Much to the delight of every female from 15-105, Johnny Depp will indeed star in the 4th installment of ‘Pirates’, this time titled ‘Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.‘

“I had a very good conversation with Dick Cook who is someone I admire greatly and that helped,” Depp said. “And also we’re going to come at it with a different angle at it. And director, Rob Marshall has a completely different take on it.”

In September 2009, Dick Cook, Chairman of Walt Disney Studio Entertainment, resigned after working for Disney for over 38 years. Cook was one of the few that accepted Depp’s portrayal of Captain Jack Sparrow on the first Pirates movie.

On October 7, 2009, author Tim Powers confirmed that Disney bought the rights of his novel On Stranger Tides. As detailed in The Art of the Pirates of the Caribbean, the proposed story for the fourth film is for Jack Sparrow and Barbossa to meet up in the newly founded New Orleans, before they sail to find the Fountain of Youth together.

According to Gregory Ellwood of HitFlix.com

He may be the “Mad Hatter” in the upcoming blockbuster “Alice in Wonderland,” but this summer Johnny Depp will be heading to Hawaii to shoot the fourth installment in the popular “Pirates” franchise. For awhile, Depp openly questioned whether a fourth installment would ever occur.

After Depp’s longtime friend Dick Cook was essentially fired as Chairman of Walt Disney Studios early last Fall, the superstar raised some doubt over whether he still wanted to return for another go around as Captain Jack Sparrow. Depp revealed today that it was actually the dismissed Cook who helped convince him to still do the picture

What that “take” is remains to be seen, but so far changes include the addition of Penelope Cruz in a mysterious, but prominent role.

However, “Stranger Tides” is a long way off for Depp at this point. He’ll soon head to London for the Royal World Premiere of “Alice” and still has endless questions ahead of him about his seventh, yes, seventh collaboration with director Tim Burton. The biggest surprise? It turns out Burton didn’t have to approach his old friend with a hard sell to make the movie.

“To be honest he could have said Alice and I would have said [yes],” Depp tries to get out as the assembled press irrupt in laughter. “I would have done whatever character Tim wanted. Certainly the fact it was the Mad Hatter was a bonus and a great challenge. And to try and find this guy and not just to be a rubber ball that you heave into an empty room and bounce all over the place, But also to bring a little bit more of history or gravity to the guy.”

Depp embraced the role by doing research not just into Lewis Carroll’s books, but where the origin of the term “mad as a hatter.” It turns out the glue hat makers used to use had high levels of mercury in them which had severely adverse side effects.

“So, [I looked at him] as damaged goods — physically damaged and a little obtuse — instead of this hyper nutty guy,” Depp recalls. “He could go from one second high fluting and a lot of levity and then into some dangerous, potential rage and some tragedy.”

Burton adds, however, “Being that it was a Disney movie, we tried to not focus so much on the Mercury poisoning aspect. ”

One of Depp’s other major concerns was the fact he’s used an English accent a number of times already in films such as “Finding Neverland,” “Chocolat” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.” Depp notes,

“You’ve got to really pay attention to where you have been. That’s the great challenge. You may get it wrong. There is a very good possibility you could fall flat on your face. I think that’s a healthy thing for an actor.”

With Burton by his side, Depp was asked if his kids had a favorite movie in the now growing Burton/Depp library. Without a beat Depp says “Edward Scissorhands.”

“They connect with the character and I think they see their dad feeling that isolation — that loneliness and he’s a tragic character,” Depp says. “They ball everytime they see it.”

Starting on Tuesday Johnny Depp will be starring opposite Angelina Jolie in the new thriller “The Tourist.” As the session ended, Depp was asked to comment on what should turn out to be one of his increasingly rare contemporary roles.

