I voted yes    And I enjoyed the Return To Collinwood scenario- it seemed a natural fit.

Cathy

Miss Winthrop, it is very possible that Johnny might only produce DS, and not star in it.  He has a number of other productions in the pipeline that he does not plan to star in, so his company is certainly taking on other projects.  It's just that when DS was first announced, it was so heavily implied that he would be Barnabas, and we know that he always wanted to BE Barnabas when he was a kid, that I would be terribly disappointed if I found out that he wouldn't be in it.

That said, if it was a matter of him having too much on his plate to star in it himself, I would much rather the project go forward with someone else, than not go forward at all!  Christian Slater actually sounds like a great choice! 

Now that I've had a chance to absorb yesterdays' news a little (it was pretty shocking at first!) it may not be as mind-blowing as I first thought.  The Mad Hatter, we already knew about, and that will film this fall.  Pirates 4, we already suspected would happen, and actually, no time frame has been given for it, so it may just be that Disney wanted to admit that they're interested in doing another one, but it doesn't necessarily mean it'll be in production any time soon.  In fact, if the story involves the hint at the end of the trilogy where they're
[spoiler]looking for the Fountain Of Youth[/spoiler], all the better to pick up the story 10 or 15 years from now. 

The Lone Ranger is the real monkeywrench, and subsequent news stories have now been corrected to confirm that Johnny would play Tonto, not the title character.  This is slightly better news to us fans (seems a little more interesting than the "masked hero" role), but frankly, many of us are baffled by this news.  But again, there has been no real timeframe given, so this could well be a project that might be BEHIND DS in the pipeline.  Remember, DS has had a year's head start in being officially announced.  So I'm still crossing my fingers.

I hope this is the right place to post this.  The die-hards may already know this, but I didn't... I had just rented the classic film, Double Indemnity from Netflix, and I saw that there was a bonus disc so I rented that too.  But instead of the bonus disc being extras from the 1940's film, it was a TV Movie from 1973, starring Richard Crenna and Samantha Eggar.  Egad, it wasn't nearly as good as the original- the acting was horrible IMHO!  Anyway, as I was watching, the character of Lola, Eggar's character's stepdaughter came on, and I immediately thought, "that looks like Kathy Cody!"  And sure enough, it was.  I hadn't seen her in anything besides DS, and certainly wasn't expecting her to pop up in this film, so it was a nice surprise to find a sudden DS connection (even though I still think the film was pretty bad!)  The character wasn't too much different than Carrie/Hallie- an 18-ish pretty girl who was seeing boys that her dad didn't approve of, who suspected something was a bit off with her dear stepmom 

Cathy

Bruce Witkin, on the left, is one of Johnny's best friends, and they've known each other since ~1980.  Bruce was the one who produced Johnny's vocals for Sweeney Todd, by the way.  There was nothing but fun, plus sincere affection, in the gesture, but I think TMZ is homophobic   

Cathy

A few thoughts about Depp (since I'm always inclined to add my thoughts about Depp  )  He's between 5'9" and 5'10" and casting calls for stand-ins usually ask for someone 5'9".  I met him in person once and he does not seem short but he is small-boned and doesn't have a very imposing presence.  I think that it's part of his personality that he is very laid-back and even shy in person. However, when he takes on a character, he can transform into anything that is required of him, and I fully believe that he'll be able to have a VERY imposing presence as Barnabas.  He's just not going to be particularly tall   But check out Sweeney Todd or the end of The Astronaut's Wife (terrible movie, but great scene at the end) if you want convincing evidence that Johnny can be a real baddie.  And obviously, no problem with him playing the sympathetic card, as well.

As far as homoeroticism, I don't know what the script would entail, but I have no doubt that Johnny would have no problem biting a man's neck and making it look sexy.  He's cool that way!  And I'm a straight woman but I would definitely not mind such a scene!

Cathy

Sorry about the Production Weekly image- it looked okay to me but I didn't realize it wouldn't format well in the end.  Thanks for doing the attachment thing, MB! I will learn how to do that for next time!


In other news, I hope that this isn't too far off-topic, but in a tangential way, it does pertain to some of the current rumors about Johnny's projects.  Johnny was on a South Florida radio station yesterday, where he and members of his old band The Kids were promoting a pair of benefit concerts they're going to do next weekend.  The concerts are in honor of Sheila Witkin, the mother of the band's bassist, who was a rock promoter and manager in Florida in the 70's and 80's and who passed away a few years ago.  Johnny and his band played at last year's event, too (I was there!!) and now they'll be back for the 2nd Annual Event (I'll be there!!).  Anyway, during the interview Johnny was asked if he was going to play The Riddler, as rumored.  His response "Not that I know of, but it might be a fun gig for awhile."  (I take that as a "no", and he's just trying to be respectful to the Batman franchise).  He was also asked about an old rumor that he might play Salvador Dali, and that one was quashed, as well.  He did own up to playing Dillinger and his part in filling in for Heath Ledger in Doctor Parnassus.  No mention of DS, unfortunately, nor of the Mad Hatter.  You can listen to the podcast here, though it's mostly about the concerts:
The Paul & Young Ron Show: The Johnny Depp Interview

On the off chance I get to chew the fat with Johnny at the show, I'll be sure to ask him about DS, but I don't think there's a chance in hell of that happening   

Cathy

The Forgotten.

Oh, okay, I guess I had "forgotten" that 

Yeah, I saw several news articles about Rex Mundi today.  I mentioned Rex Mundi a few pages back... let's see... page 30 of this thread.  If you remember the interview with the rep from Johnny's production company, Rex Mundi was the one film that the rep said Johnny planned to star in (causing all sorts of panic about whether Johnny would star in Shantaram). 

I was a little surprised (but happy) to see this sudden info- I knew there was a script being written but didn't know that it was so far along- they are making it sound as if Johnny has approved it.  I suppose it's possible that this film could be done more quickly than I thought, but I guess we have to wait and see.  For what it's worth, I have read the first 2 of the Rex Mundi graphic novels (there have been 4 or 5 published), and at least the way the graphic novels are written, it doesn't seem to me to be the type of film that would require a very long shoot or special effects or anything.  I could be wrong, though, since they did said that they were going to change the story. 

Agh, so many ifs!

Cathy