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MJ Mentionings:
JOHNNY DEPP LOVES MICHAEL JACKSON
by Michael Ferraro
First off, I have to say when I heard that Warner Bros. decided to remake “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory,” I was a little less than thrilled. I never quite found the magic of the original film, even when I was a kid. I like the original Dahl book, but I think that is because my imagination of his words never annoyed me as much as the images in Mel Stuart’s film. Nor did the songs in print cause me to want to slam my head against concrete. Nor did I get an epileptic seizure during the boat ride sequence in the book like I did watching the film. It might even be safe to say that I pretty much hate everything about that movie, with exception to Gene Wilder of course.
Then with news of Tim Burton directing the film, and being the fan of Burton that I am, I now had something to be excited about. According to IMDB, WB had more than a few people they were considering for the role of Wonka. Steve Martin, Michael Keaton, Nic Cage and Robin Williams were all on the list. Marilyn Manson wanted to play the part desperately, but Warner Bros. wouldn’t even give that idea a minute of thought. They even thought about Christopher Walken. How awesome would that have been? They had themselves a pretty good list of people but how could any list of actors considered for Wonka not include Crispin Glover? He would have been the best new age Wonka ever. He probably would’ve received an Academy Award nomination.
Burton finally settled on his old comrade, Johnny Depp, a man who has garnered two nominations himself since the last time they worked together. Sounded like a good combination at the time, although, I wasn’t as enthused as a lot of other people were.
At the time, I actually thought that this had the potential of being a great idea. The last time Burton and Depp teamed up was in 1999 with the mediocre Sleepy Hollow and while that film looked great, the writing ended up killing the entire experience. How wrong I was for thinking this idea good, even though I only thought it for a second.
Stills from the film started popping up all over the place. Then a hideous trailer with an equally hideous song started popping up in theaters. Visually, it looked like any other Tim Burton movie but something was afoot about the way Depp looked. He looked sickly pale, as if he had the same surgeons as Michael Jackson, and even had the voice of a soft spoken pedophile. Journalists all over the place began to throw out stories about the uncanny resemblance. It was obvious; Burton and Warner Bros. may have made a mistake in their casting choice.
I had to change my state of mind though; I shouldn’t judge movies by their trailers. No one should. If we did, we might be under the impression that War of the Worlds was a good movie. So I put all my reservations on the back burner and patiently awaited its release.
Watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory wasn’t nearly as bad of a time I imagined it was going to be, nor was it that great. Hate to say it but I actually enjoyed everything about it better than the original version… everything except for Johnny Depp. Gene Wilder was far superior as Wonka; it’s just a shame that his film wasn’t this funny, and oftentimes, this dark.
Pirates of the Caribbean illustrated just how perfect Johnny Depp is at mimicry. Compare his role in that film to the mannerisms of Keith Richards or Iggy Pop. He has even publicly stated that Richards was his source of inspiration for that role. Since he has made the public aware of his love for aging rock stars, should his depiction of a Jacksonesque Wonka surprise us? Not really, although it would have been better if he used another person for motivation.
Every time Depp was on screen, I heard “Thriller” in the back of my mind. Not only that but the actual story itself paralleled Michael in so many ways. Roger Ebert found this coincidental too; he writes in his review of this film, “Consider the reclusive lifestyle, the fetishes of wardrobe and accessories, the elaborate playground built by an adult for the child inside.” It was as if Roald Dahl was a time traveler who visited the future and grew fascinated by Michael Jackson and decided to write a satire about him in his time without anyone really knowing the source. The only problem with that idea was that since he was the only one traveling to the future, no one else in the world would get the joke. Well, we get it now.
In this film, 5 lucky kids get invited to Wonka’s magical Chocolate Factory: two little boys, a fat kid and two annoying girls. Each time a girl asks Wonka a question, he barely gives them a second of attention. The same goes for the fat kid and the television kid. Wonka is only interested in one little boy here: Charlie, the sweet and well-mannered kid without a pot to piss in. This would be the kid to tickle Michael Jackson’s fancy, should any of those molestation allegations be true. At the end of the film, he even asks Charlie to live in his factory without bringing his family along. The film justifies this type of action from the character with perfect reasoning but it still brings wonder to the viewer’s imagination.