“I think it will be swell. I like the French film I liked it a lot and my friend played the part in that and I liked it and I thought it might be interesting to explore this character,” Depp says. “You never know what’s going to happen. I suspect there might be a few paparazzi in Venice.”

by Shannonn Kelly
4:22PM, EST, Thursday February 11, 2010

UK Celebrity fashion designer Alexander McQueen was found dead at his London home today. He was 40 years old.

UK Police sources have confirmed McQueen committed suicide, after reportedly hanging himself.

The London-born designer, known as Lee to his friends, was famous for designs such as ‘bumster’ trousers and skull-printed scarves.

McQueen’s death is just just days before the start of London Fashion Week and ahead of Paris Fashion Week, when he was set to unveil his new collection on March 9th. His official website has been temporarily taken down.

McQueen’s communications director Samantha Garrett spokeswoman for his company – also called Alexander McQueen, told Reuters by telephone:

“On behalf of Lee McQueen’s family, Alexander McQueen today announces the tragic news that Lee McQueen, the founder and designer of the Alexander McQueen brand, has been found dead at his home.

“At this stage it is inappropriate to comment on this tragic news beyond saying that we are devastated and are sharing a sense of shock and grief with Lee’s family. “Lee’s family has asked for privacy in order to come to terms with this terrible news and we hope the media will respect this.”

The Metropolitan Police also confirmed the fashion star’s untimely death, releasing a statement saying:

“We were called by London Ambulance Service at about 10.20am this morning to reports of a man found dead at an address in Green Street, W1.

“He is believed to be 40-years-old and from London. Next of kin have been informed, however we await formal identification before releasing the name of the deceased. “A post mortem examination and inquest will take place in due course. “The death is being treated as non-suspicious.”

McQueen was a favorite of celebrity fashionistas such as Sarah Jessica Parker, Lady GaGa, Rihanna and Bjork to name a few.

McQueen’s mother Joyce passed away on February 2 and Alexander posted on hisTwitter various missives “i’m letting my followers know the my mother passed away yesterday RIP mum x”

A minute later he added: “but life must go on!” Then on Sunday, McQueen wrote: “sunday evening been a f****** awful week but my friends have been great but now i have to some how pull myself together …”

According to Jody Thompson, Mirror UK

McQueen’s tragic death comes just weeks before the start of London Fashion Week, one of the highlights in the calendar of the industry.

Posting on an industry website, one fan wrote poignantly: “London Fashion Week without Alexander McQueen is like fabric with no needle and thread…Lee you will be missed.”

Alexandra Shulman, editor of British Vogue, said: “Lee McQueen influenced a whole generation of designers. His brilliant imagination knew no bounds as he conjured up collection after collection of extraordinary designs.

“At one level he was a master of the fantastic, creating astounding fashion shows that mixed design, technology and performance and on another he was a modern-day genius whose gothic aesthetic was adopted by women the world over. “His death is the hugest loss to anyone who knew him and for very many who didn’t.”

Designer Katherine Hamnett said: “He was a genius. What a terrible, tragic waste” and Vivienne Westwood said it was “terrible news.”

Son of an East End taxi driver and brought up in a council house, McQueen trained on Savile Row – and once famously wrote something rude using tailor’s chalk in the lining of a suit made for Prince Charles.

He went on to head legendary fashion house Givenchy, before teaming up with Gucci and launching his own-name label, plus a string of boutiques around the world.

Get ready to have some gaudy fun this Sunday as Lady Gaga and reportedly Elton John open the 2010, 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, at 8PM, EST on CBS.

Who will out ‘House of Munroe‘ the other will remain to be seen. But it might be fun to see Elton and Lady Gaga both perform as coconut donuts. Lady Gaga also has 6 nominations.

Also performing at the Grammy’s are: Beyoncé, the Black Eyed Peas, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Dave Matthews Band, Lil Wayne, Eminem, Green Day, Maxwell to name a few. The Black Eyed Peas are also nominated in 6 categories and promised that their performance will be unlike anything that the fans have seen before. “We’re gonna have some surprises. We’re just gonna do our part and entertain cats that are watching the Grammys,” Will.I.Am told MTV News on Thursday night in Los Angeles. “It’s gonna be fun.”

