And sorry, Johnny…I have to agree.

Gene Wilder says that he likes Johnny Depp, and that is why he has not seen the new version of the famous candy man:

“I haven’t seen it. I like Depp, but when I heard they were doing a remake, I heard: mistake. When I saw clips on TV and I saw what Depp was doing, I thought, ‘Don’t see the movie — you like Depp too much.’ I always get comments: ‘Yours is better.’ I know they’re talking about Willy Wonka.” In fact Leonard Maltin’s “Movie Guide” says: “Depp, though amusing, is no Gene Wilder.”

Sorry, Johnny…while you’e undoubtedly hotter than Gene, I’m siding with the comic legend on this one.

While I fully admit that I haven’t seen the entire 2005 version of the movie, I’ve seen enough of it to know that this new and updated Willy Wonka leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.  For one thing, Johnny’s version of the character (and the ubiquitous chocolate factory-slash-private playground) reminds me entirely too much of Michael Jackson for my own personal comfort level.  A while back, I even did a side-by-side comparison of Michael’s latest photo shoot and Depp’s incarnation of the Willy Wonka character, and the similarities are eerie.  That, and the latest film strives to take the chocolatier to a place he was never meant to go.  I read the book as a child, and from what I remember the 2005 version is more faithful to it, but at the same time it adds elements that were never meant to be there, especially since the latest version is more geared to adults.

My daughter has seen both versions and she completely and wholeheartedly prefers the 1971 version.  When I ask her why, she just says that Gene Wilder’s version, over three decades old, is “more fun”.  And isn’t that the point of candy, anyway?  It isn’t supposed to be good for you or to try and make you a healthier individual…it’s just supposed to be fun.

Right before the Oscars aired last night, we watched a Barbara Walters special which featured actor Harrison Ford. Harrison was discussing his long and distinguished career with Walters, with some sneak peeks at the new Indiana Jones movie. Harrison, 65, has never won an Oscar. He was nominated once for his role in the 1985 film Witness, but lost to William Hurt who won for Kiss of the Spider Woman.

It seemed inconceivable that an actor as revered and talented as Harrison Ford had never won an Oscar. Ford’s certainly not short on monetary success, having starred in huge blockbuster films like the Star Wars triology, all the Indiana Jones films, as well as cult faves like Blade Runner and American Graffiti, but alas the gold statue has eluded him.

When you consider Ford’s age, and dwindling opportunity for roles which might garner Academy Award attention, the chances at this point of him winning an Oscar are slim. That seems an incredibly harsh reality. And dare I say, unfair.

This brings me to Johnny Depp, an actor who has been through many ups and downs in his career, but in the last few years has been on a real high. Essentially, through his own inimitable style, Johnny carried a somewhat off-the-wall Disney film, (based on a popular ride at Disneyland) and turned the film Pirates of the Caribbean into a HUGE financial enterprise. His depiction of Captain Jack, an 18th century metro-sexual pirate of questionable morals, was incredibly brilliant. But then again, Johnny Depp is an amazing character actor. I can imagine anyone else playing a modern day Willy Wonka, or any of the other quirky roles he is best known for.

Depp’s collaboration with director Tim Burton has created some great films, including Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Sleepy Hollow, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, Corpse Bride and his latest Sweeney Todd. One of my personal favorites is his portrayal of Gilbert Grape from What’s Eating Gilbert Grape. Johnny has been nominated for three Academy Awards, J.M. Barrie (author of Peter Pan) in Finding Neverland, Captain Jack Sparrow, Pirates of The Caribbean, and his latest role as Sweeney Todd, the murderous barber looking for revenge in the film Sweeney Todd.

This year’s winner for Best Actor was Daniel Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, a brilliant actor certainly, but one who’s already been honored by the Academy. My first thought when Daniel won (besides who the hell dressed he and his wife?) was “Why not Johnny, or Viggo Mortenson for that matter, I mean let’s not get greedy there Daniel.” Of course, this response was utterly inappropriate and without any real merit or objective basis, but still. It kind of raised my hackles when I thought back to poor old Harrison Ford and his year-after-year snubs, his age, what’s left of his opportunities to win an Oscar and how bad I’d feel to have lived my life working hard, doing brilliant work and never fully actualizing my dream of winning the highest achievement in achievement.

Demoralizing to say the least. Of course Johnny Depp, Viggo Mortenson and another favorite of mine, Leonardo Di Caprio (his portrayal of Howard Hughes in The Aviator is one of the finest ever) are young enough to have numerous opportunities to play roles which will hopefully showcase their talent, and it their lucky, win an Oscar.

But then again, with guys like Daniel Day-Lewis (2 Academy Awards), Jack Nicholson (3 Academy Awards), Tom Hanks* (2 Academy Awards) and Denzel Washington* (2 Academy Awards) hoarding all the golden statues, they may end up like Harrison Ford, looking back over their lives and wondering what they might have done differently.