If Burton didn’t have a parody of Michael Jackson in mind, what was the point of all Depp’s odd characteristics? We may never know but one thing is for sure, Johnny Depp needs to stop channeling musicians into his performances. It was entertaining the first time around, even got him a Nomination out of the deal, but enough is enough. Do you really think the public wants to be reminded of Michael Jackson for an hour and forty-seven minutes? No, we sure don't. If Crispin Glover had been picked for the role, this same mistake wouldn’t have been made.
URL: http://www.filmthreat.com/Features.asp?Id=1515 |
发表于 2005-7-11 17:47:12
长长的黑发、苍白的皮肤、阴柔的气质、华丽的外套，还有……与传统成年男性不同的低声细语。
这就是鬼才导演蒂姆·伯顿的新片《查理和巧克力工厂》中的威利·旺卡一角，由性格演员约翰尼·德普饰演。该片改编自一部广受欢迎的著名的同名童书，是今年夏季电影市场最让人期待的作品之一。
但有人提出了一个问题：“我想大众将要在其中看到迈克尔·杰克逊了。”
“科幻网”的新闻编辑帕特里克·李如是说道，而且他认为观众们不会对他的看法表示反对。
“太可怕了，”休斯顿的一个博客劳伦斯·西蒙也附和笑道。
这部《查理和巧克力工厂》》即将于7月15日上映。在这个票房不景气夏季里，华纳兄弟电影公司对该片寄予了厚望，正如他们对《蝙蝠侠：侠影之秘》和《正义前锋》的希望一样。
但据德普说，他并不是从迈克尔·杰克逊身上为威利·旺卡这个角色找着了灵感，尽管他之前公开承认，他是从摇滚乐手凯斯·理查兹那里学来了扮演《加勒比海盗》里杰克·斯派洛船长的噱头。“坦白说，我没有那么想过。很有趣，人们竟会这样看。”约翰尼·德普说，他说是一些儿童节目的主持人，如袋鼠船长和罗杰斯先生，给了他参考。
“每个人都有权利自由想象，”德普上周在巴哈马群岛的新闻发布会上说，“即便是极度错误的。”
无论对错，在新闻发布会上，李告诉说，关于杰克逊的疑问却多次提起。不过，在他看完全片后，李却宁愿为电影制作者作出善意的解释。“威利·旺卡这个角色的本质并不是迈克尔·杰克逊。威利·旺卡讨厌孩子们——这就已经把他和迈克尔·杰克逊分开了。”
票房分析家保罗·德加贝迪恩也事先观摩了全片。他认为德普扮演的旺卡，“应该更像是罗杰斯先生，而不是迈克尔·杰克逊。”
如果该片的预告片真的让观众有不适的话，对票房来讲却不一定就是件坏事。英国作家罗尔德·达尔的这部满是暴食、贪婪和黑奴的经典童书，绝对不会与迪斯尼的曼妙童话们相混淆。因此，预告片越诡异，观众就越会感兴趣。
“他们期待约翰尼·德普能够让他们出乎意料，”德加贝迪恩说，“如果是别人，就不会有这么大的期待值。”