The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards are definitely music’s biggest night. I’ll be tweeting as usual. In the meantime, I got a chuckle at the article below from Becky Bain from Idolator:

*Carrie Underwood, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, Celine Dion and Usher will sing a tribute to Michael Jackson, and This Is It’s “Earth Song” short film will be screened in its entirety in 3D. With any luck, it will also star a CGI’d Michael as a Na’vi straight out of Avatar.

*Green Day will perform “21 Guns” with the Broadway-bound cast of American Idiot. The cast of Cats will then storm the stage and say “Sorry, Green day, Imma let you finish, but ABBA had one of the best jukebox musicals of all time.” (No, that joke will never die until it is used in every hypothetical scenario.)

*Drake, Eminem, Lil Wayne and Travis Barker will perform together, most likely the remix of “Forever.” Unfortunately, none of these male artists are nine months pregnant, so last year’s all-star “Swagga Like Us” (with a M.I.A. performing on her due date) cannot be topped.

*Bon Jovi will perform one of three hits, depending on which song fans vote for. Whatever they choose to play, we’ll be humming “You Give Love a Bad Name” to ourselves.

*Probably no Kanye West. But we’re expecting—nay, counting on him—to BLOG.

*Somebody awkwardly asking Rihanna “So, why weren’t you here last year? Car trouble?” before immediately feeling like an ass.

*Mary J. Blige and Andrea Bocelli will perform “Bridge Over Troubled Water” to support the victims of the Haiti earthquake. Because somebody already came up with the genius idea to sell leggings.

*A tribute to guitar legend Les Paul with Jeff Beck and Imelda May. Maybe it will inspire kids watching at home to stop playing Guitar Hero and actually pick up a damn instrument.

*Jamie Foxx will perform with T-Pain, Slash and Doug E. Fresh. And they will all be upstaged by a giant 12-foot vocoder taking over lead vocals.

*Additional performances by Beyoncé, Pink, Taylor Swift, The Black Eyed Peas, Dave Matthews Band, and Roberta Flack. But with “Pants on the Ground” supposedly kicking off the show from the red carpet, there’s nowhere to go but down.

*More of this in the press room.

And if our predictions posts come to fruition, you can count on the following:

*Taylor Swift winning Song of the Year, Best Female Pop Performance, and Album of the Year
*Kings of Leon winning Record of the Year
*Keri Hilson winning Best New Artist
*Stevie Wonder winning Best Male Pop Performance
*Justin Timberlake and Ciara winning Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals
*Black Eyed Peas winning Best Pop Duo or Group Performance and Best Pop Album
*Lady Gaga winning Best Dance Recording and Best Dance Album

And if our Grammys Worst Calls post is to be believed, none of the above will take place.

Continuing with award season, four-time Actor® Nominee John Slattery (Mad Men) will open the 16th Annual SAG Awards® with a ‘Red Carpet Toast’ courtesy of their sponsor Taittinger Champagne. The SAG Awards will broadcast tonight, Saturday January 22, on TBT and TNT at 8PM, EST.

Two randomly selected panels-one for television and one for film-each comprised of 2,100 Guild members from across the United States, chose this year’s Actor and Stunt ensemble honors nominees. Integrity Voting Systems, the Awards’ official teller, mailed the nominations secret ballots November 25, 2009 and Voting was completed by 5:00 PM, Monday, December 14, 2009.

