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Johnny to play gangster
Johnny Depp will star as notorious 1930s gangster John Dillinger in Universal’s Public Enemies. Michael Mann will direct from his own script, based on Bryan Burrough’s 2004 book of the same name. The drama is set in 1933-34, when the government’s attempts to stop Depression-era criminals like John Dillilnger, Baby Face Nelson, and Pretty Boy Floyd transformed J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI into the country’s first federal police force. Shooting is scheduled to start in Chicago on March 10. Mann was considering several projects, including a reunion with Tom Cruise (Collateral) on Edwin A. Salt at Columbia. He ultimately went with Public Enemies when Depp became available after Warner Bros. postponed Shantaram over costs and writers’ strike concerns.
Johnny Depp flick delayed
Johnny Depp is the latest A-list actor to fall victim to the WGA strike. Depp was scheduled to film Shantaram – an adaptation of Gregory David Roberts’s novel – in the winter, but the 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 and the current strike prohibits any revisions. Budgetary concerns were also a factor. 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. Also on hold for Depp is The Rum Diary, an adaptation of the Hunter S. Thompson novel.
Depp recalls “the darkest moment” with his daughter
Johnny Depp is still keeping mum about the undisclosed illness that landed his 8-year-old daughter Lilly Rose in hospital earlier this year – but is opening up about his paternal panic during those harrowing days last spring. “To say it was the darkest moment, that’s nothing,” the actor tells Entertainment Weekly. “It doesn’t come close to describing it. Words are so small… Now every single millisecond is a mini-celebration. Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything.” Depp’s next project is Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.
Depp to resume Hunter S. Thompson role
Seven years after the project was announced, Johnny Depp may soon begin production on Hunter S. Thompson’s autobiographical novel The Rum Diary. Depp would resume his Fear and Loathing role in the flick, loosely based on gonzo author Thompson’s experiences working as a freelance journalist in Puerto Rico in the late 1950s. The Oscar-winning producer of The Departed has acquired the rights to the film, and a rep for his production company said it was hoped production will begin shortly after principle photography is completed on Depp’s next film, Shantaram.
Depp puts film on hold while daughter recovers
Production on Johnny Depp‘s new movie has been put on hold while his daughter Lily-Rose recovers from an illness in a British hospital. Depp was scheduled to begin filming Sweeney Todd with director Tim Burton, but staff on the project have been told they will not work until Depp is ready to return. “He does not want to come back until Lily-Rose gets the all-clear,” says a source. “The plan is to re-employ everybody when she is better.” Detailed information about Lily-Rose’s illness has not been released.
Johnny Depp’s daughter hospitalized
Johnny Depp‘s seven-year-old daughter Lily-Rose was rushed to a UK hospital nine days ago with a serious illness, according to a British paper. The Pirates of the Caribbean star and partner Vanessa Paradis have reportedly not left their daughter’s side. “The staff immediately recognized him when he walked through the door,” said an anonymous source at the hospital. “He has not asked for any special favors but just wants the best for his child, like any parent… It is such a difficult time for him but he is hanging in there for the sake of his daughter and the whole family is just praying that she gets better. They are taking each day as it comes.” Details of Lily-Rose’s condition have not been confirmed, but one report suggests she may have blood poisoning after being pinned with a rusty tack. Depp’s reps have told the press that she is “doing much better.” Let’s hope so.
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