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Tag: Black Mass

  • Amber Heard Says Johnny Depp Split Rumors Nothing But “Horrible Misrepresentation” of Their Lives

    Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have been followed by split rumors since shortly after they wed. During a recent interview that appears in the December issue of Marie Claire, Amber Heard says she and Depp are doing just fine.

    “I try not to react to the horrible misrepresentation of our lives, but it is strange, and hard,” she says.

    It was less than a year ago–in February of 2014–when Amber Heard and Johnny Depp got married. The couple practically disappeared from view until September, when they surfaced at the Venice Film Festival.

    “They’re adorable together,” a source tells E! News, adding that Amber Heard and Johnny Depp looked very much in love in the theater, where his film Black Mass was screening. The two shared lots of PDA. The source adds that despite split rumors, things have long been fine with the couple.

    “They’ve always been together,” the source shares. “They travel for work then come home. They live together and are very much in love, despite what’s being said about breakup rumors.”

    Amber Heard even reportedly enjoys being a stepmother to Johnny Depp’s two children–Lily-Rose Depp and Jack John Christopher Depp III.

    “[It is] an honor and the greatest, most surprising gift I have ever received in my life,” she says of the relatively new role. “I feel new flavors that I didn’t know existed. New colors that I didn’t know existed have been added to my life. I’m so happy.”

    Prior to marrying Johnny Depp, Amber Heard was involved in a long term relationship with another woman. She doesn’t want to talk about that these days, however.

    Amber Heard spoke about her sexuality with the The Times this past summer, however.

    “I don’t want to have to deny my sexuality in order to be me. But I don’t want to have to be defined by it,” she said. “I’m fundamentally opposed to trying to edit myself to be palatable or popular. I don’t give a f–k. I fight, but I shouldn’t have to.”

    Apparently Amber Heard and Johnny Depp aren’t fighting. Per her latest interview, the two are just fine.

    Do you see Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s marriage lasting? Are you among those who have questioned it from the start?

  • Johnny Depp: No Interest in Oscars, “Black Mass” Might Earn Him One

    Johnny Depp presently stars on the big screen as Boston mobster Whitey Bulger in Black Mass. Buzz about the film indicates Depp could be an Oscar contender for his role–and the film could earn some, too. For most actors this would be a source of great excitement and pride.

    Not so much for Johnny Depp.

    “I don’t want to win one of those things ever, you know,” he said in a recent interview at the London Film Festival, where Black Mass was opening.

    “I don’t want to have to talk,” he added.

    “They gave me one of those things, like a nomination, two or three times,” Johnny Depp says. “A nomination is plenty.”

    Given three prior Oscar nods for Finding Neverland, Sweeney Todd, and the first Pirates of the Caribbean film, the actor is clearly satisfied.

    A bit disgruntled over talk of his role in Black Mass being his big comeback, Johnny Depp laughs.

    “What did I come back from? The dead?” he asks. “I haven’t done anything different in this than I have in any other film.”

    He does, however, explain his real feelings about the Oscars.

    “The idea of winning means that you’re in competition with someone and I’m not in competition with anybody,” he says. “I just stick to my guns and do what I want to do. Sometimes people don’t like it but that’s alright.”

    Like it or not, Johnny Depp just might find himself a viable Oscar contender for his role as Whitey Bulger.

    Have you seen Black Mass? Have you seen the transformation the actor underwent to go from Johnny Depp to Whitey Bulger?

    It’s a work of art.

    Black Mass starring Johnny Depp opens in the U.K. in late November. It is currently playing in theaters nationwide in the U.S.

  • “Black Mass” Did NOT Give Benedict Cumberbatch Politics Fever

    Black Mass provided two deep roles for two very deep actors.

    Of course, there was incredible transformation of Johnny Depp in the dark role of James “Whitey” Bulger for Black Mass.

    Depp had to endure hours in the makeup chair to achieve his menacing look for Black Mass, which included a white receding hairline wig and contact lenses.

    Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays Whitey’s brother, William “Billy” Bulger, didn’t have a huge physical transformation, but he did have to study up on American politics for Black Mass. He didn’t, however, come away with a taste for the whole racket.

    He said, “This role didn’t give me a taste of politics.”

    He added, “American politics is a whole different thing. I had to do quite a bit of learning what a state senate and a president of a state senate actually does and what it means.”

    That doesn’t mean Benedict Cumberbatch didn’t enjoy working on Black Mass.