Two categories with heated nominations toward the road to Oscar include:

Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role
MERYL STREEP for “Julie & Julia” (7 previous category noms)
SANDRA BULLOCK for “The Blind Side” (1st category nom) *Already Won Golden Globe
HELEN MIRREN for “The Last Station” (2 previous category noms)
CAREY MULLIGAN for An Education” (1st category nom)
GABOUREY SIDIBE / “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire” (1st category nom)

Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role
JEFF BRIDGES for “Crazy Heart” (2 previous category noms)
GEORGE CLOONEY / “Up in the Air” (4 previous category noms)
COLIN FIRTH / “A Single Man” (3 previous category noms)
MORGAN FREEMAN for “Invictus” (4 previous category noms)
JEREMY RENNER / “The Hurt Locker” (1st category nom)

For a complete downloadable and long list of the nominees, please click here.

The final show of the “Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien” opened with frenzied applause. “We only have one more hour to steal everything in this place.”, said Conan O’Brien as he prepares to get down to business and have some crazy fun at NBC’s expense.

O’Brien’s fans in the studio and on the Internet have been following him since his years as a writer on Saturday Night Live.

They’ve been following him from his perspective, cherishing every zany bit, completely surrendering to their red-headed stepbrother who never gave into the temptation of mediocrity his predecessor and now whining, successor, the piteously unfunny Jay Leno serves nightly. O’Brien really did things his way.

“I can’t host a show for another 7 months. So, next week look for the Andy Richter show with sidekick me.”, O’Brien chuckled. Andy chimed in, “The new show will be on Animal Planet and you’ll be hosting “Kitten Korner’”. O’Brien is free to sign a contract with another network beginning on September 01, 2010.

The funniest joke of his final monlogue was, “HBO. One last request. When you make a movie, I would like to be played by Academy Award winning actress Tilda Swinton.”

O’Brien introduced tonight’s crazy expensive gag by saying , “It’s gonna take NBC several years to pay this off.” – Then the curtain opened to a rare fossil skeleton of a giant ground sloth spraying beluga caviar on a Picasso.” Cost $65 Million. Memory. Priceless.

Steve Carell held a ‘mock exit interview’ with Conan asking insipid questions such as:
“Did anything trigger your decision to leave?”
“Would you consider working for NBC in the future?”

Then Carell quoted George Clooney’s “Up In The Air” one-size-fits-all dismissal speech, asked for O’Brien’s ID badge, which he proceeded to shred.

Tom Hanks, who coined the phrase “Coco” on O’Brien’s 2nd show, came out wearing sunglasses and carrying 2 glasses of scotch. He passed one to Conan. “It’s been some week. Around my house they call this Daddy’s little reward.”, said Hanks. Hanks and O’Brien met first on SNL in 1985 when O’Brien was a writer and Hanks was a host.

Meanwhile on David Letterman, the #1 of his Top Ten, “Things To Be Happy About”
For once things are starting to go Jay Leno’s way.

After a musical number by friend and musical idol Neil Young and the break, Conan thanked NBC in a very heartfelt speech.

“There has been a lot of speculation in the press about what I legally can and can’t say about NBC. To set the record straight, tonight I am allowed to say anything I want. And what I want to say is this: between my time at “Saturday Night Live,” “The Late Night Show,” and my brief run here on the “Tonight Show,” I have worked with NBC for over 20 years. Yes, we have our differences right now and yes, we’re going to go our separate ways, but this company has been my home for most of my adult life. I am enormously proud of the work we have done together, and I want to thank NBC for making it all possible.

Walking away from the “Tonight Show” is the hardest thing I have ever had to do. Making this choice has been enormously difficult,” O’Brien continued. “This is the best job in the world, I absolutely love doing it, and I have the best staff and crew in the history of the medium. But despite this sense of loss, I really feel this should be a happy moment. Every comedian dreams of hosting the “Tonight Show” and, for seven months, I got to. I did it my way, with people I love, and I do not regret a second. I’ve had more good fortune than anyone I know and if our next gig is doing a show in a 7-11 parking lot, we’ll find a way to make it fun.

Finally, I have to say something to our fans. The massive outpouring of support and passion from so many people has been overwhelming. The rallies, the signs, all the goofy, outrageous creativity on the Internet, and the fact that people have traveled long distances and camped out all night in the pouring rain to be in our audience, made a sad situation joyous and inspirational. To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life.

