Johnny Depp is pursuing it as a producer or maybe starring in the film, but some people are saying it might be better as a TV series," he told us. "Sort of like Michael Chicklis in 'The Shield.' Sort of like an anti-hero."

11th Annunal Screen Actors Guild Award Nominations

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role

Don Cheadle / HOTEL RWANDA - Paul Rusesabagina - United Artists
Johnny Depp / FINDING NEVERLAND - Sir James Matthew Barrie - Miramax Films
Leonardo DiCaprio / THE AVIATOR - Howard Hughes - Miramax Films
Jamie Foxx / RAY - Ray Charles - Universal Pictures
Paul Giamatti / SIDEWAYS - Miles - Fox Searchlight Pictures

Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture

THE AVIATOR - Miramax Films
Alan Alda - Senator Ralph Owen Brewster
Alec Baldwin - Julian Trippe
Kate Beckinsale - Ava Gardner
Cate Blanchett - Katharine Hepburn
Leonardo DiCaprio - Howard Hughes
Ian Holm - Professor Fitz
Danny Huston - Jack Frye
Jude Law - Errol Flynn
John C. Reilly - Noah Dietrich
Gwen Stefani - Jean Harlow

FINDING NEVERLAND - Miramax Films
Julie Christie - Mrs. Emma Du Maurier
Johnny Depp - Sir James Matthew Barrie
Freddie Highmore - Peter Llewelyn Davies
Dustin Hoffman - Charles Frohman
Radha Mitchell - Mary Ansell Barrie
Joe Prospero - Jack Llewelyn Davies
Nick Roud - George Llewelyn Davies
Luke Spill - Michael Llewelyn Davies
Kate Winslet - Sylvia Llewelyn Davies

HOTEL RWANDA - United Artists
Don Cheadle - Paul Rusesabagina
Nick Nolte - Colonel Oliver
Sophie Okonedo - Tatiana Rusesabagina
Joaquin Phoenix - Jack Daglish

MILLION DOLLAR BABY - Warner Bros.
Clint Eastwood - Frankie
Morgan Freeman - Scrap
Hilary Swank - Maggie

RAY - Universal Pictures
Aunjanue Ellis - Mary Ann Fisher
Jamie Foxx - Ray Charles
Terrence Dashon Howard - Gossie McGee
Regina King - Margie Hendricks
Harry Lennix - Joe Adams
Clifton Powell - Jeff Brown
Larenz Tate - Quincy Jones
Kerry Washington - Della Bea Robinson

SIDEWAYS - Fox Searchlight Pictures
Thomas Haden Church - Jack
Paul Giamatti - Miles
Virginia Madsen - Maya
Sandra Oh - Stephanie

2005 People's Choice Winners

Depp, Lohan Top Off IMDb's Celeb Rankings

The movie resource and database Web site also had Orlando Bloom, Keira Knightley and Angelina Jolie rounding out the top five as it unveiled its top 25 movie stars.

The rankings are determined by the site's STARmeter, available since 2001 through its subscription service, which ranks celebrities' popularity among IMDb.com's more than 22 million monthly visitors. The listings are an aggregate of search and page view patterns of the Web site, reflected in weekly rankings. The list is the compilation of the year's data.

According to Keith Simanton, IMDb managing editor, Depp and Lohan were in a heat for the top spot, with Depp popular in the first half of the year, no doubt because of the success of "The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," while Lohan was tops in the second half. What surprises Simanton every year, however, are the people left off the top 25.

"There's Tobey Maguire, for example, who was in the No. 2 movie of the year," Simanton said. "He's in our top 100, but he's not in the top 25. Neither are Mel Gibson and Michael Moore. The data means a lot of things, particularly good will and star appeal and not necessarily success at the box office. But fascination certainly."

Delights abound in 'Finding Neverland'

The story is based on the friendship that Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie had with the Llewelyn Davies family, but it draws heavily from a play, The Man Who Was Peter Pan, that focused on imaginary conversations between Barrie and the young Davies boys.

Barrie, playfully portrayed by Johnny Depp with a spot-on Scottish brogue, is a man who lives much of the time in his imagination and spends long days in the park with his beloved dog. Barrie doesn't quite fit in Edwardian London. He has grown increasingly distant from his social-climbing wife (Radha Mitchell), and Depp gives his bewilderment over their estrangement a subtle, heartbreaking quality.

