Johnny Depp‘s new movie The Rum Diary, recently included on our Lowdown feature, has failed to set the box office alight Stateside. The actor is undeterred however and insists he “couldn’t give a rat’s arse,” about the money.

The comments will come as no surprise to the average audience member. Depp is notorious for shying away from blockbuster success. Before becoming the box office golden boy in 2003 post Pirates of the Caribbean, Johnny was best known for his off-the-wall and unconventional film choices, Ed Wood and Edward Scissorhands made with Tim Burton being notable examples during the 90s.

Still the actor remains optimistic of his latest release’s appeal. Based on the semi-biographical book by gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson, The Rum Diary is a dramatisation of the journalist’s life, and while the US has shown little interest, Depp is confident the film will “most definitely” have more appeal for a European audience who he claims have more appreciation for cleverness. “I think it’s an intelligent film,” he says, “and a lot of times, outside the big cities in the States, they don’t want that.”

Hit or miss, we are sure Depp will continue to baffle us for years to come, but for now he is confident of the longevity of his latest project. “I believe that this film will have a shelf life. I think it will stick around and people will watch it and enjoy it.”

Tell us what you think.

Auto-fiction’s an interesting loophole when it comes to writing a novel. You take the best bits of your life, dramatise them, then rename the protagonist so no one can claim your story is libellous, or that you didn’t actually win that Academy Award while riding a motorbike down the side of an erupting volcano.

The Rum Diary contains many elements of Hunter’s personality and life, while remaining fictional enough to keep things very entertaining and a little more conventional than the politically and narcotically motivated journalism he was wont to spout on a regular basis. It tells the tale of a group of American journalists working at a Puerto Rican newspaper, and their various romantic entanglements.

Doesn’t sound much like Thompson’s material, does it? Well, it does have some basis in fact – Thompson himself travelled to San Juan to work on a newspaper, a sports rag that was doomed despite the interesting gonzo spin he’d bring to its pages. While he was there, he absorbed the social environment and, despite being only twenty-two at the time, redrafted portions of his time in San Juan into the novel you now know as The Rum Diary.

It would be careless to have never considered Johnny Depp to play Thompson (or “Paul Kemp”, in The Rum Diary) himself, especially given that he did such a good job in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Reprising his role, he’ll do his best to take as much of Hunter as he can – a lot, given that the two were relatively close in real life – and put it into the film.

But how much has made it into the film? Clearly it’s a more straightforward approach than Thompson’s stream-of-consciousness writing style, which may rub some the wrong way. Personally, I’m a huge fan of the man’s journalism, and I think he has the capability to tell a good story, but a script that focuses on the ideas themselves can’t be all bad , despite running the risk of doing a disservice to the source material.

The film is out today, and I’d strongly recommend checking it out if you’re interested in reading something written by someone who, like many of the great artists in history, managed to create incredible, intelligent things while still being completely insane. In the best way possible, of course.

Take a look at the trailer for The Rum Diary, here.

Dr.Seuss was the pseudonym used by Theodor Geisel, the man behind some of the best loved, and most amusingly rhyming, children’s books ever written. Dr. Seuss’s books include Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, and Horton Hears a Who! and now, it seems that his life story has been deemed film-worthy. The upcoming biopic is also thought to include Geisel’s stint as a political cartoonist, and his propagandistic pieces which he created during the Second World War.

Infinitum Nihil, Depp’s own production house, are reportedly set to collaborate with Illumination Entertainment for this live-action film. Although Depp is not yet confirmed to star at Seuss himself, it wouldn’t be the first time that he’s taken on the role of a slightly eccentric literary figure – he starred as Peter Pan writer, JM Barrie, in Finding Neverland, not to mention playing both the Mad Hatter in Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland, and Willy Wonka in his version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Illumination Entertainment are already involved in producing an adaptation of The Lorax, whilst other Seuss classics to have previously made it on the the big screen include How the Grinch Stole Christmas and The Cat in the Hat.

Meanwhile, you’ll definitely be able to get your Depp-fix next month, when he’s set to appear in Bruce Robinson’s adaptation of The Rum Diary, which hits UK cinemas on 4th November.

We’ll keep you posted!

