The following article was written by the talented Jake Wallis Simons from “Telegraph”.
Johnny Depp and I have little in common. Last month, however, I was prescribed the sort of blue-tinted glasses that he has been wearing for years.
Contrary to popular belief, these are more than a fashion accessory. “Everything is just very, very blurry [without them],” he told Rolling Stone magazine in June. “I’ve never had proper vision.”
Depp has not revealed the precise health reason for the blue tint. In my case, though, it is to address Meares-Irlen syndrome, more commonly known as “visual stress”.
For years, I was unable to look at certain computer screens and mobile devices without dizziness, discomfort, nausea and shooting eye pain. Visits to opticians and ophthalmologists came to nothing. I tried the usual advice – taking regular breaks, adjusting my screen and so on – but nothing helped. The only workaround was to use particular computers made before 2007.
Eventually, I learnt of visual stress, and made an appointment with Simon Barnard, a specialist in the field, at the Barnard Levit optometrists in London.
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Lionsgate and OddLot Entertainment have formed a multiyear, multipicture co-financing and distribution deal beginning with OddLot’s co-financing of the action comedy “Mortdecai,” starring Johnny Depp.
The companies said the deal gives them a framework for Lionsgate and OddLot to co-produce and co-finance additional pictures that may be sourced by either party. It also provides OddLot with distribution on certain pictures.
“Mortdecai” will star Johnny, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany and Olivia Munn. Production begins this fall with David Koepp directing. It’s based on the three-part series of books by Kyril Bonfiglioli and produced by Andrew Lazar, Johnny and Christi Dembrowski.
Johnny is portraying Charles Mortdecai, an antihero art dealer and part-time rogue who is in a race to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi loot.
Disney’s set a December 25, 2014 release date. The official synopsis for those who haven’t seen the musical on stage:
“Into the Woods is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few choice stories and exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk, and Rapunzel–all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife, their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch who has put a curse on them.”
In addition to announcing the new song and the start of production, Disney also provided this detailed list on the cast and the characters they’ll be portraying in Into the Woods:
· Emily Blunt is the Baker’s Wife, a childless woman who longs to be a mother.
· James Corden plays the role of the Baker, a hard-working man who desperately wants to start a family.
· Anna Kendrick fills the shoes of Cinderella, who finds herself on a journey of self-discovery.
· Chris Pine portrays Cinderella’s Prince, charming and impossibly handsome, who is on an endless quest to find his bride.
· Johnny Depp steps in as the Wolf, who sets his sights on Little Red Riding Hood.
· Lilla Crawford makes her feature-film debut as Little Red Riding Hood, a smart and spunky girl who journeys into the woods, finding unexpected adventures along the way.
· Daniel Huttlestone lands the role of Jack, an absentminded and adventurous boy who trades his treasured cow for five magic beans.
· Tracey Ullman joins the cast as Jack’s Mother, a poor and exasperated mom who is overwhelmed, yet fiercely protective of her son.
· Christine Baranski takes on the infamous Stepmother who wishes for riches and grandeur; she’ll do anything to marry off one of her daughters to a prince.
· MacKenzie Mauzy plays Rapunzel, a sheltered young woman who experiences the world beyond her tower for the first time.
· Billy Magnussen is the dashing and eager Prince who courts Rapunzel.
Supporting roles will be played by Tammy Blanchard and Lucy Punch as Cinderella’s spoiled stepsisters, Richard Glover as the Princes’ royal steward, Frances de la Tour is the giant, Simon Russell Beale as the Baker’s father, Joanna Riding is Cinderella’s late mother, and Annette Crosbie is Little Red Riding Hood’s beloved granny.
Johnny Depp once said you were capable of anything. Do you agree?
I guess I have been very lucky. When I first worked with Johnny on Finding Neverland [in 2004], I was only about nine, and he was just a nice man to me, not a Hollywood star. Then we worked again on Charlie and the Chocolate Factory [a year later]. I still see him sometimes.
