My Idols
Billy Idol
William Michael Albert Broad, known to millions as Billy Idol, was born on November 30, 1955 in Stanmore, Middlesex, England. While an English Literature Scholar at Sussex University, Broad became actively involved with the "Bromley Contingent" (admiring followers of the "Sex Pistols"). Inspired by the high energy of punk, Broad formed his own group, "Chelsea", in 1976. The original band was short-lived and "Billy Idol", as he was now known,had later founded "Generation X". "Generation X" had lasted from 1976-81, giving Idol the opportunity to launch his solo career in New York.There he recorded "Don't Stop", which featured a new wave revival of "Tommy James And The Shondells" classic UK number 1 smash hit "Mony Mony". Throughout 1982-84, Idol's career had blossomed.Billy's accoustic vocal style and snarling explosive stage act had launched a string of hits including: "Hot In The City", "Eyes Without A Face", "White Wedding", "Rebel Yell", and "To Be A Lover". With Idol's album sales ever increasing each year, Idol actually became "an idol". He had turned a classic hit into a mega hit by taking "Mony Mony" to number 1 in the USA in 1987. Despite his legendary and quite excessive lifestyle, Idol has appeared in several charity shows. In 1988, he took part in Neil Young 's Bridge School Benefit concert and the following year guest starred in the charity performance of the Who 's Tommy in London. After being auditioned for a part in Oliver Stone's "The Doors", Idol almost emulated its central character by suffering a near early death. A motorcycle crash in February 1990 had seriously damaged his leg, but he recovered amazingly . That same May, Idol hit the number 2 slot in America with "Cradle Of Love" (hit for the soundtrack for the Andrew Dice Clay movie: "The Adventures Of Ford Fairlaine" ). However, Billy had soon found himself back in turmoil, this time with the Los Angeles courts.In 1992, he was put on probation for two years and fined $2,700 for an assault on a "fan". This all heaved massive fuel to the explosive rebel image.As a result, Idol has become more successful than most of the punk founders with whom he played riffs with back in 1977. Idol's brand of heavy punk was perfectly esteemed and showcased on "Cyberpunk".
Johnny Depp
Johnny Depp played with over 15 rock bands before turning to acting. While he could have been a conventional leading man, the charismatic actor has, instead, often chosen unusual and odd roles. Although he has not proven to be "big box office" for these quirky choices, Depp has nevertheless won the respect of Hollywood and the critics as a serious and dedicated actor. Debuting as the heroine's doomed boyfriend in Wes Craven's original "A Nightmare on Elm Street" (1984), he next starred alongside Rob Morrow in the teen romp "Private Resort" (1985) and appeared as the translator in Oliver Stone's Oscar-winning "Platoon" (1986).
With his chiseled looks, thick hair and sleepy-smoky voice, Depp achieved teen idol status as Officer Tom Hanson in Stephen J Cannell's "21 Jump Street" (Fox, 1987-90). His character, established in the pilot as the son of a cop, looked too young to intimidate street thugs, despite being over 21 and an honors graduate of the Academy. Instead, he was assigned to a unit of undercover cops who infiltrates a seemingly never-ending supply of high schools where ne'er-do-wells want to keep the good kids from learning. After four seasons of the foolishness, Depp wanted out, and the show did not survive his withdrawal. Hoping to make the transition to the big screen, he eschewed offers of conventional young leading man roles and returned to features with two memorable, offbeat characterizations: John Waters' "Cry-Baby" and Tim Burton's "Edward Scissorhands" (both 1990). His physical grace and expressive features proved apt for the Chaplinesque Edward and the nimble Elvis-inspired Cry-Baby.
Depp's subsequent film career has exhibited an unwillingness to settle for standard heartthrob roles and a predilection for distinctive filmmakers and material. In Emir Kusturica's cult film "Arizona Dream" (1992), Depp, portrayed a young man unwillingly called to Arizona by his uncle (Jerry Lewis) who wants him to take over the family car dealership, anchoring the uneven feature which veered from slapstick to bathos. "Benny & Joon" (1993) presented Depp as a modern-day circus performer who, in the course of romancing a mentally disturbed woman (Mary Stuart Masterston), performs set pieces that recall the silent clowns (i.e., Chaplin, Keaton, Lloyd). That same year, he lent gravity to the title role in Lasse Hallstrom's "What's Eating Gilbert Grape", a Midwesterner trapped in a small town by familial obligations. He went on to win considerable critical acclaim in a reunion with Burton, "Ed Wood" (1994), a biopic that cast him as the famed cult director whose fondness for cross-dressing doesn't prevent him from creating delightfully bad films.
