Johnny Depp has finally talked about his daughter Lily-Rose’s hospitalization last year. She was rushed to the emergency room and nearly died according to many sources. Production was halted on the set of Depp’s movie “Sweeny Todd” so that Depp could stay with his daughter. Though he and girlfriend Vanessa Paradis haven’t officially disclosed what sent Lilly-Rose to the hospital, several sources said she was suffering from sent Lilly-Rose to the hospital, several sources said she was suffering from Lily-Rose blood poisoning after stepping on a rusty tack. Celebitchy noted: “According to In Touch’s website (no permalink available) ‘Blood poisoning… spread through her body and has affected her vital organs’,’ and one of her kidneys was failing, although that no longer seems to be the case. She is said to be doing much better now according to Johnny Depp’s rep.” Depp talked with Entertainment Weekly about nearly losing his daughter.

Johnny Depp says his 8-year-old daughter is now healthy and well following her hospitalization earlier this year. “Now every single millisecond is a mini-celebration,” the 44-year-old actor tells Entertainment Weekly in its Nov. 9 issue. “Every time we get to breathe in and exhale is a huge victory. She pulled through beautifully, perfectly, with no lasting anything.”

Lily-Rose, the daughter of Depp and French singer Vanessa Paradis, was admitted to a British hospital to receive treatment for an undisclosed ailment about three weeks after Depp started work on “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” Tim Burton’s adaptation of the Stephen Sondheim musical about a murderous barber.

“To say it was the darkest moment, that’s nothing,” Depp tells the magazine. “It doesn’t come close to describing it. Words are so small. But knowing that those people, Tim and the crew, shut down and stood by and waited … I didn’t know if I was coming back. I remember talking with Tim, saying, `Maybe you need to recast.’ Once we were given the all-clear, I had to dive back into the work,” he says. “I had to get back in there for Tim.”

[From the Associated Press]

It’s great the Depp has his priorities straight. He knew the only thing that mattered was being there for his daughter, and understood that his work didn’t really compare in importance. It’s also great of Tim Burton not to have recast Depp’s role. The early buzz on “Sweeny Todd” is that it will be great – but then again most Tim Burton stuff is. There was some gossip floating around for a while that Depp and Paradis were finally going to marry, nothing seems to have come of it. They seem to be a pretty secure family unit. It sounds like Lily-Rose has made a complete recovery, so congrats to them all.

The trailer for the upcoming Tim Burton film, iSweeney Todd starring Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter, is out. It looks like Depp predictably shines as a serial killer bent on revenge. He’s so skilled at playing offbeat unlikely heroes. Burton seems to provide rich visuals and the type of haunting, dark atmosphere that he’s know for.

Possible Spoiler Alert:
Here’s the plot synopsis:

Plot Summary: Johnny Depp and Tim Burton join forces again in a big-screen adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s award-winning musical thriller “Sweeney Todd.” Depp stars in the title role as a man unjustly sent to prison who vows revenge, not only for that cruel punishment, but for the devastating consequences of what happened to his wife and daughter. When he returns to reopen his barber shop, Sweeney Todd becomes the Demon Barber of Fleet Street who “shaved the heads of gentlemen who never thereafter were heard from again.” Joining Depp is Helena Bonham Carter as Mrs. Lovett, Sweeney’s amorous accomplice, who creates diabolical meat pies. The cast also includes Alan Rickman, who portrays the evil Judge Turpin, who sends Sweeney to prison and Timothy Spall as the Judge’s wicked associate Beadle Bamford and Sacha Baron Cohen is a rival barber, the flamboyant Signor Adolfo Pirelli.

[From Shock Till You Drop via Fark]

And here are some stills from the film and the movie poster, courtesy of Allmoviephoto. Sweeney Todd is out in theaters on December 21, 2007 and like everything Depp touches it’s sure to be a hit.

Johnny Depp’s longterm girlfriend and mother of his two children, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, has her first album out in seven years, called Divine Idylle. It features a lovely painting of Vanessa on the cover made with black lines and splotches of muted pink, light yellow and orange.

