Review: 'Mortdecai,' starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ewan McGregor

So look at here: We are starting out 2015 with a new Johnny Depp as a crazy character movie, huh? This time it’s supposedly for adults with the whole R-rating thing. I guess he just has no interest in playing someone regular again. Oh well, he was quite good at it at one point in time.

So what is this movie? It’s called Mortdecai. It’s based on a series of comedic thrillers from author Kyril Bonfiglioli that I clearly have not read. Also starring in this is Gwyneth Paltrow as Johanna Mortdecai, Ewan McGregor, Paul Bettany, and Olivia Munn. I guess their goal was to make a really funny British style comedy for American people but it seems like they failed on both sides here.

So what is Mortdecai about? It’s about this dandy-like British art smuggler by the name of Charlie Mortdecai (Depp). He bubbles around as he’s trying to get money to pay his 8 million pounds in taxes. A famous art restorer is murdered for this famous Goya painting and his old Oxford rival Inspector Martland (McGregor) asks him help them find the murderer and the painting. This takes Mortdecai and his manservant Jock Strapp (yes that is his name, and he's played by Paul Bettany) all over the world trying to find this painting. Total hijinks ensue ... I guess. The B-plot is Mortdecai having marital issues with Johanna, his wife, because of his new mustache that he loves so much and she hates.

You know the thing with this movie is that it’s not good but it really doesn’t suck enough to hate. Mortdecai just washes over you in uninterestingness. It seems like they were trying make something in the old Peter Sellers Pink Panther lane of comedy but it never catches on. In a lot of ways the pacing and the structure feels like it would be a really good animated movie. I’m thinking with the way the performances are and the costuming being so over the top, this would’ve been great as a cartoon. The movie really relies too much on weird facial expressions and goofy pratfalls. The cinematography really isn’t anything to talk about other than these silly over-CGI-ed transitions from city to city.

The real saving grace to this whole thing is Paul Bettany as Jock Strapp. He’s hilarious during the whole movie as Mortdecai's tough guy/ladies’ man manservant. Watching makes you think this story would be a lot more interesting if it were from his perspective rather than Mortdecai's.

Another funny thing with this movie is the two stars of it are American actors doing English accents, whereas everyone else is actually English; it's a bit disjointing. I don’t know if Gwyneth Paltrow’s accent always works.

But seriously, this movie really isn’t something to go out and see in the theater. It might be something fun to watch at home. As I said earlier, it isn’t good enough or bad enough to even get a real reaction. I think Mortdecai is something to pass on and instead just go catch up on Academy Award nominees.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Guttenbergs

Read More

Johnny Depp's in Charge in New Trailer for 'Mortdecai'

Counting Kevin Smith's Tusk, the last five Johnny Depp movies have been both terrible and public box office duds. Next year he hopes to turn the losing streak around with the goofy adventure comedy, Mortdecai, and a new trailer for the star-studded film has been released to spread some holiday cheer.

Directed by David Koepp and starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, and Paul Bettany, here is the official synopsis:

"Juggling some angry Russians, the British Mi5, his impossibly leggy wife and an international terrorist, debonair art dealer and part time rogue Charlie Mortdecai (Johnny Depp) must traverse the globe armed only with his good looks and special charm in a race to recover a stolen painting rumored to contain the code to a lost bank account filled with Nazi gold."

Working in the film's favor is a relatively weak January 23rd release date. If Mortdecai can't hold its own against Black Sea and George Lucas' Strange Magic then Depp's star power is truly shot.

Read More

New Trailer for 'Mortdecai' starring Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Ewan McGregor

Long before we get to see Johnny Depp don a goofy pirate outfit and tons of mascara in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, he'll get to sport a goofy mustache and a collection of colorful suits in Mortdecai. With the film arriving early next year, a new trailer is here to show us why Depp movies are always fun even if they don't always turn out to be very good.

Based on the popular book series, Mortdecai has Depp as the titular roguish art dealer engaged in some international intrigue involving angry Russian mobsters, lost Nazi gold, terrorists, and British MI5. The cast is superb with Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Aubrey Plaza, Paul Bettany, Olivia Munn, Jeff Goldblum, and Oliver Platt appearing to be enjoying themselves. But is the film worth your time? Depp has fooled audiences before (Dark Shadows, anyone?) and the January 23rd release date isn't promising. Nor is the presence of writer/director David Koepp, who doesn't have the best track record behind the camera.