All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere,” he concluded. “Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.

Will Ferrell closed the show in character as a Lynyrd Skynyrd-esq country rocker with his pregnant old lady Dawn, accompanied by ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons, Ben Harper, Beck,  and Max Weinberg to name a few. Conan joined the motley group on guitar to break down Free Bird. Of course, Farrell added more cow bell…

Attention Jay Leno: Here’s something you need to put in your notebook – Take a much needed lesson from Conan O’Brien on how to end your show on a bittersweet, yet elegant high note. Giving thanks for all that a person has in their life and their incredible good fortune.

Behind all the crazy antics and hijinks, is a man with class and humility. That is the least of what makes Conan O’Brien’s return to late Night TV a sweet temptation worth waiting for. See you in 7 months Coco…

Confirmed in the wee hours of Thursday morning, NBC and Conan O’Brien reached a settlement agreement – $33 Million providing Conan does not show up on TV before September 2010.

The deal also includes severance of another $12 million for his staff, many of whom relocated with Conan from New York.

Saying goodbye to his $15 million studio used only for 7 months is now a fate that NBC wishes they never tempted, considering what this distasteful snub will also cost them for O’Brien’s last 3 shows.

The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien ushers out it’s final show tonight, Friday January 22, 2010.

The contract hammered out has terms from NBC, some of which Conan mocked in his own list of “The general terms of the contract you may not know about”. My favorite being: “I must stop my exposé documentary about NBC called “Inside The Cock.”

Aside from the money, NBC is forced to relive other embarrassing moments. On Wednesday night, Adam Sandler shared the once quite story of NBC also firing him.

According to New York Daily News Writer, Joe Dziemianowicz

Adam Sandler, sporting jeans and a New York Jets T-shirt, told the almost-ex-host O’Brien that he’s not the only one who’s gotten walking walking papers at NBC.

Sandler confessed that he and Chris Farley got booted by brass at the peacock network in 1995. It wasn’t a nice case of being released from contracts.

“I got fired,” Sandler said.

He added that his insightful manager hinted before the ax fell that he should look “for something else to do.”

Sandler told his manager: “I like it here. Then Farley ran into my office, saying ‘We’re getting fired.’”

Aside from listing the Tonight show set on Craigslist (since removed) to trade for crazy things like a guitar hero match-up in a dimly lit room, also on Wednesday, Conan showed his legions of fans why we love his red-headed, mischievous nature. O’Brien explained:

“The good news is until NBC yanks us off the air, we can pretty much do whatever we want and, this is the best part, we can do whatever we want and they have to pay for it. So for the rest of the week we’re going to introduce new comedy bits that aren’t so much funny as they are crazy expensive.”

After that explanation, O’Brien gleefully presented a brand new Bugati Veyron with plushy Mouse Ears and complimented that extravagance with playing the original soundtrack of the Rolling Stones, “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” – cost to NBC – $1.5 million.

On his Thursday night show, O’Brien said he knew the split was official when NBC picked up all of their CDs and lava lamp. He also apologized to next week’s guests, President Barack Obama, The Pope and Elvis Presley.

O’Brien said leaving the Tonight Show was not his “first choice or his 8th choice”. Thursday O’Brien also told his audience “we’re gonna have a lot of fun.” And they did.

Thursday’s show had the Conan crew trot out 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mind That Bird on stage wearing a mink snuggie to watch restricted NFL footage. Total cost to NBC $4.8 million. Amount of laughs – Priceless. I can’t wait to see what happens in the finale. It’s going to be outrageous-

Thursday’s show had Robin Williams screaming, “You did the wrong thing! You did the wrong thing!”, while attempting to take a piss on the backdrop behind Conan’s desk.

Friday’s show will host Tom Hanks and a myriad of special drop in guests. Tune one last time and bask in all that is CoCo…