The start of production on the fifth installment of Disney’s multibillion-dollar “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise has been delayed until at least this fall, prompting the studio to change its projected release date from July 10, 2015, to “Unset.”
Producer Jerry Bruckheimer told The Hollywood Reporter that there are issues with the script (something that’s probably pretty common when you’re on to Popcorn Movie No. 5) and they’re hoping to get the show on the high seas by summer 2016.
But they better hurry up before the end comes nigh for franchise cornerstone Johnny Depp. The 50-year-old actor, who at this time is the only returning star officially attached to Pirates 5 (which is currently listed on IMDb as POTC: Dead Men Tell No Tales), told the BBC in July that his retirement from moviemaking is “probably not too far away.”
Warner Bros is in talks with Joel Edgerton to star in “Shantaram“, an adaptation of the Gregory David Roberts novel that is being produced by Inifinitum Nihil partners Johnny Depp and Christi Dembrowski, and GK Films’ Graham King. Following a couple of stalled attempts to get this movie up and running after the studio paid $2 million for the rights in 2004, Johnny himself jump started the process by personally courting Edgerton to play a role Johnny once intended to play before the film was derailed by the Writer’s Strike.
Edgerton is being courted for the lead role of a remarkable protagonist who, at the time the book became a sensation in Hollywood, was said to have been modeled after the author in a thinly veiled memoir. He starts as an Australian heroin addict who escapes a maximum-security prison, reinvents himself as a doctor in the slums of India and eventually uses gun-running and counterfeiting skills to fight against the invading Russian troops in Afghanistan.
Michelle Bollom, a Rockport native posted on the social media site Instagram a photo of Depp taken by a friend. Proud of her hometown, she added this caption: “Oh yeah, Johnny Depp likes to fish in Rockport! My hometown with guide Todd Adams.”
After posting the image Saturday night, Bollom got busy doing other things. Her twin children, a boy and a girl, started as freshmen Monday at Tomball Memorial High School near Houston, where the family now lives.
By Monday afternoon, however, she couldn’t ignore the furor she had set off. The Houston Chronicle had posted her photo of Depp, along with speculation about the actor’s whereabouts, on its website. Other news outlets posted, too, causing Bollom’s phone to start ringing.
“People are going crazy all around town trying to find him,” said Bollom, whose mother and twin sister still live in Rockport. Bollom’s father was Charles “Popo” Cosby, a well-known artist who ran a Rockport gallery until his death in 2008.
Her friends and family reported Depp ate Sunday at Moon Dog restaurant in Rockport and capped off the night at Legends Saloon. Some said the star was still in town.
On Wednesday, August 21, I received an e-mail from the lovely Carlos Eduardo, who sent me some tattoos of Johnnys characters which were made by the talented Eder R. Katrucha. I uploaded them to our image archive so you can see and rate them. I really really loved those tattoos! Eder, make sure to keep up the good work. And thanks to Carlos for offering his leg and providing us with those amazing tattoos!
This is Johnny Depp as you’ve never seen him before, transformed into virtual form for a new Disney video game that will see the studio’s most iconic characters come face-to-face on screen for the first time.
In fact, Johnny appears not once, but twice – as Tonto from The Lone Ranger and Jack Sparrow from Pirates Of The Caribbean – in Disney Infinity out today.
The game cherry-picks Disney’s best-loved movies to pull out playable characters that interact with each other. It’s a big gamble by the entertainment giant but could prove immensely lucrative as it requires players to buy a starter pack and collect plastic figures costing £12.99 each (see our review ).
Available on consoles and iPad, for now, Infinity concentrates largely on Pixar creations, such as The Incredibles, Cars and Monsters University, but could eventually include hundreds of characters from Disney’s 90-year history, and possibly even Star Wars, raising the bizarre prospect of Mickey Mouse meeting Darth Vader in a lightsaber battle.
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017)
Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass (2016)
Mortdecai (2015)
Into the Woods (2014)
London Fields (2014)
Transcendence (2014)