Read More

New Trailer and Motion Posters for Disney's Star-Studded 'Into the Woods'

Fans of Broadway musicals are going to be very happy with the gifts bestowed upon them this holiday season. A new trailer has been released for Disney's star-studded Into the Woods, Rob Marshall's adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical fantasy featuring some of your favorite storybook characters like Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, Cinderella, Rapunzel, and more. With the Annie remake also out there this Christmas, will audiences be willing to indulge in both?

A new trailer and a series of subtly animated motion posters have been released, showing off the impressive cast of Johnny Depp, Meryl Streep, Anna Kendrick, James Corden, Chris Pine, Billy Magnussen, Daniel Huttlestone, Lilla Crawford, and Mackenzie Mauzy. Into the Woods opens December 25th. Here's the synopsis:

“Into the Woods” is a modern twist on the beloved Brothers Grimm fairy tales, intertwining the plots of a few choice stories and exploring the consequences of the characters’ wishes and quests. This humorous and heartfelt musical follows the classic tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy)—all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife (James Corden & Emily Blunt), their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch (Meryl Streep) who has put a curse on them.


Into The Woods International Trailer #2 by itsartmag

Read More

Johnny Depp is the Big Bad Wolf in New Images from 'Into the Woods'

"I’ve been offered many witches over the years, starting when I was 40, and I said no to all of them. But this was really fun because it played with the notion of what witches mean. They represented age and ugliness and scary powers we don’t understand. So here’s my opportunity to say, here's what you wish for when you're getting old."

While everyone can appreciate having the chance to see Meryl Streep playing bad as the evil Witch in Rob Marshall's musical adaptation Into the Woods, we know she's going to bring it the way she always does. What we haven't had a chance to see yet is her co-star Johnny Depp in the role of the Big Bad Wolf, but that has now been rectified by EW, who have put the cast of the fairy tale film on their latest cover series. And honestly, he kind of looks like Disney's version of the wolf, the one who terrorized the Three Little Pigs in the 1933 cartoon. Whether that's what they were going for or not, since this is a Disney movie, that much isn't clear but Depp's lecherous appearance next to Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford) screams "To Catch a Predator".

We also get a look at James Corden and Emily Blunt as the Baker and the Baker's Wife, who venture into the woods in hopes of breaking a curse; Anna Kendrick as Cinderella alongside Chris Pine as the Prince; and Mackenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel.  Into the Woods opens Christmas Day.

Read More

Review: Kevin Smith's 'Tusk' Starring Justin Long and Michael Parks

Kevin Smith is both a director whose work is both easy to love and easy to dislike. He cultivated a large and extremely loyal following telling personal and very funny stories about his life growing in New Jersey. Whether you cared about hockey or the Quik Stop, they were films that were easy to relate to. But then Smith got famous, grew disenfranchised with the movies he was making and the Hollywood system, and set out on a different path; one that sees him making fewer movies for his fans but more for him....or somebody. There's an audience out there for his latest, the creepy crawly body horror Tusk, but it's not this Smith fan.

Tusk was inspired by an episode of Smith's podcast, and if that sounds like one flimsy-ass basis for a movie then you are so right. It's a one-note gag stretched to the limit, but worse it's devoid of Smith's razor sharp wit and personal insights. It's not for lack of trying, but every attempt comes off as limp, Smith-lite. For instance, the protagonist is Wallace (Justin Long), a smartass with a podcast that got popular for making fun of people. Wallace and his buddy Teddy (Haley Joel Osment, looking...uhh, unlike Haley Joel Osment) call their show the Not-See Party, for reasons hardly worth explaining. But you see the obvious gag in it, right? Say it and it sounds like Nazi Party, a joke we're steamrolled with far too often.

When a pseudo-Star Wars Kid chops off a limb (some awful special effects there, by the way)  in a stunt gone wrong, Wallace books it to Canada to interview him. But when the meeting goes awry in strangely downbeat fashion, Wallace must find something else to do in the great white north. A couple of dusted-off Canada jokes later (people say "aboot" there!!) and Wallace is invited to Manitoba and the estate of Howard Howe (Michael Parks), a recluse with a ton of stories at his disposal and the unending desire to tell them. If the "Most Interesting Man in the World" were a little more sing-songy and awkward, he'd be Howe. Over tea he tells Wallace about his storming the beach at Normandy, meeting famous people, and most amazingly the one time he was rescued from death by a Walrus. He's particularly fond of that story. Disturbingly so. That tea wasn't so innocent, after all. Wallace is conked out, waking up to discover that he's Howard's captive and soon to be fitted for his own Walrus suit made out of human flesh. It just needs some alterations to fit a pencil neck like Wallace.