但约翰尼·德普似乎总是能跟迈克尔·杰克逊扯上关系。《剪刀手爱德华》让人想到的是一个深居古堡却被世人误解的好心天才；而他的上一部影片，则是传记片《寻访梦幻岛》，他扮演的正是“小飞侠”彼得·潘之父——作家J.M.巴里。他因此还获得了奥斯卡最佳男演员提名。
当时约翰尼·德普也被问到了关于迈克尔·杰克逊的问题。在接受《帝国》杂志采访时他说，这部电影将可以用作来为杰克逊在法庭上的辩护。
那部电影主要着力刻画J.M.巴里和莱文利·戴维斯一家及男孩子们的关系，他把这些孩子当作了创作其书中“遗失男孩们”角色的灵感原型。德普表示，今天来看，这样的关系却可能导致警方调查，杰克逊遭遇的法律行动就充分说明了这一点。
当被问到杰克逊是否应该在法庭上拿这部片子作为一个例证，德普回答说：“是的，也许吧。对巴里来说，许多的批评都是不公正的。正如马龙·白兰度常说的那样，‘你做过吗？不，你没有。’”
“那些孩子在后来接受采访的时候，都根本没有说到什么猥亵、玩弄的词语，他们只说巴里是个大好人。他爱这些孩子，孩子们也爱他。这就是原因。”
即将上映的《查理和巧克力工厂》是德普与蒂姆·伯顿的第四度合作，对此，德普说：“他叫我来扮演旺卡，我深感荣耀，我只希望这电影是适合我的舞台。我第一关心的总是。‘上帝啊，我不能叫蒂姆失望。’”
有“残酷童话”之称的《查理和巧克力工厂》根据英国作家罗尔德·达尔的同名小说改编，事实上，在1971年，它就曾被改名为《欢乐糖果屋》而搬上银幕，当时扮演旺卡的是吉恩·怀尔德。虽然上映时并没有取得惊人票房，但却已成为最受X世代喜爱的怀旧影片之一。
伯顿这次拍摄的新版本出人意料地更加回归原著。这一次，巧克力工厂的各种房间更令人眼花缭乱，观众仿佛和小男孩查理一同怀着兴奋的心情开始参观这个奇妙的工厂。
不过，蒂姆·伯顿坚称新版《查理和巧克力工厂》并不是三十余年前旧片的翻拍：“人们总喜欢把两部影片对立起来，希望上演一场生死战，就好像我们在扫荡三代人的童年记忆一样。但我们并不是在摧毁旧版本，任何喜欢它的人都可以继续观看。”
倒是原著者达尔（1990年去世）曾多次表示不喜欢1971年版。据他的遗孀莉茜·透露，最主要的原因是，“他们在演员人选问题上分歧很严重。罗尔德坚持旺卡的角色要由英国喜剧演员斯派克·米利根来扮演。”但当时的导演梅尔·斯图尔特却空口敷衍，最终让吉恩·怀尔德获得了这个角色。达尔从此对他遭受的轻慢耿耿于怀，在他去世后，莉茜开始掌控丈夫原著的改编权。八、九年前华纳兄弟电影公司就试图与她接触，希望重新拍摄该片，但遭到了拒绝。“我总是对重拍片有所担心，”莉茜说道，“我无法确信这是明智的选择。”但是，在华纳公司经过数年的争取，将剧本、导演、演员都一一落实后，终于获得了莉茜的首肯。
《查理和巧克力工厂》原著出版于1964年，讲的是一个生活在贫穷家庭的男孩查理·巴克特跟另外四个幸运的孩子一起在疯癫天才威利·旺卡充满惊奇的巧克力工厂游历的故事。
查理·巴克特全家七个人只有一张床，但是查理家的儿女都有天使般的善良。小查理生长的小镇里有全世界最大的巧克力工厂，工厂由一个伟大的巧克力发明家和制造商威利·旺卡所拥有。工厂非常神秘，大门紧锁。有一天，威利先生发出告示，将有五位幸运的孩子获得参观巧克力工厂的特权，同时还能得到足够吃一辈子的巧克力糖和其他糖果。前提是谁能找到藏在包装纸里的五张金券，谁就是幸运儿。
