News and updates from NYC, where I’m at to cover the press that Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie are doing for their film The Tourist. And it’s not the fact that my spiffy new gloves are keeping my hands nice and toasty. (They’re pretty, too.)
Johnny and Angelina are in NYC to promote The Tourist, their new action-comedy-drama-caper directed by German director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, who helmed the Oscar-winning The Lives Of Others. He plays an American tourist visiting Venice who meets a mysterious woman played by Angelina Jolie — so you know there’s trouble ahead.
The Alice In Wonderland actor was being nice and candid about several film projects he has coming up, including a great role he’s probably going to turn down, and the vampire flick he’s working on with Tim Burton.
But first — a 21 Jump Street update.
When asked about the film adaptation of the late ’80s TV series that starred Johnny and much loved has-beens like Richard Grieco and Dustin Nguyen, Johnny said he’d love to make an appearance in the movie … except he hasn’t been asked. What the…
“I’ve heard these rumours that it was gonna happen and that Jonah Hill was behind it but…” he started saying, at a group interview at the Ritz Carlton hotel in New York, before a journalist helpfully pointed out that it has, actually, been confirmed.
“Is it confirmed? Oh, good. And that they were talking about me playing a cameo in the thing but I don’t think I’ve been asked yet,” he smiled. “But if they wanted me to, I certainly would. Yeah sure, why not?”
Hmm.
Back in March, MTV asked Jonah, who is both producing and starring in the 21 Jump Street movie, whether Johnny would be in it. He said he didn’t know — and this was after Johnny told Entertainment Weekly that he was interested.
The Superbad actor said: “(Johnny) and I haven’t had any direct contact before. I’ve just heard that he’s interested and I’m more than interested. We will make that happen. If he is down to do it, we have written a really, really funny cameo for him in the movie.”
These guys really need to talk. I hear mobile phones are really affordable these days.
Not looking so good I Johnny involvement in a film about Pancho Villa. Back in January, it was reported that he and Salma Hayek were set to star in director Cannes darling Emir Kusturica’s biopic of the Mexican revolutionary.
Sorry senor, that doesn’t look like it’s gonna happen. “Emir and I haven’t spoken in a while,” said Johnny. “It was certainly something in the cards. But at the same time we’ve also spoken about the idea of, you know, not just me but any American somehow playing one of the greatest heroes of Mexico … Yeah, I feel somewhat irresponsible doing that. My opinion is that the part should be played by a Mexican actor.”
What Johnny is going to do, however, it shack up with Tim Burton again really soon. The 47-year-old actor — who looks way too good to be this close to 50 — is all set to jump into his next project: The Tim Burton-directed Dark Shadows, based on the 1960s gothic daytime serial starring a vampire. Johnny’s production company Infinitum Nihil will be producing.
“It’s something that Tim and I talked about, a number of years back, about playing around with you know maybe developing. We’ve really been paying a lot of attention to it and it’s really arriving now at a place that’s very interesting, very fun, and very different — it’s definitely teetering outside the vampire movie genre, I’m sure. It’s something else altogether. That was important because that was something Tim and I could develop together.”
And after that, Johnny, who described his dance card as being pretty full at the moment, said he’ll be shooting the Lone Ranger film playing Tonto. It’s scheduled to be directed by his Pirates Of The Caribbean director Gore Verbinski.
“I think it’s time to give the Native Americans their due. Tonto should be represented properly and I think I might be able to do it,” he said.
Yes, but what I want to know is who’s gonna play Silver?
The Tourist opens in Singapore Dec 30.
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