    In fact, he rather enjoyed the location. He said, “It gave me a taste for Boston, though. It’s an amazing place. I had a great time doing this and prepping for it.”

    Now, why wouldn’t Benedict Cumberbatch gain a love for American politics after filming Black Mass in Boston? I mean, come on. It’s ever so attractive right now, right?

    What do you think about the transformation of Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Depp for Black Mass?

  • Amber Heard, Johnny Depp Share Gift of Hearing in Brazil

    Amber Heard and Johnny Depp traveled to Brazil last week so he could perform with his band, Hollywood Vampires, at Rock in Rio. The band includes rock and roll icons Alice Cooper and Aerosmith’s Joe Perry. While there, Depp and Heard wanted to leave the people there with a very special gift.

    Partnering with the Starkey Hearing Foundation, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard provided hearing aids to hundreds of people suffering from hearing loss. Amber Heard was reduced to tears during one very special moment.

    “The reaction somebody has when they hear for the first time, in this case, you see it light up–changes their whole face,” she told the Associated Press. “Just to be a small part of that for one moment, to watch someone’s life change in front of you, it’s moving to say the least.”

    Even Johnny Depp was deeply moved by the appreciation these folks had for the gift of hearing.

    “If you pass something over to someone that they haven’t had ever before, it’s very moving,” the Black Mass star shared. “This sweet little girl, I turned the volume up and I just sort of made a noise–ba-ba-ba-ba-ba–and she went, ‘Yes! Escuchar, I can hear!’”

    Kudos to Amber Heard and Johnny Depp for partnering with the Starkey Hearing Foundation to provide the gift of hearing to so many who never would have been able to afford hearing aids on their own.

    These two celebrities set fine examples for others in Hollywood. May they follow in Heard and Depp’s footsteps and share a bit of their fame and fortune with those less fortunate–either in this country or abroad.

  • Whitey Bulger Wanted Nothing To Do With Black Mass Film

    Whitey Bulger is in prison and will never get out. Famed Boston gangster James “Whitey” Bulger is currently serving two life sentences for conspiracy, racketeering, extortion and the murders of 11 people. But out of sight certainly doesn’t mean out of mind.

    In the new film Black Mass, actor Johnny Depp portrays Bulger, a fact that some former Bulger associates are keen on, but some are not. Depp famously expressed interest in the human side of the murdering gangster, saying of his preparation for the role,

    “The first thing for me was to understand him first and foremost as a human being,”

    “Anybody and everybody, especially the families of his victims, could say ‘He’s just an evil person.’ I don’t believe that exists. People have their humanity, everything they’ve carried with them since they were children. There’s a side of James Bulger who is not just that man who was in that business.”

    Depp says he wanted to talk to Bulger himself, but was turned down.

    “I made an attempt to contact Mr. Bulger only out of respect. It’s his life, and I’m playing him onscreen,” Depp says. Apparently Bulger did not like the book about him that the film was built on.

    “I’m sure he’s not enthusiastic about any of the books – which I understand,” Depp said of Bulger. “I never expected him to meet with me.”

    Bulger’s defense attorney Hank Brennan is not even enthusiastic about Depp’s portrayal of Bulger.

    “Johnny Depp might as well have been playing the Mad Hatter all over again as far as James Bulger is concerned,” Brennan says. “Hollywood greed is behind the rush to portray my client, and the movie missed the real scourge created in my client’s case, the real menace to Boston during that time and in other mob cases around the country – the federal government’s complicity in each and every one of those murders with the top echelon informant program.”

    “The movie missed the real story and instead made a cartoon mockery out of Jimmy Bulger,” Brennan says.

    Dick Lehr, who co-authored Black Mass, begs to differ.

    “Yeah, I think Johnny nailed it,” says Lehr. “Johnny didn’t back away from the fact that he’s a monster.”

  • Whitey Bulger Movie Too Soon? Victim’s Family Thinks So.

    Whitey Bulger is in a maximum security prison in Florida. He is 85 years old now. The gangster was on the run for 16 years before finally being captured in 2011, sentenced to two life terms plus five ears, and locked away for good.

    Now Johhny Depp has a new movie about Whitey Bulger called Black Mass that many think is a return to form for the actor who has spent much of the last 10 years playing pirates, cartoonish figures, and a few forgettable normal ones.

    But Whitey Bulger killed people. And those people have families. And some of those family members think that Johnny Depp’s new movie is a really bad idea.

    One of those people is Steven Davis. His sister Debra was strangled to death by White Bulger and dumped into a shallow grave.