Finally capitalizing on his good looks, Depp donned a mask and Castilian accent for the title role in the contemporary fairy tale "Don Juan DeMarco" (1995), playing a modern incarnation of the famous lover opposite fellow risk takers Marlon Brando and Faye Dunaway. Following his foray to action features in John Badham's "Nick of Time" (also 1995), he turned up in Jim Jarmusch's quirky Western "Dead Man" (1996), as a mild-mannered accountant named William Blake who finds himself branded as an outlaw. Adding to his cast of outsiders, Depp essayed the title role in Mike Newell's "Donnie Brasco" (1997), an FBI undercover agent who infiltrates a crime family and befriends its volatile leader. Well cast (in his first truly adult role) and more appealing than in some of his previous efforts, Depp won much praise for his layered portrayal and especially for his interplay with co-star Al Pacino (as his mentor). Their surrogate father-son relationship drove the film and brought humanity to a story that could have devolved into standard Hollywood cliche.
Depp made his feature directorial debut with "The Brave" (1997), a film he also co-wrote (with his older brother D P Depp and Paul McCudden) and in which he starred as a father who agrees to play the victim in a snuff film to earn money for his family's well-being. Premiering at the Cannes Film Festival, "The Brave", which also featured Brando and Clarence Williams III, earned mostly negative reviews, with most faulting its weak script. He suffered another box office disappointment as gonzo journalist Hunter S Thompson's drug-crazed alter ego Raoul Duke in Terry Gilliam's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" (1998). Always looking to step away from his pretty boy persona, Depp shocked some fans by sporting a bald pate, but his clipped staccato delivery and unusual body language could not bring substance to the essentially one-dimensional character. Still, he was the glue to this "bad trip", perhaps destined for "stoner" cult status, and the question remains: Who ever thought a mainstream audience would go for this full-frontal assault on normalcy?
Depp may have chosen "The Astronaut's Wife" (the first of his three 1999 thrillers) for its opportunity to play good boy-gone wrong under alien influence, but the result was another one-note performance in a film that was not as bad as the studio's failure to screen it for critics had suggested. From one movie resembling Roman Polanski's "Rosemary's Baby", he moved to "The Ninth Gate" (released in the USA in 2000), another supernatural thriller, this one actually directed by Polanski. As a rumpled, bespectacled book dealer in search of a 17th-century volume allegedly co-authored by Satan, Depp was the soft, unassertive core of a film thought by most (but not all) to be a journey to nowhere. His last movie that year, "Sleepy Hollow" (based on the Washington Irving "legend"), matched him again with the imaginative vision of friend Burton and officially ended his losing streak. The studio nixed his notion of playing Ichabod Crane with a long pointy nose, so he appeared looking quite beautiful for most of his biggest commercial hit yet, though he did go against the heroic type with his prissy, neurotic and not very courageous characterization.
The success of "Sleepy Hollow" will not make Depp pursue more mainstream fare. Desperately afraid of complacency and astonished that he can still get work, he continues to make movies at breakneck speed. He and friend Sean Penn acted in Julian Schnabel's anything-but-commercial "Before Night Falls", the story of Cuban poet-novelist Reinaldo Arenas, and he also donned gold teeth for his role as Christina Ricci's gypsy love interest in Sally Potter's World War II drama "The Man Who Cried" (both lensed 1999). He returned to the world of drugs for Ted Demme's "Blow" (lensed 2000), playing George Jung, an American who became one of the major traffickers of cocaine for Colombian kingpin Pablo Escobar. There is a project ("From Hell") in the pipeline that would match Depp with the Hughes brothers as Jack the Ripper, and he has expressed interest in again collaborating with directors Kusturica and Hallstrom.
Danny Elfman
Daniel Robert Elfman was born on May 29th, 1953 in Los Angeles, California. His parents were Blossom and Milton Elfman. His father was a teacher. Blossom, his mother, was a novelist. She won an Emmy for her writing in a TV movie. Danny spent his childhood in Los Angeles.
When he turned 18, he moved with his brother, Richard, to France. In France, he joined a theater group. This is where he became acquainted with the many different instruments of the orchestra. After spending a few years in France, he moved to Africa. He moved back to the U.S. after contracting malaria. In 1980, Elfman worked with his brother, director Richard Elfman, on the film Forbidden Zone. Forbidden Zone was done first as 16mm film (AKA Hercules Family, in 1980), then reshot as a 35mm version, which came out in 1983.* Richard formed a group known as The Mystic Knights of Oingo Boingo. They performed the score that Danny wrote for Forbidden Zone. Oingo Boingo, as it's known today, became a permanent group and drew a large cult following. In 1995, however, they broke up.