The film is, in fact, an adaptation of Richard DiLello’s 1973 book, The Longest Cocktail Party: An Insider’s Diary of the Beatles, Their Million-dollar Apple Empire and Its Wild Rise and Fall. The novel is the story of DiLello himself, who became the “house hippie” for Apple Records, gaining a unique insight into the breakup of one of the greatest bands in history, the launch of The Beatles‘ solo careers and, most notably, the lavish parties which the company liked to throw for its clients.

It was announced earlier this month that the project would be developed by former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher’s production company, 1 Productions, in a collaboration with Revolution Films.

However, it doesn’t look like Depp will be taking on the role of Lennon or McCartney any time soon. Instead, the film focuses on the ‘behind-the-scenes’ characters of The Beatles’ story, and Gallagher’s got his sights set on Johnny Depp for the role Derek Taylor, the band’s long-time publicist.

Although the film is yet to be cast, Gallagher reportedly revealed his preference for the Pirates of the Caribbean actor during a recent interview with Q Magazine. He also stated that, “the film script is done. It’s gonna blow people’s minds, man.”

Despite being seemingly quite excited about his upcoming project, Gallagher has also insisted that he is not making a permanent shift to the film industry. When questioned by The Guardian at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, he also stated “I’m doing this one thing and then that’s it, I’m back on the dole. I’m not gonna be doing films about whales or unkempt eyebrows.” Well that’s good to know…

Still, this project definitely looks like an interesting one, especially if they are able to get the likes of Mr. J. Depp on board. We’ll keep you posted!

Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides director Rob Marshall will helm the remake, and now it seems that he plans to reunite with Pirates star Johnny Depp, who has been cast as the male lead.

The original film was based on a novel of the same name from author Dashiell Hammett, and was such a success that it lead to a total of five sequels. The plot follows a ex-detective and his rich socialite wife, who sip martinis and solve mysteries, just for the fun if it. The on-screen chemistry between the original Nick and Nora Charles, played by William Powell and Myrna Loy, and the witty dialogue between the pair was certainly part of what made the film such a hit, and it will be interesting to see if the team surrounding this project are able to recreate the dynamic.

Marshall will be teaming with John DeLuca for the film, which will be released under their production company, LUCAMAR Productions. The pair are said to be, “looking forward to working with Warner Bros. to create a reinvention of a beloved story.”

Marshall was also supposed to be working in a film adaptation of the stage musical Wicked, which seems to have been held up in development. Meanwhile, rumours are flying as to who might be cast opposite Depp as the iconic Nora Charles. Suggestions so far have included everyone from Source Code‘s Michelle Monaghan to Sandra Bullock, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

We’ll keep you posted!

Written by Michael Rasmussen and Shawn Rasmussen, the film tells the story of Kristen, played by new kid on the block Amber Heard who we see burn down a farmhouse which leads to her being taken to a psychiatric hospital. The hospital is everything you would hope for in a horror movie – it’s big, it’s drab, it’s creepy and looks identical to any psychiatric hospital we’ve see in films, particularly those set in the 60s. In fact I was convinced it was the same one just in Girl Interrupted.

The comparisons don’t stop there. The ward Kristen ends up on is made up of beautifully made up girls. They all have their individual characters, one is childish, one is bitchy and another is arty. You get the idea.

Kristen is put under the care of Dr. Stringer played by Jared Harris (who you may recognise from Mad Men). He is the perfect film shrink, he’s both scary but at the same time you feel he is sympathetic towards Amber, more so than the rest of the staff anyway. There’s is a feeling throughout that there is something not quite right about him and it’s unnerving how far away he is from his Mad Men character.

As you might expect, things are not as they seem within the ward. Kristen finds herself being woken in the night by a presence and she hears a lot of unusual and disconcerting sounds. Despite asking those around her what is going on, she gets no answers. As time goes on the other girls in the ward begin to disappear and Kristen decides she must leave the ward before someone else kills her.

What unfolds is unexpected. I can’t really reveal much more otherwise the film will be completely ruined for you, but it is definitely worth watching for yourself to find out. At some points the film feels like it’s a little lost. The tricks like long pauses, shadows in the night and false scares just seem a little too familiar. However it could very well be that Carpenter was the first to use them, it’s just they have now been used too many times in other films so they seem tired. It is nice to watch a thriller where there isn’t blood being sprayed here and there every second. The Ward plays on your mind in order to scare you, with plot twists and turns.

