Oh my gosh-- that was Brilliant!!  And oh, so true.  Thanks for finding that, MB!

P.S. It's not a certainty, but most folks suspect that Johnny has actually - gasp - quit smoking recently.  If not, he has cut way, way down. He used to be a horrible chain-smoker, but nobody's seen him with a ciggie, even in paparazzi shots, for nearly 2 years.  And he has spoken about trying to quit or cut down for his kids' sake.  So if so, good for him 

Interesting article, thanks Julia!  They picked Cillian for Quentin, yayyy!!!  And I like the idea of Paul Giamatti as Willie Loomis.  I love Judi Dench but think she's probably too old to be Elizabeth (unless Carolyn Stoddard is cast a little older than 18).  I think Maggie Gylenhaal is all wrong to play Vicki (too earthy and not conventionally pretty) but I think she'd be great as her namesake, Maggie Evans.  So I'd switch their choices and cast Beckinsale as Vicki.  I like the idea of Joan Allen as Julia.  I love Naomi Watts but somehow don't picture her as Angelique- I'll stick with Charlize Theron as my favorite.  I think Freddie Highmore is already too old to play David- I think he's about 14 now.  I wouldn't be so sure that Count Petofi or Aristede would even be in the cast, but who knows.  Have I mentioned, this is exciting!!

I guess by shooting 'in London' he means on sets/indoors, and probably with 'outdoor shots' elsewhere? 

I hope that would be it.  Except that even some of the "outdoor shots" may be done in a studio.  Tim has done several of his films at Pinewood Studios, in/near London, with totally reconstructed indoor sets, even for many of the outdoor scenes.  These include Sleepy Hollow, Sweeney Todd, and I think Big Fish.  If he does this for DS, too, I hope that he'll try to get at least some location shots in New England- I think it'd be a shame not to.  And geez, I certainly hope that the film will be *set* in Maine, and not changed to England.  And I hope that most of the cast will be American, or at least use American/New England accents.  (Johnny can do a "cousin-from-England" accent if he wishes  )

Cathy

It'll be nice to see a printed news item as confirmation, but Richard Zanuck's word is about as good as it gets!!   Boy, this is really starting to hit me now, and I'm really excited!!

Although Shantaram is mentioned in the Variety article, I noticed that unlike DS, there was no mention of Johnny starring in Shantaram (nor the other projects that were listed).  Of course, I guess we won't know for sure until/unless something is announced, but it's possible that Johnny is no longer interested in starring in the movie, only in producing it.  It would certainly be a huge commitment compared with other potential projects, and now Mumbai is not a safe place to be right now.  So I still take the article (cautiously) as a good sign with regard to DS. 

Crossing fingers...
Cathy

This report is from WENN, which is even less reliable than Contact Music.  Any reports from either source can pretty much be considered baloney 

Cathy

I agree with Zahir and others who remind us that while a script is being written, there's not much to tell, and those involved aren't ever going to give us a play-by-play any time a draft of a script is looked at and maybe considered and argued, and gone back to the drawing board.  I'm sure there is a lot of stuff going on behind the scenes, and maybe a lot of them will reach dead ends and we won't even know they happened.  It's only when things start falling into place that there is even much of anything worth reporting, anyway.  Knowing the writer and the director is a good start!

I agree that it would be nice to hear from Jim Pierson once in awhile if possible.  But again, if the only thing to tell is vague reports of a script being written and revised, it's not going to tell us much and might barely be worth mentioning anyway.  Johnny is unlikely to be interviewed anytime soon, because he has no movies coming out until next spring/summer (Public Enemies in July, and maybe some film festival showings of Terry Gilliam's Parnassus movie).  He rarely gives interviews in between movies  .  As for him "pushing the project back", I still don't see that as being the case, since they have to wait for a script before they can even think of filming.  The only projects he has set in stone right now are Alice In Wonderland (filming now) and Rango (animated-voice work to start in January).  All the other projects we've heard about are in the same gray area DS is, and have no set start date. Even for Pirates 4, which Jerry Bruckheimer has said will come out in 2011, I suspect that is just hand-waving optimism on his part.

As for Star Trek vs. DS, I loved both of them when I was a kid.  I don't think it's impossible to respect both, though this has been a fantastic discussion as to why one might be favored by some folks.  I haven't been a rabid trekkie, but I watched at least some of all the series and some of the films.  I look forward to the upcoming one mainly because I want to see Zachary Quinto (Sylar/Gabriel from Heroes) as Spock.

Nowadays, I've met a ton of people who say they "used to run home from school" to watch DS.  The difference is, they didn't really keep up the fandom, but nobody I've met has put me down for still being a fan.  It's hard to say whether folks like this would see the film, but I certainly hope that a film could be made to appeal to a wide audience!

From what little I've heard, a very reputable Depp forum, johnny-depp.org, first broke the photo.  They claim that they have a reliable source who was on the set and verifies that this is the Mad Hatter's "look", though the image may have been photoshopped or tweaked a bit.  I only have their word for it, but I am trusting it.  Meanwhile, the photo has shown up on a million other film sites, all wondering whether it's real or not.  There is also some dispute about the CGI-ness of the film-- we've heard that the film is a combination of live action and the CGI style of Beowulf, but I don't think it's ever been announced which characters would be CGI'd.  So either the Mad Hatter is one of the live characters (like Alice), or they need the makeup and costume to complete the "look" for the CGI.  The background in the wonderland scenes are surely CGI'd, since there have been a number of reports that they are filming in front of a green screen while in LA (there were also some "real-world" location shots in England).

The overall reaction has been much like this thread- very divided!  I was pretty shocked, but on the other hand, once I got over the shock a little, I'm pleased that it is unexpected and edgy despite being a Disney film.  Love the hat!  Also, as soon as I saw the eyes, I thought: "vampire" 

Quick addendum:  I forgot to mention that between Pirates 2 and 3, there was a photo circulating of Captain Jack Sparrow wearing an Asian costume, much like the one Elizabeth Swann wore in Pirates 3.  The photo ended up being a fake, and Disney was fairly quick about going around to all the sites that posted it and demanding that it be removed.  So I would imagine that if Disney has a problem with this Mad Hatter one, we'll know about it soon enough.