It turns out that album portrait of Vanessa was painted by Johnny himself. It’s a very good likeness and I never knew he was also a talented artist:

Johnny Depp… has added artist to his resume. He painted a portrait of the mother of his two children, French pop star Vanessa Paradis, for her upcoming album, Divine Idylle! His beautiful rose- and gold-toned album cover isn’t the only family member’s contribution to Vanessa’s first pop record in seven years! Their 5-year-old son, Jack, sings a few lines in “Jackadi,” the last song on the album.

[From Star Magazine, print edition, October 8, 2007]

I’ve never heard that Johnny Depp dabbled in art in his free time, and I couldn’t find anything about his hobby online or in his Wikipedia entry. He seems to be a multi-talented guy who doesn’t talk about his skills.

While Depp helped his wife out in her professional life by painting for her album, she is said to have given him singing lessons so he can do his own vocals in the upcoming Sweeney Todd musical. It is due for release on December 21, 2007.

Depp is going to star in the film Shantaram, which begins filming in January. It’s based on the true life story of a convict who escaped from an Australian prison to live in Mumbai.

According to IMDB, he also has three other films in the works, The Rum Diary and Sin City 2 and 3.

Johnny Depp and Vanessa Paradis are shown at a Mont Blanc event in Geneva, Switzerland in April of 2006.

People magazine has released their annual best dressed list, ahead of the best dressed issue of their magazine. Then again, with a stylist in tow it’s easy to gain best dressed kudos, so the worst dressed is probably more interesting! I wish that list was longer.

Best Dressed 2007

Beyoncé Knowles – The Showstopper
Cameron Diaz – The Legs
Katie Holmes – The Classic
Penélope Cruz - The Continental
Jessica Biel – The All-American
Drew Barrymore – The Chameleon
Jennifer Lopez – The Glamour Girl
Reese Witherspoon – The Celeb Next Door
Gwen Stefani – The Trendsetter
Ali Larter – The Newcomer

Best Dressed Men

David Beckham
George Clooney
Johnny Depp
Terrence Howard
Brad Pitt

Best Dressed Couples

Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt
Gabriel Aubry & Halle Berry
Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale
Tony Parker & Eva Longoria

World’s Worst Dresser

Eva Green

Most Shocking Fashion Moments

Britney Spears shaves her head
Sanjaya Malakar’s faux-hawk
Kidnapped British sailors in oversized Iranian suits
Sen. Hillary Clinton’s cleavage
Naomi Campbell’s dress-up for community service
Paris Hilton’s get-out-of-jail get-up

Just Plain Wrong

Sienna Miller in black tights
Avril Lavigne’s combat boots & pink frilly dress

New York Daily News

Why have best dressed men lists? Even the most stylish man just tends to walk around in either a tuxedo or a t-shirt. There’s not much complicated about men’s dressing, why not have best punk rocker style for say, Pete Wentz? Or Best male use of make up, which would probably also be won by Pete Wentz.

I’m also confused about the criteria: Avril Lavinge’s lace dress and combat boots is a style no-no, but Lily Allen’s signature look is a dress and hi-top sneakers (Lily is mentioned in a British best dressed section of the magazine). Aren’t these just different versions of the same look? And none of the women on the best dressed list are cleavage shy, but it’s not okay for Hilary Clinton to show off her assets?

World’s Worst Dresser Eva Green is shown at the Casino Royale world premiere on 11/14/06 and the BAFTA awards on 2/11/07. (PRPhotos)

World’s Best Dressed Woman Beyonce Knowles is shown at the VMAs, at the opening of Jay-Z’s 40-40 club in Vegas on 9/6/07 and at the launch of Emporio Armani Diamonds Fragrance on 8/16/07. (PRPhotos)

Just Plain Wrong Sienna Miller in black tights at the Factory Girl UK premiere on 3/13/07 and at the 2006 Costume Institute Gala on 5/1/06. (PRPhotos)

Just Plain Wrong Avril Lavigne in a pink dress with combat boots at her CD release party in April. (via Faded Youth)

Johnny Depp realized that his two Rottweiler dogs, Red and Blue, might pose a threat to his children and put them up in a posh pet resort two years ago at a cost of $2k per month per dog. That’s more than most people pay in rent.