The first encounter between Howard and Wallace is disturbing in the way the best body horrors should be. We already know what's coming but the buildup is truly intense, helped by yet another phenomenally creepy performance by Parks. He worked wonders as the violently fundamentalist preacher in Smith's religious horror Red State, and he brings many of the same commanding qualities to Tusk. Smith has always had trouble editing down his scripts but being overly wordy is a benefit when Parks is regaling us with one wacky story after another. He's terrific here, making grounding Howard in reality by making him the twisted result of some terrible trauma, not just some freak with a fetish for animals. Strangely enough, the less of Justin Long you see the better he is. Maybe he should wear a walrus suit in all of his movies.

It's after we've seen Wallace in the suit that the film loses steam, as if Smith has totally shot his wad (he'll probably appreciate that turn of phrase) with the reveal. Basically it's a one trick walrus. From there it becomes a goofy, unfocused rescue mission as Wallace's longtime girlfriend (Genesis Rodriguez) teams up with Teddy and detective Guy Lapointe (better to leave whose playing him a secret) to find him. The introduction of Lapointe is a total disaster as it basically forces Smith to spend inordinate amounts of time with the huge star playing him. One can hardly blame him for that, but it would help if Lapointe was a character we could believe. Instead he's this total Pepe Le Pew stereotype, a cartoonish buffoon in a fake nose and accent. Whatever point Smith is trying to make about humans and their baser, animalistic urgings are lost every time Lapointe opens his mouth. Smith has never been the most visually inventive director but he was always able to get by because the script and characters are usually so endearing. That's certainly the case when Parks is doing his thing but the rest of the way it's not, and Smith's stagnant camera work becomes a real chore. It's also not clear what tone he's going for. Tusk is hardly gruesome in a Human Centipede sort of way, but it's not especially funny, either.

The first of a proposed trilogy, which unfortunately will include the Lapointe character in each, Tusk is undoubtedly Smith's strangest film in more ways than one. It's hard to tell exactly what he was going for. Was it just to do something different? There's no shame in that, but there's also something to be said for doing what one does best, and Tusk is not Smith at his best.

 Rating: 2.5 out of 5

Read More

Johnny Depp Joins Kevin Smith's 'Yoga Hosers'

Remember when Ben Affleck was a regular face in most of Kevin Smith's early movies? Yeah, those days are long gone (they're still buds), but it looks like Smith has found a new celebrity pal in Johnny Depp. Depp makes a cameo in Smith's horror, Tusk, and now he's officially come aboard his next film, Yoga Hosers.

Described by Smith as a comic book movie, although it's not based on one, the film will also star Smith and Depp's daughters Lily-Rose Depp and Harley Quinn Smith. The rest of the cast is made up of pretty much everybody who is in Tusk:, Michael Parks, Justin Long, Haley Joel Osment, Genesis Rodriguez, Ralph Garman, Jennifer Schwalbach and Harley Morenstein, along with new additions Tony Hale, Natasha Lyonne, Austin Butler, Adam Brody, Tyler Posey and Jason Mewes. Of course Mewes is in this.

The story centers on  "15-year-old yoga nuts Colleen Collette (Lily-Rose) and Colleen McKenzie (Harley Quinn) who have an after-school job at a Manitoba convenience store called Eh-2-Zed. When an ancient evil rises from beneath Canada’s crust and threatens their big invitation to a Grade 12 party, the Colleens join forces with a legendary man-hunter from Montreal named Guy Lapointe (Johnny Depp) to fight for their lives." Depp is playing the same character as in Tusk and Smith is building this as a new franchise, similar to his original View Askew movies that spawned Jay & Silent Bob.

This sounds totally weird, but it will be cool to see Smith working in the action-adventure field, and with Depp riding shotgun this could be his biggest film in awhile.