While in the park, Barrie befriends the four Davies boys and their widowed mother, Sylvia, played with a charming blend of maternal concern and gentle free-spiritedness by Kate Winslet. The boys become the prototype for Peter and Wendy's brothers, John and Michael. Even Captain Hook has an antecedent that we see in a clever visual involving the claw-like hand of their disapproving grandmother, played by Julie Christie.

Barrie entertains the exuberant boys with games and imaginative adventures.

They respond with youthful enthusiasm, but an underlying sadness and apprehension prevails. Their father recently died, and their mother has grown gravely ill. Mindful of the harsh realities of their forced maturation, Barrie creates the concept of Neverland, a place where boys can go and never have to grow up.

The unspoken love between Barrie and Sylvia does not fall into the classic romance category. Barrie's mother ignored him when he was a boy, and his relationship with Winslet's warm Sylvia may be a way of coming to terms with his youthful trauma. Both characters remain a bit of an enigma, which makes the film intriguing.

Finding Neverland is director Marc Forster's follow-up to 2001's Monster's Ball.

The two films couldn't be more dissimilar in subject, structure and look. His first plunged into the darkest reaches of the soul, while the second production inclines toward light and redemption. Both, however, focus upon revealing emotional truths.

Finding Neverland deals with weighty themes such as the power of the imagination, the ineffable wonder of childhood, the loss of innocence and the nature of creativity. The story is told gently and simply without excess sentimentality. It is a welcome departure from more contrived holiday fare.

Review: Depp Shines in 'Finding Neverland'

Arguably the most versatile actor of his generation, Depp further expands his repertoire with a restrained, compassionate performance as "Peter Pan" creator J.M. Barrie in "Finding Neverland," a role that could bring the actor his second Academy Award nomination.

Though not terribly subtle in its parallels between Barrie's real-life inspirations and his best-known creation, "Finding Neverland" is a smart, engaging portrait whose whimsy nicely complements the flightiness of "Peter Pan."

Depp shares tender chemistry with co-star Kate Winslet, playing a widow whose young sons need a father figure at just the moment Barrie needs a muse to shake him out of his creative doldrums.

Coming off his manic "Pirates of the Caribbean" performance that brought his first Oscar nomination, Depp is a marvel of subtle conflict here, stiff Victorian propriety clashing with his inner child.

The well-cast drama features fine support from Dustin Hoffman, Julie Christie and Radha Mitchell.

"Finding Neverland" also is a pleasant progression for director Marc Forster, who displays a gentle, jocular side that's rather surprising from the filmmaker who made the stark "Monster's Ball" and "Everything Put Together."

In softening his sensibilities, though, Forster loses none of the dramatic heft of his previous films, infusing "Finding Neverland" with dark undertones and an air of fatalistic melancholy beneath its playful surface.

Adapted by screenwriter David Magee from Allan Knee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan," "Finding Neverland" traces the roots of the classic tale in the early 1900s.

Fresh from a London stage flop, playwright Barrie meets Sylvia Llewelyn Davies (Winslet) and her four sons during a walk in the park. A chaste friendship ensues with the beautiful widow and her youngsters, including one named Peter (Freddie Highmore), a sober boy with an acute lack of childlike mischief.

These lost boys reinvigorate Barrie, who becomes both a paternal figure and a catalyst for their imaginations as he spins stories and engages them in games of cowboys and Indians and other fantasies.

Barrie, politely bound in a sterile marriage with wife Mary (Mitchell), finds a soul-mate connection in Sylvia, who is battling illness while trying to hold her family together.

The relationship strains Barrie's marriage, while the spectacle of a married writer frolicking like a happy dad with a widow and her children does not sit well with Sylvia's imperious mother (Christie) or London society.

Barrie is deaf to the gossip, save for his indignation when it's insinuated his relationship with the boys might have sexual overtones.

Meantime, the writer's producer (Hoffman) is flabbergasted when Barrie delivers a script with pirates, fairies, flying children, a guy in a dog suit and a boy whose spirit keeps him eternally young.

Of course, "Peter Pan" becomes an instant hit. The film lovingly depicts opening night as Barrie's tale of innocence and purity melts the hearts of stuffy London theatergoers.

Even more touching is a private rendition Barrie stages for Sylvia and her children, with Peter Pan (vibrantly played by Kelly Macdonald) opening the door on a world of wonder for the ailing widow and her boys.

The artful fantasy sequences crafted by Forster and his design team are hit and miss, sometimes reflecting the merriness of Peter Pan's Neverland world, other times clashing with the broader drama.