One of the dogs bit an employee at the facility, so it was probably a good idea for Depp to make sure they were no longer around his children:

Two years ago, [Johnny Depp] sent this two Rottweilers, Red and Blue, to the Crossroads County Club Pet Resort in Anaheim, California, because they were too aggressive to keep around his two young children…

“Johnny can’t bring himself to have them put down,” a source told The Enquirer. “So he pays $2,000 a month on each dog for them to be kept at a kennel.”

“At first, Red and Blue had the run of the kennel. But then, after one of them bit an employee, they were kept locked in cages.”

An employee at Crossroads confirmed: “Johnny Depp’s dogs, Red and Blue, are here. They’ve been here a couple of years.”

[From the National Enquirer print edition, August 13, 2007]

Depp has two children, son Jack, who turns 5 tomorrow, and daughter Lily-Rose, 8. This story just confirms what everyone already knows: that Depp’s a good guy who puts his family first but still obviously cares for his pets.

In other Johnny Depp news, he is involved in two projects that are coming up, an adaptation of Hunter S Thompson’s autobiography, The Rum Diaries, and the big screen version of the campy gothic soap opera Dark Shadows. Depp was just named the third most bankable actor. He was behind Matt Damon and Brad Pitt, and was placed third in a tie with Vince Vaughn. I would have thought he would be at first or second easily.

Update: A lot of commentors are outraged that Depp boards his Rottweilers, saying that being in a cage all day is exceptionally cruel. I agree, and I assumed that although the dogs may be caged part of the time that this article must not be correct. According to the website for the kennel, dogs get one-on-one time twice a day and there is an option where they can go out to the park once a day. Since Depp is paying so much for their care, I assume he paid for this level of service and that the dogs do get out. It does look like a top notch kennel, although commentors are probably right that it can’t compare to a loving home.

Forbes.com just released an analysis of who gives movies studios the most bang for their buck. I was kind of surprised, but it turns out the best investment is Matt Damon. In a way it makes sense: those “It” actors and actresses command such huge paychecks, that investment-wise, it’s hard to get the same return. For every dollar that Matt Damon is paid for a film, the movie returned $29. Pretty good deal.

“According to Forbes’ first-ever list of Ultimate Star Payback, the movie stars who deliver the best bang for the buck aren’t the industry’s top earners. Matt Damon, the soft-spoken leading man in box office winner The Bourne Ultimatum, turns out to be Hollywood’s best investment. For every dollar Damon got paid for his last three roles, his films returned $29 of gross income. And, surprisingly, former ‘Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston is Hollywood’s most profitable actress, despite duds like ‘Rumor Has It.’ For ever dollar the former Mrs. Pitt was paid for her last three major roles, her films on average returned $17 of gross income.”

[From Forbes.com]

Second place for actors went to Brad Pitt, and third place was a tie between Johnny Depp and Vince Vaughn. Vince Vaughn is the biggest surprise to me. It must be because he makes about $34 a film, so if the film makes $43,000 you’ve got a pretty good deal. Vaughn’s rate is actually about a million a film, a relative bargain in Hollywood terms. Forbes points out that his last three movies “’The Break-Up,’ ‘Wedding Crashers,’ ‘Dodgeball’–have been box office bonanzas relative to their low production costs. (At $52 million, The Break-Up’s budget was roughly 20% of “Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man’s Chest.).” The big budget actors like Tom Hanks, Tom Cruise and Will Smith only averaged about $12 in gross income per salary dollar.

The actor who gave the worst return, dollar for dollar? Russell Crowe. Forbes points out that his “standing in Hollywood has shrunk since he scored back-to-back consecutive Oscar nods for ‘The Insider’ (1999), ‘Gladiator’ (2000) and ‘A Beautiful Mind’ (2001). Crowe’s last three films earned on average just $5 in gross income for every dollar spent on the star. His most recent, last year’s ‘A Good Year,’ was made for $35 million, almost one-third of which went to Crowe’s salary. The film earned only $40 million in worldwide box office, making it a huge disappointment for Fox, which produced and distributed it.” Logically, it seems like the opposite should be true. Who would ever have guessed that getting three Oscar nominations in three years could be bad for your career?

