When Disney pulled the plug on its expensive Lone Ranger project, which was to reunite Pirates of the Caribbean cohorts Johnny Depp, Jerry Bruckheimer, and Gore Verbinski, a few industry-watchers held out hope that the studio and the filmmakers would yet still reach an agreement over how many hundreds of millions of dollars the would-be franchise would cost. Almost exactly two months later, it seems they've reached that compromise. More stupid money for someone!
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After an excerpt of his Vanity Fair interview hit yesterday in which he compared being photographed to being raped, Johnny Depp (whose Rum Diary hits screens in a few weeks) thought better of his word choice. ""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." No worries, Johnny. It's Apology Wednesday! Stick around for more Buzz Break.
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Today's real talk from Johnny Depp, speaking with Vanity Fair about his lucrative Pirates of the Caribbean franchise: "Basically, if they're going to pay me the stupid money right now, I'm going to take it... I have to. I mean, it's not for me. Do you know what I mean? At this point, it's for my kids. It's ridiculous, yeah, yeah. But ultimately is it for me? No. No. It's for the kids." And, on the subject of being photographed: "Well, you just feel like you're being raped somehow. Raped ... It feels like a kind of weird -- just weird, man." [Vanity Fair, THR]
We may have one Johnny Depp adaptation fast approaching (The Rum Diary opens in theaters October 28), but that doesn't mean we've forgotten about the other Johnny Depp adaptation down the line. Dark Shadows, the actor's next and eighth collaboration with Tim Burton will bring the forgotten '60s goth soap opera of the same name to life. Although it isn't due out until May 2012, Empire does have a sneak peak of the behind-the-scenes action. Do you have your captioning pens handy?
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Hunter S. Thompson fans have been patiently waiting over a decade for The Rum Diary to reach the big screen. (In fact, the adaptation process, which began in 2000, was so frustrating that the author himself coined the phrase "waterhead fuckaround" to describe the slow studio proceedings.) But The Rum Diary is finally in the can with a fall release date thanks to English writer and director Bruce Robinson, Thompson's long-time friend Johnny Depp and Depp's production company Infinitum Nihil. Let's take a look at the trailer!
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On this day, 53 years ago, Timothy Walter Burton was born in Burbank, California to parents Bill and Jean. Over the course of the next five decades, the boy from Burbank would go on to direct fifteen feature films in his signature dark, quirky style, seven of which featured his long-time collaborator Johnny Depp. To celebrate Burton's birthday, let's look back at the director's most wonderfully eccentric characters before choosing a favorite.
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Hunter S. Thompson's novel The Rum Diary, written in 1959 but not published until 1998 -- the year Johnny Depp channeled Thompson in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas -- tells the tale of Paul Kemp, an American journalist who finds himself living and drinking among expats in 1950s Puerto Rico. There he meets Chenault, the ravishing girlfriend of another man, with whom he becomes obsessed. After the jump see Depp and Amber Heard getting cozy as Kemp and Chenault in a still from the October release, adapted by writer-director Bruce Robinson (Withnail & I, Jennifer 8).
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Big, bad news, Lone Ranger fans: According to Deadline, Disney has decided to halt production on Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger, which was to star Johnny Depp as Tonto and Armie Hammer as the titular masked crusader. The pricey blockbuster was to begin filming this October, but too many other $200M+ projects set up at the studio may have led to the project's demise.
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In this summer's swashbuckling sequel Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, British newcomer Sam Claflin goes toe to toe with Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp) and a much more fearsome pirate: Blackbeard (Ian McShane), the legendary captain of a zombie ship on a quest to find the Fountain of Youth. But while Claflin holds his own as idealistic young Philip Swift, the missionary who falls for a mermaid (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) and defies Blackbeard on pain of death, in real life he owes a debt of gratitude to the erstwhile Al Swearengen.
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Speaking to journalists Thursday in Beverly Hills, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides superproducer Jerry Bruckheimer was guarded as ever where details of a fifth Pirates were concerned. But at least he was honest about what it'll take for Disney to officially give the green light. "If it makes them a lot of money, it's a success. And hopefully it makes them a lot of money." Something tells us the radical idea Johnny Depp shared for filming Pirates 5 and 6 won't exactly fly.
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He's 6'5", 220 pounds, and there's... one of him! According to Deadline, The Social Network's Armie Hammer has been tapped for Gore Verbinski's The Lone Ranger, in which he'll play the titular Old West masked crusader opposite Johnny Depp as Tonto. After the film's long and winding road to development, Hammer marks the last major piece of the HR puzzle although Disney and producer Jerry Bruckheimer have yet to find the requisite love interest and villain. Any ideas as to who'd make a good foil to both Hammer's stoic All-American boyishness and Depp's worldly swagger? [Deadline]
Back in 1990, Stephen Rebello, writing for Movieline, wondered if this Johnny Depp kid would manage to transcend the teenybopper stardom of his hit undercover cop show and make it as a bona fide movie star. Over two decades later, Depp is one of the biggest stars on the planet -- and, according to reports, will return to the property that started it all. That's right, folks: The 21 Jump Street movie is getting a visit from the original Officer Tom Hanson!
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Who knows more about sex, dating, breaking up, and making bad decisions in the name of love than A-listers like Drew Barrymore, Johnny Depp and Charlie Sheen? This Valentine's Day take a trip into the Movieline Vault -- home of over 20 years of revealing, to-the-point celebrity interviews -- for lessons on first dates, inadvisable hook-ups, and more, straight from the mouths of Hollywood's brightest stars. Well, circa 1990.
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