While "Finding Neverland" takes factual liberties (Sylvia's husband did not die until three years after "Peter Pan" premiered, for example), the film does provide an enchanting look at the power of dreams and the wellsprings of artistic inspiration.

The result is a family film for parents who want to expose their kids to something other than wisecracking cartoon characters, a story with heart, spirit and boundless faith in youth.

"Finding Neverland," a Miramax release, is rated PG for mild thematic elements and brief language. Running time: 105 minutes. Three stars out of four.

In a flash, Johnny Depp draws raves

With his Nov. 12 release, Finding Neverland, already igniting Oscar buzz, Depp kicked off the fall awards season by picking up an artistic achievement accolade from the Actors' Fund of America at a Waldorf-Astoria gala.

"I'm flattered, dumbfounded and amazed," said Depp, dapper in a tux.

Angela Lansbury, known to younger fans for her sleuthing TV series Murder, She Wrote, also snagged a lifetime achievement award at the ceremony, co-hosted by Whoopi Goldberg.

"If you have enough work under your belt, the years add up pretty fast," joked Lansbury, 79, who starred in the 1944 thriller Gaslight.

But the night was all about Depp, 41, who was recognized for his body of work by the non-profit group, which provides social services to entertainers.

"What an actor he is!" raved Broadway star BernadettePeters. "I just love everything he does. I loved Sleepy Hollow."

Now, Depp is busy promoting Neverland. He stars as playwright J.M. Barrie and explores the inspiration for Peter Pan. But the actor is not too hung up on statuettes and prizes.

"As you're doing the work, you're so involved in the process itself that they never enter your brain," Depp said.

The king of quirky character actors, who earned an Oscar nomination for last year's Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, also was amazed at the agitation of the photographers, who went into a flashbulb frenzy when he walked in.

"I just kind of suck it up," the soft-spoken actor said.

Depp flew in for the gala from England, where's he's shooting Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and spent a fairly ordinary day getting gussied up.

"I took a shower. Shaved. Brushed my teeth," he said. "But you can never be prepared. You've got to walk around in confusion, not understanding why someone wants to give you something as prestigious as this."

As for rumors that Rolling Stone Keith Richards might play Depp's dad in the Pirates sequel?

"That would be great," Depp said. "He seems open to it. I hope it works out."

WE Hear...

Keith And Johnny In Sequel

People's Choice Award nominees

MOVIES

Favorite Male Movie Star
George Clooney
Tom Cruise
Johnny Depp
Tom Hanks
Denzel Washington

'Pirates 2' Production Begins, 'New World' Wraps

Although shooting isn't starting until March, the production team is officially getting into gear this week, according to Production Alert, which tracks film production.

Other movies kicking off this week include "The 40 Year Old Virgin" with Steve Carell, "Eyes of the Street" starring Franka Potente and New Line's "The Women" starring Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Sandra Bullock, Ashley Judd and Uma Thurman.

Movies planning to wrap in the next week include "Where the Truth Lies," by the Canadian Oscar-nominated filmmaker Atom Egoyan, starring Kevin Bacon and Alison Lohman, as well as "Surrender Dorothy" starring Diane Keaton; Rob Reiner's "Graduate" project, starring Jennifer Aniston, Kevin Costner and Shirley MacLaine and "The New World," Terrence Malick's film starring Colin Farrell, Christian Bale and Christopher Plummer which began in London and wraps Wednesday, Oct. 27 in Virginia.

Depp and Winslet Attend UK 'Neverland' Premiere

Depp was greeted by hundreds of squealing young women, some crying, as they clamored for an autograph of the Hollywood heart-throb at Leicester Square in central London.

The 41-year-old star, who has been tipped to win an Oscar for his role as Peter Pan author JM Barrie, obliged and took his time greeting fans as he strolled slowly along the red carpet.

Depp attended the premiere along with co-star Kate Winslet, who plays the mother of the boy who gave Barrie the inspiration for the classic tale.

The British actress said she couldn't have played the role of Sylvia Llewelyn Davies if she wasn't a mother herself.

"It just changes how you are physically and it made a huge difference in playing this part," she told Sky News.

The film, which also stars Julie Christie and Dustin Hoffman, will be released in Britain on Oct. 29.

At London premiere, Johnny Depp plays down his heartthrob image

Arriving for the premiere of his latest movie, Finding Neverland, at London's Leicester Square, Depp played down his movie-star image as fans lining the red carpet screamed his name.

