I would absolutely love to see little Johnny's pictures of him holding JF posters.  How fun that would be!

Me too    There aren't actually many pix of Johnny as a kid, so it'd be awesome if they were found and shared. Great for the promos or the DVD extras!

I think he's saying that DS is going to be its own thing, and not relying on the Twilight fad 

This is excellent news- I raced over here to make sure it was posted here, since there's also just been news that Johnny is confirmed for The Tourist and hoped that wouldn't dismay anyone

Cathy

Wow. And from his interview it does seem as if there could be a possibility that Depp might not do Pirates 4 unless the script is right. Wow...

Ironically, when Johnny appeared at the Disney D23 Expo last week, he was introduced by Dick Cook, and he came out all decked out in his Captain Jack Sparrow costume.  We all feel he did the dress-up bit for Dick Cook's sake (as he's done a couple of times before, too- he isn't usually one to do cheesy promotions but I do think he's especially loyal to Cook as well as to Captain Jack), and they had a huge embrace on stage and both looked very happy to be promoting the film.  So, for one thing, if this wasn't very sudden, Cook was extremely good at hiding anything that might've been wrong.  For another thing, the appearance itself, as well as the announcement of Pirates 4's title and release date, sure made this all seem 100% solid.  Surely Johnny would only agree to do the film if he liked the script, but in light of the Expo, I assumed that the part about approving the script was now over with.  I'm not sure if the LA Times may be embellishing things a little, because I don't see anything in Johnny's own words that make it sound like he's still waiting to approve the script.  But it's possible.

I still don't really expect that Johnny would back out of the film.  He's also pretty friendly and loyal to Jerry Bruckheimer (the "shark", in my words   ) and he does dearly love the character.  But if Cook's departure causes a huge shakeup within Disney, then who knows how that may influence their projects- some of us Depp fans are wondering.  It may depend on who Cook's replacement is.  

At any rate, either way, I don't *think* that this turn of events would have any impact on DS, no matter how things shake out.  But at the moment, I'm glad that Disney doesn't have anything to do with DS  

Cathy

I haven't even wanted to participate on this thread for months now, because I am weary of the fingerpointing at Tim and WB over a film that IMHO is FAR from being in "developmental hell", or assumptions that it's being shown a lack of interest just because the filming may be delayed by a year.  The current version of the script only just got handed in recently, from what I gathered from John August's feedback.  Johnny himself said in June that the film was "very, very close" as opposed to saying "it's ready"  Many other aspects of getting the film started will have to be put in motion.  If they originally wanted to film this fall, and if they did send out feelers to that trade publication you found, jimbo, and the film didn't get going this fall after all, it simply shows that they weren't totally ready yet, as Nancy also said.  A LOT of films are being set back because of the current economy, and I'm sure that I brought this up several times, too.  The fact that DS is still even on the horizon despite that is a GOOD thing. 

About Pirates 4, I do hear you, and I would MUCH rather have had Johnny do DS before Pirates.  But you are comparing Jerry Bruckheimer-- arguably one of the biggest sharks in the business, a behemoth like Disney, and a history of the first 3 Pirates films making something like 3 billion dollars worldwide, with Johnny's own production company and what will most probably be a MUCH smaller budget for DS (even if they will be curtailing the budget for Pirates 4).  Johnny and Tim have a lot of respect, but I wouldn't say they have anywhere close to the power of Bruckheimer.  Bruckheimer probably pushed like the devil, and it so happened that Pirates 4 got put in place first.  I just don't see how this is at all indicative of WB or Johnny or Tim "not caring" about DS. 

If Tim's schedule was too much of a problem, and they had to get another director, I seriously doubt that it would speed things up.  Very likely, it would slow things down even more.  I doubt there many top quality directors just sitting around waiting for a project to come along.  When DS was first announced, I thought of Guillermo del Toro for the director, but he's going to be tied up for awhile with some hobbit film   Johnny had a project called Shantaram in the works for several years, and the fact that they had to change directors (from Peter Weir to Mira Nair) pushed the project back for a year.  Other events happened after that, and the project is currently in limbo, but I'm just saying that changing directors did push back the plans they had at the time.