In 1985, Danny met Tim Burton. Tim had asked Danny to score the music for Pee-Wee's Big Adventure. This was Tim's first time directing and Danny's first time composing for a big-budget film. Danny called in his friend and fellow Oingo Boingo member, Steve Bartek, to orchestrate for him. Pee-Wee was a success. Thus began the friendship between Danny and Tim. Today, they are still working together as a team. Danny has scored the music for every single movie that Tim has directed, with the exception of Ed Wood.
He won his only Grammy in 1989 for his theme to Batman. He was nominated for two academy awards in 1998, one for Men in Black and the other for Good Will Hunting. The Nightmare Before Christmas was a project where Danny wrote the songs, composed the score, and sang the leading role in the movie.
Besides Tim Burton, Danny has worked with many other directors such as Brian DePalma, Emilo Estevez, Warren Beatty, and the Hughes brothers. In 1996, he composed the score to Freeway which was directed by one of his high school friends. In return for his services, Elfman was paid only a dollar. In 1997, Elfman wrote music for a scene in Wes Craven's Scream 2.
Danny Elfman is one of the few artists that have established themselves as both a composer and a rocker. He has drawn a large following of fans who find his works to be fresh and innovative. Although he is looked down upon by many of his colleaques, he still continues to be one of the most popular and sought-after film composers in the film industry.
Tim Burton
Timothy William Burton was born August 25, 1958 in Burbank, California. Burbank may not ring as many bells as Hollywood, but it is the home to many film and television studios -- NBC, Warner Brothers, Disney, and others. Burbank was quintessential 1950s American suburbia, a world in which the shy, artistic Tim was not quite in lockstep with the shiny happy people surrounding him. He was not particularly good in school, and was not a bookworm. Instead, he found his pleasure in painting, drawing, and movies . . . movies, in particular. He loved monster movies: Godzilla, the Hammer horror films from Great Britain, the work of Ray Harryhausen. One of his heroes was actor Vincent Price.
After high school in 1976, Burton attended the California Institute of the Arts. Cal Arts had been founded by Disney as a "breeding ground" for new animators, though they did offer other courses of study. Burton entered the Disney animation program in his second year, thinking it would be a good way to make a living. In 1979, he was drafted to join the Disney animation ranks.
Burton did not enjoy being an animator, not one little bit. Imagine, if you will, what it's like to be an animator. Films are projected at 24 frames per second. For a 90-minute film, that's over 129,000 individual frames. Characters are drawn separately and then put together, and placed over painted backgrounds. The work requires talented artists, but they cannot deviate from the structured manner of drawing the characters. Burton had been brought in to work on The Fox And The Hound. Yes, the director of Beetlejuice was an animator on arguably one of the treacliest and poorest animated features to come out of the Mouse House. It bored him silly.
The studio recognized that Burton's talent was not being utilized. They made him a conceptual artist, the people who design the characters that appear in the films. He did early work on The Black Cauldron, the adaptation of the second volume of Lloyd Alexander's Chronicles of Prydain (a seven-volume fantasy series). If you're familiar with Burton's artwork, you can imagine that his concept drawings were nothing like your standard Disney fare. It didn't go over too well, and it was not used. He was set loose on his own projects. These included a poem and artwork that would become The Nightmare Before Christmas, the animated short Vincent, and the live-action short Frankenweenie. The latter two received little or no outside exposure. Frankenweenie was awarded a PG rating, which precluded its release with their G-rated animated features. It only saw theatrical release overseas, and a short release on VHS. It would be the film that would land him his first feature directing job.
Horror writer Stephen King (you have heard of him, right?) had seen Frankenweenie, and strongly recommended it to Bonni Lee, an executive at Warner Brothers. Lee then showed the film to Paul Reubens. Reubens was the man behind Pee-Wee Herman, and was in the process of bringing his alter ego to the big screen. He knew right away that Tim Burton was the perfect choice for the job, and indeed they were a perfect match. As they say, the rest is history.
As for Burton's personal life, he married German artist Lena Gieseke in 1989 (while in the middle of production on Batman). They separated shortly after filming of Batman Returns. He began dating Lisa Marie shortly after, and they are still involved. She has appeared in three of his films to date: Ed Wood, Mars Attacks!, and Sleepy Hollow.
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