Johnny Depp Movie News: Rob Marshall Confirmed for The Thin Man; Depp Discusses Working with Keith Richards and His 21 Jump Street Cameo
Posted 05.11.11 by Ryan
After working together on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, director Rob Marshall and Johnny Depp will reunite for a remake of the 1934 mystery/comedy The Thin Man. Depp discussed Marshall as the director when the project was first announced back in October, but the Marshall confirmed his involvement in an official statement from Warner Bros.
[On Stranger Tides Producer] John [DeLuca] and I are overjoyed at the idea of working with Johnny again, especially on such a classy and classic project. We are also thrilled to be partnering this time with such wonderful producers as Christi Dembroski and Kevin McCormick, and we are looking forward to working with Warner Bros. to create a reinvention of a beloved story.
In The Thin Man, Depp will play former detective Nick Charles (originally portrayed by William Powell) who, along with his wife Nora (originally played by Myrna Loy) and their dog Asta, solves crimes and engages in witty banter. Jerry Stahl (Permanent Midnight) is writing the screenplay for the remake.
Up next for Depp is Tim Burton's adaptation of Dark Shadows — Depp is also attached to a remake of The Lone Ranger for Disney — so when The Thin Man will start production is anyone's guess.
In the meantime, Depp is busy handling press duties for On Stranger Tides, with its release date fast approaching. The fourth installment in the Pirates franchise not only gave Depp an opportunity to portray the iconic character of Captain Jack Sparrow once more, but also gave him another chance to work with Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards, who was not only Depp's inspiration for Sparrow, but plays Captain Teague, Sparrow's father, in the sequel.
"To be able to bring him back into the Pirates fold, where he most certainly belongs, was a gas," Depp told CBSNews. "Just spending a couple days sharing a trailer, it was as close, I suppose, as being in a rock 'n' roll band with him as you can get."
Richards, for his part, told the LA Times that he is "still shocked" to be working for Disney, but was happy to return.
This is so different than what I usually do, and I love to see how's it made, you know, and this is one 3-D with the big cameras and all, and I'm interested in that, and I get to see the latest techniques. And I don't have to really do a lot of work. We did it in London at Pinewood Studios, and it was the usual thing. You get there early, and you wait around a long time. The makeup takes a long time; it's an incredible amount of makeup, and sometimes you're sitting there next to a guy who's getting scales put on. "Hey, how you doin'?" It's a lot of preparation to do something that will be short, but it's amazing stuff, as you expect.
Besides shooting On Stranger Tides, Depp has also shot a cameo for the upcoming 21 Jump Street movie starring Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill. Depp called the cameo "a gas" and a "a real great experience" in an interview with CBS News, but admitted to Entertainment Weekly a few more details about the role.
When I heard about it [the cameo], I thought: "Why not?" It seemed like a good idea. It had the right spirit, because it was looking back on the show that ... Jesus, that was 1986 [when it started], a very different world then in terms of what was possible and allowed. This was the same network where it was, "No, no, you will do a PSA with [then Surgeon General] C. Everett Koop. This is how we are going to show you to the world."
I imagine there is some sense of humor behind [the movie]. It's nice to come into it and have a bit of closure, in a way. I got out of Jump Street on a sort of technicality in the middle of filming Edward Scissorhands. I was supposed to go back for a couple seasons, but there was just some weirdness with a date when they had to let me know to come back, and they didn't and agents and lawyers started going ape. And suddenly, your off and out. So for me, to come back to this, in a weird way, is interesting. Full circle.
Depp also said his cameo may be hard to recognize at first. "It might be difficult to spot me in this one right off the bat," he said. "I'll be a little... different."
Next Showing: On Stranger Tides opens May 20, while
21 Jump Street opens on March 16, 2012