"I wouldn't say I'm a heartthrob," he said, as his wife, French singer and actress Vanessa Paradis, looked on. "I just have a very weird job."

Depp has been touted to win his first Oscar for his role as Peter Pan creator J.M. Barrie, but the 41-year-old actor dismissed such talk.

"I can't say that occupies my every thought or every moment," he said. "That's not my job to think about that, but if people want to say that, that is really sweet."

Co-star Kate Winslet, who plays the mother of the four young brothers who inspired Barrie to write Peter Pan, also gave a knock to Depp's reputation as a movie hunk.

"Everybody asks me this, whether I'm slightly annoyed that I didn't get to kiss Johnny Depp," said Winslet, 29. "We would have laughed."

Depp Set for Adventure in 'Shantaram'

Warners, Initial Entertainment Group, Plan B and Depp's Infinitum Nihil have acquired film rights to the novel in a deal said to be worth $1 million-$2 million.

Depp would play the novel's narrator, a young Australian man who escapes from a prison Down Under and goes on to build a new life for himself in the slums of India before fighting alongside insurgents in their struggle against the Russians in Afghanistan.

Warners and IEG are co-financing the project, with Warners taking domestic distribution and Initial handling international rights.

Depp's current projects include "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" for Warners and "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" for the Walt Disney Co.

EX-LOVE TATTOOS TORMENT STARS

Tidbits

Venice has blunders as well as stars

Marco Muller, a film producer and former director of the Locarno film festival, was named to organise the world's oldest cinema competition just months before it was set to kick off.

He wowed critics with his line-up, but producers, publicists and moviegoers who flocked to the Lido for the 61st edition of the festival say organisers bit off more than they could chew.

"We just weren't able to make miracles even if we tried," said Davide Croff, president of the Venice Biennale, which oversees the festival.

At the height of the confusion, Al Pacino found himself without a seat at the premier of his own film, while Johnny Depp's stroll down the red carpet for the screening of "Finding Neverland" was delayed by two hours until 2 a.m.

Miramax boss Harvey Weinstein joked at the pre-dawn premiere that he would have his revenge on Muller. "I'll drown him in the lagoon, with his feet encased in cement," he jested.

At the awards ceremony on Saturday night, the presenter forgot to award the prize for best director and had to go back to it just before bestowing the Golden Lion on "Vera Drake".

Perhaps one of the most diplomatically delicate incidents, however, was the lengthy delay at the premiere of Malaysia's most expensive film ever.

The crown prince and an entourage of musicians in traditional costume found a virtually empty theatre when the screening finally began well after midnight. The festival put on a free public show a week later in amends.

JOBS IN JEOPARDY?

A veteran European publicist called the festival "amateur", but officials said they are the victims of their own success.

They blamed the problems on bigger than expected crowds, demands by Hollywood studios to concentrate their films in the first five days, stars' lengthy autograph sessions on the red carpet and outdated infrastructure.

Still, speculation has grown that senior jobs may be in jeopardy, especially after Culture Minister Giuliano Urbani boasted ahead of the festival that with his hand-picked team in place this would be a year to remember.

"I don't think we will make the same mistake twice," Muller, who has a four-year contract, said during the festival.

Organisers already have a long-term solution: the construction of large cinema to replace the traditional Art Deco theatre which only seats about 1,000, but they have at least another three festivals before that goal will be achieved.

"My main problem is the American films," Muller said, adding that next year he might eliminate the "out of competition" slots that Hollywood blockbusters snap up as launching pads for their films in the European market.

He might also consider reducing the number of films in the main competition -- this year there were 22 -- or eliminating the Horizons section for trend-setting movies.

"The problem is that those who are suffering the gridlock the most are the small and fragile films that we are supposed to highlight," Muller said.

Toronto '04 Looking for Oscar Buzz

Instead, Los Angeles is emptying out for the better part of two weeks and heading north of the border for the camera-ready 29th installment of the Toronto International Film Festival.

If anyone needs more evidence that the Toronto film orgy is challenging Cannes as the most important staging ground for filmgoers and film financiers from Hollywood to Bollywood, this year's lineup of a record 100 world premiers among its star-studded 328 films from 61 countries should make even the most cynical critics blush.

Filmmakers and distributors have "decided that we're the first place they want their films shown," says festival co-director Noah Cowan, adding the city's multicultural make-up offers a unique proving ground for the increasingly global nature of the Industry.