I know that I've said all of these things many times before, so I apologize for continuing to repeat myself.

Cathy

I used to hear of some formula being used as a rule of thumb- it might've been if the domestic made 1.5 of the cost or if worldwide made 2.5 of the cost... or something along those lines.  I think, though, that in the last year or two, with the economy the way it is, they've had to suck up a little.  Really, $97 million is nothing to sneeze at; however, the studios are gonna be looking pretty hard at that $80 million plus that it cost to make it.  A lot of that cost was for star salaries- Johnny doesn't come cheap, and I'm sure that Christian doesn't, either, and Cotillard is an Academy Award winner.  There was a huge cast, and the production crews rented vintage cars and went to many of the actual locations and recreated all the storefronts and streets to have a 1930's look.  But are studios going to keep being willing to spend that much for a film if it's barely making the same at the box office?  This is troubling, but in a way, maybe the film industry will stop going to such excess (I'm looking at you, James Cameron  )

Anyway, back to PE, I don't think it can be considered a hit by any means, but I don't think it was a financial flop, either.  They probably wished it had done a bit better.  If you look at IMDb's charts (scroll down a little on the Public Enemies page),

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=publicenemies.htm

you will see that the film is currently #19 for the year.  Even more interestingly, it is currently #3 among R rated films for the year (District 9 and Inglourious Basterds will probably surpass it, but still, it's close to the top).  It's much harder for an R rated film to be a huge box office hit.  So, I don't think it did that badly, even though I do wish it would've cleared $100 million.

Cathy

Public Enemies got a 70 on Metacritic:  "generally favorable reviews"

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/publicenemies

There were a few raves, though most seemed to think it was a very good, but not classic, film.  I was personally a little unsatisfied- I thought that the acting and the individual scenes were all great, but as a whole it seemed to lack some cohesion.  Also, it was a little difficult to remember all the supporting characters, and I got a lot more out of it on a 2nd (and 3rd  ) viewing.  But it was a quality film.  It hardly belongs in the same company as junk like Year One, which got a 34 on Metacritic:

http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/yearone

Cathy

Thanks for scanning that, Midnite!  Yes, it looks a bit clearer than the Shadowgram, which I have right in front of me.  The other pic looks cool, and you're correct that it was not included in Shadowgram.

As to the other pic, I don't think it looks much like Johnny, either, but a friend and fellow Depp fan with a good eye thought that it might've been inspired by this old photo taken by photographer Henny Garfunkel in around '90 or '91:



There still seems something a bit off, though.  I think the likenesses of the other 3 Barns are great, though!

Cathy

I wish they would use Seaview, as well.  It'll be interesting to see what they decide.  With regard to Tim's history of films he's done, my understanding is that both Sleepy Hollow and Sweeney Todd were done ENTIRELY on a soundstage at Pinewood Studios in/near London (Tim's preferred studio).  Even houses, shops, streets, etc. were all recreated in the studio.  Sleepy Hollow was (mostly) rural and Sweeney Todd was urban, so I would envision the look to more closely resemble Sleepy Hollow.  However, I do think there were some location shots done for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, and I know that some were done for Alice In Wonderland.  So doing some location shooting doesn't seem out of the question.  The other big question is if they intend to set the film in Maine (it'd be a darn crime if they didn't!!) and in that case, I would expect them to do at least some filming at/near the ocean, and I don't think that can be done in a studio!  So, here's hoping. 

I'm so glad that the Seaview owners are amenable to the idea, now all we have to do is convince Johnny, Tim, and everyone else involved in the film.  If someone wouldn't mind giving me Johnny's phone number, I'd be glad to make a phone call