johnny depp sweeney todd and wine movie
Thursday, 14 February 2008 | | |
Johnny Depp, Sweeney Todd and Wine Movie News
Johnny Depp's new movie, Sweeney Todd, opened on 25th January to a
rapturous welcome and not surprisingly so. Tim Burton's macabre
musical picked up a Golden Globe at the 65th Award ceremony, and Depp
picked up Best Actor. Depp has been nominated for an Oscar (the Oscars
are being held on 24th February).
It looks like red works well for Depp - it's the colour of his
favourite Bordeaux wine (Ch�teau Calon-S�gur, a Saint-Est�phe
third-growth) and the predominant colour in the movie. Sweeney Todd is
a a gruesome tale of vengeance in 19th-century London and the film is
rather gothic - 20 different shades of red were considered in order to
get the right blood red tone. Apparently red is a funny colour on film
because it's the most volatile colour and it changes.
Depp plays the rage-filled Demon Barber of Fleet Street, haphazardly
slitting the throats of his customers after a corrupt judge steals
away his wife and daughter. It's the 6th film he has worked with
Burton on - the others being Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, The Legend
of Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and The Corpse
Bride. The Corpse Bride also starred Helena Bonham Carter who plays
the human pie-making Mrs Lovett in Sweeney Todd, she is also Burton's
partner.
Depp, who reportedly earned �10m for his role in Charlie and the
Chocolate Factory, has revealed that his tastes reached the more
expensive end of the fine wine spectrum. He likes P�trus and Ch�teau
Cheval-Blanc and last year he bought his partner, Vanessa Paradis, a
vineyard.
Although it took only two months to film and cost a relatively meagre
�28 million, Sweeney Todd was decades in development, with both Alan
Parker and Sam Mendes having reportedly been interested in reworking
and directing the Stephen Sondheim musical, which won a Tony for best
musical in 1979. Burton himself had toyed with the idea of filming it
ever since he saw a stage production in London when he was a student.
A musical was an entirely new challenge to Depp (who had once played
guitar in a rock band but never sang) and Burton too. Other actors
starring are Sacha Baron Cohen who plays Pirelli, a rival barber, in
his first post-Borat role. He auditioned for the part by singing
almost the complete score of Fiddler on the Roof.
Alan Rickman stars as Judge Turpin and Timothy Spall as the Beadle.
Alan Rickman will soon be seen in the UK playing Steven Spurrier in
Bottle Shock - dubbed as the new Sideways and next big wine block
buster - which was released this month at the Sundance Festival.
Depp's next film, which is in production, is Michael Mann's Public
Enemies which has also cast Marion Cotillard, herself a Golden Globe
winner and Oscar nominee for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose.
You may remember Cotillard from the last wine movie to hit our screens
- A Good Year - where she co-starred with Russell Crowe.
Bottle Shock's rival - the Judgement of Paris - will be casting this
year as Robert Kamen has finished his script . . . I wonder which big
movie names will be lined up to star? Wouldn't it be great if it were
Depp given his love of wine? I'll keep you posted!
Images Courtesy of www.flickr.com