Johnny Depp, Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean, Jack Sparrow, Vanessa Paradis, Tim Burton, Public Enemies, Sweeney Todd, Sleepy Hollow, Edward Scissorhands,  John Dillinger, Gregory David Roberts, Infinitum Nihil, Shantaram, Ed Wood, Corpse Bride, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Willy Wonka, Rum Diary, Dark Shadows, Alice in Wonderland, Nightmare on Elm Street, Platoon, Private Resort, 21 Jump Street, Cry Baby, Edward Scissorhands, Ed Wood, Arizona Dream, What's Eating Gilbert Grape, Lasse Hallstrom, From Hell, The Man Who Cried, Secret Window, David Koepp, Freddy's Dead, Final Nightmare, Benny and Joon, Don Juan de Marco, Marlon Brando, Dead Man, Nick of Time, Donnie Brasco, The Brave, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas,LA Without A Map, Ninth Gate, Astronaut's Wife, Before Night Falls, Chocolat, Blow, From Hell, Curse of the Black Pearl, Dead Man's Chest, At World's End, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Happily Ever After, Finding Neverland, The Libertine, Benjamin Barker, John Wilmot, Mort Rainey, Sheldon Jeffrey Sands, Abberline, Roux, Ichabod Crane,William Blake, Raoul Duke, Raphael, Joe Pistone, sam, joon, axel blackmar, oprah noodlemantra, Tom Hanson, Tim Burton, GoreVerbinski, Mira Nair, Emir Kosturica, Jim Jarmusch, Terry Gilliam, michael mann, Rango, Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Helena Bonham Carter

 

Chicago Sun-Times, June 28th 2009



Marion Cotillard finds connection with Depp, Chicago


BY BILL ZWECKER

Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard discovered they had a number of professional things in common as they co-starred in ''Public Enemies,'' but they also knew they could communicate easily in a language besides English.

''Johnny's French is excellent,'' Cotillard said on the red carpet at the recent Chicago premiere of the film. Added Depp, ''We would sometimes speak French to each other on the set, especially when we didn't want anyone else to know what we were saying."

The actor, who plays John Dillinger in the Michael Mann film, lives in the South of France with his longtime significant other, French actress and singer Vanessa Paradis, and their two children.

But beyond occasional greetings and comments, Cotillard stressed she could not let herself ''lapse into speaking a lot of pure French with Johnny. I was working so hard to really perfect the accent of [my character] Billie Frechette, and that was not easy!''

Frechette had an accent reportedly quite unique, ''as she was of mixed heritage -- both French and Native American -- and supposedly had an accent that was quite different, according to everything I've been told and have read,'' said the French actress, an Oscar winner last year for "La Vie en Rose."

''Marion really worked hard on that accent, and I think the way she speaks in the film adds so much to the personality of the character she plays,'' Depp said. ''You can see why Dillinger fell in love with her so easily.''

For Depp, who admits to being intrigued by Dillinger since he was a kid, the enduring allure of the bank-robbing gangster more than 75 years after his death is easy to understand.

''He got away with it, or at least he got away with it for a long time before he was gunned down at the Biograph [Theater],'' said Depp. ''People ... the public, love Robin Hood-like characters, and no one was more like that than Dillinger. Plus, the fact he was so blatant, so in-your-face had a lot to do with it, too.

''The guy had moxie and swagger and guts. He lived on the edge and the public ate it up.''

Asked whether he thought Dillinger and his antics would resonate with the public today, Depp pointed out ''different times call for different heroes or anti-heroes. ... The media today is so much more pervasive ... I don't know. I just think it would be so different. 'Anyway, it's sure a lot harder to rob a bank today than it was in Dillinger's day!''

For both Depp and Cotillard, the three or four months they spent shooting "Public Enemies" in Chicago in the early part of 2008 was a treat. ''This is such a livable city,'' said Depp. ''I really think it is one of very few American cities where I could live.''

Cotillard knew nothing of Chicago before landing here to film ''Public Enemies,'' except ''it was the city where there were gangsters ... and I was off to make a gangster movie there."

Beyond both speaking French, Cotillard and Depp learned they both are very much into researching the roles they play -- something they also discovered was true of co-star Christian Bale, who plays idealistic FBI agent Melvin Purvis. ''For me, doing the research is really one of the things I love most about being an actress," Cotillard said. "It is like being in a museum and going from one exhibit to another. You learn things you didn't know before, and that's a good thing.''

As for the attraction of Billie to Dillinger, Cotillard said, ''I think they had a lot in common -- mostly the mistrust of authority. [Dillinger] was in jail for many years and Billie was sent to that boarding school, and that was very tough on her.

''I also think she was attracted by a kind of freedom that Dillinger represented -- even if it's a fake freedom in a way ... a freedom you know will never last. It was all about living in the moment.''

Depp picked up on another aspect of the couple's attraction, as he saw it -- a sentiment with which Cotillard concurred. ''Before he came along, no one looked after Billie like John Dillinger did. He was her great protector, and she knew it.''

''That's right,'' added Cotillard. ''Before she met Dillinger, absolutely no man -- no person -- had ever taken care of her ... and she loved the way he did it.''

While Depp and Cotillard shared a lot of mutual loves of Chicago, they did differ when it came to the weather. ''I fell in love with this city. I even loved it in the wintertime,'' said Cotillard with a smile.

''Let's just say, I love Chicago but especially love it after about May 1,'' said Depp diplomatically, and with a wink that clearly communicated the actor is much more a spring and summer fan of the Windy City. That's when, like John Dillinger, he can follow his love of baseball to take in a Cubs game at Wrigley Field.




...............................