Of course, the "savvy, knowledgeable and appreciative" film lovers in this city, many of whom skip work to attend the largest publicly attended film festival in the world, are another factor, he added.

This year, those spearheading Toronto's movie star invasion include Kevin Spacey, Al Pacino, Sean Penn, Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Scarlett Johansson, Johnny Depp, Sandra Bullock, Kenneth Branagh, Helen Hunt, Penélope Cruz, Jamie Foxx (news), Kevin Bacon (news), Dustin Hoffman, Danny Glover (news) and native daughter Sarah Polley, most of whom are starring in films seeking some early Oscar heat.

Kicking things off on Thursday night is Being Julia, in which Annette Bening (news) plays a waning middle-aged British stage actress circa 1930 who has a fling with a younger man. Nine days later, on Sept. 18, the fest concludes with Canada's own Martin Short in Jiminy Glick in Lalawood. The cynical satire of celebrity culture features Short's bloated film critic, Jiminy Glick, at the Toronto fest, where he becomes embroiled in a scandal of sex and murder. The film features cameos from Steve Martin, Kurt Russell, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Kline and Whoopi Goldberg.

Along the way there's plenty to keep the popcorn-crunching set bound to their seats--and the Oscar handicappers buzzing all the way to Vegas.

Spacey writes, directs, stars and even sings in his biopic of '50s pop icon Bobby Darin, Beyond the Sea. Hunt and Johansson star in A Good Woman, based on the Oscar Wilde play Lady Windermere's Fan, a searing social satire about the clashes and quandaries that bind the rich and famous to the "infamous and poor" among the American expat set in 1930s Italy.

Hoffman and Lily Tomlin bring their brand of ensemble comedy to the party in David O. Russell's I Heart Huckabees.

Theron and Cruz share a kiss in the romantic drama, Head in the Clouds, set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War and WWII.

If that isn't sexy enough, Liam Neeson and Laura Linney steam up the screen--at least intellectually--in Kinsey, a flick about Alfred Kinsey, America's pioneer in sex research.

And no one can accuse the lineup of not having any soul. Foxx stars as the late musical genius Ray Charles in the biopic Ray, while Antoine Fuqua will screen his concert doc Lightning in a Bottle, which chronicles a blues tribute concert held last year at Radio City Music Hall featuring such all-timers as B.B. King, Buddy Guy and Solomon Burke.

For those who like a good costume drama, Toronto has plenty with solid pedigrees. Pacino headlines a new version of Shakespearke's The Merchant of Venice; Modigliani stars Andy Garcia (news) in the title role in the film about the impressionist painter's bitter rivalry with Picasso; The Libertine features Depp as a seedy poet in the court of Charles II (John Malkovich) who nearly sparks a war between England and France; and Arsene Lupin stars Romain Duris as the 19th century gentleman burglar alongside Kristin Scott Thomas in a swashbuckling adventure based on the novel The Countess of Cagliostro.

Sigourney Weaver, Jeff Daniels (news) and Emile Hirsch offer up the coming of age tale Imaginary Heroes, about a family coping with the suicide of their "perfect" son, while Bullock and Matt Dillon (news) star in Crash, a story of eight characters drawn together by a car wreck and the subsequent murder investigation.

Keeping with the murder theme is The Assassination of Richard Nixon. Penn and Watts star in the film, based on a true story of a failed salesman who tries to off Tricky Dick in 1974.

A different kind of murder-themed movie has stirred up all kinds of controversy. Casuistry: The Art of Killing a Cat, a film that looks at the motivations of three people who videotaped their grisly felinicide has sparked outrage among the PETA set.

But fest co-director Cowan defends the documentary as "a journalistic essay" that "tries to come to a larger social understanding" of the crime. Cowan notes that not a single frame of the actual cat torture made by the subjects of the documentary appears in Casuistry, but because of threats made against the filmmakers, security will be beefed up for the screenings

Tidbits

Endquote

Film Review: Finding Neverland

The film has one or two creaky moments when the depiction of what influenced the writer is a bit too literal. Nevertheless, "Finding Neverland" is a rewarding piece of filmmaking that has all the makings of a classic weepie with box office returns to match.

