Johnny Depp 'Rango' MTV Interview: The Actor Stays in His Comfort Zone with Director Verbinski
Johnny Depp is one of those actors who disappear so fully into the characters he plays onscreen that with each new film, it's hard to know what to expect from the Oscar nominee. Depp's latest, the animated pic "Rango," is no exception. In the film — directed by Depp's "Pirates of the Caribbean" director Gore Verbinski and featuring the vocal talents of Abigail Breslin, Isla Fischer and Bill Nighy — Depp plays the title character, a chameleon living a lonely life in a cage as a family pet. But Rango is also an aspiring actor so he stages elaborate plays within the confines of his little glass home. He suddenly finds his life turned upside down when his cage is accidentally thrown out of his owners' car during a cross-country move, landing him in the strange town of Dirt in the Nevada desert. MTV News caught up with Depp and we asked him if, given his chameleon-like abilities as an actor, he felt a sense of kinship with the little green reptile, and whether Rango is perhaps the closest he's come to playing himself. "What I saw early on with the character, and something that Gore and I talked about, is that it is in sort of all of us, in a way," Depp explained. "There is a chameleonic side to all of us in which we find ourselves in certain situations that you have to adapt to, sitting across from personalities that you have to adapt to in order to survive the moment or survive the day," he said. "That's kind of how I saw Rango."
Source: MTV.com - Johnny Depp Says There's A Little 'Rango' In All Of Us
The animated web series DEXTER Early Cuts is a sort of prequel to the Showtime series Dexter.
Though you don't have to watch the Dexter "Early Cuts" webisodes to enjoy Dexter on Showtime, watching them will enhance your understanding of how Dexter came to be the serial killer we know and love, while convincing you how perfectly suited to a comic book series Dexter is.
I've read many comic books and I truly appreciate the quality of the renderings in this series which I watched all in one sitting. You can do the same by scrolling down this page where you'll find Episodes 1 through 6. Enjoy!
Illustration Credit: Showtime
About the series:
Dexter Morgan is challenged by a copy-cat killer who does not follow any sort of code. The story opens immediately after his father Harry's death, with Dexter in his early twenties and his sister Debra still in high school. Dexter is enrolled in medical school where he's studying anatomy to improve his "craft." During a routine kill, Dexter realizes that another student has been spying on him and knows that he is a serial killer. He confronts the student after he begins to commit murders in Dexter's style and the two clash over the ethics of their situations. Dexter's faceoff with his 'Dark Echo' represents the first time his code is tested since his father's death, and the incident helps reinforce the importance of Harry Morgan's code.
DEXTER Early Cuts is illustrated by Emmy Award nominee Bill Sienkiewicz (“Batman,” “Superman” and “X-Men” comics) and acclaimed comic book illustrator David Mack (Marvel Comics’ “Daredevil” and “Kabuki) and voiced by DEXTER star and executive producer Michael C. Hall. The episodes will also be available on SHOWTIME ON DEMAND.
With the ToyStory 3: Buttercup Audition video, I believe that Disney Pixar has tapped out the Toy Story 3 fountain of wonderfulness. The Buttercup video is incredibly short and utterly meh. Judge for yourself. (I still love Disney-Pixar, tho'.)
The
creators of the beloved Toy Story films re-open the toy box and bring
moviegoers back to the delightful world of Woody, Buzz and our favorite
gang of toy characters in TOY STORY 3. Woody and Buzz had accepted that
their owner Andy would grow up someday, but what happens when that day
arrives?
Argh! I finally watched the "Rango' preview but got caught up in the "Actor's Studio Interview With Johnny Depp."
One of the first queries was "How do you go about choosing a role?"
Depp's answer was that the part needed to be "surprising."
Does Johnny Depp as a animated lizard surprise you?
It does me.
Looking forward to it!
I read my first sort of middling review of Toy Story 3 today. The reviewer waxed on about how the Toy Story franchise has always being about life and death and loss, etc. but took issue with Toy Story 3's lame getaway from the daycare facility sequence. He did however really enjoy the parts where the toys, having "escaped" on a garbage truck went through the giant sorting machines and then almost got incinerated. Also, he worried that kid's movies were not for kids anymore. I have to totally disagree with that assessment.There has long been "kid's movies" that have a layer for the adults that the kiddies do not grasp.The cool thing is if the movies stand the test of time, they can be re-watched with a new eye--and level of appreciation.
The
creators of the beloved Toy Story films re-open the toy box and bring
moviegoers back to the delightful world of Woody, Buzz and our favorite
gang of toy characters in TOY STORY 3. Woody and Buzz had accepted that
their owner Andy would grow up someday, but what happens when that day
arrives?
My spouse's 49 th birthday (again) is on Friday and being the Disney-Pixar fanatics we are we (my son and I) decided that what he wanted was to see is Toy Story 3.
IMO, what is just as fun and fascinating about the creative genius of a finished Disney-Pixar project is what the creators were going for when they dreamed up what (or perhaps more properly, "who") came to end up on the screen. In a recent NYTimes online interview with Toy Story 3's director Lee Unkrich, who has been with the Toy Story franchise since the beginning, he explains the painstaking process of choosing a new character--and there are 14 added this time to the original 12 (my fave original, hands down--Mr. Potato Head) reminds me of how the Disney "Imagineers" explain how they do what they do. A common theme is that they retain the ability to see the world through the eyes of a child. It's something that adults either get or do not because generally we are discouraged by the world at large to allow our imaginations to exist unfettered and so we give up our childish things. We are the same people who no matter what our age get tremendously excited at the prospect of several days in Disneyland.
I'm missing my family trips to the Land of the Mouse for a few years whilst my son is in college however Toy Story 3 will help bridge the gap between everyday reality and the world of Disney-(Pixar).
Since he liked the appearance of Barbiein “Toy
Story 2,” Mr. Unkrich was interested in having her be a part of the
new film. “Then very quickly on the heels of that decision, we thought
well, if we have Barbie, we had to have Ken,” he said. “I literally went
through the catalog of every Ken from the ’60s to now and looked at
them all. And the one that absolutely stood out for me is this one Ken
from the late ’80s called Animal Lovin’ Ken.” The safari-print shirt and
short shorts are part of the exact outfit from that particular version
of Ken. Naturally, he has frequent costume changes throughout the film,
allowing the filmmakers to snatch clothing designs from his history.
“We could have made up outfits,” Mr. Unkrich said, “but I don’t think we
could have come up with anything as outlandish or as garish as the real
outfits that have existed over the years.”