Read More

Johnny Depp is a Big Spender in First Trailer for 'Mortdecai'

Bouncing from one blockbuster franchise to the next has obviously done Johnny Depp a world of good. Not only are the Pirates of the Caribbean and Alice in Wonderland movies like printing money, but he gets to indulge in playing kooky characters that audiences seem to love. It's the other movies that have become a problem, as Depp has been mired in one high-profile flop after another: Dark Shadows, The Lone Ranger, Transcendence, and that's just the start. So what does that bode for Depp's latest, the quirky spy comedy, Mortdecai?

The first trailer for Mortdecai has Depp back in goofball mode just as his fans like him. Set to an updated version of "Big Spender", we're introduced to the titular idiotic man-of-mystery, an art dealer and rogue who gets swept up in a global plot involving stolen art, Nazi gold, international terrorists, angry Russians and British MI5. Directed by David Koepp, who seems to taking from the Austin Powers playbook, this looks a silly and broad comedic romp with a cast that includes Olivia Munn, Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Bettany, Ewan McGregor, Aubrey Plaza, and more. If it turns out to be a hit then chances are we'll see the rest of author Kyril Bonfiglioli's Mortdecai Trilogy brought to the screen.

Mortdecai hits theaters February 6th 2015, and should we take that terrible date as a bad omen?


Mortdecai Teaser TRAILER 1 (2015) - Johnny Depp, Gwyneth Paltrow Movie HD by MovieTrailerz

Read More

Fairy Tales Come to Life in First Trailer and Photos for Disney's 'Into the Woods'

Nobody has had more success with live-action fairy tales than Disney, who have broke the bank with Alice in Wonderland and Maleficent already, and probably will again next year with Cinderella. But even when turning to the small screen, the Mouse House has scored another hit with Once Upon a Time, even going so far as to include Frozen characters into the next season. Basically, fairy tales are big business right now. So it's easy to see why they wanted to adapt Steven Sondheim's beloved fairy tale musical Into the Woods, and it's no shock that a superstar cast immediately flocked to be a part of it. And for those who have been eagerly awaiting a first look at the film, your wish has now been granted.

A teaser trailer for Into the Woods has been released, along with a number of new photos featuring much of the huge cast, although Johnny Depp's Big Bad Wolf is conspicuously absent. James Corden and Emily Blunt star as the Baker and his wife who desperately wish to have a child but learn they have been cursed by an evil Witch played by Meryl Streep. The only way to break the curse is to venture deep into the woods, where they encounter famous characters from the Brothers Grimm stories you read as a kid: Anna Kendrick is Cinderella, Lilla Crawford as Red Riding Hood, Chris Pine as Prince Charming, Mackenzie Mauzy as Rapunzel, and many many more.

Into the Woods opens Christmas Day, directed by Chicago and Memoirs of a Geisha helmer, Rob Marshall.


INTO THE WOODS-Official Trailer (HD) Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp by Trailersstv

Read More

Johnny Depp in Talks for Long-Developing 'The Secret Life of Houdini'

For a long time there were two movies developing on famed magician and escape artist Harry Houdini. One was a more traditional biopic that had Francis Lawrence (The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) attached at one point. The other was an Indiana Jones meets Sherlock Holmes adventure movie titled The Secret Life of Houdini, based William Kalush and Larry Sloman's book. Gary Ross and Joe Wright circled the latter film at various stages, but it was Dean Parisot (Galaxy Quest) who settled into the directing job last year, and now it may have a pretty big star in Johnny Depp.

Depp is looking to add to his roster of crazy characters by playing Houdini in The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America's First Superhero, which features a script by The Maze Runner's Noah Oppenheimer. There won't be much truth to this version of Houdini's story as the book claims he was a spy for Britain, helped the Secret Service, dabbled in the occult, and was in cahoots with police organizations.

Lionsgate is targeting a November start date after Depp wraps on Whitey Bulger biopic, Black Mass. If that schedule holds true it would push production on Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which still isn't officially green lit, well into 2015. [THR]

Read More

Check Out Johnny Depp's Crazy New Look in First 'Mortdecai' Image

Although Johnny Depp was an artificial intelligence and largely seen as a digital construct in Transcendence, it wasn't quite weird enough and so the film bombed hard at the box office. But fortunately for Depp's fans he's got a much quirkier role on the way in detective comedy, Mortdecai, and the first image has been released to show just how wacky his look will be this time.

