Happy Birthday Johnny Depp

Image: deppimpact.com

One of my favourite actors turns 51 today! (I can't quite believe he is in the over 50 category now). Yes, it is Mr. Johnny Depp's birthday and to celebrate the occasion, I have picked my top five favourite Depp character costumes. 

Arguably one of the best character actors, Depp has worn many iconic costumes. Wardrobe, hair and make up are vitally important for an actor. Putting on any garment - whether it be a fancy hat or a restrictive suit -literally places the actor into the shoes of their character. They can start to feel the way their character moves and fully get into the mind set of their role. That is probably a key reason why Depp is notorious for keeping all his costumes after films have wrapped.

Check out my favourite designs below, but are there any I have missed? 

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1. Captain Jack Sparrow 

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Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)

I was very lucky to see two of the costumes on the list at the V&A Hollywood Costume exhibition last year, and this is one of them. Probably on par with no. 2 as the most iconic of Depp's costumes, Captain Jack Sparrow's outfit oozes sex appeal whilst maintaining the classic pirate attire. Penny Rose who designed the costume worked collaboratively with Depp to achieve Captain Jack's 'rock 'n' roll' pirate look. 

'I must give 98% of the credit for this costume to Johnny Depp. It's the walk, the mannerisms, the asides - he created it, I just helped him a bit. Of course, I know what works shape-wise and whether we're getting the look of a character, but he arrived with Jack Sparrow in his head already as he does with all his characters. ...The hat is very special. I had six styles of hat made by Peroni in Rome. He came in, took a look, and picked up that leather tricorn hat, which I had made on a whim - you rarely see a tricorn in leather. 

I've never been able to prize it off him since.' Speaking in The Times, 'Meet Hollywood's Costume Gurus'. Oct. 2012

Left: Johnny Depp in Captain Jack Sparrow's costume. Right: The full costume display at the V&A Costume exhibition, 2012-2013.

2. Edward Scissorhands 

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Edward Scissorhands (1990)

The second most iconic costume from the first ever film Tim Burton and Johnny Depp worked on together. As you will see from the rest of the list, the duo have created some fantastical and distinctive character looks with the enormous help from designer, Colleen Atwood. Atwood's combination of Victorian elements and punk style hair, along with Depp's ghostly white face, creates a quirky mix of danger and innocence. This proves how important costume is to informing our understanding of a character. As despite the threatening exterior of his sharp hands and dark metallic suit, Edward is a gentle and innocent soul which you can see in his eyes. 

Left: Tim Burton's original design of Edward. Right: Depp in the Scissorhands costume. Not far different from the original concept.

3. The Mad Hatter 

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Alice in Wonderland (2010)

Colleen Atwood's design for The Mad Hatter costume is colourfully crazy. The bow tie had a mechanism that Depp could use to droop down when the Hatter was sad and perk up when he was happy. There are various layers and hidden components to his costume which are explained by Atwood in the video below:

The entire look is based on real hatters who went mad by their use of poisonous mercury in the trade. Atwood states that the mercury 'caused the hair to turn a very fried red colour and their skin to get very pale'. 

You can clearly see this result in the final picture below. 

Left: Burton's original drawing. Centre: Atwood's design. Right: Depp in the end result, complete with hare. 

4. Sweeney Todd 

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Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

This is the second Johnny Depp costume I saw at the V&A. What I particularly love about the costume is how the hair and make up completes the menacing look. The music inspired Atwood for all the costumes in the film. 'It's the starting point of all of it. It's a moody piece, so I wanted a lot of texture in the costumes. I wanted you to be able to feel them on screen.' Atwood speaking in USA Today. 

Here is another costume design video from Coleen on the set of Todd:

Left: Atwood's Sweeney Todd design. Right: Depp in full costume

5. Willy Wonka 

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Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)

The final choice was created by designer Gabriella Pescucci. Johnny Depp's Willy Wonka may be nothing on Gene Wilder's, but the costume certainly takes inspiration from him - with the top hat, cane and brightly coloured coat. The bob haircut also adds comedic value to the look. I saw this costume back in 2009 when I went to the Warner Bros. VIP Studio Tour in LA. They have a museum full of costumes from Harry Potter to the Batman series. Well worth the visit if you get the chance.

Left: The full Wonka costume. Right: The costume on display at Warner Bros. Museum in LA.

What are your favourite Johnny Depp costumes?

Who is his best character?

Comment below or tweet @TicketStubBlog

Top Ten Halloween Horrors

Time to dig out the fancy dress, carve those Jack O'Lanterns and put on a classic scary movie. If you haven't guessed already, today is Halloween!

Although I am not the biggest fan of scary movies, I have picked out my Top Ten Halloween Horrors which you should definitely check out...