In 1903, Barrie is an established playwright, willingly backed by producer Charles Frohman (Dustin Hoffman, having great fun) but losing his shirt over his latest play. "I feel I can do better," he admits. Barrie is Scottish, but there's nothing dour about him. Quite the opposite as he neglects his lovely wife, Mary (Radha Mitchell, making much of a difficult role), to take his Newfoundland dog Porthos to the park, where he plays with a ball attached to a fishing pole.

In the park one day, Barrie encounters a family of four boys and their widowed mother, Sylvia (played with unaffected charm by Kate Winslet). Immediately connecting with their games of fantasy, Barrie puts on a show for them by pretending that Porthos is a bear. "That's absurd. It's just a dog!" one boy says.

"'Just!"' Barrie cries. "That is a terrible, candle-snuffing word." He proceeds to dance with his bear, and the scene turns into a circus ring with animals and clowns and mimes. The writer's childlike imagination connects with the fatherless boys. Soon he is spending most of his time with the family, playing their games and observing them, taking notes.

Conflict arises not only from Barrie's wife, who feels increasingly alienated and takes a lover, but also from Sylvia's stuck-up mother, a quite fearsome but still beautiful Julie Christie (news). People are talking, not only about Barrie spending too much time with a comely widow but also being a man in the company of four little boys.

But Barrie is as innocent as Peter Pan, although there's a story from his past that affects him profoundly. Much difficulty lies ahead as Sylvia develops what sounds like considerably more than a bad cough. As Barrie absorbs all the things that will allow him to create a piece of theatrical magic, David Magee's script touches on tiny moments that would become iconic in Barrie's masterwork, such as a tinkerbell and a ticking alarm clock. It has a sweetness that never cloys.

"Young boys should never go to bed," Barrie says. "They wake up a day older, and before you know it, they're grown."

"Peter Pan" was the first great children's entertainment. Director Marc Forster ("Monster's Ball") depicts its creation with tremendous affection and eye for detail. His work with the boys, especially Freddie Highmore as Peter, is remarkable as they give Depp a run for his money onscreen. The American actor, with a superbly relaxed Scottish accent, is equal to it, however.

Cast: James Barrie: Johnny Depp; Sylvia Davies: Kate Winslet; Mrs. Emma Du Maurier: Julie Christie; Mary Barrie: Radha Mitchell; Charles Frohman: Dustin Hoffman; Peter: Freddie Highmore; Jack: Joe Prospero; George: Nick Roud; Michael: Luke Spill; Peter Pan: Kelly MacDonald; Mr. Jaspers: Mackenzie Crook; Mrs. Snow: Eileen Essell; Stage manager: Paul Whitehouse; Sir Arthur Conan Doyle: Ian Hart.

Director: Marc Forster; Writer: David Magee; Based on the play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan" by: Allan Knee; Producers: Richard N. Gladstein, Nellie Bellflower; Executive producers: Gary Binkow, Neal Israel; Director of photography: Roberto Schaefer; Production designer: Gemma Jackson; Costume designer: Alexandra Byrne; Music: Jan A.P. Kaczmarek; Editor: Matt Chesse.

Johnny Depp Says He Enjoys Aging

"Nowadays, it's all a question of surgery, isn't it?" he joked to reporters at the Venice Film Festival on Saturday.

"No, of course the notion is beautiful — the idea of staying a boy or a child forever. But I think you can. I've known plenty of people in their later years who were like little kids, had the energy of little children, the curiosity and fascination. I think we can keep that. It's important we keep that," he said.

"But I think it's great fun growing old. I think it's great."

Depp also discussed the Scottish accent he assumes for his role as writer J.M. Barrie.

"Musically, rhythmically, I initially couldn't quite get a hold of it," he said. "Luckily I found this dialect coach who helped me out a great deal. ... Also, we had a couple of crew guys who were Scottish who picked up the falsities."

'Finding Neverland' Brings Depp, Fantasy to Venice

Marc Forster's feature, which premiers on Saturday at the Venice Film Festival, may be the second Peter Pan movie in as many years, but it's a fresh take on the timeless tale.

The director of critically acclaimed "Monster's Ball" delves into the friendship between J.M. Barrie and a widowed mother whose children inspired the author to write about a boy who refuses to grow up.

Set in turn-of-the-century London, English gardens turn into forests full of cowboys, Indians and pirate ships where Barrie relives his lost youth in the company of the widow's four sons and "imagines life as he wants it to be."

The movie is based on Allan Knee's play "The Man Who Was Peter Pan" and stars Kate Winslet as the overwhelmed widow.

