Post by The Dream Warrior on Feb 2, 2006 13:16:28 GMT -5
I found this in a biography on Johnny that I recently purchased. It's a forward that was written by Dolores Fuller, former girl friend of Ed Wood.
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Disclaimer: This forward is the property of Folklore Publishing and Icon Press.
No copyright infringement is intended.
This is an excerpt from Johnny Depp: The Passionate Rebel, a book from the Star Biographies Series.
Written by Stone Wallace
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Johnny, Johnny
burning bright
In the forest of
the night!
When Johnny Depp's character in Jim Jarmusch's neglected 1995 masterpiece Dead Man is introduced as "William Blake" this paraphrase by the great British poet leaped into my mind.
Johnny Depp burns brightly in the contemporary cinematic jungle, the fearful symmetry of this talent outrunning the vehicle that have carried him to the high place he holds today. I was asked by the author of this book to help introduce the pages you are about to read because I was once in love with Ed Wood, whose character Johnny played 10 years ago in the second film in which Johnny acted with his friend and discoverer, Tim Burton. Alas, I have never met Johnny, so my remarks come from a distance that some may say disqualifies me to comment. But I make bold to speak because my understanding and respect for Eddie gives me a perspective on Johnny's performance in Ed Wood that I believe overcomes the disadvantage of not knowing Johnny personally. But I know his work, and after all an artist is not ultimately his work, is he not?
When Disney sent a limo to carry me to the premiere of Ed Wood in Hollywood, I was admittedly filled with trepidation. Why? Because I had read the script and I felt untrue to the three principal characters, Eddie, Bela (Lugosi) and me. Certainly Eddie was not the joke dreamed up by the Medved brothers to sell their books highlighting the worst in cinematic achievement. Eddie passionately aspired to make movies. Unfortunately, his sensibilities ran to low budget Westerns, crime stories, and horror films, as I belatedly came to realize. But against all odds Eddie got five films made in a 10-year period- the identical achievement Orson Wells accomplished in the same 10-year period with the advantage of extraordinary talent. Bela Lugosi was a sophisticated aristocratic gentleman, not the foul-mouthed drug addict invented by the talented scriptwriters whose absence of research was overcome by Martin Landau's brilliant delivery of their lines. It is best here that I overlook the mannered reading that Sarah "Jurassic" Parker gave to the lines she was handed, except to say that she lacked the sufficient talent or imagination to make something of the part. She was an insult to me, and I can only find comfort in the fact that her role was so forgettable it can do me no lasting damage.
Of course, I was already a Johnny Depp fan since a couple of the 21 Jump Street episodes, and especially since Tim Burton's wonderful Edward Scissorhands and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, so how could I resist Johnny as Eddie? The very next year after Ed Wood, Johnny astonished me again by dominating scenes with the indominable Marlon Brando in Don Juan De Marco. and then with Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco. He carried Dead Man by himself, although it had a remarkable cast that included John Hurt, Billy Bob Thornton, and in his last role, Robert Mitchum. We now have seen Pirates of the Caribbean, which again showcases Johnny's consummate ability to imbue his roles with surprisingly original twists that have broadened his public appeal. Still, Johnny has not yet found the script that will give full scope to his talent. When it finally comes, I'll be waiting... along with the growing legion of his fans.
-Forward by Dolores Fuller, 2004
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Disclaimer: This forward is the property of Folklore Publishing and Icon Press.
No copyright infringement is intended.
This is an excerpt from Johnny Depp: The Passionate Rebel, a book from the Star Biographies Series.
Written by Stone Wallace
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Johnny, Johnny
burning bright
In the forest of
the night!
When Johnny Depp's character in Jim Jarmusch's neglected 1995 masterpiece Dead Man is introduced as "William Blake" this paraphrase by the great British poet leaped into my mind.
Johnny Depp burns brightly in the contemporary cinematic jungle, the fearful symmetry of this talent outrunning the vehicle that have carried him to the high place he holds today. I was asked by the author of this book to help introduce the pages you are about to read because I was once in love with Ed Wood, whose character Johnny played 10 years ago in the second film in which Johnny acted with his friend and discoverer, Tim Burton. Alas, I have never met Johnny, so my remarks come from a distance that some may say disqualifies me to comment. But I make bold to speak because my understanding and respect for Eddie gives me a perspective on Johnny's performance in Ed Wood that I believe overcomes the disadvantage of not knowing Johnny personally. But I know his work, and after all an artist is not ultimately his work, is he not?
When Disney sent a limo to carry me to the premiere of Ed Wood in Hollywood, I was admittedly filled with trepidation. Why? Because I had read the script and I felt untrue to the three principal characters, Eddie, Bela (Lugosi) and me. Certainly Eddie was not the joke dreamed up by the Medved brothers to sell their books highlighting the worst in cinematic achievement. Eddie passionately aspired to make movies. Unfortunately, his sensibilities ran to low budget Westerns, crime stories, and horror films, as I belatedly came to realize. But against all odds Eddie got five films made in a 10-year period- the identical achievement Orson Wells accomplished in the same 10-year period with the advantage of extraordinary talent. Bela Lugosi was a sophisticated aristocratic gentleman, not the foul-mouthed drug addict invented by the talented scriptwriters whose absence of research was overcome by Martin Landau's brilliant delivery of their lines. It is best here that I overlook the mannered reading that Sarah "Jurassic" Parker gave to the lines she was handed, except to say that she lacked the sufficient talent or imagination to make something of the part. She was an insult to me, and I can only find comfort in the fact that her role was so forgettable it can do me no lasting damage.
Of course, I was already a Johnny Depp fan since a couple of the 21 Jump Street episodes, and especially since Tim Burton's wonderful Edward Scissorhands and What's Eating Gilbert Grape, so how could I resist Johnny as Eddie? The very next year after Ed Wood, Johnny astonished me again by dominating scenes with the indominable Marlon Brando in Don Juan De Marco. and then with Al Pacino in Donnie Brasco. He carried Dead Man by himself, although it had a remarkable cast that included John Hurt, Billy Bob Thornton, and in his last role, Robert Mitchum. We now have seen Pirates of the Caribbean, which again showcases Johnny's consummate ability to imbue his roles with surprisingly original twists that have broadened his public appeal. Still, Johnny has not yet found the script that will give full scope to his talent. When it finally comes, I'll be waiting... along with the growing legion of his fans.
-Forward by Dolores Fuller, 2004