Not sure what the answer to this conundrum is, but surely, like with all honors, there’s some politics and snobbery going on. And dammit, I don’t like it one bit. Spread the love Academy, give some others a chance.

(Both of these are favorite actors of mine, so I am NOT picking on them for anything other than multiple wins)

 

Just when you thought Johnny Depp couldn’t possibly get any cooler, he goes and does something like this.  To show his gratitude to Great Ormond Street, the hospital that saved his daughter’s life during her health scare last year, he made a generous donation of his own money as a huge thank you:

Johnny Depp secretly visited Great Ormond Street Hospital yesterday to donate £1 million [approximately $1.9 million USD] of his own money to thank staff for saving his daughter’s life.

He arrived unexpectedly at the London children’s hospital where eight-year-old Lily-Rose was treated last year when her kidneys failed. [...]

In March last year, Lily-Rose spent nine days at Great Ormond Street after E.coli poisoning led to the failure of her kidneys.

She is said to have contracted the bug while staying with Depp, 43, and her mother Vanessa Paradis, 34, in a rented mansion in Richmond, Surrey, while he filmed Sweeney Todd.

Filming at Pinewood in Buckinghamshire had to be halted as her conditioned worsened so much it was feared she might not live.

And not only that, but he reprised his role as swashbuckling slurring pirate Captain Jack Sparrow to read to children at the hospital:

And on November 29, unknown to the public, Depp spent four hours at the hospital telling bedtime stories to patients dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow after having his Pirates Of The Caribbean costume flown over from Los Angeles.

Also, Disney, owners of the Pirates franchise, said they would donate £10 million (approximately $19.7 million USD) to the hospital, who is needing to raise £170 million (approximately $330 million USD) over five years for major renovations.

Most stars would have called a press conference, set up streaming video, and had giant oversized checks printed up with the amount of money donated emblazoned in a font large enough to be caught by photographers’ cameras.  And if they had shown up to read to children, they would have had made sure that a reporter was with them, dutifully chronicling every affected smile and pat on the head for posterity.  To see someone of this caliber doing this sort of charitable activity with nary a journalist in sight is truly refreshing, and a wonderful palate cleanser after the overblown events of yesterday concerning She Who Must Not Be Named.  He’s the official first recipient of the “Breath Of Fresh Air” award here at GlossLip.

I wish Lily-Rose a lifetime of continued good health.  I also wish there were more celebrities like Johnny Depp.  Who would have thought he would have come so far from 21 Jump Street?

No one should need another reason to love Johnny Depp. He’s anti-Hollywood, he loves and dotes on his two children, he’s remarkably talented, handsome AND sexy and lives his life in an unassuming way. That should be enough, yet, once again he gives back to the masses who adore him by also being designated as the “Best Celebrity Autograph Signer.”

CNN reports:

Johnny Depp “likes to talk to fans and get to know them while signing,” says an autograph dealer.

The 44-year-old actor is the most gracious celebrity — for the third year in a row — on Autograph magazine’s annual list of the “10 Best and 10 Worst Hollywood Signers.”

“Though soft-spoken and laid-back, [Depp] likes to talk to fans and get to know them while signing,” New York autograph dealer Anthony Risi explains in the December issue, now on newsstands. “He’ll sign more than one item when he has time, too.” Video Watch Depp muse on his murderous new movie »

The magazine said editors compiled input from autograph-collecting judges based in Europe, New York and California in ranking the celebs.

This doesn’t surprise me. Because Johnny has chosen to live way off the beaten Hollywood path on a farm in rural France, he likely has spared his psyche and family the trauma of being constantly hounded for autographs. This makes giving autographs and interacting with his fans a rare and special treat. Even the reclusive like to be appreciated. Johnny, thank you for being such a great celeb. You make me not want to light the rest of Hollywood on fire for being full of raging c*cksuckers.

So who else made the “nice list” of gracious autograph signers:

2. Matt Damon
3. George Clooney
4. Jack Nicholson
5. Rosario Dawson
6. John Travolta,
7. Katherine Heigl
8. Jay Leno
9. Dakota Fanning
10. Russell Crowe — wait, Russell Crowe? Crowe, who has a history of throwing temper tantrums, ranked among the worst signers on last year’s list. But in a turnaround, the magazine said, the 43-year-old actor “started treating fans great, signing, taking pictures and chatting them up.”

Wow, that last one is surprising. And Jack Nicholson? Hmmm…well good for him!

And who sucks rotten eggs for being poor sports when it comes to signing autographs?

1. Will Ferrell
2. Tobey Maguire
3. Joaquin Phoenix
4. William Shatner
5. Renee Zellweger
6. John Malkovich
7. Julie Andrews
8. Bruce Willis
9. Teri Hatcher
10. Scarlett Johansson.