    “A lot of the families are very, very upset about this,” Steve Davis told The Globe about the new Whitey Bulger film. “I don’t like it one bit. . . . Everybody seems to be profiting off it. It’s sad for the movie industry, it’s sad for the actors. The movie industry and the actors, they’re the ones making the money. It’s another (expletive) slap in the face, that’s what we’re getting paid. Another slap in the face.’

    Davis argues that it is too soon to do a film about Whitey Bulger. It’s too much hurt still going on. It’s still too new to the heart for people.”

    Steven Davis’ sister Debra was only 26 when Whitey Bulger killed her. Her boyfriend was Stephen “The Rifleman” Flemmi, Bulger’s second lieutenant. Apparently Flemmi told his girlfriend more than Bulger wanted her to know. Flemmi was supposed to kill her, but couldn’t do it. So he brought her to Bulger.

    Whitey Bulger strangled her, then took a nap while Flemmi cleaned up the mess.

    Whitey Bulger got away with as much as he did because he was an FBI informant. But Steven Davis calls him something else.

    “He was a piece of shit,” Davis said. “The only reason he had the power to do what he did was because the FBI was protecting him.”

    The film stars Johhny Depp as Whitey Bulger himself. Bulger’s longtime girlfriend Lindsey Cyr is played by Dakota Johnson, fresh off 50 Shades of Grey. Whitey’s brother Billy Bulger is played by Benedict Cumberbatch.

  • Johnny Depp and Lily-Rose Depp to Star in ‘Yoga Hosers’

    Johnny Depp and his 15-year-old daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, are set to begin filming for a new movie they will star in together. Called Yoga Hosers, this film is dubbed a ‘comic book movie,’ and it also stars writer Kevin Smith’s daughter, Hailey Quinn Smith.

    “People always ask me ‘Are you ever going to make a comic book movie?’ This is it–but instead of yet another dude saving the day, our antiheroes are the most feared and formidable creatures man has ever encountered: two 15-year-old girls,” Smith explains.

    This isn’t the first time Johnny Depp and Kevin Smith’s daughters have appeared on the big screen either. Both teens had cameos in Kevin Smith’s last film called Tusk. Tusk will premiere in September at the Toronto Film Festival.

    In Yoga Hosers, Lily-Rose Depp and Hailey Quinn Smith will play the crime-fighting Colleens. They will join forces with Johnny Depp’s character to–according to the film’s producers–battle evil, “all seven Chakras, one Warrior Pose at a time.”

    Johnny Depp has spent many years keeping his two children he shares with former partner Vanessa Paradis (both Lily-Rose Depp and Jack Depp) out of the limelight. It seems as Lily-Rose is trying to forge her own path into the acting world, he is becoming more in tune with her wishes by helping her learn her craft–but staying close by at the same time.

    One place Lily-Rose Depp didn’t make herself obvious was on the set of Black Mass, in which Johnny Depp plays the role of mobster Whitey Bulger. That film is set to premiere in 2015–and Depp is hard to recognize. Many of that film’s scenes were shot in the Boston area where Whitey Bulger committed so many of his heinous crimes.

    Do you foresee Johnny Depp and Lily-Rose Depp becoming the next father-daughter film sensation or do you think Depp is just affording Lily-Rose the opportunity to dip her toes in the water?

  • Johnny Depp Crashes Willie Nelson’s Boston Show

    Johnny Depp crashed Willie Nelson’s show in Boston on Tuesday–and some audience members didn’t even know it. Depp, who is in Boston filming a movie about mobster Whitey Bulger–in which he plays the lead character–simply played guitar throughout Nelson’s set. The 81-year-old (yes, Willie Nelson is 81) introduced his band members, but used only their first names.

    “He just said something like, ‘And that’s Johnny over there playin’ the guitar,’ ” an attendee from Boston said, adding that Depp “even played a solo in one of the songs.”

    Can you imagine how exciting this must have been for those in the audience who realized exactly who the handsome guitarist was? It’s like they got a ‘two-fer’ at a Willie Nelson concert.

    The fans who did recognize Depp eagerly shared their discoveries via Twitter.

    Just a few hours earlier Johnny Depp appeared on the set of Black Mass along with costar Juno Temple, as they filmed scenes in South Boston. Fiancee Amber Heard reportedly watched some of the filming this week. It’s unknown if she is sticking around or had been in town for long. Depp turned 51 back on June 9th. Perhaps her presence was an ongoing birthday treat?

