2 0 0 7 - P r e s e n t
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On
the Razor’s Edge
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Johnny
Depp began 2007 with a billion-dollar movie, Pirates
of
the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, claiming the 2006
box-office crown and, in the process, becoming the
third-highest-grossing film
of all time. Johnny had just wrapped shooting on the third film in the POTC
series, At
World’s End,
ending a grueling two-year shoot. Surely this was
the time for the world’s most-in-demand actor to rest on his
laurels a bit,
relax, and look for an easy project with a big paycheck. Instead,
Johnny
charged off full-steam-ahead in a new direction—and accepted
the
leading role
in Tim Burton’s film of Stephen Sondheim’s musical
masterpiece, Sweeney Todd, even
though Johnny’s
only
musical background came from years of playing guitar.
Choosing
to play the demon barber was a risky career move; can
Johnny Depp sing? quickly became the question on every
Tinseltown pundit and Broadway skeptic’s lips. That no one
knew
the answer
shows just how much Johnny was stretching himself by accepting the
difficult
role of Sweeney Todd. But an even greater challenge lay ahead.
Production began
on February 5, 2007 at Pinewood Studios only to be halted three weeks
later
when Johnny’s seven-year-old daughter Lily-Rose fell gravely
ill.
“To say it
was the darkest moment, that’s nothing,” Johnny
told
reporter Steve Daly six
months later. “It doesn’t come close to describing
it. [. .
.] 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.’” Fortunately
Lily-Rose made a complete recovery—“She pulled
through
beautifully, perfectly,
with no lasting anything,” said Johnny—and the
relieved and
grateful father
reported back to Pinewood on March 26, 2007 to complete Sweeney
Todd.
Filming
wrapped on Sweeney Todd in early
May,
cutting into promotion time for the little Pirates
film due to open worldwide on Memorial Day weekend, the traditional
start to
the U.S. summer movie season. Pirates of
the Caribbean: At World’s End had its world
premiere at
Disneyland on May
19, 2007; thousands of fans lined Main Street to watch Johnny and his
colleagues walk the red carpet. Like its predecessor, At
World’s End brought moviegoers to the box office in
droves
and
became the top-grossing film in the world for its year of release,
earning more
than $961 million and becoming the 5th-highest-grossing film of all
time.
--Part-Time
Poet
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