Rockin' blonde hair and a ridiculous mustache that only a rogue would ask his barber for, Depp plays Charlie Mortdecai, an art dealer and debonair adventurer caught up in an international scheme involving Nazi gold, angry Russians, terrorists, and British MI5. Even for Depp this sounds silly, and frankly this has that same stench of inevitable failure that Dark Shadows had. But you never know; the film is based on the series of books by Kyril Bonfiglioli and they have quite a large following.

Directed by David Koepp and co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Ewan McGregor, Olivia Munn, Aubrey Plaza, Paul Bettany, Oliver Platt, and Jeff Goldblum, Mortdecai opens in the armpit of 2015, February 6th. [ThePlaylist]

Read More

Cinema Royale #59- Brick Mansions; The Other Woman

On this week's Cinema Royale, +Leslie Combemale "The Cinema Siren" joins us to take a look at Brick Mansions, the final completed film by the late Paul Walker. Plus, we'll review revenge comedy The Other Woman, starring Cameron Diaz and Kate Upton's cleavage.

This past weekend Johnny Depp suffered his fourth box office flop in a row with Transcendence, a big-budget spectacle nobody thought would fail. We'll take a look at the reasons why it bombed, and what this means for Depp as a bankable Hollywood star.

Plus, huge news on Warner Bros. Justice League movie! Cinema Royale is part of the Hashtag Studios Broadcast Network and brings you movie reviews and news straight from the Nation's Capital! Go to www.cinemaroyaleshow.com and subscribe, and while there consider signing up for the premium service to get even more content!

Read More

Review: “Transcendence,” starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, and Paul Bettany

Hurray for Johnny Depp playing a regular, normal human being in a movie in the first time in seemingly forever; he’s not a faux Native American or a vampire or a pirate or a murderous barber or a breakdancing Mad Hatter. Nope, just a regular old scientific genius in Transcendence! Too bad, though, that the movie seems to care very little about that actual science. Instead, this is a frustratingly opaque script, a wasted ensemble cast, and an obvious “message” that makes Transcendence a pretty mediocre way to spend two hours.

Here’s the thing: We’ve been questioning the limits of technology, and the dangers of that limitlessness, in cinema for a very long time. I could point all the way back to 2001: A Space Odyssey, or at the modern classic The Matrix, which turns 15 years old this year (pour one out for the perfection of Keanu Reeves’s cheekbones in that movie). Regardless, the suggestion that it’s humans who corrupt the boundaries of discovery is not new; even as we’ve dealt with the evil HAL and the ever-multiplying Mr. Smith, fundamentally we’re used to the idea that in the wrong hands, science could be dangerous. And yet Transcendence tries to give us that exact same message like it’s a whole new thing, like it’s an idea no one has ever encountered before. Boo.

From first-time director Wally Pfister, who has served as Christopher Nolan’s cinematographer for years, I would expect better. But it’s the story from first-time Jack Paglen that’s really the problem here. There’s the genius scientist angle, of course, but also the love-triangle angle, the abused wife angle, and the technological anarchists angle, and the wise old mentor angle, and the FBI agent angle. There are too many angles! The movie ends up being all edges, without enough natural storytelling flow. It’s impressive how little tension there is in a movie that is ostensibly supposed to be about a human/computer hybrid that wants to take over the world.

The premise is this: Dr. Will Caster (Depp) and his wife Evelyn (Rebecca Hall), as well as their close friend Max (Paul Bettany), are at the forefront of a scientific revolution. Through extremely advanced software design and nanotechnology, the three of them think they have created a self-sustaining computer, an “intelligent machine” that functions like a human brain. For Will, the PINN (“physically independent neural network”) is his life’s work. He wants to understand how the world works; Evelyn wants to save it; and Max wants to save the people on it. With this breakthrough, they think they can get there.

Except for where not everyone agrees with Will’s ideas; in fact, there’s one anti-technology group, RIFT, which goes so far as to kill to stop the “intelligent machine.” A coordinated attack on labs connected with the Casters leaves researchers dead and Will dying, shot with a bullet traced with radiation poisoning. With only a few weeks left for him to live, Evelyn comes up with a crazy idea: uploading Will’s consciousness onto PINN, sending his neural network into the “physically independent” structure. It’s insane, Max says, but he’ll help her do it.