偶然的机会，查理得到了一张金券。参观工厂的过程是一次奇特的经历：飞瀑而下的巧克力瀑布、大片大片的口香糖草地、粉红的糖果小船、还有牛奶糖堆成的山。工厂里的工人全是来自酷爱巧克力的小矮人。每个参观者都感到了无限着迷，巨大的诱惑也使得其他四个孩子失去了自制，他们或掉进了巧克力河、或变成了糖果、或被送进了垃圾炉、或钻进电视变成了信号微粒，这一切小查理均不为所动。最后，查理因为诚实正直，得到了旺卡先生的赏识，赢得整个巧克力工厂。
小查理的扮演者是刚与德普在《寻访梦幻岛》中合作过的小演员弗雷迪·海默。和伯顿以往的影片《断头谷》、《大鱼》一样，《查理和巧克力工厂》仍由理查德·扎纳克制片，并邀来合作过《大鱼》的约翰·奥格斯特撰写全新剧本，以期尽可能忠实于原著。影片于去年6月在松林摄影棚开机，去年12月初基本完成拍摄，进入后期制作。
伯顿的电影以诡异著称，充满童话色彩、视觉感受独特。虽然《查理和巧克力工厂》中很多背景运用电脑合成，但伯顿还是选择实景拍摄。在该片中，伯顿呈现出一种复古风貌，从巧克力工厂所在的小镇到空想出的房间和工厂内的各种创造发明。影片中最宏大的场景在松林摄影棚中著名的007舞台搭建，包括大片的口香糖草地、牛奶糖山、一艘巧克力浆河和一条粉红色糖果小船，这艘小船是旺卡带领孩子们在工厂内穿梭的交通工具。
1971年版《查理和巧克力工厂》中，怀尔德诠释的糖果厂老板是一个有着怪老伯外表和温暖情怀的人。但从不屑于模仿的德普则要另辟蹊径。他和伯顿决定给旺卡一个背景故事：安排他有一名牙科医生父亲，父亲禁止他吃甜食，所以反而与父亲疏远并狂迷糖果。许多年后旺卡不仅隐居起来，更几乎失去了跟其他人沟通的能力。伯顿说：“他不是一个父亲的形象，他一团混乱。”
但观众会为这个被设计成并不温暖的角色感动吗？对此伯顿说：“我记得剧本里有条注释是这么写的，‘我们必须在查理和旺卡之间找到联结点’，这就是整部电影的关键所在。威利·旺卡既不是孩子，也不像大人，——甚至不像我们见过的任何人，他的世界就是电路的开与关。”
华纳兄弟电影公司这回投入了1.5亿美元巨资，期望该片能在夏季电影市场上赢得家庭观众的青睐。据看过试片会的影评人表示，该片的前30分钟跟伯顿从前的作品一样“绮丽、有趣和令人欣喜”。莉茜·达尔也被影片所震撼，并表示她已故的丈夫“应该会喜欢它”，她还尤其喜欢德普的表演，“我得老实说，我认为他太可爱了。”
不管“大人世界”的影评人怎么看，最终还是要由孩子们决定这部电影的命运。扮演查理的小影星弗雷迪·海默说，“他们问我，你喜欢巧克力吗？我说，妙极了！但我想约翰尼·德普会比巧克力更妙。”
片名：查理和巧克力工厂
英文：Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
港译：朱古力掌门人
导演：蒂姆·伯顿
编剧：约翰·奥格斯特
主演：约翰尼·德普、弗雷迪·海默、大卫·凯利、海伦娜·邦汉·卡特、克里斯托弗·李
类型：奇幻/冒险/家庭
片长：106分钟
发行：华纳兄弟电影公司
上映：2005年7月15日
（文/编辑：Keen）
变色卡
显身卡
狗仔卡
发表于 2005-7-11 17:57:19
楼主
发表于 2005-7-11 19:33:59
导演TIM BURTON
首映式
2005年7月10日，美国好莱坞，众星出席电影《查理和巧克力工厂》（Charlie and the Chocolate Factory）的世界首映礼，主要小演员Julia Winter 、弗雷迪·海默（Freddie Highmore）、安娜索菲娅-罗伯（AnnaSophia Robb）、主演强尼·德普（Johnny Depp）、导演蒂姆·伯顿（Tim Burton）到场。
身怀六甲的小甜甜布兰妮也和丈夫一同出席了首映活动。
