Hollywood Insider Very Confident in Depp's Sweeney Todd

[SayitSomehow]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:14pm

From a David Poland blog post that says Depp has an 80% chance of pulling the leading male Oscar next year:

"I believe now that Johnny Depp is a 95% bet to be nominated for Best Actor as the title character in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in a very, very crowded field of 2007 male movie performances… and an 80% chance to win.

Word from the set about his performance - from multiple sources - is excellent. He was nominated in the last two years before missing this year with the Pirates sequel. But the Pirates threequel is actually more a help than a hindrance. Huge box office power followed by an unexpected (though people have come to expect the unexpected from Depp) performance as the lead of a Grand Guignol opera… manna from heaven to Academy voters who are more than ready to deliver this guy an Oscar.

The biggest question is whether he could sing the role. But everyone from Sondheim, who auditioned him, to everyone who I know of who has heard him sing this role, is “thumbs up.”"


Updated On: 3/1/07 at 12:14 PM

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:20pm

"Hollywood insiders," huh? Well, NOW I'm confident. Oy.

[courtnyj]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:22pm

Exactly. What do "Hollywood Insiders" know about muscial theatre?

[tazber]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:23pm

Who else is going to make next year's actor race so crowded?

[luvtheEmcee]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:23pm

I certainly have faith in Depp's ability to do great things with this role, but I'm thoroughly amused by the fact that people are throwing around exact statistics as if it were a science... especially this far in advance. He has an 80% chance based on what? Lists of other performances nobody has seen yet?

[C is for Company]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:26pm

Maybe they should wait a year until this "crowded field" becomes more clearer. Who are they kidding, they don't need to make up lies to sell a Johnny Depp movie! The 13 year olds will be camped out for days with their $w33n3Y T0dd soundtracks playing "My Friends" on repeat :-/

[Mother's Younger Brother]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:26pm

Reminds me of a statement in a funny e-mail I got just yesterday:

"46% of statistics are made up on the spot."

[Lavieboheme3090]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:27pm

I thought that this was a big year for sequals.

[RadiGal2]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:27pm

I just caught a bit of Cry Baby the other day -- his voice was pretty good...the score was not very remarkable but he is not ear-splitting like Richard Gere was. Poor Jerry, he must have have cotton shoved in his ears.

[Craig]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:29pm

Silly commentary since production JUST started. Would have been more reasonable to just say how well it's going on set, etc.

[SayitSomehow]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:30pm

Just thought I'd pass along the article - not trying to make a personal statement :o)

[LuPonatic]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:30pm

I didn't think Depp sang for himself in Crybaby....anyone know for sure?

[jpbran]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:33pm

His voice is dubbed in Cry Baby (the film).

And Sweeney Todd JUST started shooting this week. (Late start)

And when is ONE single blogger considered multiple "hollywood insiders?"

Poland is kind of a flake. Go to hollywood-elsewhere.com to read about the holes in this particular column... I'm VERY excited (and nervous) about the Sweeney adaptation, but talking Oscar before most of the performance has even been filmed is just silly.

In the off-chance that he DOES get Oscar nominated (which would be cool), Poland just wants to be able to say, "I called it first!"

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:37pm

Though Johnny Depp can indeed sing and has his own rock band P, he was dubbed by James Intveld in CRY BABY.

[SayitSomehow]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:38pm

I used the plural because of "Word from the set about his performance - from multiple sources - is excellent."

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:38pm

I hope this film does well, and I hope Tim Burton does this his own way, otherwise its going to suck.

Dont expect the stage show, in fact, I would pretend I was going to see something else entirely, becuase its obviously not going to be the same, and it damn well shouldn't

Can't wait for it, and to hear all the queens screaming murder when a word it changed or a song it cut, or Sweeney doesn't look at Mrs. Lovett just the right way (like you all haven't started screaming already) LOL

[BSoBW2]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:39pm

"Exactly. What do "Hollywood Insiders" know about muscial theatre?"

Who knows...but last I checked, this is a movie, not theatre.

[RadiGal2]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 12:54pm

Really? I wonder why I thought he did-- I usually check the credits on stuff like that.

[BrodyFosse123]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:04pm

Also, Richard Gere used a period singing voice for his Billy Flynn in CHICAGO -- that's not his regular singing voice it's a character voice he chose. He wanted to evoke a Rudy Valle-ish type of singing style which is very reminiscent of most male singers circa 1920's.

Same issue with Eddie Murphy's Jimmy Early in DREAMGIRLS. Eddie normally sings in a higher register -- he chose that Jame Brown-ish singing voice for Jimmy as that's how it was originally written for the character. To him, that's not his singing voice but Jimmy's.

[GoSmileLaughCryClap]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:04pm

David Poland is hardly a random blogger. moviecitynews.com is actually becoming a pretty influential website, and Poland is regularly interviewed by the mainstream press and media outlets about his take on the industry. He's also the guy in charge of the most exhaustive (and exhausting) Oscar lead-up and tally's of critics picks for the year.

What he's doing is tipping his hat very early, and using his influence to create buzz, which is absolutely required in the movie business. These modern day Hedda Hoppers who get behind a movie very early on usually have very good sources for positive things coming from a production. And if the movie turns out to be a success, they'll use their early support to strengthen their reputation in the industry.

I'm not saying he's right, just that he's a pretty big fish in online movie punditry. Punditry? Is that a word?



Updated On: 3/1/07 at 01:04 PM

[jpbran]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:14pm

I know he's not a random blogger, just an occasionally hysterical one. Again, the movie is in its FIRST week of (delayed) shooting.

Unless they are shooting Depp's ENTIRE role in the first week, and have already assembled and completed his footage completely, and Poland has seen it all, then Oscar guesses are just a waste of time-- and make you look jump-the-gun silly.

It also makes him look like a paid studio "insider" with opinions that shouldn't be taken too seriously. (In addition, a lot of his predictions and opinions -- see Eddie Murphy and Dreamgirls -- seem to rise and fall dramatically with what OTHER people are saying.

[tazber]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:23pm

Doesn't the studio have a hand in this as well. I'm sure they know which films are Oscar bait, and I would imagine they position them accordingly. How do you think this blogger got his info?
GSLCC is right about it all being about buzz.

[Smartful Dodger]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:24pm

People have misread the title of the thread. David Poland is a columnist for the HOLLYWOOD INSIDER, a movie trade publication like VARIETY.

And, I assure you, after even a week of reviewing dailies, the director and his production team know whether or not they're getting a good performance.

Let's not forget about the many instances where stars that have begun a project have been released in a matter of days. I remind everyone of Mandy Patinkin's classic firing after a few days of shooting on Nora Ephron's HEARTBURN; he was subsequently replaced by Jack Nicholson. One, just one, of many examples.

Chill, peeps...

[CapnHook]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:28pm

Whether or not his performance is as good as David Poland suggests doesn't matter so much as how the film is received.

[Fenchurch]

Posted: 3/1/07 at 1:29pm

I would fire Mandy Patinkin from any project I was working on.

God I hate his voice.