Weird, Will Ferrell is the worst? I mean sure, I can see William Shatner being a dick, and definitely John Malkovich, and certainly Teri Snatcher. But what climbed up Renee Zellweger, Julie Andrews and Bruce Willis’ asses? And honestly, Joaquin’s probably too drunk to realize he’s being asked for an autograph and Tobey Maguire’s just a weirdo. Scarlett? Who the hell knows what her problem is. Trying to avoid stalkers most likely. The magazine did caution us however, “keep in mind that even the best signers don’t sign sometimes, the worst sometimes do, and that just because they’re on the worst list doesn’t mean they’re bad people.”

I don’t know, I am pretty sure that John Malkovich is a bad person.

Ok, I saw this pic on D-Listed, easily one of the funniest celeb websites on the plane. Oh, and I just wanted to point out that Johnny Depp is still unmarried. As fate would have it, I am not.

This is Johnny looking smoldering at the Sweeney Todd premiere in NY. Sweeney Todd is a Johnny’s latest film collaboration with director Tim Burton, they’ve done about ten billion films together. Well, maybe it’s more like ten, but still, that seems like a lot for one director. How about we spread it around some Johnny.

I have a film Johnny and I can do together. There’d be a lot of swashbuckling in the nude and it only stars Johnny and myself. There would be a lot of sweating too. Is that too much information? Too bad!

Johnny Depp (43) was claimed to have put off marrying his long-time French girlfriend, model Vanessa Paradis (34), because he didn’t want to screw up her last name with a clunker like Depp. Sure Paradis is a great last name (especially if you say if with a French accent like I always do - sophistication peeps) but being lawfully wed to the hottest pirate this side of the Caribbean is worth it.

This is sweet news in an otherwise difficult year for Depp and Paradis. Their young daughter, 7-year old Lily Rose, battled a deadly case of e-coli that kept her in the hospital for almost two weeks. She has reportedly recovered and is doing well. That’s awesome to hear. And apparently this brush with tragedy is at the root cause of the couple deciding to wed later this summer.

But if we are expecting a grand Hollywood affair, we will be sorely disappointed. Johnny and Vanessa shun the limelight and will likely wed within the confines of their sprawling 50 acre compound in France. The couple, along with their two children Lily Rose, and 4-year old Jack, live a quiet life in the small town of Plane de la Tou, France (pop. 2000).  Local residents describe the family as being very private and living a rather normal life, including driving into town to pick up fresh produce and clothes from the “bargain racks.”

The couple will need to obtain the appropriate legal documents and consent from their mayor to marry, and may do so at a small chapel on their property.

Johnny despite being one of the most recognizable and popular movie stars in the world, fled to France in 1998 to escape the craziness of Hollywood. It is here in this ideal setting, he has been able to raise his family without the prying eye of the media breathing down his neck - Depp  is down to earth and has purposely chosen a life separate of his career for his kids and plans as he says for his children to “grow up in a very simple and calm environment, where everything is not about the next movie or the next success.” Depp added:

“I love the simple things: the sunrise, the trees, the countryside. I can take a ride into the village and have a coffee with my girl, and people say: “Hello Johnny. How are you?” I’m not looking around for the paparazzi.”

But rest assured they aren’t lacking for luxury. From the article:

There is no give-away that this is the residence of one of Hollywood’s greatest actors. Even the security cameras are out of sight, hidden in the trees. But step inside the house and there would be no mistaking.

It has every modern luxury. The master bedroom even has its own swimming pool. A second, much larger pool is located in the garden alongside the vegetable and herb patch.

They have four ponies for the children and a playground with swings, a slide and a sandpit. Depp fell in love with France while shooting The Ninth Gate there in 1998.

Congrats to the couple and many blessings to a fabulous actor who doesn’t have his head up his rear. Yay for normal kids!

I had reported a couple weeks back that Johnny Depp’s 7-year-old daughter Lily Rose was suffering from a serious but undisclosed illness. It was later reported that she was suffering from acute blood poisoning that may have stemmed from a wound caused by a rusty nail. Lily Rose had been hospitalized since late February and was finally released on March 8th from London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital.

While reports that her condition had “stabilized” enough for her to go home with her parents Depp, and long-time partner actress Vanessa Paradis, Lily’s outcome could be much graver. This week’s In Touch is reporting that Lily will have an uphill battle ahead of her including on-going kidney dialysis “to flush the toxins for her body.”

Johnny had been in London for shooting his latest film, Sweeny Todd, but filming is on hold until Lily is doing “much better.” That may be a long time coming. The report states Lily has lost 85 to 90% of her kidney function and may need a new kidney. It is a difficult and ardous process to find an appropriate donor. Depp and Paradis have another child, 4-year-old Jack. While most people who need a kidney can find a match through close relatives, if this is determined to be the final outcome for little Lily, she still has tough days ahead of her, as do her parents and brother.

I sure hope Lily’s road to recovery goes smoothly and doesn’t require any drastic measures. Having a sick child is the second worst thing a parent can face. I feel for them both. Insider’s have described Johnny and Vanessa as “heartbroken, but grateful that their little girl is alive.”

I for one, will continue to pray, maybe you could do the same