I have posted previously that The Weinstein Company is making The Libertine
available for a number of screenings to attract award consideration, which is
especially important as it hasn't officially opened yet. Well, I was blessed to be invited to one of these screenings and a Q&A with Johnny last night.
The Angel who invited me also gave me permission to share my experience with the IBD list members.

I was able to meet up with a few friends from Depp Cons past at the
screening which was nice as I had friends to talk to in the line and sit with in
the theater. The theater was packed, every available seat was taken. The
audience for this screening was quite a bit different from the AFI screening.
The AFI audience was quite quiet, this audience seemed much more appreciative of the humor in the movie and responded at the end with a long ovation. I loved being able to see the film again so soon...this is going to end up being a favorite of mine, but it was a little hard to concentrate at the end as I knew that soon I would be seeing Johnny.

As the ending credits rolled, they set some chairs up on the stage. Rather
than set them in the middle, they set them at the far end of the stage from
me, but, even though that made him farther away, we were able to get a very good view. And then there he was, walking right past our section as he took the stage. He had on light pants, a short sleeve blue shirt opened a bit, a jacket, and his brown hat. Shortly after the Q&A began he shed the jacket. He is just beautiful, inside and out.

I had a notepad with me and I was going to take notes, but quickly decided
that I wanted to spend as much time looking at him as possible. I shall try
to post as much as I remember.

The Q&A started off with questions from the moderator. They discussed the
long road to making the Libertine, and Johnny did a great imitation of John
Malkovich, who he said contacted him about 9 or 10 years ago about a play he was doing and asked Johnny to come see it. He then asked Johnny to star in a film version he envisioned. Johnny said he asked John why he didn't do it as he played the Earl in the play version, and Johnny said John replied "Because I want you to do it." He said that he thought the screenplay was beautiful and I have to agree.

Johnny said it was probably just as well that it took so long to get the
film made as if it had been done years earlier, he might have been tempted to
actually live the part.

They discussed things we've heard before...starting out as a musician, his
actor training, the trouble with Disney and Captain Jack.

He then answered some questions that came in via e-mail and took some
questions from the audience. One person asked him what the hardest accent he had to do was and whether he liked using accents. He replied that the "Finding Neverland" accent was the hardest, and that he did like using accents because it helps him get farther away from himself in establishing his character.

One of my other Depp Con friends asked him about decompressing at the end of each shoot after immersing himself so deeply in his characters. He said it
was indeed hard to do so at times, and for example said that at the end of
the grueling 45 day Libertine shoot, he became quite ill and was flat on his
back for two weeks...quite ironic when you see the film, but not surprising as
he really did give his all in that movie. He said that each character lived
on though somewhere inside of him.

He was asked if it was strange to him to play a character who shared his
first name...the Earl is called "Johnny" quite a bit in The Libertine. He said
it was a bit strange at times and pulled him out of character a bit. He
cited one particular scene in a theater when everyone was yelling "Johnny!"

He was asked what he liked best about acting, and he said he loved the
process...creating a character and seeing where it takes him. He said he still
finds this exciting.

He was asked what he had in common with the Earl, and he mentioned that one thing was his need to be honest, and how that had gotten him in trouble from time to time.

He was asked what the downside of acting was, and said the only real
downside was being recognized in public...people staring and giggling at
restaurants..that type of thing. He mentioned that he went from just trying to get a job to pay the bills to doing "the TV show" (Someone yelled "Jump Street" and he said "Yeah, that one.") and suddenly being recognized everywhere, which was weird.

The moderator asked him what he liked about living in France (And he was
quick to remind her that he lived in France and L.A., and wherever he was
shooting at the time.), and he said the wine was good. He also liked the
fact that he is able to live more normally there.

Finally he was asked about future projects and Shantarum was mentioned.

They had told us in the beginning that they would ask Johnny if he could
stay for autographs and photos, but if he had to leave we should respect that. Toward the end of the Q&A the moderator mentioned a few times that he had to leave. It was after 10 at that point, and I know that Johnny has had a very busy week. They had told us if he had to leave to please not rush the stage. Of course that's exactly what people did, but Johnny was a trooper, cheerfully signing things and posing for a few pics as they tried to move him through the crowd. I was respectful of the request not to rush, was hoping to at least get a picture of him, but the crowd made that impossible, so I just hung back and watched until he was gone. Sigh, hopefully someday I'll be able to thank him for touching my soul through his work, but for this night, being in the same room with him was so very special.

I love him so much, for his talent, and for the person that I know he is.

Lynn