The biggest let down in the film for me was probably Amber Heard who  found fame after her roles in the likes of Pineapple Express and the upcoming The Rum Diary with Johnny Depp. Her acting is wooden and it’s just not believable that she’s living in the 60s, it may sound a bit weird but her face is just too modern looking. Other than that The Ward is enjoyable. It’s not quite up to the highest Carpenter standard we’re used to, but it is certainly good to see him back and going for scares in the good old fashioned way.

Buy the The Ward [DVD]from Amazon now.

If you fancy winning a copy, enter our competition here.

Organisers of the 64th festival have just announced the line up which will start with a screening of Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, which has got people talking for having France’s first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy in it, albeit very briefly.

Interestingly Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the latest instalment of the popular Disney franchise, will also be be shown at the festival.

Johnny Depp returns to play his now almost iconic Captain Jack Sparrow and he is joined by Penelope Cruz.

On the Spanish theme, Pedro Almodovar’s latest film The Skin I Live In, starring Antonio Banderas is part of the main line up.

The festival marks the reunion between Mel Gibson and his Maverick co-star Jodie Foster in Beaver, about a depressed company executive who uses a beaver puppet to communicate with his family.

Hotly anticipated The Tree of Life from Terrence Malick, starring Brad Pitt and Sean Penn will also be competing.

Other films out of the 19 competing include This Must Be the Place, which is Paolo Sorrentino’s English language début starring Sean Penn as an ageing rock star. Lars Von Trier, who won the prestigious Palme d’Or for Dancer in the Dark in 2000, is back again with new film Melancholia, starring Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Kiefer Sutherland. The adaptation of the best-selling Lionel Shriver novel We Need to Talk About Kevin is also in the running.

And the tough task of chairing the main competition jury goes to Robert De Niro this year. So, what are you most excited about seeing and who sound like potential winners?

For full line up and more information visit the official website here.

The latest is Thomas McDonell, the fresh faced talent from Disney’s Prom, who is reportedly joining Dark Shadows. It is reported he will be playing the younger version of Barnabas Collins, who is played by Burton-regular Depp. That’s a compliment if there ever was one, isn’t it?

In more casting news, Michael Sheen is also reportedly in talks for a supporting role in the film. There are rumours that he will be playing the brother of Michelle Pfeiffer‘s character Elizabeth Collins Stoddard. Sheen has worked with Burton before, he was the voice of the White Rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, which Mr Depp was also in, of course.

Dark Shadows is based on the popular supernatural soap opera of the same name. It centres on the life of the vampire Barnabas Collins and the various things he gets up to with monsters, witches, werewolves and ghosts.

Eva Green will play Angelique, a witch who has some sort of history with Barnabas. And it wouldn’t be a Tim Burton film without Helena Bonham Carter popping up, she will be playing Dr. Julia Hoffman.

So what do you think? Does it sound a bit boring?

For those who are finding the endless remakes boring, and the casting of terrible actors infuriating, salvation is yours, at last. Around two hours of watching film stars (in character, sadly) run around a decimated Los Angeles fighting seemingly omnipotent alien hordes can be yours for the price of a cinema ticket.

And this is certainly a concept that appeals to the US film-fan lot, as they’ve rushed into the screens in droves to check out the alien end-of-the-world film. Taking $36m in its opening weekend, it beat back Johnny Depp creature feature Rango and the retooled Red Riding Hood into second and third place, respectively.

If you’ve not seen it yet, but you enjoyed District 9 and Cloverfield‘s use of hand-cam and high-quality CGI, then Battle: Los Angeles might just be the film for you. So check it out, and let us know what you think.

Jungle Cruise, the ride in question, is pretty much what it says on the tin – a cruise, through a jungle. I’m going to take a wild guess and say that it goes wrong, and there’s some zany moments and several shots a minute of Hanks and Allen going bug-eyed and “uh-oh”-faced, and probably a few animals – a snake, perhaps? An unexpected snake?

It’s also a cruise, so expect the steamer they use in the actual ride to make an appearance. It’s hard to tell what we’re going to get, really – I’d wager the adventures of Johnny Depp’s Captain Jack Sparrow was not quite what you’d have expected from a straight adaptation of the ride, especially as the film series tends to eclipse everything else on the film roster in the month of a new release.

Hopefully we’ll see more information soon, as there’s no director yet and it all seems a bit early for concrete decisions, though I’m sure they’ll be lining up to work with Hanks. Allen? Well, he’s… around. And Buzz is funny, right? Yeah, he needs a big film that isn’t Santa Clause, stat.