And when they succeed—to Evelyn’s amazement and Max’s regret—and Will’s consciousness goes inside the computer, and then the Internet, is when the film tries to probe at the how-much-science-is-too-much question. It’s a foregone conclusion that Will wants more power, that his genius can’t be contained within the structural limitations we’re accustomed to. But as Transcendence tries to deal with moral or ethical questions, it can’t do it gracefully. There’s never any question that Will’s consciousness might be dangerous to Evelyn and the world, because everyone tells us so—Max, Morgan Freeman’s mentor character, Cillian Murphy’s FBI agent. And there’s never any attention paid to explaining any of this science so that we can decide for ourselves. Everything, from Will’s engineering of plant life to his curing of human wounds, is done through “synthetic nanotechnology,” and that’s one of those phrases that means everything and nothing at once.

Without any care for helping the audience to understand what’s going on onscreen, Transcendencejust marches along toward the conclusion it gives you in the first five minutes of the film. There’s no surprise here; no nuance. And without any understanding of its subject matter or any interest in making others understand, either, Transcendence gives you very little reason to care.

Rating: 2 out of 5 Guttenbergs

Read More

Justin Long Says Johnny Depp is in Kevin Smith's Horror 'Tusk'

Johnny Depp has been known to hide out and make unexpected cameos. He popped up as himself in Adam Sandler's Jack & Jill, then hid in plain sight as part of 21 Jump Street. But showing up in a Kevin Smith horror film? Apparently that's his next surprise.

Justin Long was interviewed by Long Island Newsday, and when asked about future projects, he strangely replied...

"Yeah, the one where a man turns into a war horse. It's called "Tusk." Johnny Depp is in that one. I'm working on something coming up later."

Right. Except it's a walrus, not a "war horse". The guy dresses as a walrus. A simple mistake like that is enough to suggest the reporter may have screwed something else up. But other sites, including The Wrap and Slashfilm are also saying Depp is in the film as French-Canadian investigator Guy Lapointe, who is on the case of a man forced by his roommate to wear a walrus costume. Genesis Rodriguez, Michael Parks, and Haley Joel Osment co-star.

With or without Depp, Tusk promises to be one of the weirder films due out this year.

Read More

Seven Clips from 'Transcendence' Starring Johnny Depp

Between the Terminator reboot and Wally Pfister's Transcendence, the age of the self-aware supercomputers is definitely back. With the latter sci-fi film only a couple of weeks away, seven new clips have been released. Starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Kate Mara, Morgan Freeman, and Paul Bettany, the story follows a team of scientists led by Dr. Will Caster (Depp), who are trying to build the first sentient supercomputer. When anti-technology extremists attack Caster, they unwittingly force him to participate in his own transcendence.

Pfister has done some amazing work as Christopher Nolan's cinematographer, but so far Transcendence hasn't looked terribly impressive visually. We'll have wait until April 18th to see what kind of stamp he puts on his directorial debut. [Collider]

Read More

Johnny Depp Offered Lead in J.J. Abrams-Produced 'One Last Thing Before I Go'

The last news on the adaptation of Jonathan Tropper's novel One Last Thing Before I Go came last year when Mike Nichols (Closer) entered talks to direct the film. J.J. Abrams and Bad Robot picked up the rights to the novel a couple of years ago, just as another of Tropper's books, This Is Where I Leave You, was developing with Shawn Levy at the helm. But now the film may be getting a serious dose of star power as an offer has been made to Johnny Depp to star.

According to The Tracking Board, an offer is out to Depp to lead the film, which is seen as a high priority for Bad Robot and Paramount.  Depp would play a man in a mid-life crisis, who has seen his one shot at fame evaporate, and his family basically write him off, decide against having life-saving heart surgery and just live in the moment. It would be a change of pace for Depp and not at all like the oddball characters we're used to seeing him play nowadays.

This is just an offer and there's no indication Depp is interested at this point. He'll be seen next in Wally Pfister's directorial debut, Transcendence.

Read More

Joel Edgerton Rejoins Johnny Depp's 'Black Mass' as Warner Bros. Comes Aboard

Johnny Depp has had an on/off attachment to the Whitey Bulger biopic, Black Mass, for quite awhile now, but the film has only had momentum while he was on board. When salary concerns led him to drop out, the project stagnated, lost director Barry Levinson, and didn't resurface until Depp came back. And now the the film has just taken its most significant step forward with Warner Bros. coming aboard to co-finance and distribute.

Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) remains on board as director, and it looks as if the prior reports of Tom Hardy taking the co-lead have proven untrue. Instead it will be Joel Edgerton taking on the role of Bulger's friend and FBI agent, John Connolly, who tipped off the infamous Boston mobster. Edgerton returns after being set for the part back when Levinson was still involved, but departed the film when it started falling apart.

The unfortunate victim of this deal is the Bulger biopic Matt Damon and Ben Affleck were developing for themselves. Warner Bros. has ended their association with the film, which would have had Damon in a starring role and Affleck possibly directing, with a script just turned in by The Wolf of Wall Street's Terence Winter. They were given a couple of days warning about the impending move, but don't be surprised if Warner Bros. seeks to soothe their golden boy Affleck in the next few days. Nobody wants to piss off Batman, do they? [Deadline]

Read More

New Trailer for Wally Pfister's 'Transcendence' Starring Johnny Depp

Taking a break from his longtime collaborator, Christopher Nolan, first-time director Wally Pfister has nonetheless maintained the same level of secrecy. It was late last year that we had our last good look at his ambitious sci-fi film, Transcendence, and after plugging us in to a new poster yesterday, now we're receiving the latest trailer.

Starring Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Cillian Murphy, Kate Mara, Paul Bettany, and Morgan Freeman, the Jack Paglen-scripted film centers on a Dr. Will Caster (Depp), whose dream is to create the ultimate artificial intelligence. This puts him at odds with an anti-technology faction whose violent actions make him a bigger part of the experiment than intended.

It certainly looks good, although the full trailers have yet to have the snap of the short teasers from awhile back. Transcendence opens on April 18th.

Read More

Johnny Depp Confirmed for Whitey Bulger Biopic, 'Black Mass' with Tom Hardy Co-Starring

For awhile it was beginning to look like Johnny Depp's Whitey Bulger biopic, Black Mass, was going to stay in development limbo. Originally with Barry Levinson directing, and Depp as the infamous Boston mobster and Joel Edgerton co-starring, the film was shelved over salary disputes. But just last month the film resurfaced with Depp eying a return and Scott Cooper (Crazy Heart) in the director's chair, and now the project is definitely back on.

Deadline reports that Depp is back in to play Bulger, while Tom Hardy is in talks to take on the role Edgerton left behind. Mark Mallouk adapted Dick Lehr and Gerald O'Neill's best-selling book, Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between The FBI and The Irish Mob, chronicling Bulger's rise to power as one of the Winter Hill Gang, with murder, racketeering, and extortion part of his extensive list of offenses. Hardy will play FBI agent John Connolly, Bulger's childhood friend who was tasked with bringing down the Italian mob. Bulger helped in bringing them down, but when he was about to be prosecuted it was Connolly who tipped him off. Bulger spent 16 years on the run before he was apprehended in 2011.

Now that all the pieces are in place production will be fast-tracked for a May start.

Read More

Johnny Depp Likely Won't Be 'Doctor Strange'; May Return for Scott Cooper-Directed 'Black Mass'

So all of that excitement over Johnny Depp as Doctor Strange may have been for nothing. As is so often the case with major casting rumors involving A-listers like Depp, the story wasn't quite what it appeared to be. Depp had apparently met with Marvel over the lead role in the expected film, but Deadline now says that meeting was awhile ago and "never went anywhere". THR adds that an entirely new script is being drafted, as well, so this may still be quite a ways off. That will leave plenty of room for Depp to return for Alice in Wonderland 2 and Pirates of the Caribbean 5, which Disney would probably rather have him ready for.

But Depp's got other non-franchise projects he could fall back on, like the Whitey Bulger biopic, Black Mass. You'll recall that the Barry Levinson-directed film had already attracted Depp and co-star Joel Edgerton before getting shelved due to a salary dispute. Levinson is definitely out, but now Out of the Furnace director Scott Cooper is stepping in. He'll also rewrite the script which centers on the infamous mobster who was on the run for decades before being captured in 2011. With Cooper on board, Depp is apparently interested in playing Bulger again and has begun talks to iron out the money situation.

Lots of options on the table for Depp but it looks like joining the Marvel Universe isn't going to be one of them.

Read More