    Johnny Depp is unrecognizable in makeup and in character as Whitey Bulger in the biopic. One would never recognize the mobster as the man who played guitar on stage with Willie Nelson. His slicked back hair worn over a bald cap is a major transformation from the heartthrob women have lusted over for years. The film is based on the 2012 nonfiction account of Bulger’s crimes–also titled Black Mass.

    The real Whitey Bulger is currently serving two consecutive life sentences for his crimes. The film is set to premiere in theaters some time in 2015.

    Image via YouTube

  • Satanic Mass at Harvard Cancelled After Outcry

    The provocative “Black Mass” planned to take place at Harvard Extension School this week has been officially cancelled. The event had caused an outcry from Boston’s significant Catholic community.

    According to a WCVB Boston report, the event has now been cancelled. Event organizers had reportedly been unable to find a venue to perform the Black Mass.

    The Black Mass is a ritual of Catholic legend that is a perversion of the church’s Mass, which Catholics hold as sacred. No accounts of the specific ritual appeared before the mid-20th century, when the Black Mass began appearing in pulp novels.

    The reenactment of a Black Mass was to be performed by the Harvard Extension Cultural Studies Club as part of a performance series exploring cultural rituals. The event was originally to have taken place at the university’s Memorial Hall.

    When the plan became widely known the local Catholic community began putting pressure on the University to cancel the event. The university’s Dean of Students, Robert Neugeboren, issued a statement saying that Harvard Extension School “does not endorse the views or activities of any independent student organization,” but also said it supports “the rights of our students and faculty to speak and assemble freely.”

    Controversy over the event continued to escalate with Catholic leaders characterizing the Black Mass not as a cultural event but as simply a mockery of Catholic beliefs. Harvard President Drew Faust stepped into the issue on Monday, releasing a statement condemning the Black Mass but backing the Cultural Studies Club on free speech principles. From the statement:

    But even as we permit expression of the widest range of ideas, we must also take responsibility for debating and challenging expression with which we profoundly disagree. The ‘black mass’ had its historical origins as a means of denigrating the Catholic Church; it mocks a deeply sacred event in Catholicism, and is highly offensive to many in the Church and beyond. The decision by a student club to sponsor an enactment of this ritual is abhorrent; it represents a fundamental affront to the values of inclusion, belonging and mutual respect that must define our community. It is deeply regrettable that the organizers of this event, well aware of the offense they are causing so many others, have chosen to proceed with a form of expression that is so flagrantly disrespectful and inflammatory.

    According to WCVB, the event had been moved off-campus at the last minute. The Black Mass was to have taken place at an off-campus restaurant before the restaurant’s management declined to host. The event was cancelled after the club’s organizers were unable to find a suitable venue.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons

  • Dakota Johnson: From ‘Fifty Shades’ to Whitey Bulger?

    Dakota Johnson is in talks to star opposite Johnny Depp in an upcoming film about Whitey Bulger. Black Mass will reportedly tell the story of the Boston mobster and FBI informant. If the talks work out for all involved, Johnson will start filming Black Mass once filming for Fifty Shades of Grey wraps.

    Not all of the roles have been cast yet for Black Mass. Depp will reportedly play Bulger. Dakota Johnson will probably play the role of Lindsey, the mother of Bulger’s son Douglas. Joel Edgarton seems to be a definite in the role of FBI agent John Connelly. Connelly was Whitey Bulger’s childhood friend who wound up tipping Bulger off as the Feds neared closing in on him. Connelly served time in prison for his role in the case.

    Whitey Bulger was on the lam for 19 years before being tracked down in California in 2011. He is now serving time in a Federal prison for several charges.

    Guy Pearce is set to play the role of Whitey Bulger’s brother Bill, who was the president of the Massachusetts Senate and a big Boston power broker.

    Since the Whitey Bulger story is true, it will be very interesting to see how close to the truth the film remains. Many people in the Boston area claim he was responsible for the deaths of their loved ones, although proof was never determined. There could be some controversy if the film doesn’t mirror at least a portion of the truth.

    Not much is known about Lindsey, the mother of Whitey Bulger’s son–at least not publicly. It will be interesting to see how Dakota Johnson portrays her in the film, if she does in fact take the role.

    It’s not surprising that a new film is being made about the Whitey Bulger case. There are no doubt lots of stories within his sordid tale that have yet to be shared, and that typically translates into intrigue once a film hits the big screen.

    Image via YouTube