Ever wonder what it would be like to take a vacation with Johnny Depp on his private Caribbean island? Vanity Fair contributing editor Douglas Brinkley, who, like Depp, was a close friend of the late gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, did just that. As he reports in the July cover story, “Johnny Depp’s Great Escape,” it’s pretty damn great.
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http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2009/06/johnny-depp-vanity-fair-cover-notes.html
Johnny Depp will star as Captain Jack Sparrow in a fourth Pirates of the Caribbean film, it has been confirmed.
The Disney trilogy, based on a ride at the company’s theme parks, has grossed an amazing $2.6 billion at the box office, in no small part thanks to Depp’s turn as the unorthodox Captain Jack.
And his return to the high seas has been confirmed as Disney unveiled its upcoming slate of films at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles.
Depp will also star as the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland as well as taking the role of Tonto in a cinematic version of The Lone Ranger, Variety reports.
Alice in Wonderland – featuring Little Britain star Matt Lucas as Tweedledum and Tweedledee – is to be shot using the same 3-D and performance capture technology seen in 2007′s Beowulf.
Disney chairman Dick Cook also announced that Cars 2, the sequel to the 2006 Pixar hit, is to be released in summer 2011, a year ahead of schedule.
Other films previewed at the Walt Disney Studios Showcase included the third High School Musical film, the Hannah Montana Movie, action film Race to Witch Mountain and Robert Zemeckis’ animated retelling of A Christmas Carol, featuring Jim Carrey and Gary Oldman.
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Johnny Depp went back to one of his first loves – playing the guitar – at a benefit concert in Pompano Beach, Fla., Friday night.
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.
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Just when the Brand family was beginning to think all celebrities were rude, drunk, disorderly and selfish, Johnny Depp did something to prove them wrong.
Last week, a package arrived at the Brand family home in Oshkosh, Wis., addressed to the Brands’ 12-year-old son Jack Taylor. It contained a used vintage tan and gray fedora hat and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” paraphernalia for the rest of the family, along with a note that read: “Here is a hat for you. Hope you like this and assorted fun bits.” It was signed by Depp, the star of the film.
The actor promised the boy his hat back in April when the two met while Depp was in Taylor’s hometown filming scenes for his upcoming movie, “Public Enemies.” But it was a promise the family did not expect him to keep.
“For [Depp] to do something for an ordinary child is really something,” his mother, Kris Brand said. “You hear who is doing drugs, who is sleeping with who, but you never hear a celeb saying ‘of course’ to an ordinary kid. We don’t need to hear about Paris Hilton not wearing clothes, we need to hear about Depp doing something for a kid for no reason.”
But, it’s the negative headlines about celebrities that dominate the media: Amy Winehouse in a drug-abusing video, Britney Spears showing up at a nightclub without underwear, Paris Hilton getting arrested for a DUI.
Two weeks ago, the New York Daily News reported that Nicole Richie was dancing with Mary-Kate Olsen at the Crown Bar in Los Angeles, when she saw a fan snap a photo, grabbed the woman’s camera and deleted the photos of herself.
Before that, Lindsay Lohan was in the news for allegedly stealing a $12,000 fur coat from a college student at a private New York City party. The co-ed has filed a lawsuit against her.
Depp’s trying to be the antidote to all that.
“Celebrities are always looking to do nice things for people and to use their celebrity for good. This is just an example of Johnny Depp being a great guy,” said Bradley Jacobs, senior editor for Us magazine. “He is not the type to be out partying and feuding … He’s a children’s hero.”
Depp and Taylor crossed paths at a meet and greet line in downtown Oshkosh, where the Brand family was waiting to shake hands with the star. When Taylor, who loves and collects hats, reached the front of the line, he looked up at Depp and said, “Hi, nice to meet you. I like your hat, can I have it?”
Taylor’s mother, who was borderline embarrassed by her blunt 12-year-old’s remark, never believed that Depp meant it when he said, “As soon as I am done with it, it’s yours.”
“Jack went around telling all of his friends that he was getting Johnny Depp’s hat,” Brand said. As she reminded Taylor not to get his hopes up, Brand did what any mother would — she tried to make his wish come true.
On April 23, she e-mailed Depp’s production company and told them the story of what happened. After almost losing hope, Brand received an e-mail back, asking for Taylor’s address, nearly three weeks later. “I figured we’d get an autographed picture or something,” Brand said.
Instead, Taylor received a package containing a battered fedora, along with a picture frame, a nightlight, two pillows and two pencil cases — everything except the hat had the “Chocolate Factory” logo. Initially, he said his four siblings were “jealous, but I shared my stuff with them.
“My sisters get the pillows. My brothers get one of the pencil cases and I get everything else. Mom wants the picture frame,” he added.
Taylor’s mother admitted she has been a fan of Depp’s since his role in “21 Jump Street.”
While the family is “1,000 percent positive” the fedora is not the same hat Depp was wearing that day, it is tattered and shows signs of wear. The thought of auctioning the hat or putting it up for sale online has not even crossed the minds of the Brand family.
“I was very surprised,” Taylor said about receiving the hat. “Now, I can show everyone that I have Depp’s hat, and they can say, ‘Oh, that’s really cool.’”
“It’s June, and Jack is walking around with Johnny’s hat on,” his mom said.
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“They all got notes stating they needed to move their cars because Johnny wanted to park his trailer in a private lot,” said one local, who added that Universal paid the parking fees for displaced motorists. Later, when people were hanging around trying to get a look at Depp during a scene, a crew member told residents to step inside their apartments because, “JD is arriving, and I don’t mean James Dean.”
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After 10 years of living as an “almost married” couple, Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis plan to make it official. Life & Style reports the couple, who already have two children together, will marry this summer.
In the past, the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star was reluctant to say “I do” again. Johnny married and divorced makeup artist Lori Anne Allison in the early ’80s and felt content with his current live-in arrangement. “For all intents and purposes, we are married.” But, he assured, “If she ever said, ‘Hey, let’s get hitched,’ I would do it in a second.”
An insider claims that’s just what happened. “Vanessa recently told Johnny that she would love to have a wedding,” a source close to the Paradis-Depp family told Life & Style. “Johnny loves Vanessa very much, and he said if that’s what would make her happy, then he’d marry her.”
The big event, which is set to take place June 14, will be a family affair. Johnny and Vanessa’s children, Lily-Rose, 8, and Jack, 6, “are really excited about it,” the insider revealed. “Actually the whole family is excited.
“They wanted to make it convenient for Johnny’s family in Florida,” so the nuptials will likely take place in Georgia’s Tybee Island, according to the source. “They’re going to send out invitations in a few weeks.”
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Johnny Depp made an unannounced visit to the Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday to donate nearly $2 million (£1 million) to the London children’s medical center that treated his daughter last year, the Daily Mail reported.
The actor’s eight-year-old daughter Lily-Rose spent nine days in the hospital last March when she suffered from kidney failure.
A grateful Depp, who was just voted one of Us’ sexiest dads, invited the doctors and nurses to the London premiere of Sweeney Todd last week and read stories to patients in November dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow from Pirates Of The Caribbean, the UK paper reported.
Disney also reportedly pledged approximately $20 million (£10 million) to the hospital, which is raising funds for renovations.
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Helena Bonham Carter and Johnny Depp