"It's about the enormous power of fantasy. It's a story about growing up, mortality and the child in all of us," Forster told a news conference on the Lido.

"Finding Neverland" was warmly received at a preview screening for critics, where the film's tragic turn of events had movie audiences blowing into handkerchiefs. Winslet said even she cried the first time she saw it.

The film isn't due to be released in the United States until October, but critics are already touting Depp, who boasts a flawless Scottish accent as Barrie, for an Oscar nomination.

"I don't know anything about it," a modest Depp said when asked about the rumors.

Depp, whose appearance as a Keith Richards look-alike in "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was hailed by critics, shows a gentle and impish side in "Finding Neverland."

But the 41-year-old actor assures fans that in real life he is not the boy who refuses to grow up.

"The notion is beautiful ... but it's also fun growing old," he said.

The film, one of 70 features screening at the 61st edition of the world's oldest cinema competition, is participating in the Midnight section for young audiences.

The festival runs until Sept. 11.

Hot Rumor

JOHNNY DEPP: NEW LORD OF THE MANOR!

There's plenty that Depp likes about the U.K. -- he dated British supermodel Kate Moss, and based his character in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones. So maybe it's high time for Depp to call jolly ol' England home.

TREASURE ISLAND

'Secret Window' Tops Home Video Rental Charts

The titles finished first to fourth in that order on Video Store magazine's list of top rentals for the week ending July 4. "Secret Window" had weekly rental revenue of $13.3 million, enough for a second week at No. 1, followed by the R-rated and unrated versions of "Bad Santa" with $12.9 million. "Barbershop 2" opened with $12.2 million, and "Cold Mountain" $11 million.

The only other new entry, "The Perfect Score," landed at No. 7 with $4 million.

"Cold Mountain," released theatrically by Miramax, fared far better in terms of sales, topping both Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert DVD and VHS sales charts for the week. The movie sold 421,935 units on DVD and 14,135 units on VHS. "Barbershop 2" placed second with DVD sales of 295,647 units.

The other two new releases in the top 10 were "South Park: Complete Season One," which came in sixth with sales of 57,582 DVD units, and "Blazing Saddles (Special Edition)" in 10th place with 30,044 units sold. Last week's No. 1 DVD, "Bad Santa," fell to third on 143,516 units sold.

Depp Gets Hitched to 'Corpse Bride'

Oscar nominees Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham-Carter and Emily Watson will lend their voices to Tim Burton's eerie stop-motion animated film "Corpse Bride."

The Warner Bros. project centers on Victor (Depp), a young man living in a 19th century European village, who is stolen away to the underworld and forced to marry the Corpse Bride (Bonham-Carter). Victor is astounded by the colorful Land of the Dead, but this will not stop him from reuniting with his true love, Victoria (Watson), who awaits him in the land of the living.

Also lending their voices are Albert Finney, Richard E. Grant, Joanna Lumley and Christopher Lee.

"Corpse Bride" will be scored by long-time Burton collaborator Danny Elfman. The project is currently in production in London and is scheduled for release in October 2005.

Depp, 41, was recently nominated for his leading role in 2003's "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl." He has worked with Burton before, starting with 1990's "Edward Scissorhands."

Bonham-Carter, 38, recently had a son with Burton. The couple met on the set of Burton's "Planet of the Apes." Bonham-Carter has received an Oscar nomination for "The Wings of the Dove."

Watson, 37, was nominated for 1997's "Breaking the Waves" and 1999's "Hilary and Jackie." She last starred in 2002's "Punch-Drunk Love" and "Red Dragon."

Depp Wants Keith Richards as 'Pirate' Dad

Now, the 40-year-old actor reportedly wants the Rolling Stones musician to play his dad in the upcoming "Pirates" sequel, according to Britain's ITV and People.

In the 2003 summer blockbuster, Depp played the swishy and smirky pirate Jack Sparrow who lived to drink and womanize -- a salute to Richards' sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Of course, in light of Richards' condition resulting from that hard living, perhaps it would be best to settle for a cameo by the 60-year-old legendary guitarist.

The highly anticipated sequel will begin shooting in 2005 and will also star Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley, who are reprising their roles.

Depp's portrayal of Sparrow -- which was also based in part on amorous animated skunk Pepe LePew -- won him an Oscar nomination for best actor. He next stars as beloved children's author J.M. Barrie in the upcoming "Neverland" and will step into the wacky shoes of Willy Wonka for Tim Burton's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."