You know who is not a good investment? Lindsay Lohan. For some reason Forbes doesn’t even bother mentioning this. Probably because it’s so obvious it doesn’t need stating. Ironically, I bet this report will raise Matt Damon’s salary, thus making him less of a great deal. Oh well. He’s still a good actor, and fun to look at.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Matt Damon yesterday at the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival. Header image of Matt and his wife Luciana Bozan Barroso from the “The Bourne Ultimatum” Los Angeles Premiere. Images thanks to PR Photos.

When Johnny Depp revealed in past interviews time after time that has a young boy he longed to play the character of Barnabas Collins from the vampiric soap opera, “Dark Shadows,” I wonder if he ever thought that one day he’d actually get his wish?

Sources close to Variety have reported that Depp and Graham King’s GK Films have finally closed a deal to develop a feature based on the cult series.

A rights deal just closed with the estate of Dan Curtis, the producer/director who created the soap that aired weekdays on ABC, from 1966 to 1971. Depp and King will produce with David Kennedy, who ran Dan Curtis Prods. until Curtis died last year of a brain tumor. Infinitum-Nihil’s Christi Dembrowski served as the point person on the deal.

Variety

Yup. I’d say that about seals the deal.

“Dark Shadows” was a campy soap that featured all things Halloween - monsters, a few witches here and there, zombies, a pack of werewolves and yes - vampires, and even though it hasn’t seen the light of TV by anything worthy in years (although the Sci-Fi Channel did run the original series back in the late 1990’s), it continues to have - what else? - a cult following, including a Dark Shadows Festival (held annually since 1983), which is a two day event scheduled to take place this year at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, New York on August 17 and 18.

The news that Depp has signed on to create a new - and much more current - “Dark Shadows” is probably welcome news to some, but there are those who will always prefer the original. No news yet on when we can expect to see the development come full term, but Depp fans can look forward to seeing him in “Sweeney Todd” next year.

Pictures, except for the header, are from the 2001 film From Hell, thanks to Allmoviephoto.

I was thoroughly dissapointed in Pirates 2, which had some cool special effects but seemed to drag on forever without a point. I don’t really care about the next Pirates movie and doubt I’ll be seeing it in the theatre, but people seem excited about it and the site with this concept art for the film got a lot of diggs.

People are commenting on Digg that Keira Knightley has some boobies in these pictures, and also it looks like the movie ends with a fight scene at the edge of the world or near a whirlpool or something. Commentor darthdurden says “yea apparently the biggest spoiler is that kiera knightly is going to be stacked.”

There, I really don’t need to see it now.

Follow the thumbnails below for bigger versions.

Johnny Depp has so far resisted marrying his girlfriend of eight years and mother of his two children, pretty French actress Vanessa Paradis. A report in Star magazine in July suggested that Vanessa was resistant to marriage, but that Johnny told her he
would get married whenever she changed her mind.

Now rumors are heating up that Johnny might marry Vanessa soon!

[via]

Maybe Vanesssa will keep her last name, which means “paradise” in French, or maybe this is just a rumor. Regardless Johnny is undoubtedly a great dad and partner and these two have been together a long time. We hope they make it legal.

Meanwhile the second installment in the “Pirates” series has grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the third highest grossing movie of all time! Success couldn’t find a more deserving actor.

While looking for pictures of Johnny Depp, I found this hot recent photoshoot by Matt Sayles:

Depp won’t say which of his characters he identifies with most. Although people have praised his role as Cap’n Jack Sparrow, he says all of his characters are close to his heart. He also says he doesn’t take work just for the money:

Depp is certainly popular enough to be picky about his roles, and his choices have served him well as an A-list actor. Although Depp won’t admit which of his characters is his favorite, he did make the tattoo of a sparrow he sported as Captain Jack Sparrow permanent and added the caption “Jack.” He says it is in honor of his youngest son, Jack Christopher Depp III, born on April 9, 2002.

Here is Depp looking hot in a T-shirt and fedora. [via]