Depp Charges "The Tourist"
Graham King’s GK Films is financing and distributing through his multi-picture output deal with Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Depp would play an American tourist drawn into a web of intrigue and danger by a female Interpol agent (Jolie) as she attempts to locate a criminal who was once her lover.The move comes after “Avatar” star Sam Worthington exited along with director Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck, both over creative differences.
Already, directors are circling the plum gig, including Alfonso Cuaron.
King is producing with Tim Headington, Gary Barber, Roger Birnbaum and Jonathan Glickman. The pic was originally scripted by Julian Fellowes, with rewrites by Christopher McQuarrie and Jeffrey Nachmanoff.
The prospect of a Depp-Jolie teaming is tantalizing, in the latest turn on a project that has seen some of Hollywood’s top talents come and go.
Spyglass initially set up the remake of the 2005 French thriller “Anthony Zimmer” with Bharat Nalluri directing Tom Cruise and Charlize Theron. Worthington came aboard with Theron after Cruise took "Knight & Day" at Fox. Von Donnersmarck then came into the picture with Jolie.
Depp was brought into the mix by King, with whom he has a close relationship, most recently collaborating on “The Rum Diary” and the Gore Verbinski-directed animated pic “Rango.”The emergence of Depp is surprising, since he was expected to make his next film at Disney, in a fourth installment of "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "The Lone Ranger."
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Big mistake for Depp to get mixed up in this.
Posted by: Catherine | 11/04/2009 at 06:05 PM
Ugh! Moving down the status ladder, Johnny?
Posted by: B.L. | 11/04/2009 at 06:32 PM
Depp and Jolie?? This could be very interesting.
Posted by: fresh | 11/04/2009 at 06:49 PM
How can working with Jolie be stepping down the status ladder for Depp? It's a step UP considering he never works with any actresses who can open a movie in their own right. And frankly other than the Pirates movies Depp has yet to prove he can open a major movie without a ton of make-up and a Keith Richards impresonation. Working with Jolie should be a challenge for Depp and working with Depp should be a challenge for Jolie. Sounds like an even trade off to me.
Posted by: Stacy | 11/04/2009 at 07:09 PM
I doubt Johnny is up to the acting level of Angie but we'll see. I would have liked another whack at AJ paired with Daniel Craig again, or Clive Owen. Unfortunately, Clive has that whole "Duplicity" thingie to live down.
Posted by: glitterrati | 11/04/2009 at 07:32 PM
and people, remember that Alfonso Cuaron is doing this. With Depp and Jolie, it has to be decent. I hope.
Posted by: oi vey McGee | 11/04/2009 at 07:35 PM
Sorry to say this, but Depp is getting himself involved with a lot of garbage lately. Don't get me wrong: I love Johnny, but I don't necessarily love his recent movies. Maybe RUM DIARIES will redeem him.
What happened to the days of DEAD MAN and FEAR AND LOATHING? I miss that Depp. Jack Sparrow got old after the first two PIRATES movies (maybe even after the first PIRATES movie). We don't need any more of that. And his movies with BURTON are getting pretty dry too. I understand they like each other, but I think Depp needs to realize Burton isn't making anything too interesting these days. I loved EDWARD SCISSORHANDS and ED WOOD, but today I find myself tired of the Depp/Burton collaboration. Perhaps I'm just in the minority, though.
He needs to make a radical change in his decisions or else he will continue to grow stale. PUBLIC ENEMIES was not interesting. This Angelina Jolie movie will probably be the same kind of a deal.
Posted by: Matt | 11/04/2009 at 09:30 PM
Um, Matt, I'm guessing that saying on Variety that you think Depp has been doing garbage lately is probably not the best way to get your script to him, but what do I know? (see his link, sheesh)
Posted by: vermontfudge | 11/05/2009 at 02:17 AM
I think we should have all knew Johnny .
I myself trust him , and know that he wont play any film that can hurt himself in his future .
He's so much intelligenter than us in choosing his films .
I know someone that became his lovers just after watchin'
PUBLIC ENEMIES . it meas he was successfull there too .
And dont forget that his and Tim s '' ALICE IN WONDERLAND '' will be on screen sooner that this film .
HE ALWAYS ROCKS
Posted by: Amin | 11/05/2009 at 04:28 AM
In response to Vermontfudge...
Maybe 'garbage' isn't the right word, but I'm just expressing my opinion because I always liked Depp and think he's an awesome actor. Just want to see him go in the right direction. You can't always pat people on the back...I had to say say how I felt, but, heck, who am I to judge? All I can do is offer my opinion.
Posted by: Matt | 11/05/2009 at 09:51 AM
Matt said: "Maybe 'garbage' isn't the right word, but I'm just expressing my opinion because I always liked Depp and think he's an awesome actor. Just want to see him go in the right direction." And the right direction, I assume, would be toward your project which you're trying to get to him anyway you can, per your site.
Posted by: vermontfudge | 11/05/2009 at 10:37 AM
well, i agree with matt that this isn't exactly the most classy material. johnny's a phenomenal actor, and he should choose roles that aren't going to be traditional leading man types. however, i must say that i thought public enemies was rather good, and in my eyes, tim burton can do no wrong. but this? i don't know
Posted by: kim | 11/05/2009 at 11:40 AM
In response to "Amin"
You wrote:
"I think we should have all knew Johnny.
I myself trust him , and know that he wont play any film that can hurt himself in his future.
He's so much intelligenter than us in choosing his films.
I know someone that became his lovers just after watchin'
PUBLIC ENEMIES . it meas he was successfull there too.
And dont forget that his and Tim s '' ALICE IN WONDERLAND '' will be on screen sooner that this film.
HE ALWAYS ROCKS"
Let me see, where should I start... Never mind, it's too easy. LOL
He does "Rock" though, at least you're right about that.
Posted by: Christopher | 11/05/2009 at 12:30 PM
This is amazing! Depp and Jolie would probably add a great dynamic to the set and the script. Seems like they would push each other - they've both had dark pasts they could probably feed off of. And if Cuaron gets in, it would be great. Maybe Clint Eastwood would be even better - love him!
Posted by: Claudia | 11/05/2009 at 02:54 PM
To Vermontfudge:
Precisely, my good man. But, really, maybe RUM DIARIES will be really good and I'll be happy enough with him for doing that.
To Kim:
Hope I didn't make it look like I don't like Burton, but if you compare his recent films to his early stuff (Pee Wee to ED Wood/Batman etc.) I don't think there's much of a comparison. As far as PUBLIC ENEMIES goes, Depp's performance was the most interesting part of the movie, which I think is the case in a lot of his work.
Posted by: Matt | 11/05/2009 at 05:25 PM
I'm a little disappointed that Depp would want to play a role opposite Angelina Jolie. She's fine and Brad's ok for what they do. But Depp has a completely different goal, or did. In my opinion, he has too much on his plate as it is. It seems that he's trying to please everyone and be everything and we just know that can't be good. I'd like to see him do the pirate film, maybe without so many kiddie distractions, we will see more depth to the Jack character. I think he's too sidetracked right now.
Posted by: Sandy | 11/05/2009 at 08:28 PM
I think he will do this movie if it helps to negotiate with Sony to distribute the The Rum Diary next year. Even if the script is mediocre, Depp will make something great out of it as he always does.
Posted by: sammy | 11/05/2009 at 09:25 PM