1. Psycho (1960)

Alfred Hitchcock at his best. Norman Bates is certainly creepy as hell and we all know about that infamous shower scene with Bernard Herrmann's piercing strings.

2. The Exorcist (1973) 

This film which sees a 12 year old girl possessed by the devil caused extreme reactions with audiences across the world. Reports of fainting and vomiting dominated news stories. Although we can laugh at the hype now, the film has become a classic. A great highlight is the soundtrack of the Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.

3. Ghostbusters (1984)

A bit more light-hearted than the previous two, Ghostbusters is a comedy about three professors who go into business as ghost removers. The film stars Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Amis and Sigourney Weaver as the ghosts start to take over New York. Come on, you all know the song....

Who ya gonna call? 

4. 28 Days Later (2002)

Danny Boyle directs this zombie horror starring Cillian Murphy. One of the best scenes is as Murphy's character, Jim, walks through the empty streets of London after waking up from a coma. The whole city has been deserted due to an epidemic, and it is about to get a whole lot worse.

5. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

You may think I have picked the wrong holiday with Christmas being in the title. But the majority of the film takes place in Halloweentown - full of monsters, vampires and the king of Halloweentown, Jack Skellington. Check out the opening song 'This is Halloween':

6. The Wicker Man (1973)

Featured as Ticket Stub's Sunday Classic back in September, The Wicker Man is a British horror set on strange island of Summerisle. Follow the link to my post to find out more.

7. The Rocky Horror Picture Show (1975)

Let's do the Time Warp again! Rocky Horror has become cult classic since the seventies and you'll find many people dressing up as the characters at Halloween or at the sing-a-long nights they have in theatres in the UK. The film is a fantastic mix of musical comedy which tributes to the old low budget horror movies of the past.

8. The Corpse Bride (2005)

Another Halloween-esque Tim Burton creation, The Corpse Bride tells the story of Victor who, whilst practicing his wedding vows, accidentally becomes married to a zombie bride. Of course, being Tim Burton, the film stars Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter.

9. Silence of the Lambs (1991)

We're coming to the last two films on the list, and the two I find most scary. The first is Silence of the Lambs starring Jodie Foster and Anthony Hopkins. A crime horror with one of the most tense climactic scenes ever. A must see for any horror fan.

10. The Shining (1980)

Jack Nicholson stars in the Stephen King adaptation, directed by Stanley Kubrick. A psychological horror, the film sees Jack Torrence take a job as a caretaker at a hotel during its off-season. His wife and son also take residence in the hotel but over time things develop and Jack becomes mad and murderous.

What are your favourite horror films?

Tweet @TicketStubBlog with your suggestions

Happy Birthday Tim Burton

Image: peterguber.com

Happy 55^th Birthday to Tim Burton today! 

To celebrate the director’s special day, here are my top favourite Tim Burton films that you should definitely check out...

1. Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Image: deppimpact.com

"Hold me" "I can't"

I adore this film. It was probably the first time I was conscious of Danny Elfman’s beautiful compositions – he has continued to collaborate with Burton throughout his career and is one of my favourite film composers. Speaking of collaborations, this was the beginning of the Depp-Burton partnership which has lasted for 23 years so far, with the most recent collaboration on the movie Dark Shadows (2012)

2. The Nightmare Before Christmas (1993)

Image: broadway.com

"What's this? What's this?"

  Although this is often called ‘Tim Burton’s The Nightmare Before Christmas’, Burton did not direct. Henry Selick directed and since went onto direct James and the Giant Peach (1996) and Caroline (2009). Burton was in fact producer and writer on The Nightmare Before Christmas. I had only previously seen stop motion with the comical duo Wallace & Gromit but this film had a darker approach and really captured my imagination. My favourite moment has to be when Jack sings ‘What’s This’ as he arrives into Christmas Town.

3. Sleepy Hollow (1999)

Image: deppimpact.com

"No, you must believe me. It was a horseman, a dead one. Headless"

This movie definitely introduced me to the dark side of Burton’s directorial vision which I instantly fell in love with (even though the headless horseman freaked the hell out of me when I was younger).  Another thing I fell in love with? Of course, it’s Johnny Depp playing Ichabod Crane.

4. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (2007)

Image: deppimpact.com

"At last! My arm is complete again"

My final top favourite is Sweeney Todd. I’m a big fan of musicals and pairing Tim Burton with this film made perfect sense to achieve the dark and gory nature of the demon barber. The only thing I wish the film had is the prologue from the original stage show, ‘The Ballad of Sweeney Todd’. I truly think it could have worked over the top of the end credits.  However, the casting is fantastic with fabulously haunting performances by Helena Bonham Carter, Sacha Baron Cohen and Alan Rickman.